ironic how? I've been posting for 2 years. All I'm saying is that it's not beyond people on anonymous internet boards to say they are with an airline they don't like and bash their own realairline, just to make your own real airline hate the other guys even more...

 

hence why I don't believe he is really a 9e pilot. Any 9e pilot knows you guys did not voluntarily come to Pinnacle to be involved in negotiations...

 

I guess I didn't understand your post. It seemed as if you were saying he was a DTW based XJ guy spewing hate, didn't know you meant he was actually posting as a 9E guy undercover.

 

I can not believe that the Pinnacle MEC chair just came on the forums for 2 minutes to claim that he told National that he did not want the picketing event to be broadcasted throughout ALPA National and it's 53,000 pilots.

Come on guys...who is going along with this logic? This line is total BS. If it is not BS then he must not understand what the point of a picket is.

It amazes me that he just told all the Pinnacle pilots who marched the picket line that there could have been a more solid show of force but he told National not to advertise it.

Amazing...

 

Saw that release, and it's good spin. Being on the P2P committee, we get a LOT of conference calls and get to talk directly to our negotiators. Last time we had a call was last Monday. According to them retirement was done but also hinged on insurance (as in retirement was NOT done this week as the Colgan e-mail implies). Same with 11 days off for everyone and the 4 hour min day. The holding letter with corp has also been done for a while. The only actual movement made this week was on scope (which was essentially a paragraph on succesorship language and fragmentation) and training and testing rules (as in can they schedule us back of the clock sims and who does the checkrides: line check airman or non-seniority list sim instructors). Long call reserve is part of Section 25, which is still open as well. Essentially, this e-mail picked some high points that would make people happy, and some of them have been done for a while. I would not term it "progress" for the week, though. Most of it was done before we even announced the picketing event.

For the record, there were plenty of XJ pilots that were saying we weren't tough enough during our own negotiations, and their MEC wouldn't stand for it. Well, we've seen the same amount of "progress" since the company passed two self-imposed deadlines as we've seen at 9E the whole year. Now, when we DO decide to get hard nosed, we get called cowboys. The only real difference is now XJ and Colgan are involved.

This is from the JNC e-mail on the 10th:



So, it seems to me the only things listed in the Colgan e-mail and the JNC e-mail that were done this week is scope.

We're picketing based on the lack of progress of big ticket items. Things like cancellation pay, vacation pay, vacation slide, health insurance premiums, limits to extensions and junior mans. All of those affect my pay and QoL considerably. Since I might be commuting soon, I don't want to see our call in honest policy gone either. All of those (and pay rates) were open when picketing was announced on Monday. All of those are still open. So, after 3 days, we've got scope and some clean up issues closed. Big ticket items still open. Meeting again starting on the 14th, and things will likely stop for the weekend on the 17th. Assuming the same schedule the week after that, we've got 7 days before the company bangs off for Xmas. I have little faith that the company will budge on all of those issues in 7 days when they didn't really do a lot over the past 3. But, apparently, one paragraph in scope along with LOAs and some random stuff in the "general" section is enough "progress" for XJ and 9L. If the company gives on the reimbursement for a cab ride after waiting for 15 minutes, that'll close off Section 5. Should be enough progress for the rest of the year, I'd guess.....

 

Exactly. Things don't add up.

 

Not requesting support is way different than requesting that they not support. We never asked anything of anyone other than that they understand why we were doing it. We had a limited attendance permit for Memphis (12 picketers and 2 leafleters) and attendance from Pinnacle alone was 50-60. Had more people showed up, they would have just been stuffed away in a conference room. We knew this when we planned the event and the event was kept small on purpose.

 

Mr. Erickson,

With all due respect, I would like to know why the picket was planned? Are negotiations not moving forward, and should the XJ and 9L pilot groups be concerned at this time?

Thank You

 

The 9E MEC should have convinced the other two MECs to join, that is what it all boils down to. It isn't about convincing us line pilots, it is about convincing our Union leadership. The inability to convince the other two MECs makes one wonder if they had difficulty convincing National. However since they said they chose not to advertise it nationally I can accept that. It still doesn't change how poorly this thing was implemented. Is there a long term plan here? The Union should have set the deadlines, they should of been more upfront on a timeline and the repercussions of failing to meet those deadlines. That way all 3 MECs were on board and using the same game plan.

 

Funny business is that you're coming on here bashing our reps who are tasked with protecting us.

There's the JNC, which is the group-wide team.

Then there are the individual MECs tasked with upholding the needs and wants of their members. I fully expect my MEC to fight for what's fair for me in a SLI. Just like any other SLI....

Why don't you guys concern yourselves with the Mesaba and Colgan MECs.

This bears repeating:


The picket was requested by the Pinnacle Line Pilot

As much as you'd like to think so, this wasn't some rogue action against the other MECs.

This also bears repeating... we Pinnacle pilots WILL remember who was "in charge" at the Colgan and Mesaba MECs when it comes time to vote in a joint leadership group.

I have a no vote in my pocket for anyone who did not support the Pinnacle pilot's picketing. You're just not militant enough for my taste.