Excerpt from the email:

"Next, I will bring up the members of the Negotiating Committee, who will present an overview of the company’s opener....... They will detail some issues that the company has identified as their priorities in these negotiations. Our CEO has mentioned these issues on the occasions when he has addressed this body, and their inclusion in the company’s proposals should come as no surprise.."

1) Sick Leave/Time

2) Productivity (e.g. Min. Month)

3) ???

It's good to see that nobody here so far is surprised in the least. But IF this was indeed what the NMB members actually said to our MEC, here's my take:

1. Estote Parati. Timing is everything, so be ready for everything.

Oh boy, somebody's learned a new language and are trying to use it in a sentence.

2. Keep an eye on the calendar – next year is an election year.

Are they trying to say that a new administration might not reappoint the awesome current members of the NMB that have proven themselves to be so labor friendly?

3. Preserve the credibility created by the survey, and preserve the trust of the pilots.

Advice that our MEC administration refuses to even see as applicable to them.

4. Education is everything. The best leadership in the world can’t do anything with an uninformed membership.

DALPA's problem here is that most pilots don't view them as resource for unbiased education and information.

5. Commit to consensus.

By DALPA refusing to EVER publish the survey results, members will never know what their consensus was.

6. Root out misperceptions of collective bargaining and the RLA process.

There's not a misperception of the process, there's a mistrust of DALPA.

7. Develop the ability to say yes:
· A tentative agreement is not proof that a better offer is available.

Anyone who's ever been through this process knows that the hardest part is saying NO. Saying YES requires no development.

8. The chain of command is much shorter on the management side of the table.
· Don’t send anyone to the table who isn’t empowered to make an agreement.

Very true. But never send anyone to the table who feels empowered to ignore direction. Like what happened last time.

· To make an offer, management must first be confident that the union will ratify it.

Pure BS. Member ratification cannot ever be taken for granted or assumed by either side.

9. Social media (including antisocial media) is a fact of life; make it a part of the plan, and a component to success.

Translation: DALPA authored media = social media. All others = antisocial media.

10. Smaller lists normally produce faster results.

Who cares...unless speed is valued over quality.

Carl

Fixed #3 for you.

But WHY has the Pilot Group been kept in the dark on these issues Richard has been asking for, so far?

Who does the MEC work for, the Pilots, or Richard?

Carl, just like C12K, it's the Company who wants 'speed', and notice they also want to cap our Profit sharing...Hmm...I wonder why they would want to hurry...

If they can get us to pay for our next raises, like we did in C12K, by making negative changes to our profit sharing, they will also make those changes company wide, i.e. all the Non-Contract people will lose out as well.

And then, in 2016, Delta earns $10 Billion.

And we're sucking wind, again.

Yeah, that's why the Company wants Speed.

Yup, parking the 747's with no similar paying replacements is coming true.

I guess we need to hurry up and say Yes right now, before we give more flying away via JV's!

Scambo, I know you're a smart guy. 3B6 was a single shot weapon. Once it was used it was gone. The sad thing is that when we fired that shot we lost half the 777's and ended up with a lower rate then we could have had if the opener was more reasonable.
The company was never going to take delivery of another airframe without a agreement up front on rates.

I'm sure sick leave concessions, profit sharing concessions, and maybe even greenslip format and FO's bidding with LCA concessions are all out there. With record profits we should have zero concessions.

You nailed it except I don't think a min month is a big concern. Very few pilots are going part time. There are Los of other productivity issues higher up their list.
Nothing to base this on but reading tea leaves but I am wondering if they have proposed a major change in our entire training and scheduling process.

Tim, if your sure the company will make 10 billion in 16 all your financial problems are solved!

Had a chief pilot office guy on Jumpseat. He said 30% of pilots are using max sick leave. Northside guys are main users because their sick time they saved up at NW was stolen in merger.

No doubt company wants to fix that. He said that equates to some crazy number like 90 million. Flew with a ALPA guy and he said same thing. Easy to connect those dots. Hope we don't give in.