We need to give the guy a break after such a long distinguished career.

 

And who could forgot....

 

I just received my initial training packet for the 73. Guess no more books at all for any of us. just the LOD, panels and a paper that states all the info in in the content locker. Guess I am old school but i rather use paper over the tablet

 

Is it your job to keep reminding us we left money on the table C12? We all know that. We all know we are negotiating with a vastly different company today in large part BECAUSE $ were left over. Now there is so much money DAL has not only solved the myriad issues it had in 2012 it is back to stock buybacks. Gentlemen and ladies: insert "Equine Excrement" every time you hear "returning value to shareholders." We are now barely 2 years past amendable on C12: about the norm to sign a contract and about to exchange openers. Turn the page gz. Sooo, I don't want to give up Profit Sharing either, but IF RA did cough up 40% DOS and no PS would you reject it? 777A at 378.35 hr + 56.75 to DC & 737A 303.68 hr + 45.55 DC, but no Profit Sharing! If the MEC and NC rejected that offer I would guess that would truly be the end of ALPA. JMO OFG

 

How Hitler reacts to the Patriots winning the Super Bowl. Don't think I've seen it posted here yet...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QJg2Lz2pWFQ

Denny

 

Profit sharing is just another cost item in the contract. It has a value just like every item. In the end I look at the total value of the contract. That ends up being what it costs Delta per block hour to staff their aircraft. That's the number the company cares about. Sadly pilots often put to much emphasis on the direct compensation numbers and not enough on the soft items. There is no one section of the contract that will be a deal breaker. Overall however if you look at the delta pilot block hour costs Dalpa has done a good job trying to balance out the contracts.
While we ***** on here about profit sharing that no one has mentioned giving up at Dalpa and the company has not even hinted they want changed there are real issues ongoing the company does want changed that have huge quality of life implications to the pilot group.
Carl and Jerry only post items that they believe can be manipulated to cast Dalpa in a bad light. They have no interest in anything but hurting Dalpa regardless of the negative impact it has on the pilot group as a whole. They toss things on the wall and hope they stick or spin up the forum while we ignore real threats.
The company if you read what they put out has made it very clear what they are going to emphasis on the coming contract. It's going to be productivity, productivity and more productivity. The threat in this area most don't even recognize. There are new scheduling programs that will give the company the ability to reschedule the entire operation in real time. One flight cancels for a mechanical and the computer in a matter of seconds spits out a min cost solution that reroutes 57 crews. SD alluded to this in one of his recent memos. Their new found computing power is increasing reroutes and decreasing premium pay. They will in real time be able to optimize the entire operation on a minute by minute basis. Essentially once you sign in for a trip every flight the company has scheduled could be a big pot of open time for the company. The company builds the current rotations to a cost solution that is only accurate until the first flight cancels or is late. The new computer systems will be able to put out a new min cost solution with every change.
The contractual work rules in the contract are all that is keeping the company from going to a active real time scheduling system. As pilots we will not like that. There is a grievance filed that is of huge importance to the pilot group that I don't think has had a single post on this forum. It deals with uncovered flight segments more then 14 hours out. The company agreed that segments known more then 14 hours out will be sent to crew scheduling to be built as open time. They have reneged on that and are sending those segments to the new super premium reroute computer.
This is a huge grievance and of far more importance then the 1 to 2 flights per day the company failed to fly in the AF/KLM JV. I will start to sound hysterical like Jerry always is but this could cost us into 4 digits worth of jobs if the company wins the grievance and can get other seemingly innocuous changes in work rules.
My point in posting this is I suspect the company will throw a lot of dollars in pay charts. The devil will be in the work rules. Imagine departing on every rotation knowing that rotation is being evaluated for change every minute based on the real time status of the operation! Its happening as we speak and multiple crews are being rerouted to keep one flight from going 10 minutes late. Think about a computer that views every credit minute on every rotation as something to be eliminated. It's not pretty.
We need to have the best people working for us and we all need to pull in the same direction or we will get run over by the tiny details. Carl, Jerry and DPA need to get behind the pilot group and become a asset. DPA needs to follow the Dogma they posted in one of their very first letters and work to unify not fracture the pilot group.
In summary watch the work rules in the coming contract. Watch the grievance that is ongoing and let the company know your feelings. pay will not be the issue in the next contract.

 

A very good post, sailing. I haven't heard anything about such programs, but I've noted that the company is far, far more adept than ever at breaking up rotations.

The type of issue you're referring to is where we should all "live" but we're instead being manipulated into the red-herring du jour by Jerry et al. On the flip-side of that, I can't say that my reps are very good about highlighting this type of issue either.

 

Excellent summary of the threats that are sneaking up on us. I abhor QOL givebacks, and it's a travesty that then company can abrogate seniority be recreating rotations ANY TIME it pleases them.

Here's where I'm at. I'd give up every last cent of profit sharing for 10/5/5, a minimum day, and an ironclad clampdown on the insanely permissive reroute provisions we've permitted. As in,

- everything more than 2 hours out goes into the pot for normal trip coverage sequence
- if rerouted, premium pay until back on scheduled rotation
- huge penalty (5 for 1?) to the company for getting back even one minute late after a reroute. I don't care if it's weather or mx related. Those are the company's cost of doing business, not mine.

I don't know how we got here, but my gosh, to think of the flexibility we provide--to our own detriment!--it needs to be cleaned up.

 

To piggyback on where the company is going (and I can't believe we're even talking about concessions), here's an excerpt from the Council 1 update I got from my MSP buddy:
Wow. Here comes a "minimum month."

And are we required to answer any questions from management regarding our "outside business interests?" I can't imagine so. MYOFB.

 

This is one reason I was a "no" on C2012. Our reroute rules are absurd. If my seniority allows me to bid a trip that gets off in time for my kids sports, school, whatever, I should expect to be off on time barring any WX or Maint. The company should never have cart blanche to reroute me at their whim.