The DPA should make the correct presentation, and hold open meetings during section 6 negotiations, open to all.

There is over 25% of DALPA pilots that are part of DPA, and this group of pilots has yet to flex its muscle.

There is nothing that states we should not do what we have done in the base.

They should flex it if they can prior to openers being exchanged if they are going to do it at all. They should want to force those in office to take their position, or recall them. The fact that this group has not tried one recall to date really shows me that they suffer from apathy too.

First paragraph: That's probably an accurate assessment.

Second paragraph: The amendable date is Dec. 31, 2012. Contractually, if there is not an agreement by Mar. 31, 2013, both parties have agreed to petition the NMB jointly to get involved. From there the NMB wields the hammer. Just depends on who they are trying to bring inline. At AA they have been hammering the APA by essentially parking the negotiations. The NMB wields way too much power IMO.

Third paragraph: If there was a TA that was rejected by the membership I would think there would be a quick survey of the pilot group to see what the problem was and then they would try to fix those issues rather than starting from square one. This is what should happen but, I believe it was back in 1996, there was the threat of the negotiating committee resigning as well as the MEC and then having to start from before square one if we didn't vote for it. (My recollection of this might be off but not far)

The bottom line is that IF BOTH SIDES want to get this done, it could be done well before the amendable date but we know that won't be the case.

Denny

Off topic, but if you are miss a trip or numerous trips while using FMLA, do you get paid anything?

Thanks,

I'm on FMLA now, and basically they required at least 30 days notice which blocked off the FMLA days prior to a scheduled bid period. You also have the option of moving all or some of your remaining vacation time into your FMLA period. Unless you are giving less than 30 days notice I can't see a trip being placed on your schedule. Not an expert though, this was just my recent experience.

Also, under DAL's current FMLA policy dated in 2003, a birth of a child is not an unexpected event, and therefore you cannot request FMLA on short notice unless there are some severe complications with the delivery etc. Ran in to this a while back, and even though the new guidance diverges from this, expect to have to adhere to DAL's policy if you are requesting FMLA for the birth of a child.

They will let you go negative 20 in your bank though.

I've been working with the CPO's for the projected birth of our son, & FMLA seems like a waste of time. No pay on FMLA stinks. I shifted my vacation to the birth month, restocked my bank as best as I could by bidding max credit, & will attempt to bid the days off. I was told the time off will not be an issue so long as I attempt every option available via the PWA.

The Republican (Dougherty) is serving an extended term right now. Her term expired several months ago. Obama nominated Thomas Beck (another republican) to the seat but the Senate is sitting on the nomination. Dougherty continues until a successor is confirmed. By law, the Board has to have no more than 2 members of either party. That's why Obama had to nominate a Republican.

Puchala's term expires summer 2012 and Hoglander just got re-appointed for his 3rd term (I think he is good til 2014).

Puchala and Hoglander are the ones who are driving the bus right now. They are the ones who changed the voting rules that upset Delta management (Dougherty dissented) and the ones who are keeping these "interference" claims alive and blocking the flight attendant integration.
Puchala is a former chairman of the flt attendant union (AFA) and Hoglander is former TWA MEC Chairman.

The terms are for 3 years.

Management can't "walk away" for months unless the NMB allows it. Either side can request NMB mediation and then the negotiations proceed on a schedule set by the mediator. However, the mediator in the APA talks has essentially allowed AA management to walk away. The talks were "parked". (to use the colloquial term). It does happen. That's why APA called in ALPA. You know the APA had to be pretty screwed up if even a Democrat majority NMB went along with parking them.

FMLA was never intended to be a way to get paid. It is to allow you 12 weeks unpaid leave in a rolling 12 month cycle without the risk of losing you job.

What I was getting at was, there have been court cases that have given precedence to short notice leave that must be approved. Compilations to a delivery are one of them. Knowing for nine months that you will need some time off around a date is not in DAL's eyes, and that is what stands. Many times kids arrive late and the time off has already been taken. Then you get in to the interesting aspect of trying to get time off that with a negative bank, moving vacation pay and then having to take the real vacation unpaid at a later date, etc. It is case by case, and as a result most pilots do not know what steps to take. The CPSC is the clearing house for all of this.

My son had complications and half way though a week of vacation, I wanted to move a week to the following week. I was allowed to drop the days, or move the pay but would be required to take the vacation as published at a later date without pay. That did not make sense to me, so I took option three which was to go negative in my bank. Not the best option, but the only one I could do within the guidelines of DAL's Policy Manual on FMLA on short notice.

Also, pilots taking FMLA to be at home with the kids and wife, is something new for DAL. It was not something widely used until very recently.