That’s a great suggestion for our Coms Chairman. You should send it to him.

 

When do we get a settlement on the 100$ a month health care fee? Took years to get a ruling. Now we wait on settlement

 

Way I see it the legal reality says the company does not have to agree or discuss anything ALPA brings to them until like 2023/2024 for talks. It’s a pilots market and that’s a positive momentum in the union’s pressure ability. Im glad we take gains when we can. Name any leverage you want, but I don’t think it’s enough to force a company like this to the table unless it’s ordered from the TOP at AAG, or sanctioned by AAG. This is a strategic game/dance that has to be played.

I’m happy for the gains we have, is it enough? Hell no! But it’s a bit of daylight while-looking for a way to break out of this quicksand of a regional before the first sign of trouble.

Oil prices have recently taken a sharp decline trajectory this quarter and will continue into 2019 1st quarter. This is a very a good sign, I suspect a hearty Christmas announcement or engagement from the company.

 

To your first couple of points, while I am often vocal about wanting more, I understand that the union and pilot group are a huge disadvantage legally due to the Railway Labor Act. If anyone should care to learn more, do some research and see how much the company is favored in things like this, from a legal standpoint.

Its not like we can just strike and make management give us something. There is like 4 years of legal process to get through before that even looks like an option. Managment knows this and wields it like a sword. The union sets up long term strategies and tries to move forward that way.

It sucks, it does, but is the law of the land and for their part, judges who interpret the law that do us the most disservice in regards to labor negotiations.

 

There used to be phone meetings about once a quarter. You listened in to an update and then could ask questions.


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29/month.... Yep, obviously in bed together.
Standing Vacancy LOA with immediate Cpt. Pay upon award.... Those colluding bastards. Positive space travel and unlimited hotels in LGA.... Thanks Obama.

 

29 a month to settle grievance that had nothing to do with captain pay or hotels. What you fail to realize is that the so called gains for the pilots were just as beneficial to the company. They were desperate to attract DECs. The hotels in LGA helped with that, now the new DECs aren’t even being assigned to LGA. Win for the company. Being able to tell DECs they can earn captain pay immediately instead of waiting 3 months is a win for the company. It also incentivizes current FOs to take the standing bid. Win for the company. FOs who upgrade now immediately lose the FO bonus, win for the company. Instead of higher pay rates for captains, only new captains get an extra $30 pay raise for 3 months. That saved the company huge amounts of money. Not to mention we just gave away any leverage in this by negating an FO with low time to be able to sit reserve and avoid upgrade to force the company to deal. The company was desperate for captains and we gave it up to settle a flow grievance that was completely unrelated. The so called gains were a sham in that they were just as beneficial to the company but they made so many pilots feel good about it for some reason. Blows my mind. Settle the flow grievance with flow and settle the captain problem with better captain pay. But no, you and many others continue to think the company is working in your best interest. The union rep I spoke to who was on the negotiating committee told me, when I asked about the LOAs, said “if we give the company what they want now, they will be willing to negotiate IN GOOD FAITH down the road.” I almost fell out of my chair.

 

Have you tried joining the negotiating committee? If you thought the merits of the last LOA were fruitless, then why don’t you join and “be the change you want to see”?


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Well, without the company doing well we won't be doing well either. Its a crappy situation all around. That last line is amazing, as the company won't negotiate in good faith unless it is in their best interest.

 

The union and the company reached a reserve LOA about a year ago. Part of the agreement had improvements for the pilots. While other changes favored the company.

In my opinion, a lot of the pilots that had been bitter about being on reserve for so long decided that anything that wasn’t a total improvement for the pilots and a gift from the company should be shot down. The LOA got a really bad reception from a vocal minority of pilots.

The MEC was already doing road shows at this point and a vote was going to be scheduled for the pilot group on the LOA. The vocal minority opposed to the LOA got the MEC to pull the LOA and it was never voted on.

In my opinion the LOA was a win-win for the pilots and the company. The MEC and the company thought so too. A vocal minority derailed the vote.

If you want an improvement to reserve, you need to reach out to your reps and let them know what you think an acceptable reserve agreement looks like. Unfortunately, the company may not still be willing to listen.

The only leverage the pilots really have in this situation is trying to game the current proffering/confirming system and leaving them short of pilots by having all pilots on rap 1 or all pilots on rap 2. I don’t think there’s enough unity in the pilot group to make that work. So for now things are stuck.