Bartels
 

This was posted on a Facebook page by RH and sparked a great deal of conversation. Unfortunately the conversation devolved to juvenile insults and taunts, giving the moderators the excuse they needed to silence free speech. My concern is that Bartels may undermine the MEC Chairman's efforts to get us a contract for Bill's own political purposes.


"The MEC Chairman recently put out a letter saying that if there is going to be a path to a deal, it will include items the company desires or concessions by the pilots. Shortly after that, the Bartels clan starts sending out letters to the pilots completely contradicting that assertion, in brief, stating that the company has gobs of money and they are going to give it all to us simply because we are so great.


So what gives? Why the mixed message? Well if you think this is anything other than pure power politics, then you are wrong. Bartels and his group were upset that they didn’t win the election for MEC Chairman. Despite his fake message of unity and support for Malone, everyone who has dealt with Bartels in his continuous ALPA career of 15+ years knew this was coming as soon as Malone got the final vote that made him MEC Chairman. Bartels is a one trick pony, he invites someone out on a limb and then he saws it off behind him. Some might want to call it a knife in the back, but in reality it’s more like an A-Bomb in the back.


As I said, Bartels is a one trick pony and that trick is political maneuvering. He knows how to get elected (claim that everyone is out to get you and he is the only one who will protect you), he knows how to grab power, and he knows how to conduct a thorough character assassination. The one thing he doesn’t know how to do is to actually represent his pilots by winning at the negotiating table. I challenge everyone to go back and read his resume that he sent out while running for MEC Chairman; he can list out the multitudes of elections he has won during his ALPA lifer career but he can’t list one accomplishment he has ever had that actually was some type of industry standard or industry leading agreement. In fact, his record of failure is quite long and ignominious.


The standard pattern of Bartels failures include:

• Micromanagement of negotiations including frequent escalations of positions whenever a compromise is made by the other side
• Complete ignorance of the true nature of his leverage and consistent overestimation of his position
• A false belief that winning the battle of social media and webboards equates to winning at the negotiating table
• Holding onto extreme negotiating positions until a cram down occurs
• Reliance on misinformation and deception to try to convince his negotiating opponents to accept untenable positions

This pattern first occurred during the Northwest bankruptcy. Bartels tried to micromanage the negotiations by keeping the MEC in session continuously for weeks on end. He tied the hands of the Negotiators and nothing was accomplished until they came up against the deadline for the judge to reject the contract. Then the adults in the room, faced with a sure rejection, negotiated a deal that was basically a cram down. By refusing to negotiate reasonably, Bartels forced his MEC into accepting what was the worst bankruptcy contract in the industry.


I had a front row seat for his next set of failures. When we started merger negotiations in January 2008, Bartels sent his merger committee into the fray with a list of demands that took 3 and a half pages of legal paper to delineate. We were able to negotiate the JCBA fairly quickly, but the discussions on the seniority list broke down. The Northwest Merger Committee, forced to try to defend an untenable position, resorted to phony data and making future assumptions that lacked any credibility. Bartels overestimated his leverage by believing that because the Delta MEC initiated the deal, they would agree to any crappy offer they made.


In the end, the Delta committee offered a seniority list that was essentially identical to the arbitrated outcome, while the Northwest committee demanded a list grossly slanted in their favor. The failure of Bartels to negotiate reasonably cost the pilot group $250 million, $200 million of which came from the Northwest pilots.


His next failure occurred when the management teams decided to complete the merger with or without an agreement with the pilots. Once again, he overestimated his leverage, thinking management wouldn’t move forward without them, and he 'balked at negotiations. By failing to show up, he forced the Delta MEC to negotiate a deal by themselves in order to pick up the large amount of money that was available to us, especially the merger stock grant. Because the Northwest scope clause was decimated in Bartel's disastrous bankruptcy contract, the Northwest pilots were left with no protections in the merger. Most other pilot groups would have just let the Northwest pilots hang out to dry (see Southwest or American), but the principled leadership of Lee Moak and the Delta MEC prevented that from happening.


