Fair enough.

 

I would love to believe MD's tweets were intended to separate PS from hourly rates. I really would.

But DALPA's past performance indicates they will sell the line pilot out to solve the company's problems.

In any case, I don't see any possibility of an "early" contract that doesn't solve the company's PS and AF/KLM problems.

I'm happy to wait for the right deal.

 

No, I think C2K rates are certainly possible by the amendable date. I don't think DAL management will yield them out of the kindness of their hearts. Do you? They don't care what we used to make. They know no other carrier has those rates NOW. They will have demands as well. Comparing our increases to the execs is a waste of breath. They are a handful of people vs 12,000 and did I mention they don't care? Do you find these observations to be out of touch with reality? Or do you just disparage independent thought? With all due respect.. OFG

 

We have 100 times the power our execs do. The difference is they are much better negotiators.

RA said there is no labor risk. All we have to do is pull picketing permits in all major hubs. Our feet would not hit the sidewalk.

Sadly the insiders call all the shots and we will make unnecessary concessions and self fund hourly increase. RA makes these insiders think they are different. They are smarter. They are business men. They have daddy issues and need his approval. We are outgunned 100 to 1.

 

All -

I am worried that we could miss a great opportunity on this contract if we don't speak up in a loud way. I've been hearing lots of rumors of profit sharing being reduced among other things as I am sure you have.

We give a lot to this great company in terms of our professionalism, effort and time away from home. The pilot group as a whole took a huge hit to keep this company alive and now look what we have built - the world's top airline and we are making record profits!!

Just so I can sleep at night knowing that I got involved and I did my best to explain my desires and expectations to our bros at the negotiation table, I got together with a couple other guys and created a petition which we will send up to our ALPA reps and the negotiators.

What do you think? If you like it, please sign and send to everyone you know!

Petition Delta Pilot Unity Petition

 

Again, not that refinery discussion matters in the slightest way in this thread, but:

"...We have lost about 150 million total on the refinery, but it is on track to make over 200M just this year, or more like though this summer...".

RA, this Wednesday, UPS Conference.

 

Not to mention it was never bought to "make a profit" because by definition every penny of profit it "makes" is a penny that DL spends on it to make. They could overpay themselves if they wanted to and show a fake "billion dollar refinery profit" but it wouldn't mean anything. Or they could take the product for free and show huge losses. Neither would reflect reality. Its a ledger game. Its purpose was to reduce refining costs and add price stability for refining and its done a great job of that. Other airlines have piggybacked to an extent, but DL gets the biggest benefit. From everything I've seen its been a very positive financial move once you get past the fake analcyst "profit" nonsense.

 

I think on the refinery it will take about 10-15 years of hindsight before anyone can definitively state how much of a success or failure it ever turned out to be.

Too many competing "expert" opinions, often spouting completely different conclusions with the same facts.

 

Anything that lowers your operating cost is a good move, and the refinery has done that. Thing is, since the fuel is excess capacity, and still bought/sold at market price, all the airlines benefit from the Delta refinery. Delta only saves a bit more on the crack spread.

It looks like American is the big winner in the fuel game, since they chose not to even play.

 

If you have any input regarding sick leave, now is the time to share your thoughts with our reps.

We have had very little input and very few know it is going to change.

As I said 3 years ago, the new talking points by management will be:

We can't staff the air line.

You need to make concessions because we can't grow.

Then the usual suspects will start crying and force unnecessary concessions by spreading these threats.

Call your reps and share your feedback. They work for you.

The staffing problem gets bigger each and every day for the next 10-15 years and the fun has just begun. By 2017/2018 over 500 captains will retire annually. There is no way that works with 9 fleets and 8 pilot bases. Concessions are coming our way.

You would think after the CDO cluster our leaders would be more forthcoming.

Sick leave is changing, count on it.