ALPA is in its 90th year. In all those years it has negotiated concessions dozens of times in the name of helping the company survive or saving jobs. In nearly every single case the pilot group involved has been paid back for its "help" by being furloughed anyway, having the concessions memorialized in future contract negotiations, and having those concessions made permanent in bankruptcy.

Can it possibly be different this time? Get real people. Furloughs unfortunately are a part of this profession. Concessions will haunt you much further into your career than you can possibly imagine.

 

It’s interesting that most of the books that I see pilots reading on trips are some type of history book, but evidently we are incapable of learning from our own history.

 

That would be the kindergarten-level summary. Now please relax and wait for the TA.

 

What happened to "my union speaks for me?" Asking for a friend.

 

It wasn't too long ago that the Delta pilots decided that their union (leadership) didn't speak for them.

 

As I'm reading through this thread I keep seeing some misconceptions.

#1 "What happened to my union speaks for me?"
What this actually means is individual pilots don't directly negotiate with management. We tell our union what we want and they negotiate for us. Since negotiation is a compromise the NC has to use their own judgment in that regard. It can be way off from what the membership wants, which is why we vote instead of them just signing off on the deal.

#2 "The Union has to protect us all."
This seems to be used to insinuate that the union should not protect the top 2/3 in order to protect the bottom 1/3. The union is suppose to protect us all, even from ourselves. In order to protect the bottom 1/3 for a short time we will have to give up what will take us a decade to get back.

#3 "Father knows best."
This is repeatedly used in a negative way to imply the Union will not bring things to MEMRAT. ALPA is a national union that uses patterned bargaining for the good of all ALPA airlines. They are here to protect the profession so all the major's don't devolve into regional airline type contracts and a watered down profession.

#4 "Shared sacrifice."
Shared sacrifice is guaranteed. If the bottom 1/3 get furloughed everyone moves down. People will get displaced. Line holders will become reserves, the ripples will be felt by almost everyone. The 100% pay cut argument is not realistic. Yes you will stop being paid by United but you still have the ability to get some income elsewhere. Few will land flying jobs. Some will take jobs in other sectors. Some people have spouses that can work and help pay the bills. Some will be too angry to take a job that is "beneath" them and just take unemployment.

 

So how does a Del Sol compare to a Miata? Anyone have experience with both Sports cars?

 

The short time I had a Del Sol it got about 42mpg but couldn't get out of it's own way.

 

I flew with a guy who owned one of those, until he got arrested stealing memory cards in EWR :45 before he was supposed to push.

 

Fishing pics needed at this time Old Mako