Hah you’re funny.

For the newbies in this business:

1. Kirby can't unilaterally "void" the contract. Lorenzo's actions, back in the day, caused the laws to be changed, even in BK.

2. Almost all contracts take months if not years beyond the amendable date to be agreed upon.

3. The biggest issue here was Senior Management basically gave indications that an early agreement was possible. The last time a UAL management did such a thing led to the ugliest summer in travel history.

4. "Not rushing" into an agreement really a dumb thing to state from our MEC. We have never "rushed" into any agreement. However one exception might be during UAL's BK where the MC sold out the RJs in a back room deal attempting to "save" the defined benefit plan.

5. "Retro-pay" has been a very rare part of our past agreements. Many things can effect the final agreement and retro is a monetary part of that agreement.

6. Save at least 3 - 6 months of living expenses because it may take a strike(although again rare) to actually defend our agreement.

What we get paid and the work rules are not some gift given to us from management, they are earned through negotiations and corporate pilot resolve.

Aren't you forgetting our "rushed" merger contract because I sure don't?

A strike is really not even a possibility for any of the Big Four (UAL, DAL, AMR, and SWA), especially under the current Presidential Administration. It would cause too much of a financial impact globally. It is a tool that we technically have in our toolbox, but from a practical standpoint will not happen. None of the Big Four airlines will be released for self help. We’ll just get parked for perpetuity.

As for the post above, about a strike vote, a strike vote (if/when it comes to it) can be very risky. I say that because it could show our unity or show the opposite. The opposite would give management a decided advantage in future negotiations. Just fly our contract and enforce it.

Delta got full retro between TA1 which went down in flames and TA2 which was approved. Just saying.

Everyone remembers 1983 and 1985, what happened in the summer of 2000? LOL

Serious?

How long between the actual merger of the two companies and when we got the joint contract?

AGREED, this 18th day of December, 2012. Joint contract date.

October 1, 2010 Founding date of combined Corp.

Hmmmmm 2 years, yep that was rushed into and if I remember correctly it took a Labor Relations Board help to make it happen.

Short memories I guess.

Summer of “love”

LUAL pilots were promised a quick negotiations after ESOP. The summer went very slowly in response.

A strike vote in a year or two is just how the game is played. We’ll talk a big game about a 99% strike vote, but both sides know that an actual strike isn’t a remote possibility. We’ll get a few minutes of news coverage saying that the pilots are willing to strike, but that’s about it. I don’t think that this administration has anything to do with our process anymore than the last one. I’m not trying to start the inevitable red/blue argument, I’m saying that in this age that it just doesn’t matter.

Basically we fly our contract and force their hand. Scope is working beautifully. If they want more rj’s like Delta, they can do what Delta did and add another fleet type to mainline to unlock those additional aircraft. If they do decide on that, they will want to nail down the crew cost going forward and we end up with a TA to read and vote on. Until then we fly the current contract and enjoy a pretty good life while expecting that it gets even better when this process is over.

Two years start to finish isn't that long RG and on what date did we actually start earnest negotiations between all 3 parties anyways? I'll bet it wasn't the full two years as you're alluding. We should have and could have negotiated longer but some folks wanted an agreement at any cost hence the irony of our MEC's statement.