Bartels final flop occurred during the Delta/Northwest seniority list arbitration. Once again, he forced his committee to try to defend an untenable and extreme negotiating position. They fell back on dubious statistics and inflated claims which destroyed his committee’s credibility in front of the arbitration panel. The ultimate failure came during the mediation phase. As the mediation proceeded, the mediator pushed each side off of their arbitration positions. Locked into a corner by the micromanagement of Bartels, the NWA committee actually made their positions more and more extreme, to the point that they literally walked out of the mediation. That left the Delta Merger Committee alone with the mediator to work out the seniority list. It should be no surprise to anyone that the final seniority list was essentially identical to the last mediation proposal of the Delta committee. Abandoned by their MEC, the Northwest pilots were left unrepresented in figuring out the final list.


Let’s face it, the narrative being pedaled on Facebook, ChitChat, and APC is that Bad-Ass Bartelies have taken over from the Meek Moakies and are now going to show us how it’s done. Yet when those Bartelies met the Moakies face to face in the SLI they walked away empty handed and the seniority list was created on my computer, hooked to a projector with only the mediator and Delta pilots in the room and the Northwest pilots on a flight home to Minneapolis. Of course that was the origin of the Detroit Pilot’s Association, rising from the ashes of the failures of Bartels to even minimally represent his pilots in the most critical negotiation he ever will face.


Bartels is just following his pattern here. Malone knows that a deal is achievable in the near future, but it is a deal that is much closer to the valuation of the rejected TA than it is to the outrageous and unachievable position that the Delta MEC has on the table right now. Malone, the only person leading the union who has actually successfully closed a deal, knows that we will have to make some concessions on items that are priorities for management. He also knows that the final summation of the deal will be stacked heavily in our favor, just like the rejected TA. Bartels, once again overestimating his leverage, is trying to up the ante from even our current unachievable position. He also is trying to hang Malone out to dry because there are MEC officer elections coming up in the fall. Guess who is getting the knife in the back right now?


In case you were wondering what is going on here, it’s just Bartels blowing yet another negotiation while he does the only thing he is good at; cutting other people off at the knees to consolidate more power for his unending career in union politics. I challenge anyone who attacks me for this post to list one accomplishment that Bartels has that resulted in some type of industry leading outcome. Given his long history of failure, it’s comical how much support he still retains. In this era of social media imaging, appearing to be tough is more important than actually accomplishing anything. The fact is that the Northwest pilot group would have been much better off in the merger if they had paid for him to go on vacation in Tahiti, cut off from all communications. As it is, the same people that are so ****ed off by his sad performance in the merger are the ones leading his charge. It really is funny and deeply ironic."

Falcon 7. You, Harwood, and the rest of the Moakists have done far more to damage this pilot group than we will ever know. Bartels is doing everything he can to unwind your assclownery.

I bet you wear your black polo shirt while you post here.

This is a pathetic hit piece written by guy who is upset that he is not in power. He should spend more time focused on his lawsuit.

F7, anyway you cut it you are only talking about 1 person, don't think 1 person or 1 base would topple the negotiation....are you saying he is so persuasive everyone else is unable to move the argument in a different direction or is their position unreasonable? Let the process play out.

distractions.

get a ta or not....the 'process' has to play out. if/when a ta is put in front of the group each will then decide on its merits.

Man crush.

Post #1 was pretty good. Seems John Malone has some fair weather "friends".

When I see people stabbing him in the back it makes me support him.

Personal attack piece. So who's driving the wedge hoping to retake power? :rolleyes:

The author seems the more likely suspect. :cool:

No voters already deciding their personal minimums?, how about yes voters artificially capping the rational ask?

I'll just wait and judge the product on its merits. Malone first spoke the word restoration when he came into office and now says: "Let there be no doubt—the next agreement must be a clear and decisive win for the pilot group." I'm patiently waiting to see exactly what that means. Malone has our support, the negotiating team has our support. If the negotiations are not progressing to this end, all they have to do is inform us of the situation. That's all we ask. Unlike bankruptcy, record profits don't allow for the same leverage. This may take time, but that's entirely up to management. If there is no deal, that is not a failure of our team.

Uhhhh...the conversation devolved there, or it continued what this guy started in that post? Seems pretty juvenile to me...and very much like a playground taunt.

It wasn't enough to post that twice on FB, and start the poo slinging contest, you had to post it here? Have you made it to chitchat yet? How about A.net?

Could be a failure on both sides. But to have a deal that would conceivably pass by 70% and not present it for a vote would be the fault of who? If there is no deal it absolutely could be a failure of our team.

Conceivably pass by 70%? By what data and who's estimation? When has that ever happened?

Was that metric used last time? If so, it was way off. If not, why not?

