Just curious....at the risk of simply asking a question: Why did the negotiating committee quit?

Because the president assigned a law firm with management side experience to act as counsel and advisor to the negotiating committee. The APA president reaffirmed that concessions will not be considered. He thinks having a firm with experience working for the other side could benefit APA in negotiations. The negotiating committee didn’t like it and resigned.

Why could the negotiating committee not work with others?

Now they will have less experience at the table

Let’s also not forget that the APA President was the former head of negotiating committee. Remember, he and his team were removed by the previous BOD at the behest of the former APA President, who then had the same previous BOD put his hand picked ‘chosen ones’ on the new negotiating committee. Then the same previous APA President continued to work around the NC with management....and thus was finally voted out in favor of the old NC chairman. And multiple BOD members from the old guard were also voted out. Kinda funny how it has all worked out. I am sure the NC’s resignation didn’t have anything to do with politics and old hard feelings either.

Did our (now resigned) NC, have the smartest man in the room complex?

I will give the NC their due and say the LOA letter 20-001 was very good.
While letter 20-002 was mediocre to terrible and lacking the required language. (More APAs style)
Make me wonder if the NC actually negotiated 20-001 or was it rather a company proposal.

In my previous life, I managed employees who’s job it was to negotiate with outside vendors/providers on a daily basis. Most providers were very amicable and easy to deal with. But a few providers were notoriously difficult to deal with.

One day, when I needed to hire additional employees to negotiate with outside vendors, it occurred to me that the employees at the difficult vendors were simply doing a great job for their current employer and that if I hired them away from the difficult vendor, they would likely work that hard for ME! So I hired several of these notoriously difficult vendor employees to come work for me and it turned out pretty well,.... for me and MY employer!

Intelligence and work ethic does not have to be forever loyal. A good lawyer can easily argue either side of an issue, depending on who’s paying him. Hiring a law firm, with management experience, will likely work in our favor.

I and most pilots I know would much rather have an outside labor law firm, preferably Jewish and an Italian, negotiating with a multi- billion dollar on our behalf than 4 pilots who took a week long course at a union headquarters. I truly hope this works better for the pilot group but it really won’t take much to reach a higher bar.

Honestly, I wasn’t impressed with the NC that quit. They were good at making snazzy lanyards and presenting PowerPoint to the intern sent over by management to negotiate, but they really had very little to show in progress toward a contract before Covid.

Literally everyone knows ultimatums rarely work.

Wait a minute. I’m pretty sure there were some folks on here saying we didn’t get a contract Jan 1 because everyone didn’t wear their lanyards.

I pretty sure the “It’s Time “ theme and lanyard came from somewhere other than the NC.

Pre-Covid this pilot group would not have accepted anything near what the company was proposing.