Okay, good point on the semantics of what I wrote. Perhaps I should have phrased the above slightly differently. I reminded him of the reality of the situation and asked him to reconcile it with his statement about the "greatest contract in airline history." Since he blew off my email, I'm assuming he doesn't have a good answer and that his definition of "greatest contract in airline history" somehow doesn't include buying power from our compensation that at least equals what we had throughout most of the 1980's, 1990's, and early 2000's.

 

Shiz,

Your question was a "fantasy" in what would *I* do if I was a DALPA negotiator. In this "fantasy" the union would have already put out clearly defined (and published) goals and they would have published the survey results to solidify their stance.

It was just a fantasy because it isn't happening. And won't happen.

For me, NO to a reduction in profit sharing and YES to increases in pay and QOL.

 

You'd say no to a 50% increase in pay and a complete reduction of P/S?

 

Isn't this a straw man? I bet he is basing his hypothetical no on 4/8/3/3....

Will DAL really get 50%?

 

Wait so it was Obama that invaded Iraq?

 

Ok. Just wondering where your priorities would be when it came to a choice at the end. If you had to make a decision for 12,000 other pilots also would you still make that choice?

In the "fantasy" it's good you aren't in a leadership role, because I don't want our survey data available to the company to use against us. However that's a different issue altogether.

In case no one has ever told you, the survey results aren't a "want or else" list. The survey is a way to determine "where" the pilots want improvements, not "how much". The Union (any union) is going to attempt to obtain as much as possible. The survey helps the NC make sure it gets increased value put into the proper areas of the PWA. I'll wager that what was acceptable to 2/3rds of Delta pilots in 2012 is not the same as what will be acceptable in 2015. It will take a lot more for most, including me.

 

Give it a month or two...

 

Boots on the ground in Africa to combat Eboli, but not ISIS in the Middle East

 

Eboli doesn't shoot back! (If you're careful)

 

OK, good on you for not getting too sarcastic in your reply.

The way I'm looking at it, you're asking him to play a game in which you frame the rules, and he's not playing. I don't know if he's blowing you off because he knows you, and knows an e-mail from you is just the opening move in a verbal chess-match. Or perhaps he doesn't know you, but saw the trap anyway, and figured he couldn't possibly answer in a way that would satisfy you, and there was a good chance his words would be on this forum the second he hit "send".

Overall, I don't want MD making off-the-cuff written comments that don't represent the MEC, just to make you happy. I'd like to think he's working very hard on our behalf. In a perfect world, he would have read your e-mail in two minutes, spent another minute thinking about it, and moved on to something else. Or, maybe, for a perfect score, he could have sent you a reply saying this was probably best suited for your reps, and copied them, and let them play a round or two.

I'm not implying any contempt in my reply, mind you. I'm not saying you don't deserve answers, I'm saying these kinds of conversations are for you and your reps to have. They owe you answers, but not necessarily in writing.