Phasing it in over 2 years makes good tax sense for a lot of us.

 

I'm pretty sure if TA is ratified then I retire a week later, I am still entitled to that "signing bonus" right?

 

I don't think this TA will pass once it's out in the open. Especially after a 9-5 Vote from the LEC. It must be Weak in many critical areas. So you old folks will be working for another year.

Remember, you will be working under this until 2023 minimum. So it needs to be right.

 

Well it depends on where I will be working lol

 

Then let's hope next Wednesday the MEC stands tall and sends it back rather than out for a membership vote--that is if it's only a decent TA.

I want a great contract. We deserve it and the leverage was/is there. It will never be better than through the end of this year. A nice pay raise the first year only won't cut it with me if the rest of it isn't great.

It worries me that it was only 9-5 to approve the resolution. That implies to me there are some significant areas that need improvement. We have to live with this for just short of a decade so it should be damn good.

MEC, do your job and if it's not great, send it back. I don't want a member vote simply to have one...that would be abdicating responsibility. Only approve a TA to be sent for vote if you think it's great!

 

I think the signing bonus will be tied to not retiring until next year ... Jan, Apr?

 

It better not. It's "my" back pay. When "I" decide to leave, they owe me "my" back pay. That would be a deal breaker!

 

Totally agree. We should not be forced to do something that we don't want to do, or alter our retirement plans, in order to bail them out from their incompetent planning and management decisions, just so that they can make it through peak. They should have thought this out two or three years ago, and not gotten themselves into this mess. Had we gotten a contract when the old one expired, then they would have had a stable platform to work form, and being able to properly man, and predict, the crew force, without trying to guess, and hope, that they will have enough pilots to fill the seats during peak. If this alleged TA does not happen, then the company is looking at trying to get through peak with a few thousand highly ****ed off pilots. I have a feeling that not too many will be willing to step up to the plate, do the extra work, and be satisfied with the annual "atta boy" letter.

I also agree with the poster, saying that this needs to be a great contract, not one that will just squeak by with 51%. I am concerned at the 9-5 vote. I guess we will know next week, just what the score is.

 

Is ALPA that stupid to not base signing bonus as some multiple of hourly pay rate? You don't want to reward the wolf pack by basing it on some percentage of past pay. And you don't want to arbitrarily **** off half the crew force (ask Delta MEC). Hopefully my lec rep who represents my seniority but is mostly voted on by other seniority blocks will stand up for sanity.

And if you retire before DOS you should certainly get a percentage of the signing bonus based on how many months you worked between contracts.

 

To think it is going to be a great TA is ignoring history! We have always been offered and taken the 3-4 percent a year raise. ALWAYS. It is all that will ever be offered.