YES. As long as the company keeps trying to monetize our PS that means they are forecasting huge profits. You really think they believe that fake threat about a possible recession when theyre still trying to come after our PS? Explain to me, if this was recession was indeed coming, why the company wouldn't just leave PS alone since it would be self correcting? Go ahead and shoot that email to the top and let us know what the answer is. We'll be waiting for their awkward reply...

 

Good to know, thanks for answering.

Sounds like we are in a similar situation for time remaining.

I'm in no rush for a contract. I'll happily work under our current contract until we get it right.

I voted no for many reasons, the primary reason I voted no was for those following in my footsteps.

I just couldn't do that to the next generation of pilots.

 

Well, my baseline is set. Any compromise better be offset with an equal or greater gain or it's a NO. That's my position. I'll be supportive of my negotiators, will be patient, and willing to apply any pressure our team asks of us.

It's not my job to be reasonable. It's my job to determine if the next TA meets my minimums for a yes vote. I have never voted yes to a TA. I will vote yes to our proposal on 22 December as that is the most I believe we will achieve over the short term. If this drags on, my price will go up. If there are any givebacks not offset with an equal gain, it's a NO.

 

Yet management agreed to a PS program in the failed TA that placed no limits on the upside potential. If what you say is true why?

 

For one, the changes in the language of PTIX calculations created major soft spots for them to eat away at PS, to include executive bonuses and other expenses currently not allowed to be factored into PTIX.

You dont think theyre looking for every way to go after PS? In case youre wondering, the company took the $30 million JV settlement and called it a labor expense and took it out of our PS pool for 2015. They laughed at us for this. Essentially a wash. 3 years of scope violations and they tricked us by paying us out of the same pot of money we were going to get anyway. You are FAR too trusting of our management. FYI there will be a grievance pending to get this money back.

 

Well sure they are forecasting that. Anybody that reads the WSJ knows this. They have been paying 1/4 of the profits to the employees up until the non-con modifications, and I am sure that didn't sit well with the institutional investors. I wonder what it will be going forward. Not my problem but it is a problem for management and one that they need to solve. I would think it is our only real leverage at this point but I do not know this for sure. They overreached on TA 15 for fixing their problem. But is something less more acceptable? I honestly do not know but I do know that anything that reduces it inside of section 6 is not acceptable unless the pay increases are enormous and what I have seen so far is not enormous. Now whether a recession is coming or not is anybody's guess. It doesn't have to be a recession to hurt Delta though. FOREX is hurting us right now even with record low oil. Who knows where this Zika virus is going to go? It could cause problems. I am not defending anything but looking at things that can easily cause disruption in the PS party.

 

I think it was because they never thought they would make the kind of profits that would result in us being where we are right now. That is why they mooved the goalposts in TA 15 to the ridiculous number that they did. Hence this is the only real leverage we now have. The upside potential was unlimmited but the liit they were proposing was not practically reachable with our current corporate structure and the tradeoff for pay was lame.

 

This is restoration without inflation. Keeping C2012 as is with these rates would be an absolute minimum. Now I will be slaughtered for saying that.

Retirement funding for most pension fund managers is benchmarked at 7% return per year over the length of the career. For someone starting out 60% FAE would require ~ 20% DC. Our group is so diverse in the different retirements there is no good answer. DBs are gone. I'm sorry but you and I will never see one again.

There are no guarantees but by keeping our compensation aligned with managements through the current profit sharing we are guaranteed the same results they are. That's the best I can offer.

 

not only did they move the goalpost, they tried to change the rules of the game to make it one-sided. This should make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. If it doesn't look right or feel right, it most likely isn't right. They know exactly what theyre trying to do. Can you blame them? No. But now that we've realized whats happening, its wrong for them to try to continue to deceive us.

The investors are a scapegoat. You think the investors told RA and EB we cant have holiday pay, night pay, 5:15 training and vacation pay, and an extra week of vacation? I'm asking you to open your eyes. They use the investor excuse as the reason to take away PS but wont consider improvements that investors cant even see or measure? We have to logically approach this. Their story doesn't make sense.

 

Don't forget that Delta Management are the largest private shareholders (Investor's) so when they talk about returning profits to the shareholders through increasing dividends and stock buybacks, they are talking about returning those profits to.... THEM!