I'm Ready!
A job worth fighting for!

 

Great thread guys I'm posting this here again and I am 100% with you and I really appreciate posting the red letter a lot of guys here aren't familiar with the history of the management-labor relations. I really feel like the management team is headed back to the old fire, aim, ready management style. I hope guys won't be blinded by the "signing bonus" what a joke. It really is back pay and if the numbers are correct it is not nearly enough and I'm tired of these contract extensions that offer no real improvements.
I know I don't have all the facts yet, but if it turns out to be a 10% pay raise and then 3% a year after and retirement isn't uncapped, I'm absolutely voting NO. To me that would merely be another contract extension. We have continued to have our schedules optimized. We are working harder, more days per month, with more legs, shorter layovers, no weekend layovers, ridiculous deadheads and unreasonable banks. Come on just look around, airlines who haven't made money in a decade are rapidly closing in on us when it comes to compensation.
Plus each year the retirement cap is maintained our retirement becomes less valuable. I used to buy a can of soda for 25 cents and now the same can costs a buck or more. I believe our pay rates are just keeping up with inflation, but we are working much harder than we used too. Simultaneously the value of our retirement continues to decline due to inflation. This contract will last almost another decade (Yes 6 years plus the 2-3 years it always takes to get a new contract), there is a higher probability of increased inflation which will further erode the value our earnings and retirement.
I remember the fact that our careers got extended out to 65. How about another week of vacation for 5 more years of service, how about increasing the multiplier so we can get credit for 30 years instead of 25 towards retirement (then we could at least earn 60% of our high 5) and how about increasing the pay scale out to 20 years so we have higher pay rates for our longer careers. I'm sick of trying to just maintain the status quo, how about some improvements to pay, retirement, vacation and quality of life. I want an exceptional TA and I don't have any problem saying that I want the best pay, benefits and compensation in the business because I think we have earned them.
Going into peak, record profits, pilot shortage, record stock price, rapidly growing executive compensation and bonuses--I guess we probably don't have any leverage do we? I'm sure if we wait another 10 years the company will reward us for our patience and loyalty and we will probably have just as much leverage then too. Can you blame the company for offering us another crappy deal? We have gladly taken every other one they have given us. I really like my job, I don't think the company is evil, I just want what I have earned--A real pay raise, protecting the value of my retirement, and some quality of life improvements. You do what you want, but if the rumors are true I'm absolutely voting NO!!!