dmeg13021

And if you gave WB CA a choice between 25% raise or 10% raise w/10% A fund….

The point is this: if reserve is a good enough deal, you don't have to bid a line and can work less while still making money, thus not “wasting” your negotiating capital on lowly junior pilots. Let’s make reserve an actual choice.

PilotsAreDumb

What urgency? Nothing happens to united if they don’t give us a contract. Pilots are greedy by nature and will
pick up all open time and PP. Things will cruise right along at United and the passengers won’t even notice a blip. There will be no contact for a long time.

01110011

1. They need to keep TK running smoothly. That won’t happen without a new contract. Many of these new instructors will go back to the line if they have to work under current book for a long time.

2. Morale matters. Pilot customer service matters. If it didn’t, they wouldn’t have a whole day of PPD cheerleading. If Kirby wants this place to look like American there’s no urgency, if he wants it to look better than delta and Southwest there is absolutely urgency and they’ve made that abundantly clear

3. We will actually have to compete for pilots in the long term. The pool is just not deep enough to chug along as is and expect to fill classes indefinitely.

Wilfortina

clarification: referencing the podcast just put out by the union, remember that we are not ALLOWED to stop picking up open time and PP. it’s the status quo, and under the RLA the consequences for changing that are severe

Chowdah

Don’t forget the amount of deliveries with massive unfilled vacancies now in all but a few bases

hummingbear

This is where I’m coming from. I think generally SK’s stated ambitions are genuine, and he knows he needs pilot buy-in to make it happen. (Status-quo won’t do it- they need enthusiastic participation.) Otherwise, they wouldn’t have pulled out of TUMI so quickly when it became apparent they were being outdone. Every week, more UAL pilots are sitting through PPD classes & only hearing the Charlie Brown voice playing in their heads. They’re losing their messaging.

Having said that, I think their goal is merely to have arguably the best contract. They’re not looking to top DAL by 10%; just 1% will do. They figure between the growth & the upgrades, the contract needs to lead the industry by just enough to be a cherry on top. So it’s not like we’ve got anyone’s back against the wall, but they definitely know that undue delays in this contract have the potential to derail their long-term plans.

BlueScholar

Umm no. What happens when brand new aircraft are sitting parked and empty because all the pilots in the market go to other legacies or stay at regionals with better pay and work rules? United Next falls on its face if we can’t hire train and upgrade thousands of pilots the next few years.

RaginCajun

If this is the case…what’s the hold up? The writing is on the wall. Folks have been leaving TK because of this…and I suspect it will only get worse. Similar to Capt vacancies. I’m giving it to EOY.

RaginCajun

….we delay the deliveries.

EwrRocks

Or take deliveries and just park older 757, 737, and/or 319/320. Those planes don’t HAVE to be growth.

Managements always have a plan B or C, and with limitations of RLA have time on their side. IMHO we think we have more leverage then we actually do, especially when all of Big 4 are at the same place in negotiations. We don’t have another big 4 contract to base off of if all the managements just decide to slow roll the groups. Macro economics starting in the Spring MAY also fall right into Managements play to slow roll.

Time will tell how it plays out, but life is not about fairness, it’s about leverage. What leverage or mechanism do we have to conclude this negotiations in timely matter, I’m losing hope by the day that any exists.