Nope. You are reverse rationalizing what happened in a continued attempt to get Ray off the hook.

Negotiations are complex and, much to the horror of the burn it down crowd, require both sides to come to a mutually beneficial agreement. Otherwise it's not negotiations and simply demands.

In negotiations it is known as the BATNA: Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement. It is what both sides strive to achieve.

None of that is possible when one person on the inside is leaking information to the other party...letting them know what we are thinking, what we are striving for, and what our goals are. Further, it doesn't help when that same individual begins taking it upon himself to act like a tough junkyard dog and play hardball directly with top level managers behind the Union's back.

That is the problem we have on our hands and that is what drove the company away.

 

No. The MEC needs to deal with Ray as they see fit. He was out of turn, and I'm not trying to let him off the hook.

What you don't see is that the company is full of ****. They don't plan to negotiate with us at all. It's a string along, pure and simple. They had no intention of meeting any sort of proposal that our guys put up. It's very convenient for them that they have to opportunity to blame all of this on their most vocal opponent.

 

It's not convenient for the company in one way or another. Ray acted through his own free will...he wasn't coerced.

The company has shown time and again that they are willing to meet us in the middle. Of course they have their own bottom line, but are willing to give up certain things on their part to achieve said bottom line.

The problem is that our Union-led by Ray-would frame any proposal from the company as evil and not worth our time. They would sh!t all over anything that came down the pipe. Look at the enhanced flowthrough we were offered. Ray laughed at it because, according to him, every Regional pilot in the country will be at a Legacy within a couple of years. And if not, it will be by choice. That is who we are dealing with and that is why negotiations with Ray at the helm were doomed from the beginning.

 

I'm sorry. I've missed the times they've met us in the middle. Please tell me the examples you're talking about, because I haven't seen any good faith tactic from the company whatsoever.

 

I'm not trying to argue with you so I don't want us to take that tone with each other.

As for where the company has tried to meet us in the middle...let's look at the last AIP. Again, Ray sh!t all over it but look at what was offered:

A minimum guarantee of 170 aircraft. That is an increase from ZERO which is what we are guaranteed right now.

The first 60 E-175s bought from Embraer plus the next 90 options. Not to include any E-175s acquired from anywhere other than the company.

Enhanced flow through to AA for everyone including new hires.

Pay caps which were staggered and didn't take effect right away, but gradually. Also, anyone above the pay caps would have been grandfathered in. As an aside: pay caps vs current pay rates is only $1 or $2 difference for FOs.

There was more that I can't remember off the top of my head, but it shows the company wasn't just making blind demands and not willing to give anything in return. That is negotiating. Their bottom line is 12/4. The problem is that the Union led by Ray made jokes and dismissed everything the company offered us as if it was crap.

 

4 hour min day pay for reserves and $1500 signing bonus.

 

Test post to confirm which time zone the website is on...

 

This place is screwed. But we'll all be at the majors within 3 years, right? Right?????

 

Just change the time zone setting in your UserCP and it'll display whatever time you want.

 

What you don't see is that the company is full of ****. They don't plan to negotiate with us at all. It's a string along, pure and simple. They had no intention of meeting any sort of proposal that our guys put up. It's very convenient for them that they have to opportunity to blame all of this on their most vocal opponent.[/QUOTE]



This right here. We want something, the company doesn't want to give it to us. It doesn't matter what Ray did or didn't do, if they won't meet our minimums, then what would you have the negotiating committee do? If people here think the AIP was so great go tell your rep that that's what you want, along with all the risk and lack of guarantees it included.


I have not been compromising in what I have expected from the company as a contract, I let my reps know exactly that. I voted no. I expected what has been happening to happen, though it ****es me off to no end to see the company's repeated grabs and time wasting for unacceptable contract parameters. It sounds to me like people are starting to change their colors around here.