Not that I'm aware of. However, and I know this is against the grain, professional negotiators want to come to a settlement and they will have to be backed up by pilots with contract administration knowledge. They don't know what is, or is not, important. They negotiate to a settlement.

This isn't baseball.

I'm not opposed to professional negotiators. I just don't know if they are a cure-all. I'm certainly willing to back the MEC if they want to try that route.

 

C2012 was a good, though not great contract. I think sometimes "POS" just spews from the keyboards of many posters by default. The funn6 thing is that Heiko knows more about this contract than anyone posting here, and Internet tough guy persona aside, NOT ONE of you guys would or could do a better job negotiating.

 

Probably true. I'm certainly not suggesting I should be a negotiator, as I have no experience , training, OR desire to be directly involved in something like that.

Think about this. If I hire an attorney to represent my interests and he sets off on a tangent and represents me in a way that is contrary to what I specified when I hired him, is the solution for me to fire him and represent myself or is the solution for me to fire him and hire a different attorney?

Again, Heiko's a great guy but he's a big supporter of the proactive appeasement strategy we've been using for the past 10 years. He thinks a 21% increase in pay rates over a 3 year period (C2012)... without accounting for inflation or accounting for the 42% pay cut we took... is something to brag about. In other words, his OBJECTIVE is not restoration but rather getting modest improvements digging out of a bankruptcy reset. I don't think the majority of our pilot group is on board with that kind of thinking anymore. Not with the industry restructured and our company making previously unimagined profits with even better on the horizon.

 

What he said.

 

I agree. We need fresh perspectives.

 

^^^THIS^^^

So spot-on, it's worth repeting, word-for-word.

 

Agree. No Heiko, no Kingsley. Read their comments on the other boards. Too many ties to the old guard and fear of ruffling feathers. At this point be skeptical of everyone. Would be nice to have a solid Q & A with the candidates before anyone is put into office. If ALPA is going to be our bargaining agent going forward a lot of things/people will need major overhaul, replacement and change!

 

Jerry,

Told ya so......

Nana nana naaaaa na (or do I need to find the L&G exchange?)

Anyway, thanks for their service....I wouldn't want that job. Part of the process and we'll see where we go from here.

Ferd

 

MtE is onto something with NC candidate q&a.

 

Heiko is a smart and experienced negotiator who is obviously a leading candidate. However, if I were in a position to put together and vote for a NC I would have to have assurances from Heiko and any other candidates they would be committed to and adhere to a strategy and commitment to achieve a TA without sacrificing additional concessions other than those agreed to by the MEC beforehand. And the only one that I think would pass muster at this point is a seat lock of 2 years for new hires. Other than that--nada. When asked for more just show the benefits gained from massive concessions given in the past and the failure of the company to get our inflation adjusted pay rates back to where they were over a decade ago. Include the loss of the DB plan.

During C2012 we were making record profits and still we made concessions. Why would a leopard change his spots? Yes, we're in a better position this time around, but without an assurance that would convince us of his not repeating history why and how could we trust Heiko to not make major concessions?

When I spoke to Heiko prior to the C12 TA vote I asked him why 88/90 pay was not brought up to A320 pay he answered with, "No one asked for it in the survey." I'm not saying he told me an untruth (I didn't put that in my survey response), but I spoke to about five MD88 captains who said they did. And when I asked how much giving up ALV+15 was worth in dollars I got a non-answer. Still he's capable, but obviously not overly impressive, IMHO.

Barring the hiring of professional negotiators which would deliver the best results, I'd say we could do a lot worse than Heiko, but hopefully we can do a lot better.