Bunker....leverage? Betting with house money? These are not facts just opinions right? The union meetings (attendance) during negotiations at most carriers would dictate the pulse of a pilot group and their anger. Ours were empty. Thoughts? Comments? I read the contract several times already. I was also at the meetings. Plenty have no idea whats in this contract cause they have yet to read it, let alone realize some big stuff has yet to implement.

Pilots voted this contract in by as much as they did ALPA. Many on here including you and me (maybe not?) could be anyone and do anything as we meld and hide behind anonymity. We can administer venom realizing it was our own tail we struck?

How does this help? Live in anger at every 3 of 4 guys we fly with until the next contract? Sorry not me.

 

This contract negotiation was rough.

We had several factors working against us, a mediator who wanted to put us on ice, a fractured pilot group and the uphill battle of trying to get our first contract and protections codified.

Could we have gotten more? Probably. How long would we have had to negotiate? I honestly don’t know.

I hope now that we have a base contract, we can go and fix what we missed in contract #1.

I hope we can all move forward and get what we deserve in contract #2. DAL/UAL or bust.

 

If you don't think we were gaining significant momentum leading up to the AIP being agreed to, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe too much time in MCO schoolhouse? Were you at the picket in Jan in freezing weather? Ask the guys in BOS how angry the ground control supervisor was at JB aircraft as we taxied at safe speeds, and followed SOP. It had taken a while, but there was palpable galvanization of the pilot group, and it was getting better by the day.


You have to remember, the communication that was coming out of the MEC for a long time was that negotiations were progressing nicely. Nothing to see here. Then bam. They weren't. When that communication turned, guys started coming on board more and more. The investors were angry and JB felt the pressure.


Not everybody has the ability to physically attend meetings. That's not an indication of involvement or unity. Hundreds joined P2P. Many would listen to conference calls. Thousands read the MEC emails. Pilots were involved.


You're right. The deal passed overwhelmingly. It always was going to. I always said the 2 slices of swiss cheese was the NC and the MEC. The AIP should never have passed. Once it did, it was a done deal.


My tough talk on this forum is zero indication how I am at work. Love the guys I fly with. I love my job. We get paid a lot of money to do something I love. No complaints. That doesn't mean I won't stop fighting for what I believe we as a pilot group deserves. I'm not angry, just disappointed and hope we've learned from our mistakes and do better next time. We've all earned it.

 

We will do better. The first contract was going to be a grinder. Now we have experience. I hope the round two starts off with the NEC framing the pilot group as ready to picket on Day 1. I think we will be ready for that too. We’re getting crushed out there. But we’re still not fully CBA implemented, so it’s not a 100% reflection of the gains made in the CBA.

The management is the reason for the adversarial relationship that has developed. When we voted in ALPA Dave B loved to say how everything would change and the pilots would ruin it all. The only thing that changed was management being held accountable for changing the game in their favor. For that reason the get upset at their managerial mistakes and thus blame pilots. They still pull that $hit but we’re getting there in possessing a medium to oppose their nonsense. (Grievance)

They’re very short staffed and the helpers are helping them crutch along. However, our D0 at 60% is a glaring black eye on Operations. The COO is responsible for that. Our management sucks. But this is the low point, or at least that’s what I’m chocking it up to. We can only get better. They can’t keep this rolling IROP going. It’s unsustainable. The cost is going to exceed the benefit and someone will be held accountable.

-Bubs

 

Are you willing to share with us here on APC the first draft of the LOA you wrote and sent to ALPA? You know, step one improving our contract without waiting on the next negotiation?

 

Uh what???

 

What the F are you talking about?

 

Even if he legitimately is a pilot. He makes himself more doubtful each day.

 

Seriously. We have to accept that the NMB works for management now.

That does not mean give up, it means change tactics. Basically make the strike obsolete.

 

Another recycled talking point from 2008 by a newbie.

... and the cycle just keeps repeating itself.

Time ... it just marches on!