Chairman’s Perspective—PH
The presentation of information concerning the Tentative Agreement has been ongoing for the past few weeks, along with crew room visits by your council reps and Delta Pilot Network (DPN) volunteers. Road shows have taken place throughout the system, and the SEA road show is scheduled for this Friday. Soon, it will be time to vote on the TA. Your reps will be in the crew rooms for Q&A along with DPN volunteers during the ratification period. Our perspective in this update will be a halftime report on the TA that is before you for your consideration.
In my time in the lounge, along with phone calls and e-mails, I have encountered three groups of pilots; the definite no vote, the definite yes vote, and those who are considering what is the best path for a successful outcome for their vote on the TA. I will focus my perspective on those contemplating the best outcome in their thought process. I was at that place when the MEC was initially presented the TA.
The conflict on how to vote likely comes from your own expectations—years of stagnation, sacrifices made during BK, the survey results, the profits made by the company, the effort we provided in the merger, did we get all we can in this TA, can we get more? The list goes on. Use these points for a reference, and then as a few more—what is the economy going to do in the next six months to two years? What is going to happen in Europe? In making your decision, try to take the emotion out of the decision; use just the facts. You might want to ask another pilot from another airline what they think of the TA.
The decision is simple; vote yes or no!
If yes, then you will have a contract now, not a “hoped for” contract in the future. You will have set a pattern bargaining benchmark for other carriers to aim for, which will hopefully result in a pattern for us to aim for in the not too distant future. My hope and “expectation” was to extract even larger increases in pay; however, you will have a compensation increase of over 20 percent in 2.5 years, and at that time we will have begun to start negotiations on a new contract. The hope is that UAL, SWA, FedEx, and UPS will have contractual improvements for us to pattern bargain off of when we reengage.
If no, we will have no gains for 2-3 months or 2-3 years; no one knows that answer with certainty. There is the potential to break the mutually beneficial constructive engagement we have enjoyed for many years. There is the potential for the economy to unravel locally or abroad. Will we get improvements on what we have now or not? How much will the hoped for improvements be worth? What will an extracted time to negotiate cost? What will the benefit be?
Part of my thought process when I decided to vote in favor of sending this Tentative Agreement to you for your vote was to ask the question, “What strategy has worked for other airline employees as they have attempted to recover from the devastating reduction of pay, work rules, and benefits inflicted by bankruptcy?” The answer I arrived at was that your MEC’s strategy of utilizing every opportunity (merger, SLI, JCBA, and now 50-seat RJs) to move toward recovery works. No other strategy has accomplished any significant improvements for any of the other pilot groups.
If you look at where we are compared to our competitors, we have far exceeded them in restoration in our contract. At one time, APA demanded 50 percent pay raises from date of signing. Their company said no for the last six years, and the NMB put them on ice. Their reward? Zero pay and contract improvements and then Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. USAPA’s path has resulted in zero pay and contractual improvements for the last seven years. Do we want to risk this road? If we ratify this contract, and the next day UAL settled on a joint contract with first year pay DOS increase of 15%, year 2 with 10%, and year 3 with another 10%, for a total of 35% pay increase, in three years they would still not be at our rate! They would need to achieve over 40% in three years to catch up with our TA rates in 2015.
In the end, read the information that has been provided to you, ask questions, and attend the road show in order to help make an informed vote. Try to take the emotion out of what should be a business decision about what you believe has the greatest chance of maximizing your pay, work rules, scope protections, and benefits. If the majority votes to ratify the contract, we will begin the process of implementation. If not, the MEC will meet to reconsider its options. In any event, please take the time to vote