Quote:
Originally Posted by higney85
The mindset of "industry average" has come up by many who have had "enough" after continued morale beatings and no movement in paychecks, the "bankrupt" philosophy is one that I cannot even start to justify. PNCL operates Pinnacle Inc (9E) on a "cost-plus" arrangement with Delta with terms of "not to exceed industry average labor costs". This deal covers the 124 CRJ -200's (previously from the NWA ASA signed late 06/early 07 timeframe) and the 16 -900's signed exclusively with Delta. Delta must abide by both contracts in their entirety with the merger. When the ASA for the -200's was signed there was a March 31, 2007 deadline for a pilot contract OR 16 airframes could be removed (down to a minimum of 124). The company did not offer anything worth signing and subsequently 16 -200's were sent to XJ (Mesaba). The company is now operating in an area of "guarantee" revenue- we are at a minimum of airframes -Barring only 2 events; 3 months of horrible performance on either side OR a Strike can cause airframes to be "pulled" from Pinnacle. After 14 days on a strike Pinnacle Inc can have ALL airframes taken away. If we strike for more than a day with less than 50% of the fleet moving we can lose airframes as well. This keeps mgmt from just letting us strike and not having to worry about "blinking". Back to the pay.... The ASA signed was roughly a 10 year deal (2017) is the expiration and halfway through the deal the company and DL get together and figure out how much has been paid for labor costs. If DL has been paying too much, 9E can be liable and have to pay back the labor payments. 9E's labor costs are very low compared to other carriers and from my discussions with multiple MEC/LEC members and negotiator(s) the current financials from TA'd areas still keep our costs below the industry average barrier. That doesn't mean we are getting "shafted", but our labor costs are low for many reasons- the biggest one is longevity. We may have the exact same rates as the most expensive regional, but if only a small group of pilots are at the top of the pay scales, 401K match, etc the costs are significantly lower. There has been a good deal of discussion over on the company board over what we are fighting for and where we have OUR bar set. All that being said, the ALPA contracts are all seperate by design. Each contract is designed to "build" on the previous contract with reference to all the other ALPA carriers. Current language may not be bad in a certain section, but each and every section can have improvements. Think about this... We are working on a 4th generation contract at 9E, yet we have been working for a contract (and under previous terms) long enough to be working on a 5th generation contract. We cannot let the company just get away with morale beatings. Nobody is asking for fedex pay rates, but just settling for "average" when many contracts (at other carriers) are coming up for negotiations and/or are concessionary agreements just short changes us.
Great post...I've looked for the ASA docs everywhere but you've pretty much summed up what I was looking for.
I hope the NMB knocks some sense into the company. Of course I'd rather see a good contract without a release, but if that doesn't happen, it would be of great benefit to not only us, but also EVERY airline all the way up the chain if we were released...think of the implications for every other airline in section 6 negotiations now, or close to entering negotiations...the message would be clear to every management team--you can't drag your feet with this NMB, or your pilots WILL be released...which is how the whole thing was supposed to work in the first place...
There was a decent article in the last issue of ALPA's "Airline Pilot" about Chairman Puchala and the current status of the NMB...