Originally Posted by Carl Spackler (Post 1706191)

This from his Bloomberg interview:

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By Justin Bachman August 13, 2014
With U.S. airlines awash in cash these days, one of the big questions in the industry has become how much of that wealth will pilots seek next year when contracts at several carriers come up for renegotiation.

Contracts at four large airlines—Delta Air Lines (DAL), Hawaiian (HA), Spirit (SAVE), and Jazz Aviation, a regional operator for Air Canada—are up for talks in 2015, covering nearly 15,000 pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest pilots union in North America. JetBlue Airways’ (JBLU) 2,500 pilots are also hoping to secure their first contract next year, after voting this spring to join ALPA.

U.S. carriers are producing enormous profits after years of consolidation. In the most recent quarter, the six largest U.S. carriers collectively earned $3.97 billion, with American, Southwest, Alaska Airlines (ALK), and JetBlue all reporting record net income for the period. U.S. carriers lost almost $60 billion from 2000 to 2009.

“This is really a good story,” ALPA President Lee Moak said Tuesday during a visit to Bloomberg Businessweek in New York, part of a quick tour to assure Wall Street analysts that ALPA’s contract demands won’t prove onerous to airlines. “I almost can’t stand it, it’s so good.”

Shareholders have started to realize returns in the form of dividends and stock buybacks. Thanks to the profits, pilots now see themselves as collaborators with management—they increasingly lobby alongside airline executives in Washington. That, says Moak, deepens the working relationships. “All of a sudden, you find yourself on the same side of 95 percent of the issues,” he says.

Another boost has come from profit-sharing schemes adopted by the airlines as a way of rewarding employees when times are good—and the deals carry no commitments should profit shrink. In February, Delta paid employees, including its 11,900 pilots, a record $506 million in profit sharing, equal to about 8 percent of annual salaries. The airline forecasts that amount to increase next year, given higher profit this year.

Southwest expects to pay out $228 million to workers this year in profit shares, nearly double the amount from 2013. United paid $190 million in February tied to its income last year. (Delta and United make the payments on Valentine’s Day.) Several airlines also pay workers monthly incentives for meeting performance targets, such as more on-time arrivals and improvements on the rate of mishandled bags. United paid employees an extra $125 for meeting on-time arrival and departure goals in July. Delta says it paid nearly $92 million last year in similar incentives. “The employees are now coupled to the airlines,” says Moak, a Delta captain who is stepping down at year’s end after four years as president.

Of course, all the cash an airline generates can go to shareholders or employees, and that basic dynamic is likely to play out in the 2015 contract negotiations—especially at Delta and Spirit, both industry leaders when it comes to superior financial returns. Moak contends that ALPA pilots at the larger carriers enjoy what he calls “mature, good contracts” already. Radical overhauls aren’t in the cards, he says.

Most of the contract talks are likely to center on basic compensation—hourly pay rates and how much carriers pay into pilots’ retirement plans. “There will be a business discussion of pay as it relates to revenue,” Moak says. “You can argue about $2 or $2.05, and that matters to the crew member,” but “you’re working on the margins” on the new contracts, he says.

Airlines have been mum on what they’ll seek in the contract talks, despite some analyst queries on quarterly earnings calls. “We have a productive and proactive relationship with our pilots and ALPA, focused on winning in the marketplace and addressing our business challenges and opportunities together,” Delta spokeswoman Kate Modolo said in an e-mail. A Spirit spokesman, Paul Berry, declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for Hawaiian, Alison Croyle.

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I'll look for Moak to put out a damage control letter shortly. He's a lame duck leader now, but he doesn't want open hostility for him in his last few months. He'll have to carefully craft a letter that shows him to still be interested in labor, without walking away from what he's promised Wall Street and airline management. He can't screw up his next position which will be to back airline managements.

He unmasked himself for a reason however. The ALPA president has done us a terrible disservice for the last four years. We'll get to see how in the ensuing months. This will only serve to help the alternative union movement going on at United, and show the other independents that they've made the right choice.

Welcome to ALPA jetBlue.

Carl

Originally Posted by gzsg (Post 1706222)

Carl

I.bet he doesn't say i word.

Let them eat.cake!

Jerry

Originally Posted by sailingfun (Post 1705614)

My guess is it will be folded into C2015 and monetized. A scope sale.

If that happens I will vote NO.

Originally Posted by gloopy (Post 1706136)

4. single handedly eliminates the entire scope clause. There is no way even the pro kool aid drinkers would be OK with that. The minor leagues are not going to get 160 seaters to fly for DCI or STI (SkyTeam, Incorporated). Not going to happen.

Originally Posted by forgot to bid (Post 1705953)

Here is how the professionals handle questions about upcoming contracts:




And Moak:







Whatever happened to we don't negotiate in public? Right now, I'll take that.

Originally Posted by Alan Shore (Post 1706258)

What manner of penalty other than cash would you suggest?

Originally Posted by ImTumbleweed (Post 1705654)

What manner of penalty other than cash would you suggest?

Originally Posted by georgetg (Post 1706279)

I would suggest no penalty.

I'm not interested in penalties.

I'm interested in integrity when it comes to the company. That means Delta "making it right" and keeping the deal that was agreed to over four years ago.

Go ahead, let the company take one more year and and bring our share of flying to the upper end of the compliance window to 51.5% on a three year look-back by March 30, 2015 and we all win.

Cheers
George