Dear DPA
 

I supported you back in 2012 but my card has long since expired. Imagine my dismay that you are now asking your supporters to undermine negotiations.

You appear to be advocating that we not support the union's "Get Serious" write in campaign to management and that there is no reason to show up to man the picket lines. Really? This is going to somehow help our pilot group?

To me you have progressed from viable alternative to a sideshow and finally to a real detriment to successfully negotiating a contract.

I am certainly no ALPA cheerleader, I detest ALPA national. But as a Delta pilot and former DPA supporter, I ask you to please stop undercutting our negotiations.

Capt. Hook

Amen, hook! I'm right there with you. Send in your Get Serious emails, y'all!

If we had 7000 current DPA cards we would have no concessions. And Canoll would be fighting for us.

This would be so much worse without DPA.

We are getting our butts kicked and we are going to go lower.

In the end we will be begging for a single.

What a waste.

Jerry, we could get double or triple everything the Dirty Dozen wanted and more and if the DPA MEC voted on it, and the vote was 12-7 in favor, do you know what?

It would fail to be passed on to the line pilots for ratification.

Do you know why? The DPA Constitution requires a 2/3s majority to be approved and passed on for line pilot ratification. Under the DPA Constitution we would be hostage to a minority of total nut cases like you. Just like you'd want it.

This is the fundamental reason cards are not being renewed.

And yet you don't. There are barely 3000 active cards. Give it up! You are supporting a lost cause that is doomed to failure (and wouldn't work in the first place).

Bingo, Dharma!

What is the current count of DPA cards? Is that trend moving up or down?

Every time I see a guy with a DPA bag tag, I just shake my head.

Active is around 3100.

I asked John Malone to run. No one supported him more than I did.

He had no plan and now we are in a boxed canyon with no way out.

We will make severe scope concessions and go lower on hourly rates and vacation.

Why is ALPA ignoring the line pilots again? Because they can.

There is no excuse on earth for this colossal failure in this environment.

Bastian is returning $4 Billion annually to the shareholders and we are making concessions.

You can whine and cry and jump up and down. That wont change the facts.

So the best strategy is to ignore the "Get Serious" effort?

Address the issue on this thread. Should we follow DPA's guidance, and not support "Get Serious"? What are YOU doing?

You shake your head at guys that don't want to give up concessions until we restore what we had when Delta was making FAR less money?

I shake my head at guys like you.

I sent in my get serious email immediately. skipped a 3 day green slip to picket (it was picked up by a flight pay loss regular, i kid you not) I will always vote yes to strike.

We need to hold the line right here and stop negotiating with ourselves.

I think Captain Malone believed Bastian would negotiate in good faith after the aips. Sadly he did not yet again.

We have no choice but to take a strike vote. This will generate great media for us. Then request release. Again great media.

And if no progress is made, a vote of no confidence in Bastian.

I know this makes the company men cry. But it is justified.

After numerous carriers had brand damaging computer failures, Bastian choose to buy back stock instead of investing in our air line and protecting our brand.

Bastian is also turning his back on the Delta pilots after we have made well over $10 Billion in concessions. By far the largest contributor to the success and profitability Delta enjoys today.

We didn't choose this fight. I didn't. the 12 didn't.

Bastian did. He has zero respect for us.

I shake my head at guys like you shaking your head at guys like piasano...because he makes sense.

We will make "severe concessions"?.....are you paying attention at all?

I've flown with GogglesPisano, I shake my head too...:D:D

Oh wait... :D

So you shake your head at people that think you deserve more than you currently make.

Think about that.

If you say so. What is the strategy to get such a contract, just say NO REALLY LOUDLY??? Nevermind, I just read your strategy.

Strike vote
No confidence vote.
.......
Get parked for multiple years and wait for an economic downturn or 9/11 event..... Or DPA getting voted in!!!!!

I shake my head at the the thought that there are guys out there who actually think the DPA has a chance, that sew disunity, and who are actively (or through sheer ignorance) working against the interests of Delta pilots.

Ha. I'm good at one thing -- making guys shake their heads.

I shake my head at guys that keep giving DPA relevance by continuing to even discuss the long-since irrelevant entity. Look in the mirror folks, you are the ones keeping it alive.

If they couldn't make things happen after last summers pathetic excuse for a ta, they never will. Let it die already.

