Quote:
Originally Posted by Vsop
Long time lurker 1st thread started... Be gentle and use some lube in your responses
This probably could have gone in the other 1941 thread. I did see it mentioned in there several pages ago, by Sailing I think. The idea seemed novel and it wasn’t discussed at all.
Before I go into detail on this idea, let me explain my thought process. I think the likelihood of furloughs being prevented by any of the possible means is very low. I also don’t fully trust the company to abide by any no furlough agreement, and I really don’t want to concede items in the contract that will take years/decades to recover.
I also want to help out our soon to be unemployed ALPA brothers/sisters. So the goal for me is to mitigate the suffering of the furloughed while not conceding anything to the company.
My solution is to have ALPA increase dues by 5% on all Delta pilots that have NOT been displaced from A to B. To me those pilots have less financial wiggle room than the rest of us. This extra 5% would then be distributed to the furloughed 1941. My initial thought is to have ALPA hire the 1941 as independent contractors.
Cocktail napkin math says about 8,000 pilots would be on the hook for this extra contribution. Average annual salary for that group I estimated at 200-215k. That generated a benefit for the 1931 furloughed of 40-45k per year. Obviously not as good as them keeping their job, but way better than nothing at all. And likely saving many marriages, bankruptcies, ect...
The extra dues would have a termination point sometime in the future. A year seems appropriate. At that time we would need a MERAT to continue the program.
The extra dues would immediately terminate if there were concessions in any part of the contract.
My favorite parts to this plan are
1) it solves attempting to regain losses in our contract.
2) it shows other employee groups the benefit of being in a union. Imagine a ramper hearing that the furloughed pilot is making +40k from ALPA
3) it helps take away some of the stigma with working GS while there are furloughs since 5% of that GS is going to a furloughed. (I know touchy subject about GS.)
4) it is almost instantaneously cancelable since we are negotiating with only ourselves.
5) it’s a much smaller pay give than the company floated 15% ALV reduction.
I’m looking for constructive feedback if the idea has merit or if there are some hurdles of which I am unaware.
For transparency I’m 1 of the rescued 617
Are you floating a 5% dues increase or adding 5% to the existing 1.85%? I think you actually mean to increase ALPA dues by almost 300%. Some of those rampers are going to hear we just added about a $1,000/month assessment to union dues and offset some of that union excitement.
My job is not to convince anyone about the merits of a union. Frankly, our FAs are going to compare their situation to FAs at UAL and AA, not to ours. I'd wager that the folks on the bottom actually feel pretty good about the management team that just promised not to furlough them when their peers hired as far back as 2000 at UAL (when many of ours were literally in diapers) could be on the street 1 Oct.
Many folks are going to do just fine during furlough. Stay at home moms and dads whose spouse does well at their job or even has more time to plus up their own income to get the family right back where they were. Retired O-5s and O-6s with sizable pensions, free GI Bill college for their kiddo and a government contractor side gig. Entrepreneurs with stable income elsewhere and health care funded by their union.
I'd rather have those who are really struggling apply for financial assistance. Everyone won't need it, so let's get the dollars flowing where they are needed. I've already donated to ALPA's fund for this purpose, and if people want to spend $1,000/ month of their own family COVID budget to do the same, they certainly can. VEOPers could do the same if they feel so moved.
I also think the A to B carve out in your proposal is a little odd. What's the purpose? Just because someone had a high water mark a little higher than mine, they needn't contribute? Plenty of my classmates took early opportunities to A positions while I prioritized QOL and seniority... and now my lower income starting point pre-MOAD obligates me to a record-setting dues assessment the other guy doesn't have because he used to make more money? Does being absolved of guilt for GS flying still extend to these exempt pilots?
Assuming you can easily determine which families do or do not have "financial wiggle room" seems pretty dangerous. We can all make judgements about where folks SHOULD be re:income vs. expenditures, but you never easily know. I don't have a dollar coming my way from poor, unhealthy aging parents and step-parents, so I save for my end years and theirs. On the other side, I have friends with $5M inheritance heading their way in the not-too-distant future from parents with long term care insurance funding their own care. I also happen to have education benefits for my kids, a reserve retirement someday, and a spouse who worked her a$$ off (and still does) to produce income...albeit at the significant expense of being away from her kids. I say all of that because I think anything we do, we do together. We're either all in, or all out - just like we all work under the same PWA. I personally think certain versions of ALV reduction (uniform, across all categories, long term or permanent that actually keep everyone working) are far more palatable than your proposal. Let's hope negotiations produce some results.
I don't see there being much enthusiasm for the plan you propose, but appreciate your creativity trying to problem solve for soon-to-be struggling brothers and sisters.