After listening to about :40 of today's call I didn't hear much mention of the pilot contract. There was significant talk about CASM going forward and their focus on controlling it. Given that, I tend to agree with the union's stance that we reached our TA at the right time.
couldn't agree with >>>>>>>>>(softpayman) more
I changed to YES vote

 

Still voting no, because the TA merits a no vote, not out of fear or scare tactics, only the merits of the TA.

 

Steve Priest was asked directly if the pilot contract was accounted for in their guidance, and he said it was, so there’s that.

 

This TA has SCOPE which is a 1000% better than the Delta contract.

But the senior guys don't care about scope. .. or reserve rules ... or no more 10 hour 3 day trips ... or 14 hour max day .... or more summer vacation which more pilots can hold ..... all of which is the huge disconnect between yes/no voters.

 

This TA has SOME scope. The scope prevents all the things this company has no intentions of doing in the foreseeable future, which is the only reason the agreed to it. The scope also allows the things the company DOES intend to use, and that's why they required it to be allowed.

Our RJ scope, which the company had no interest in, is gone with a merger with Alaska (we will have negotiated limits, but we will lose the outright ban), so don't get too excited.

Glad the TA has more protections than the PEA, but understand it's not SWA scope and we haven't yet won a permanent victory.

 

You really don’t know what you are talking about. As was pointed out at the roadshow the BJ has had “no interest” in many things and then turned around and pursued those things. No doubt that United would love our scope and, in fact, they have said so.

What is really ridiculous though is the statement that if there is a merger with Alaska we will lose our protections, including the RJ protection.

If there is a merger with Alaska (or anyone else) our contract and its scope remain in place until there is both a JCBA and an agreement or arbitration award on seniority integration. Base on all this deal being better than Alaska’s in most key issues (have you seen their RJs flying around or their lack of an ADG or their vacation distro dropping to 3% in summer?) I’m pretty sure their pilot group would work to keep our scope as well as the bulk of our agreement.

Or we could, as you suggest, go into a merger with no CBA and no scope, and deprive ourselves of any leverage in the JCBA negotiations and completely prejudice ourselves in a seniority integration arbitration. That doesn’t sound like much of a plan to me.

 

Well played, JB. As a pilot, I'm not too happy but, as a stock market watcher, I'm impressed. They manipulate the books to make it look like a rough quarter. Tomorrow, when the TA passes, I think wall street will like it and the stock price will head back up. Great time to buy!

 

Why do you think we couldn't hold onto this? Or at least negotiate a JCBA with wind down provisions?

Depends on the negotiating environment. It's not necessarily a shoe-in that ALK scope (or lack thereof) would prevail.

 

https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/...t-structu.aspx

Wall St estimated in Jan a contract that was an additional $100m/yr. Not so sure they’ll be happy.

 

Sure, that has the potential to make for a bad headline but another headline is that the labor dispute is over and the company negotiated a relatively favorable contract compared to other airlines. The big players who really know the industry will know what an angry pilot group can do to a company during a labor dispute. The small players might sell but I think the big players will buy.