Lies, Deceit and Fracture
 

Bold statements, decisive actions; leaders of integrity, transparency and morals are stepping up to take us to a greatly improved contract! The instigators and supporters of this upheaval are still rampantly fanning the flames of dis-unity and mistrust of anyone associated with TA1, but are they themselves capable, are they being forthright, are they functioning on knowledge or emotion or wishful thinking? How about a closer look at the rallying statements of this new regime?
- "more pilots are retiring everyday and more pilots are coming off of probation, soon we'll have the majority we need to get things done." They hopefully understand that every pilot coming off of probation is not 30 years old and not everyone who is coming off of probation feels the same way!
-"they had 20 years to take care of retirement, it's our time now". Every day pilots are getting older, the realization of impending retirement comes at different times to people; regardless retirement has been one of the top issues of every poll; splitting the crewforce along this line is grossly ignorant.
- "a great Scope clause will prevent furloughs, it stops wet-leasing and will ensure seat progression." Any discussion on this matter is purely philosophical; the list of successful scope cases is 1 or Zero; Scope cannot be enforced outside the US, no one is actually willing to give up pay or work-rules for the perception of an unbreakable Scope clause.
- "we can have another TA in 6-9 months". The NMB runs the timeline, you cannot just call them up and quit mediation. With the wholesale recall of the MEC, impending Officer removal, completely new NC, potential replacements of newly seated representatives once they realize that they cannot produce what they promised in their campaign letters; the NMB will likely wait until they are sure that things have stabilized before they re-engage both parties. Additionally, the MEC will have to come to some form of agreement on what issues can or will be addressed in negotiations; it will take them an inordinate amount of time to realize that they cannot address them all.
- " we deserve ________ and ________ and ________." Fill in the blanks! The miss-representation of the ease and rapidity in which changing the landscape of the negotiations to date can occur is borderline criminal. The word "No" can be used by either or both sides, we do not have exclusive rights to it.
-" the hourly pay rates are abysmal, we should be higher than everyone". Did anyone who uttered those words ever transparently explain the causal effects that duty rigs and MPDP have on compensation in other carriers contracts? Did they bother to calculate and compare average W-2's, total earnings and benefits per pilot over their careers? How about the fact that only the very senior pilots on specific aircraft receive that pay; are they intimating that this is their subversive desire, to reward some at the expense of others?

The unfortunate fact is that a group of narcissists, a few former and a current MEC representative, a former negotiator and others, somehow managed to completely fracture this pilot group. They raised the level of distrust to unseen heights, blitzed social-media with their half-truths and irrational conjecture and convinced enough normally level-headed people that the sky was falling. The harm that has been done to countless current and upcoming retirees, the unrecoverable retirement plan contributions and compounding for the younger generation, the immediate and mounting loss of income for every pilot. When the day of reckoning comes, when the realization finally sinks in that there is no more, who will you turn to vilify then? The perpetrators will be gone, some will be retired, others will have scurried off only to deny their involvement and shirk the accountability that goes hand-in-hand with being a true leader. The big winner in all of this is the company, the boogeyman that everyone was so afraid of was brought to life by us, however our management are the only ones reaping the rewards of this insanity. The big losers in this debacle? Look in the mirror, sadly there will be no 100% retro-active pay, there will be no matching pay-rates, there will be no 19-22% CoC B-plan, there will be no $400,000 FAE A-plan. No one can get all of these, that is folly, we will have to pick 1 or 2 and shelve the rest until the next round.
To put it succinctly, we will be voting in 2 to 3 years on approximately the same TA; Why? because there is no viable recovery plan, pilot unity has been destroyed and the NMB will never release a dysfunctional pilot group to self-help.

Great post KT!

FP, a lot of emotional reaction and inaccurate characterizations there but I’ll hit the highlights. You nailed it in your last claim that “we have to pick one or two” and shelve the rest for later. Well, this MEC and NC got zero of them in TA1
- that’s an epic failure. The approach of increasing retirement (certainly not fixing it permanently as they claimed) at all costs, the QOL and other concessions, appealed only to single-item voters.

The MEC/NC are the ones who fractured this pilot group when they sent us a TA that pinned the single-item voters (about to retire) against those who would be saddled with scope giveaways, QOL concessions and industry/inflation-lagging pay for decades. That we’d have to fight to reverse those failures “another day” is a nice GFYS to the majority of the crew force - about 57% and climbing.

I agree with you we’re fractured due to lies and deceit. I think you need to reconsider where the lies and deceit originated. I can easily point to MEC/NC comms (denial of concessions, shady compensation math, threat of immediate furloughs, selling SMU as an improvement) that were lies. Their dishonesty is what was truly unconscionable in the process leading to TA1’s failure.

FP,

Then join us. We need to educate the engaged pilot group, regain the trust we must have through the process. We must educate, focus, and make a Best Value plan after proper debate. Only then can we move forward with one voice and collectively fight for what we deserve.

Clearly we think differently about the past, but it is the future we should be focused upon.

Roll up your sleeves and join us, Together, We Win.


Every junior pilot who is willing to serve whom I have talked with understands Best Value means we we fight the correct fight. Try listening, we have some really smart and engaged junior pilots. I am impressed.

Well said. The new crop of representatives and the inexperienced experts among us will realize most of this once they have exhausted all of the other options XX months down the road.

You get nothing unless you fight for it!

We’ve had far too many obedient servants unwilling to fight for anything.

And to another post, yes we are labor, but we are specialized, and not easily replaced. We are more important than some tend to believe.

We didn’t pick this fight, management did, our MEC/NC were complicit, and so now we have a fight. Let’s go. If this isn’t for you, I understand. Cowardly go about your business.

Ah, yes.

The appeal to our testosterone.

That ought to do the trick.....

Odd that you would see it this way.

The gist of this line of reasoning has far more to do with the value that we bring to the company. Clearly the majority rightfully believes that unless we stand with dignity and resolve, management will continue to devalue us as a pilot group. I can certainly see that why management feels the way that they do, given comments like yours, but again, you and your ilk are now, thank goodness, the minority.

shut the f up

That was the best you could do? Very mature:rolleyes: