Congratulations PCL MEC! This might be your most stupid move yet. And to think you're educated professional pilots...this move doesn't show that.

I agree with others...there is a reason the 9L and XJ guys aren't walking and are completely against it. It means that it would hinder progress at the table.

I'm just stunned.

Recall.

 

You have to be kidding me right? You must have forgot your "sarcasm" tag

 

This would be a different story if there was no progress and more importantly if PNCL Corp. had no incentive to finish joint negotiations. They want an integrated seniority list to move jets. This motivation for them to get the deal done wasn't a factor pre-Mesaba purchase.

PCL pilots want to picket because they are 6 years amendable on their OWN negotiations, not because we are only a few months into joint negotiations and seeing TA's on the regular. That's picketing for the wrong reason, and that's a disservice to the 3000 pilots being represented at the table.[/QUOTE]

If it makes you feel all warm and fuzzy this holiday season keep telling yourself that. Things haven't changed that much and PNCL will just dangle that carrot in front of you just to get them through the holidays.

When Corp does start tranfering jets without a joint contract, hopefully our MEC will remember this email. I'm almost to the point after reading this, that we should let 9L and XJT hash it out over the reamaining props.

 

I actually agree with what most of you are saying. Since we don't care about deadlines anymore why are we picketing? We should have been picketing all the way up till we started the joint contract negotiations. Once we started that we pretty much gave up on our own section 6 negotiations till the joint ones stopped. Once we go back to our own negotiations I could see us picketing again. Right now it just doesn't make any sense to do it. I also think its funny our union didn't run this by the other guys since we are all in this one together for right now. If we were in our own negotiations I would see no reason to get mesaba or colgans approval. But since we are working on a joint contract we should have at least got some input from the others. Oh well. Just doesn't seem that all well thought out.

 

Yes, this is exactly right.



Exactly right! One set of circumstances (past PCL section 6) is COMPLETELY different than the other (current JCBA negotiations).

Unfortunately, it seems some pilots are not able to remove the past politics from the equation (with a certain degree of understanding, of course). However, the MEC's are there to lead by example. The MEC/ JNC has all the information. If my JNC tells me now is NOT THE TIME FOR THESE ACTIONS....then damn it, it is not time for these types of actions.

Colgan and Mesaba MEC's are unified w/ our brothers/sisters at Pinnacle. But, is the Pinnacle MEC unified w/ us? I believe they are and have simply stumbled a bit. However, it would be prudent to point out, running this picketing event in spite of the JNC and the other two MEC's opinion certainly opens that idea to question! Progress in the JCBA is being made; when that stops, we'll give 'em hell. Until then, we need to stay the course and get this deal done for the betterment of ALL of our pilots.

 

Oh, yes. Save us XJ! Because you're the straw that will FINALLY break 9E management's back! How did the game change? A TA was imminent on th 15th of Nov....then the 3rd of Dec....and now....uh, sometime. Sorry, but I've been told a TA is "right around the corner" since I was hired here almost 5 years ago. I don't think XJ is magically gonna change it. Buying Colgan sure didn't. Even after a drawn out legal battle over scope where we won....then had the decision reversed, didn't change things for the better. Now, XJ and their all-seeing, all-knowing MEC are gonna swoop in and fix all our problems. Give me a friggin' break.

They can MOVE JETS WITHOUT AN INTEGRATED LIST. It's easier on them and looks better for the stock holders, but make no mistake, if it costs them more $$$ in this JCBA, they'll just move them and say "See ya in court." Even then, they could still move them, comply with the XJ scope language and let ALPA fragmentation policy take over.

You mean the pilots not represented by the 9E MEC. I don't have one problem at all with the picketing. XJ and 9L pilots might, and even a few 9E pilots might, but why let this thing go on 6-12 months as long as "progress is being made?" In case anyone forgot, the last two times with a deadline "progress (was) being made" right up to the deadline.....with no sections TA'ed. Even the two that were TA'ed yesterday don't really bowl me over. The big stuff (reserve rules, min day for all, health insurance, pay rate) are still on the table. 9E pilots have seen those on the table all year long in our negotiations. Pardon us if we don't quite believe management when they say they're serious THIS time.

 

No min day for props, transfer jets, and ....

 

I don't understand your logic, and that of many others on the boards, that this JCBA is a ploy to get PNCL Corp. through the holiday season.

The PCL MEC was put on ice prior to going into the JCBA. Why would management need to formulate an elaborate plan for a JCBA with no intention of signing one just to avoid a strike?

Again, with all due respect to the PCL pilot group and its volunteers, I have to wonder why they were put on ice after 6 years amendable by a liberal NMB. Additionally, both the XJ and 9L MECs are against the latest picketing event while PCL is gung-ho, it really makes one start to think *** is going on.

I really hope we all can work together and see a TA by the end of the week. We are better off as one pilot group than three.

 

9L--I can't understand why you aren't picketing with us--my back pay bought your Q400s via PNCL Holdings, and the 9E MEC was instrumental in helping you get ALPA passed and up and running--if that hadn't happened, sorry to say it but you would be getting HOSED about now.

XJ--I can't understand why you aren't picketing with us--my back pay bought your planes via PNCL Holding, and if Holdings hadn't bought you, you would be furloughing en masse about now.

It's hilarious that the certificates who the company is trying to force no min day upon are the certificates that don't want to picket. Ha ha ha ha ha...you guys will learn soon enough that Pinnacle management is not your friend...they'll smile at you for a little bit longer before stabbing you in the back.

F.F. used to have a combat knife in his office at FedEx...he could hit a bullseye with that thing from 10 feet away...don't worry--he'll metaphorically have one in you push-overs before long...

 

More than likely, without the JCBA, we would have been off ice by now.

The "liberal NMB" is really not that different than the "conservative NMB." I honestly can't tell you why we were put on ice. 9E management tossed across a medical plan worse than the current XJ book. We said no, but how about this. 9E management tosses the same plan right back at us. We say no and move a little bit more in their direction. Same plan as the original one tossed with a 'We HAVE to have this' from management. Our negotiators had reached the point where they couldn't move any more in management's direction, and said so. NMB recess, and next thing we know, we're on ice. Just a couple of days later, they announce the XJ acquisition. There's no way they worked that out in the time between the NMB and Sept 1st. They knew when they were at the NMB XJ was being bought.....

This I do agree with. I'd like nothing more than to see a decent TA by the end of the week.