Guys, from what you can see there are three people on APC that are vocally against the petition, 3. The petition has over 200 supporters as of this morning and it has been up less than 24 hours, don't let a few angry people stop the momentum of unity and solidarity backing this proposal. This is a tool the MEC can use to show our unwavering support for a fair contract that will not be delayed further by the company to save money for themselves.

 

Can you explain what your prognostication is based on? SWA replaced their NC less than a year ago. Now they're about to vote on their TA.

 

Please tell us. See above post.

 

I'm not against the petition but you say it's been up less than 24 hours. Why does it say he created it 4 days ago on the page?

Sorry, not smart enough how to post a pic of it from my phone.

 

That petition was started 4 days ago, but was not actually published and made public until yesterday afternoon. There was a lot of input to the final product and editing. The first signature was at about 2:30pm yesterday.

 

Gotcha, ya I see most of the comments are from within the last 24 hours.

 

First off, the NC bargains based on direction of the mec, so it shouldn't make a difference whether we keep the current group, put in a new group, or install a couple sign language gorillas. The TA should look the same. Last time we had an mec regime change in the middle of negotiations and they flushed all TA'd sections and the NC. That took a while to come back from.

An NC change would take a while to get the new folks picked, sent off to alpa negotiating school, then get up to speed on current events. Then when we make our case to the mediator that the company isn't bargaining in good faith and is just delaying, the company says wait a min... we had to take a 3 month break waiting for these amateurs to get their stuff straight. Release denied. Work on it some more... better luck next time.

 

I am brand new to these forums and only joined because I heard that this is where this petition nonsense is finding its legs.

I will not sign this petition for a number of reasons. To begin with, no recent pilot contract or TA provides 100% retro -- including the recent deals at UPS and SWA-- if that term is understood to mean that the upfront pay increase is applied to all hours worked back to the amendable date. Second, I expect our NC to prioritize its objectives based on the two comprehensive polls we have done of the membership. If we have an agreement which going forward meets our objectives on pay, pension, and working conditions I am not interested in holding it up to achieve something that no other pilot group has managed to achieve. And the idea that the NMB would ever release us if that was the only issue remaining strikes me as unlikely bordering on absurd.

But, I also will not sign it because I object to the way its sponsor operates and I question his motives. That is not an unfair argument ad hominem but a 100% valid reason to criticize the petition. Unlike most pilots he has refused to support the Negotiating Committee by wearing a green lanyard. When we picketed the Spirit Board meeting in IAH he made a point of openly cozying up to Jyri. This is a guy who makes all sorts of demands of the union while he undermines it by sucking up to management. That is the opposite of pilot solidarity and is a formula for years in mediation while management plays both ends against the middle.

Final note, if you think you can equate SWA or DL spooling up new NCs to our ability to do so you are deluding yourself. Both of their new committees are comprised of former negotiators with years of experience negotiating at those properties. Who are we going to get? Nelson, Sytsema, DeGrenier, Pyel? Oh wait, Makima is available...

 

Yes, this! Let the NC do their thing...if they fail to produce, by all means, start your witch hunt.

 

First off, Mike is not the sponsor or the author, he volunteered to upload the petition to change.org in his account. He stood up for our group. Secondly, retro is coming at SWA (I know the technicalities of the word "retro"). Call it what you want, but there is now 212 signatures demanding it, the list is growing. The MEC needs to utilize this petition to it's advantage. This is a major tool in the "warchest" for our NC. I have never in my 9 year career here seen so much support from both sides on one issue. This can be the lightning rod that brings many of us together. You get what you negotiate, apparently a lot of pilots are tired of waiting and want to be made whole. This is not a divisive issue, some of you are trying to make it divisive. It is well known I have no great feelings for the same NC as last time, but this petition is getting many of us onboard to support them. Lanyards, and bag tags are cute, forcing a financial obligation and good faith negotiating by the majority will of your pilot group, well thats a revolution.

Whatever it takes! Right?
https://www.change.org/p/spa-mec-dem...irit-airlines?