Clearly it's been forgotten.

It bums me out that we opened with our bottom. Money doesn't drive my decisions, qol does.

It bums me out that the weekly memo from SD says "we" will review "ALPA's" opener along a traditional route. Doesn't he have a seniority number? Which we is he supposed to be?

I can't tell where the company ends and the union begins.

Depending on where you are pushing back from, it's a lot of coin.

That statement is meant to test the backpack wearers versus the backpack doffers.

The only backpack I'm wearing is orange.

It has always amazed me that management pilots are also ALPA members.

Disciplined, harassed, even fired....by a "union" "brother." What a ****ed up arrangement.

Me too, I prefer to fly Nice, Rome or Athens on Tuesdays. But, money makes the world go round. There is a finite amount of money they will part with. That's all I got to say about that.

Question to anyone, why do we allow that?

While I agree, this would be the minimum I expect too, I'm not looking at this as an opener. At some point, we are going to meet some arbitrators, and they are going to judge us by how reasonable our proposal is. If we can show them that our table position is reasonable, it doesn't matter if it is our starter or the result of 5 years of protracted negotiations.

What I'm reading from the tea leaves is that JM thinks we are headed for a little brinksmanship and will find ourselves in front of an arbitrator in March, therefore, he is hitting the company between the eyes. This is what we expect and this is what we are willing to fight for, and if we end up in arbitration, our position is reasonable.

I hope I'm right....the company knows we will not roll over for pay rates alone...despite gold fingers criticism. They have to know its going to take more than 8, ps conv, 3,3. After United's contract extension, the 22% is going to bring us to parity, or in the range. After that, if they want to fight, I'm sure we can gather enough information about our proposal vs our peers to show how reasonable we are being. This contract proposal will not put us too far ahead them, if at all.

is it binding arbitration? I hope not I'm saving my profit sharing for my strike fund and do not want another terd TA forced down our thoats.

No, it not any type of arbitration - it is mediation, which is basically meaningless. It can certainly slow things down, but nothing can be forced upon us.

I think a lot of guys are confusing the two. Here is a primer:



ARBITRATION AND MEDIATION

Arbitration and mediation are parts of the labor relations process. Arbitration is the procedure by which parties agree to submit their disputes to an independent neutral third party, known as an arbitrator. Although there are several types of arbitration, labor arbitration is the dispute resolution procedure used in labor relations. Mediation also involves the active participation of a neutral third party whose role is to facilitate the dispute resolution process and to suggest solutions to resolve disputes. The term conciliation is often used interchangeably with mediation, but conciliation generally refers to the third party who brings the disputing parties together. While the mediator suggests possible solutions to the disputing parties, the arbitrator makes a final decision on the labor dispute which is binding on the parties.



Scoop :)