Boggles the mind that people get worked up into such a tizzy talking about an organization that has been unsuccessful for, what, 5-plus years now?

We all know we deserve more. The question is: How to we negotiate to maximum reward? No emotion, no anger, just business.

What I've seen from the DPA, what I've heard from their missionaries, what I've read in their propaganda, is nothing but anger at ALPA. They have no coherent strategy to get us a better contract. Every one of their arguments has been refuted. They remind me of (political statement) supporters -- living in their own post-truth, factless bubble.

Here is what you are missing. We already lost. We got our butts kicked yet again.

And more concessions to come shortly.

So here is the rub, if ALPA fails miserably again and we vote on a ridiculously poor TA, and then we get to complain and vote in a new mec, get a new mec chairman and start over again...what is that they say about the definition of insanity. If ALPA cannot get it right in todays environment why in the world would we stick with a 50 million dollar a year mistake. How many times do we need to be beat down before we go shopping for better representation. I'm not sure if its fear, collective lack of give a crap, laziness or the perception there is nothing better. I for one am tired of the pilot group getting beat down!

.
Well, if, as you say, it's already settled, then I guess I'm ready to vote yes, just to shut you and your unending depressing rants up.
.

I suppose you will have to better define how the pilot group is getting "beat down"...the current company table offer is said to be valued at +/- $700M per year improvement....of course there will be debates as to dollar value and how it stacks up against the SWA TA and AMR and UAL contracts...but by most accounts (at least those sober accounts that will have an adjudicating function on whether or not we will ever be released to self help) it is viewed to be at or near industry leading.

The company negotiators are offering a lot more than I currently make. I have thought about it, a lot.

This is precisely the problem...there is no plan, other than to ridicule the efforts of the people in place now and chant in unison how things would be so much better if we could just get a strong bargaining agent in place, DPA, USAPA, APA anyone but the dreaded ALPA...what a joke.

Well, what exactly is ALPAs plan...I and a lot of others would like to know. Right now it seems like up the middle , up the middle, up the middle...punt.

Like it or not, a deal is within sight that puts us above swa, ual, and amr....

Better rates, profit sharing, vacation, work rules, scheduling etc.? If so Im all in. I dont want ALPA to fail so i can say I told you so, I want ALPA to succeed, but I would like them to be keenly aware that we are all watching them carefully and demand excellence. Many have the opinion that our union is a little too cozy with mgt, and has been for some time. I watched ALPA all but destroy and routinely throw my old regional under the bus, time and again. So maybe I'm not as trusting with our union as others might be.

Desperation.

Here is all you need to know.

Divide the cost of the UPS agreement by the number of UPS pilots.

Then do the same for our upcoming agreement.

That will NEVER EVER happen because reality is not allowed.

You wouldn't know reality if it bit you in the nose.

Lee Seham is coming! Who will be paying?

A great big +1.

Like it or not, ALPA is our bargaining agent for this contract.
At this point the DPA promoters are only helping management.

There was some DPA communication at the beginning of their drive that discussed Seham's billing deal. He was charging something like 50% up front, with 50% due when the drive ended in certification or abandonment of the drive.

I can only imagine how much TC owes to Seham after 6 years of his involvement. If you recall, he was fired from USAPA over unexplainable billing charges, and also released by SWAPA and APA. Any money a pilot contributes to DPA at this point must be going directly into the hands of a family (Lee Seham and his father) who have done nothing but prey on pilots and their follies.

How many line pilots do you think actually care how a contract is valued by company or ALPA estimators? It's a real question. Personally, it doesn't mean anything to me, my working spouse or my kids under age 5. My hunch is that there are other Delta families like ours.

As soon as we are offered a deal that enhances QOL as I interpret it (more time at home, more schedule flexibility and less uncomfortable dead heading) commensurate with record profits, I'll vote yes. Until then, C2012 works for us and I don't squander the real opportunity to make meaningful QOL gains only to pad our family budget a little more. We've got plenty of income, but missed family time is what I'll regret forever.

I find it amazing that DPA posts on their site the current vs. members numbers. I love the honesty and transparency.
Very refreshing, with alpa you always need to decipher where they are lying and where the truth is!

Unboggle your mind and think!
This is because both company and alpa detest DPA with passion. Why do you think that is?