That's it.

Under my CBA, it has to come in the form of either a face to face notification, or if the pilot is dumb enough to answer his phone within 15 minutes of block in.

Skipper, to comment on your PM, YES, that was the practice back then. If you've ever read "Flying the Line v.1", it's a term called "jacking up the house". A method in which the unions try to ensure the career/profession keeps moving upwards. And it's not just pilot groups that went by this principle, mechanics (and other unionized groups) did it as well.

Each company tries to do better than the previous did as far as pay rates/work rules go. In 2000, UAL got their big fat contract. DAL used UAL's as the starting point to go bigger. AA was up next, 9/11 killed it.

Now, it's sadly become a matter of you get what you can negotiate with your management, not so much a "we want what they have, plus" mentality.

 

Sounds like a petty good setup back then. I wonder how long it will take to get back to the "jacking up the house" mentality. God knows the industry needs it right now.