The MEC has our input and our surveys, if we don't get a deal the threshold has not been met. No, if there is no deal, it is entirely managements fault.

We don't need a deal, we need a restorative deal because now they can afford it. QOL is not negotiable.

Negotiations are all about costs and in this case cost increase tolerance by management. If they need more pilots to fly, hire more pilots. If they can't hire more, invest in training and recruitment by making the job more desirable. Everything comes down to dollars. If there aren't enough dollars on the table its because management didn't put them there.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being don't care and 10 being go full sick abuse, should I care about this topic?

Another failure for Bartels: He and others from Council 20 voted against our TA in 2002 but allowed it to go to membership for a vote. It passed by 80%. Just a little out of touch, maybe he should have been recalled.

If the major points of contention are fixed it will pass. Sick leave, LCA OE trip pulls, PTIX definition were at the head of the list. Make the net gain greater than last time, UAL +X% and it'll pass 70%, 60% - whatever. It will pass.

Or wait forever for a pound of flesh and 40% more in pay rates.

If that's the input the MEC is working with then you have nothing to worry about.

I'm still at UA+ on rates and no concessions (actually 2004 rates is my minimum on principle alone.) I think others are more extreme than that. We also need gains in other areas. See our December proposal. Record profits buys a lot of solutions but leaves no room for concessions.

Bingo.

Harwood wrote that to go after Bartels for one simple reason: He believes (and has convinced others) that Bartels ran a "misinformation" campaign and without him, the TA wouldn't have failed. There is nothing more to it than that.

Harwood is the token snake in the grass sore loser. His product got shot down, and he wants a scapegoat. Freaking pathetic. He can't accept that he under delivered and what was going to happen happened. He cannot accept that he failed...after all, he is the smartest man in the room.

Bartels is one vote. One. TA 2015 failed in an unprecedented manner for one reason: it was a poor product.

He voted to allow MEMRAT because the majority promised an honest pro/con.

They lied. Same old sell job like the failed C2015.

Captain Bartels was reelected by a wide margin after that.

Bill is one of the most, if not the most, intelligent and well read leaders I have observed in over 30 years.

Hanson, O'Malley and the rest of the Apple Dumpling Gang are just upset that the Delta pilots are more informed than at in point in their history.

For a decade a small group did as they pleased. The only reason they are not still in power is social media. Their lies and distortions died a quick death when they were shown the light of day.

It is amazing really. Not pretty, not perfect, but what our forefathers envisioned without a doubt.

And who is still in the leadership now that the lights are on?

Captain Bartels.

It is interesting to me that Alpha lacks the courage to attack Captain Brielmann. Tom makes Bill seems like a *****cat.

And my hat is off to him.

Harwood has gone from being the "smartest guy in the room" (in his own mind) to the "village idiot" (in the minds of most Delta pilots). Nobody wants to hear from him anymore. The sooner he internalizes that, the sooner he can start to heal himself.

A predictable response from you.
However, I believe Tom is pragmatic at the end of the day.

Until the next merger.

It will take courage to vote yes on any TA deal.

The pathway to stay on the ALPA gravy train is to vote no. It's pretty easy; no deal is perfect, and one can point to something that they believe is under their acceptance threshold as a reason for a no vote.

Always say yes, always say no; neither one is a good practice.

Always saying no tends to keep you in office.

Not looking for a web war here, but I think Rich makes some interesting points.

Everybody knew this was coming.
The Moakists are going to attempt a comeback.

Being out of power is killing them.

What's fascinating about this opening shot from Harwood is their decision to adopt the tactic used so effectively by the opposition to Moakism and try to focus on one guy and his views.

Obviously the "Moakist" tag really bothered them. Especially Harwood.
However, it only worked because it was mostly accurate.

I don't think basing their political comeback on a contrived narrative that has them saving the Delta pilots from Bartels and the "Bartelies" is going to work for the Moakists. Its way too much of a stretch.

Bartels is an LEC rep. He's never been Master Chairman let alone President of ALPA.
Most Delta South guys have never heard of him.
Trying to portray him as some kind of all-powerful leader able to kill any agreement he doesn't like or single-handedly influence negotiations and seniority lists just isn't credible.

Harwood swings and misses with this one.

I don't know. There are a number of guys who are not all that happy with his previous work and with his new shenanigans, he's become toxic.

The fact that him, curly, Parker and the rest are rooting for the current admistration to fail is not lost on the pilot group.

