I think pay is important also, we should be compensated for the important job we are doing.

There are way more issues than just pay scales to look at, and we are not getting them all fixed in this negotiation.

Companies pay Turboprops less then jets, it's a battle we must wage, but not this time.

We need to get the best rates overall that we can get out of this negotiation.

If the -200 pays very well, the Q400 will pay well.

XJ rates are a good starting point, don't expect much more than that.

I realize we aren't going to get a SWA style contract with 15 days off, or whatever they get, but currently the "negotiations" are at 11? That is a huge disappointment. How is this negotiating? We already get 11 days off. Negiotating is asking for 2 extra days off and then compromising at 12. Keeping the status quo on uniform pay and per diem and days off, where are the small gains I kept hearing about?

If you get our healthcare that will be a big gain for you. If you get our commuter policy that allows other airlines to count towards the two that is a gain. If you get our vacation slide policy that is a gain. Those items are not gains for us, that is what we already have.

I would like mesabas days off. I would like to have mesabas min day. I would like to have mesabas retirement. Those are not gains for mesaba, they already have that.

combine the two and everyone gets some of the same and some of the gains.

And this is probably really close to what the TA will look like.

Throw in XJ rates plus a little bump........

I'd vote yes.

To each there own, but that would not be enough for me to vote yes. I think it is going to take more than that to sway the XJ guys..

Maybe.

But I believe that if this TA doesn't go backwards for XJ, and after the MEC explains the gains it is for 9E, that it will pass.

None of these MEC guys are going to sign off on something that one group will like and the other absolutely hates.

so whats it going to take to sway the xj guys?

At a minimum, restoring us to where we would be now without the bankruptcy. And that includes somehow either getting rid of PBS or one way or another making up the significant hit in pay that has caused many of us. Then mixing in things from there.

What abut 12 days off on months with 31 calendar days( that would occur 7 times next year) and 11 days off with months with less than 31...something maybe to entertain...BTW Time Off Without Pay offered at Mesaba today for all Saab pilots and MSP CRJ900 FO's :(

Wasn't ALPA created to promote safety. You cannot tell me that allowing pilots to take themselves down to 4 days off a month is safe. ALPA creates restrictions on the company to promote safety as well as its own pilots. You can take a CRJ up to FL410 but it does not mean you should allow everyone to do so.

Furthermore, the company will then plan on pilots to be picking up opentime, so in the end, why would they properly staff the airline. If Pinnacle and Colgan used Mesaba staffing models and work rules, it would create roughly 1.5 new jobs for every Pinnalce and Colgan aircraft. That is more upgrades and more jobs.

Just because it is legal, doesn't mean it is right. Maybe we should hold ourselves to a little higher standard than the FAA.