I have put this thread also on FlightInfo. Some were asking for a copy of CAL Contract 97. I was able to get a PDF file of the contract. If anyone is interested in a copy please PM me with your e-mail address. I can only send the entire file as I don't know how to cut and paste parts of a PDF file. Since I have received quite a few requests for the contract on flight info I am also posting here.

 

CAL,

Has the CAL contract 97 been ajust amended by the 02 or 03 etc concessions or was a new contract written.

Rosie

 

No Contract 97 was the predecessor to Contract 02 ratified and signed in the spring of 05. Contract 02 was initially going to be a industry leading contract (prior to 9/11 but turned into a concessionary contract in the fall of 04) We are currently negotiating Contract 08 that hopefully bring us the fair and equitable pay, benefits and working conditions we justly deserve.

As an aside note we will need to negotiate somewhere between 30% and 40% pay raises from Contract 02 rates just to catch up to Contract 97 rates adjusted for inflation.

 

I don't know about the rest of the new hires but this one is ready to fight. Pay rates, work rules, bid system all need major improvements. A vote of "no" means you are saying "yes" to restoring the profession.

 

Amem, I'm there with you.

Remember everything in the contract is important. New hire pay, new hire benefits, reserve rules, lineholder rules, trip/duty rigs, pay on every fleet type (not just the one you fly), international pay, seat rest for crews with IRO's, etc. Vote on every section, not just the ones that apply to you. You can screw another pilot group of your own airline. As a 757/767 FO, I have experienced this first hand. Stand as one, vote as one.

 

Besides screwing OTHER pilots at you OWN airline, you can be screwing OTHER pilots at OTHER airlines.

 

I hope that CAL pilots standing together for a good contract will help other airlines get better contracts too. I won't stand together for a bad contract. I do wish ALPA would act as one instead of dozens of different unions. Think of the power if all ALPA members fought for all ALPA members!

 

I think our best shot is to hope the others pull us up. A couple of things are disturbing about the company's stance during this round of negotiations. This is my third airline, second major, so believe me when I tell you that our negotiating committee is in well over their heads. No disrespect to those gents, but there is absolutely no way a group of pilots is going to negotiate an "industry leading contract" against CAL's professional negotiator and legal counsel. ALPA's negotiator isn't either. What's the answer? An assessment and good legal counsel. Will it happen? No. We've got the most divided and selfish pilot group in existence. Under stand that the company only agreed to open negotiations early on the "non-economical" sections of the contract.......WHA'. The pilots of AAA(east), A/A, UAL and esp NWA are united. They'll be able to negotiate better contracts than our guys due to our fragmentation. If we're lucky, we'll be stuck with POS '02 for a few years until those guys raise the bar. "No" already decided.