I agree with that as a Delta Gawga person. Bartels who?

Moakism fit.

Any pilot who asserts ta15 was "heavily stacked in our favor" should have their grasp on reality examined.

Further evidence is the characterization of the re-opener as outrageous. And "unachievable".

That would be akin to asserting that 2 out of every 3 of us is a complete moron for not voting yes, wouldn't it?

In a nutshell.... yep. Morons all. Unable to perceive or appreciate the brilliance of the man behind the curtain.

Which of course is the crux of the entire essay.

Harwood does offer one legitimate criticism in my opinion.

The fact that Bartels is an ALPA lifer. A "career ALPA pilot".

I don't think that's healthy.
At some point you become more of a politician than a pilot. Bartels perhaps being Exhibit A.

JMHO.

Rocket surgeons. :cool:

I could not care less about 2 alpa dogs fighting over a bone.

What I do care about is his characterizations of relative value and attempts, yet once again, of managing expectations and results down.

He has done nothing but reveal himself as a de facto agent of management.

Guess he missed that whole 'Aim High' course.

Agree 100%.

Harwood is a very smart guy. But his successes has lead him into denial when he failed. His message maybe true, but to catch an ear of folks again he must acknowledge his own failure, NA2015.

I voted yes for it and I know acknowledge it was a seriously flawed product that was promoted as a pathway to more mainline growth that was coming anyway. I believed ALPA when they said RA doesn't give 2nd chances and United will grab the 190s. Not only did more SNB aircraft come anyway it ended up being 75 state of the art Cseries instead of 20 ratted out E190s.

After profit sharing horse trade a 15% raise over 3 years is not remotely worth the sick leave changes and 75% of OE trips. A strong argument can be made that the concessions fully funded the raise. He and the rest of the Moakists that were cast out must realize they were overconfident, and misread the desires of the pilot group. They screwed up. It happens.

The smartest guy in the room is the guy that realizes his mistake and quickly learns from it.

He is incapable of such an epiphany, let alone publicly articulating that reformation.

Given your last post, the question is have/can you make such a public declaration?

dating from the days of the old dalpa forum.......RH proved that if you repeatedly tell people you are the smartest guy in the room..... some will eventually end up believing it.

This essay is simply the latest installment in his uninterrupted campaign of that assertion.

Why not a single post on the substance of the letter. Seems odd!

Lots of labels here, but no refutations, and no rebuttals of the subject's history. Interesting.

Promise the moon. Create scapegoats. Make bigger promises than your enemies. Lose at the table, and get jammed by a third party. Blame the scapegoats. Repeat.

Malone writes the simple truth. If you want the full spectrum of section six, we need to accommodate the legitimate business objectives of the company. Whether you want a market based deal, or release to self help, you're getting neither without that element. You need to show that you're serious about the deal, or the mediator simply won't play with you, and time will stand still. Like it is right now.

The council comms since then have shown that the reps are scared of the Orange Crush. They either write NOTHING, as C44 has chosen, or they double down on stupidity, and treat the opener like a suicide note, as seen in the shrill and juvenile rants of C1 and C66.

I had hope for Malone. I knew he was sharp, and could get a TA that would pass the membership. Any TA he could get will probably die on the table during this week's MEC meeting, all to appease the Orange Crush and serve the ambition of a few reps who have done nothing to put money in our pockets, and at present are taking money out of our pockets with their willful ignorance.

Pander. Slander. Promise the moon. Blame Moak. Get re elected. Repeat. It's been working since 2008, why stop now?

If you two can't ascertain the pertinent 'substance' to the letter is the author telling this group the re-opener is "outrageous and unachievable"...... well I can't help you.

Just a wild guess on my part...... but I do not think the majority of this group would have either one of those descriptors in their vocabulary tool box to characterize the re-opener.

I think Tom is an outstanding rep and we are very lucky to have him. He is, in my opinion, the strongest opponent on the MEC to concessions.

Brielmann, not Bartels.

Management has needs!!

And we need to address them!!

I couple more rounds with guys like you in charge and we would be working 30 days a month and sharing rooms at the Motel 6.

Our contract is a joke. It is filled with enough loopholes to allow each and every Delta pilot to do the work of 2 Delta pilots.

If we went to a hard 75 hour cap we would need a minimum of 2000 more captains.

And you want to give more??

The only way this makes sense is if you are a 777A

Or you are.......