Right back atcha... and ShTool as well. :p

It is isn't it :D

I can hear them now working on the talking points and how to start mitigating damage control.

Wait until the reasonable, hard working and dues paying line pilots find out not only what he was hired for but what he is doing today, and for how much $$$.

Carl,

Put on your magic imagination hat. You're RA.

You go to the annual shareholders meeting and give your presentation, complete with pie charts and graphs that show you are kicking the world's butt. One of those charts show PS expenditures for 2014. Another shows year over year increase in said expenditures since the inception of profit sharing. A major stock holder hits you in the Q&A following your presentation. He says he has put a significant fortune into Delta stock and expects a hefty dividend for his effort. Then he asks whether that 1.1 billion could be better utilized in the form of dividends for stockholders? You of course stress that is important to share the wealth with the employees and that it ultimately increases teamwork, etc,etc.

The BIG Holder then says, fine, whatever, but how much is it going to cost us next year.

"Well, er, um,..., sir, the cost is zero because I can't tell the future."

C'mon Carl. Quit embarrassing yourself.

RA is going to tell this guy what he expects to hear. PS is a cost of doing business. As such it is accounted for. He will quote his modeling that will establish a range of probability. From the range of probability a cost estimate will be derived and budgeted for.

Enough on costing PS. Carl is wrong.

Prediction: Contract will reduce exposure to PS by 50% by monetizing at or near current par, depending on financial performance during the negotiation period.

Received.

Prediction:

Contract overwhelming is rejected.

Good discussion and it's almost staying civil. Anyone care to breakdown the sick leave programs at other carriers? I know it's touchy and it was talked about here a few months ago. I know FedEx has a program where unused sick leave is deposited into the 401K at the end of the year. Seems to me it's a benefit that I have that just disappears since I rarely call in sick. I'd like it there when I need it but in my bank if I don't. Aside from the obvious we don't want people to fly sick and we don't want people abusing it, anyone have any other ideas on this?

In a non-union shop, you're correct.

No, it is the union's job during the Section 6 process to maximize the size of that pie, and then apportion that pie.

Pretty revealing statement there. Management called us "thugs" when we went on a legal strike in 1998...which achieved a larger pie than management was initially willing to give.

It's not OUR problem on any hand. In fact, it would be illegal for management to even discuss this in an NMB phase of Section 6. Neither side can bargain for or use another employee group for any reason.

Carl

I like the current system of sick leave, but I would because I use it every year. I think we could go to rollover sick bank that accrues. If I were management I would try to minimize cost by extending settlement of the sick bank balance to retirement. Future money is always cheaper than present money. I would resist the idea of paying the current value of money into a 401K each year.

I would be curious to see if/why management actually prefers our current system or if it comes from DALPA.

No matter how hard you try, you'll never be able to back up your claim of being able to cost out future profit sharing.

Again, you're describing life at a non-union airline. In a union airline, the upper boundary is determined at the end of a legal Section 6 process. That's why there are strikes occasionally.

In a unionized shop, there's a process. Neither side gets to dictate the ultimate size of the pie. In a non-union airline, management does.

Carl

OK.

Of course I or RA wouldn't say that. The only correct answer to that question would be: "There's no way to determine next year's profit sharing cost because we don't know what the profit will be...or if they'll be one."

It would be a similar answer if a shareholder demanded to know what next year's fuel costs will be. Or next year's maintenance costs.

Again man, personal insults don't help to make your case. You have to deal in facts.

This is where I think you're getting confused. There's a huge difference between planning, accounting, budgeting, etc., and costing out a dollar amount in Section 6 negotiations. That process results in a dollar figure that contractual changes will produce in future years. Items like profit sharing would never be accepted by the NMB as a line item on a costing sheet because you cannot put a dollar figure on future profit sharing. Once the NMB gets involved, it's all about the costing of each contractual gain/concession. An item that could be 1 billion or zero won't be accepted by the NMB. Unless of course DALPA agrees to costing out the unknowable.

Carl