Not an airbus guy myself... What is that loud grinding noise that the bus makes when doing a single engine taxi?

The guys that got screwed by this did not vote. We were all on probation. I think it's a fair grievance. In no way should a new hire be entitled to more than us.

Been awhile but I believe it is a PTU (Power Transfer Unit) to keep all the hydraulics pressured.

I think you are misunderstanding what a grievance is. A grievance is when the COMPANY isn't following the contract. The company is doing exactly what the contract says.

Your problem is with the way the JCBA addresses retirement contributions.

In my opinion, your issue is with the NWA MEC and what they negotiated. It is likely that they either forgot about that part of the retirement or used that money for something else in the JCBA.

Wow....I think this is a great example of a mindset which, at this point at least, I have been fortunate to have rarely encountered at the company.

There is no grievance here. The contract is very clear on this issue which leaves nothing to grieve. Kind of like me getting 60 percent of what other 2 to 5 year pilots at Delta were paid because I was B scale and they were not. Or the fact the B scale went from 5 years to 3 years the same month I started my sixth year. Other pay raises were retro but the B scale change was not.
I am not saying its fair but there is not a grievance. The union can and I understand has attempted to bring this up with the company but its a cost item to the company and they don't generally give away cash mid contract unless we have something they want and then the amounts are proportional.
The bigger problem is that if you change it for the 2007 hires what about the 2001 hires who have some DB retirement but not much. Should they get it or at least a higher DC then now? What about the 98 hires? In the end you get into targeting the DC across the lists.
When Delta targeted the DC plan initially and paid nothing to senior pilots because of the frozen retirement plan the question was asked what happens if the plan is terminated. We were told we would be made whole by targeting the new plan. It did not happen, was that fair? I did not think so since it effected me however thats what went into the contract and the majority voted it in. Life is not always fair and contracts are never fair to everyone.

Know a guy getting interviewed week of Jul 19.

Wow! As an Airbus Capt. could you please share your wisdom with me? Better yet bid the airplane so we(former NW) can learn from the master.

That is a good point. Keeping that thought in mind, how many side letters did Moak sign? Certainly we could have gotten this fixed.

Or perhaps, the NWA MEC didn't feel that the NWA "new hires" should be given special treatment by receiving 3-4% more DC than what the average pre-merger NWA pilot was getting? And perhaps they also felt that a new hire, who'd only been on the property 6 months didn't deserve 71% as many shares as a guy who'd been here 30+, but they gave it to him anyway. Perhaps?