Fixed it for ya. :cool:

This is an excellent point. Whether it's through pay rates, work rules, vacation pay, or a combination... I don't care how you make the sausage. I just have a personal minimum where if my W2 number doesn't increase by at least 50% (to match or exceed SWA), it's a NO vote from me. It is not just about the pay rates themselves. (And, no, it doesn't necessarily all have to be on day one of the new contract.)

Same thing for scope. It either improves (resulting in less outsourcing and in actually getting back Delta pilot jobs) or it's a NO vote from me.

Your W-2 does have to increase by 50 percent to equal Southwest wages. It's not going to happen though. We can all vote "no" as much as we want, but the company won't agree to it and the NMB will not release us.

EU investigates Delta, Air France-KLM, Alitalia - USATODAY.com

"The Commission will investigate whether the partnership may harm passengers on certain EU-U.S. routes where, in the absence of the joint venture, the parties would be providing competing services," the European Commission said in a statement Friday. The Commission is the executive arm of the EU.

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Why doesn't the EU investigate OneWorld and the Star Allance for coordinating schedules? This is so blatantly political.

?????????? Really? Why? Based on what?

DALPA has exclusive bargaining rites with Delta Air Lines. If that were not the case, and the regional carriers were actively going to our management team trying to take our flying away, using the same lawyers would be a conflict of interest. They don't and our interest is not conflict. Yes, there are a few hundred pilots at the regionals that are not going to leave, but the majority of ALPA RJ pilots would like the majors to fix their scope mess so they can move on with their careers.
Many of those pilots are sick of waiting and are going to Emirates. They do not want to stay at the regional airlines, but cannot wait for us to get our house in order. They bailed. They do not want more flying at their carriers. I was of the same mindset when I was there. I want the flying here. How we do that is up for debate. (Sunset, phase in, all at once, and then how we get there)

The discussion is about the perceived conflict at national. Charging our legal team with giving legal advice to DALPA to help another smaller carrier is a strong accusation, and without proof it is damaging to the trade as a whole. I have no proof, I looked long and hard for it. I was concerned about Ford-Cooksey, but after much time and research, realized that there is nothing these pilots can do to stop us from doing what we as Delta Pilots want.

ALPA is trying to be a trade organization, not a boutique union that only represents one labor group. I see the importance of that for many of the issues that we current face and those that we will face in the coming years. ALPA has been able to keep these RJ contracts from falling in to oblivion over the last few years. If they had not, the cost benefit would have returned.

Furthermore the RJ boom was from scope policies that mainline MEC's created. Take a strong stance on scope, you solve the perception issue. Money is always a big motivator to look the other way with this stuff. The votes is up to this pilot group, and the blame rests solely on the past MEC's and the pilots for voting this stuff in.

Want change at National to clear up any perceived conflicts? Lets go for it. I am all about changing things that reduce issues in perception or fix actual issues so we can focus on the larger game.

It is not a lie. Look at how the bargaining for new agreements is done. National provides resources, et al to the MEC's but the MEC's are the ones that negotiate their agreements. It is set up that way to prevent a conflict. National does not come in and do our bidding for us. Yes, the lawyers are from National, but they advise us on how we can carry the ball the farthest distance down the filed, not that we cannot negotiate a certain part of our contract because it will hurt some Regional.

National has may bureaucratic issues, and many of them can be cleared up with a unified group doing the work. Problem is that most just want to give up, vote in a new union and expect all of these issues both on the MEC and National level to not follow. That is near sighted.

So do I. Ask yourself why a guy like me who wants change so badly within ALPA is fighting to keep ALPA and did not jump in to the DPA ring?

People can disagree. It is very hard to shoot inside the circle and discuss what we discussed a few years ago. Why? Because you and others are trying to de-certify the union. You many think that my desire for change with ALPA has changed, but it has not. What is different is I disagree with the premise of voting out ALPA. I have long since stated that I want to fix what we have. Many think it is too broke to fix, but the reality is that changing bargaining agents right now concerns me for many reasons. First, without a true plan of action, there is nothing that I can compare to what we have, Second, it is a lot harder than changing a name plate, Third, the timing and the world we live in is just not right for this, Fourth, the notion that a new agent would be cheaper and would be able to better represent us is woefully overestimated. The costs are going to be a lot more than you think.

If DPA or another independent group is a failure, you will not get to come back in to the fold like FDX did. It is a one way street and there will be no going back. For that reason, my position is that we need to be very careful about this. There will be no ability to act on buyers remorse. If you want to discuss what we talked about a little over two years ago, stop the dive to kick ALPA out. My position is the same on those issues as it was two years ago. Fix what needs fixing within ALPA. It is what I have been working on for the last two years. Sorry if I am not touting on here about that work. Increasing leverage, writing resolutions, and presenting case arguments to those that can make the decisions is where my effort has been going. If the pilots that put in their cards for DPA would reengage in the process, you may actually see more success in that regard. Problem is the, check and balance is not there.

Oh and a tidbit that came out of the MEC open session about the FT/DT. The President (White House one not Lee) himself is the reason for the cargo cutout. There is not one thing anyone could have done about that. It is about money and support for November.

quick aside; I too will be looking at a crash pad near LGA..... any advice other than the ads on crew guide?

8

Common sense

It was an analogy; see the forest for the trees. LA LA LA LA LA LA!!!--I'm not listening to anything that goes against ALPA taking dues from two groups with competing interests...LA LA LA LA LA LA!!!

http://i52.tinypic.com/2r2lwd1.jpg

The force is strong with this one; he is well on his way to becoming an ALPA master.

Scoop,

You just raised a question in my mind, Strike. I wonder how many on our seniority list have been on strike and know what it's like to be walking the line? My guess 25-35%. It's been 13 years (1998) for me and the others from the north, but I still remember waking up wondering if or when I would go back to work. I know we are along way from that, but it's a possibility we all need to plan for. So, may I suggest, pay down your bills and set a little aside for a emergency/strike fund.

I am not trying to spread fear, just trying to pass along some advice giving to me by a wise captain many years ago.