I'm going to miss seeing Scott's "I'm Pi$$ed face" argh! Too bad I gotta work, enjoy the saucer afterwards- ask for Lauren (good looking brunette), tell her Ken sent you!

 

...you guys would wait this long for $34 an hour... and crappy work rules.. you guys should have them by the bals with the media attention right now

 

agreed...remember, this is rumor...lots of those floating right now. IF that's true, and no soft money attached....ESPECIALLY if the bonus comes in multiple "promised" installments...NO WAY. the bonus is all we have for sure when it's signed. Thats it. The contract can always change. Concessions anyone? Just ask Express Jet, Comair, Mesaba, Horizen, CHQ, etc....GIVE ME MY MONEY! They must pay for the last four years or we are telling them thanks for that and come back any time.
If I were MGMT: 1. Give pilots industry leading contract in exchange for low/no bonus 2. Pilots get excited; 3. Big payment comes due/taxes/unexpected mystery expense; 4. Get concessions to industry average and WHAMMO! Took those pilot suckers for all the money they should've got the last 4 years AND they end up with industry average/slightly above.
ALL WE HAVE FOR SURE IS WHAT WE WERE OWED. GIVE ME MY MONEY!
Also, hope COLA is in the next contract.

 

A note about the crappy flight bennies....Right from benefits mouth.."Registered companion program will be dropped June 23" ...ugh

 

I don't for a second believe what the pass travel chick told me, that "they've been trying to get Delta to give us more benefits, but they wouldn't budge" or something to that effect (well, maybe that's what upper mgmt told her too) ...we're the company that "got back" 900s through the good ole' boy network at a time when Delta was making the most route cuts it has in years...I highly suspect PT could've made one phone call and got "industry average" pass travel for us. Heck, knowing this company Delta might have offered the same thing ASA and Skywest has, but management prolly said "uhh, could we just get a crappy system and $50 and a case of Schlitz instead?"

 

What do you consider "industry average"?

 

DL/9E is proposing getting rid of our parent travel benefits as well as only 3 intl travel days and no buddy passes. Worse than any non-owned connection carrier.

 

What part of no one cares does Alpa and 9-E Pilots not understand....

..........CS and PT and the shareholders don't care. You can come over and info picket the CO on NON-C 24 hours a day and buy up every billboard in MEM, DTW and MSP and the end result is......NO ONE CARES....The passengers could care less as well they only care that they are getting a cheap airfare..

Think the shareholder had a long discussion about your problem..NOT

Time to grab your sack and tell Alpha stand up to the plate and either get this settled OR walk....9-E will understand the minute the bottomline stops coming in.

At this rate you still will be negotiating in 2011 for something you could have had in 2007....

Do Something Already.

 

FWIW the media attention and public reaction was interesting to watch. To see a clip of a barback downtown saying he makes more moving dozens of beers than pilots do moving dozen of lives at least works to shake off the phobia that we are overpaid and overworked just because we wear a tie and some bars on the shoulders.

I do wholeheartedly agree that the union "voice" that picketing reaches out with is not as loud as it was in past generations simply because of the changes in corporate america. Whereas many were part of a union or professional association in the past, it's in essence "every man for themselves" at this point in both the industry and US market both socially and economically.

Action is needed, but legal actions and utilizing the political climate, media and public attention, and the previous 5 years of performance compared to comparable "reward" industry wide would poise us to be able and force a strong contract above and beyond a payrate that happens to be in line with the current industry average.

Prater's claims since his reign has been to "Take it back" and it is my strong hope that his office also pushes not just the PCL MEC, but every MEC at every carrier to push for an increase in "industry average" using contracts that were prior to all the concessions of 9/11. The report card so far is not conclusive because Alaska has been able to secure improvements (although not extreme but higher than the previous concessions that were taken), while Mesa's latest idea of a contract got his signature- which to me is not a sign of "taking it back", nor is it a strong sign that his office is willing to force a hand at the national level for overall improvements in leu of simply a settlement.

Time will tell, and if a TA comes out that is not good in any way I will be a loudspeaker for the NO vote. I have had conversations with the negotiating cmte, the MEC, and with the chairman of cmte's that I am on and nobody is going for a "settlement". Committee wide there will be what you could call as a "sandbagging" if any committee is left in the dust as far as provisions proposed or overall concepts desired in a new contract. It's not all money but QOL, job security, and credit hours vs. block hours are all aspects that get the attention of the average pilot.

 

Industry average would be the same benefits that ASA, Skywest, Chq, and Freedom have on Delta at the same priority level as ASA, Skywest, Chatauqua, and Freedom. If there are differences among the travel programs at those carriers, I would say a blend of comparable benefits would be "industry average."

Parental non-rev (NOT just ZED), the same number of buddy passes, the same number of international travel days, and the same annual fee would be "indsustry average." Even this would be a concession versus the old Northwest system, which provided much much better privileges as I'm sure you're aware...who cares that the phone system is old and out-dated...I'll take parental non-rev, unlimited international non-rev, buddy passes, and registered travel companion in lieu of a spouse or partner ANY day over the BS we're being hosed with now.

We are being told by our travel office that effective June 23rd, we lose all parental non-rev privileges, reduce to 3 international travel days annually, lose all buddy passes, and lose registered travel companions.

So there will soon be CRJ-900s owned by 9E and flown in Delta colors carrying Skywest buddy pass riders and parents in the empty seats, and "non-dependent" Delta children and step-parents too, but we won't get the same courtesy on mainline or other DCI flights on otherwise empty seats...

What's funny is our current ZED agreement with DAL is Zone Medium...we fly Zone Low on other airlines like CSA Czech...

So my parents will soon fly cheaper on a Czech airline than they will on the mainline carrier my regional feeds...ridiculous