Quote:
Originally Posted by 4thgenaviator
And if the union is actively negotiating with the company, why have they been so hush hush about it? It’s supremely frustrating that all we have to go on are rumors. I would like to hear directly from the union about what’s going on.
You’re going to have to go somewhere non WO for that it seems.
Last year “designated leakers” (union or management designated... you can decide for yourself) hyped up the gains the pilot group was going to get in the new TA on the eve of summer flying in order to keep people hopeful and stay and to help keep people coming in the door. The union gleefully delivered a TA on behalf of management and their union busting consultants that was completely concessionary and a waste of time, and should have resulted in the MEC leadership becoming line pilots, experiencing 11 days off with the rest of the group.
The same thing is now happening again after a wave of people submitted their resignations and the recruiters are searching far and wide to get any qualified applicant in the door and having severe difficulties. It’s funny because when you talk to the folks in the union who do the negotiations, they’ll openly state that there’s been no negotiations since the TA came out. Then folks not associated with the union negotiators start saying “there’s a big secret negotiation going on, very hush hush” with the goal giving the group some hope and keeping people from taking that huge pay bump to go to Frontier or Spirit or ATI or JetBlue or SWA or Fedex in order to stay here for another 3-8 years until they flow.. and it works.
I personally know individuals who have turned down Spirit, JetBlue and Fedex to stay for at Piedmont to flow in more than two years. Part of me dies inside every time I hear it.
This summer will come and go without any big changes. It won’t be until big brother Envoy experiences trouble filling classes (they’ve got a 175, more bases and better scheduling ability) that AA will make some “just enough” change that benefits certain members of the pilot group more so than others because it’s a cheaper than improving things for the whole group.