That was before my time but I've heard about it from many a captain and FO's who were there. The safety campaign got the new contract in about a month. Hit them where it hurts, in the wallet and they'll comply and come to the table in good faith.

 

I, and many of my friends, were p*ss*d. We get an email from the union that says "A full and detailed negotiations update will be distributed over the coming weekend. Please standby for this important update." Then on Tuesday, which isn't exactly the weekend, we get an email saying pretty much the same thing as every other email I have seen.

With a build up like what is bolded above, I was thinking two things. One, we got a TA. Here is a detailed account of what is to come. Two, the NMB released us into colling off. Here is a detailed account of what is to come.

I know that those guys are busy, and I am sure that letter had to go through a few departments before we saw it. I would have just liked the pay day hotline to have said, "no major news to report. We will send a more complete summary within the week."

 

let me put it this way. There are 3 sides to any story when you have this type of event going on.

The first is what really happened, only the players there REALLY know what exactly went down.
The second is the close confidants to the players, most of them though let out very little or just enough to keep the rumor mill going. You have to realize IF they let out too much, they will be cut from the vine and be no different from the average line pilot.
The third is the official position which is usually watered down. Not only for the pilots but for the "image" between the union and the company.

Do you really think they would announce "hey guys we got a cooling off period" 3-4 days later? That would have been instantaneous news. Do you think they would hint that the next NMB meeting if it did not go well would lead to a cooling off period? Again no. because if it didn't lead to one the pilots would be ticked off. Throwing out that veil threat the company would be screaming that they were being vilified. (they have done it before)

bottom line, PNCL MEC has never been great at communicating as a whole to the pilot group. WG was famous for letting the bare minimum out. I would have thought SE would have been a little more open, then again WG is VC.

If you read between the lines here. Those well placed rumors, while rumors tend to have more truth than rumor. This is politics boys and girls, get use to it. The union mirrors the company in so many ways, communication, and political games. No one should be surprised, if you are, I am sorry for your ignorance.

the company and the union are mirror images (quote from a former PNCL pilot who was in the circle of the MEC)

 

They certainly do look. I saw copies or the airlink forum on one of the base manager's desk one day.

 

This is going to go another year i bet. The sad part is that management is testing the pilot group to see how much they can get away with and right now they get away with a lot becuase its one thing to come on here and say i am going to do this this and this and cause delays on purpose by flying the contract but when you have 50 people on board who have nothing to do with it your morals kick in a little. The true shame is that management knows that and they abuse it on a regular basis. I think what would be absolutely beautiful is if the nmb came back and basically put our case aside indefinitly. I would like to see what happened in the following month.

 

personally I would not bet on another year. We are roughly on track for most of the predictions that were made last year. Time is running out for both sides, and they both know it. Uncle Phil can't sell the services down line when he can't guarantee a rate for the next 10 years (or whatever). He has been turned down a few times due to this unsettled business. You can BS the NMB only so long, eventually they will set ultimatums and suggest self help. I am pretty sure Nonconnah has an idea that a significant portion of the pilot group would walk off if they were giving the option.

I'd be surprised if nothing happened this fall, either cooling off or a T/A. Either way, we are months from either happening. What I mean is, even if a T/A came out tomorrow you are weeks if not a few months before signing. If sent to cooling off, there is still at least a month for things to happen.

 

Better check your sources...

 

nope. my sources seem to be dead on. they had till the end of this month to get the deal done. didn't happen so the nmb said they need to be back in d.c. the first week of august. the company has just moved its 2nd quarter financial results call and report from the 6th to the 7th. so that leaves the 4th, 5th, and 6th to be done with it. doesn't look like they plan on spending much time in dc. so its either deal or release time. no where else to go really.

 

i hope your right, but my source said over a month ago the same thing, and here we are same place we've been for 5 years

 

Hmmm...I thought we kicked it off in May of 05...could be wrong though./