Catch 22-
We might not be in a time crunch to agree to just anything,
but are you, I and the rest of this group going to just "hope" we get a deal next year?
When next year comes along and something happens to our CEO, Union Chair, etc.. do we just wait another 6 months?
At what point is-
Enough is Enough

Cleaning up this weekend and came across my old Continental Contract, from 2002.
Sect 14- Sick Leave
A pilot will accrue 5 hours each bid period
When is Enough Is Enough

21+ years and no change?!

If we go into Mediation it isn't because of the Union, its because of one and ONLY one individual. He gambled- he lost.
As far as "What Mediation Brings-"
It shows a failure of this management team.
THEY love their PR.
Boom Jet
SAP Fuel
Diversity in Hiring, especially at Aviate
They want the good PR to make the public LOVE our airline.
Maybe they wont be so happy with the Negative PR that comes from requesting Mediation.

None of us WANT Mediation. We WANT, and DESERVE is a Fair and Honest Contract (ILC23) that rewards this pilot group for the Pain & Suffering they sacrificed over the last 20+ years AND to take the next step TOWARDS United Next.
But that won't happen without happy, unstressed Pilots.

Motch

Motch,
You're right enough is enough. I met you at the info picket in EWR and firmly agree with you even though I'm from the other side... doesn't really matter anymore, we are all United now!!. I go to work and do my job, nothing more nothing less. 20 years is a lot of time to make up for, I hope the new guys understand this going forward...

I’m not arguing any of this, but we did just start over. We’ve never gone this long without an agreement, but we also had a pandemic that had a huge impact on our industry coupled with a lame MEC. We’ve started over and these guys seem to be doing what we pay them to do. We can file for mediation and have a strike vote any time we want, but as long as both parties are meeting frequently and negotiating in good faith, mediation won’t accomplish much. We need to stop looking at this as our contract has been amendable since 2019, but rather we just started over with a new bar set by Delta. Our New MEC hasn’t been at it long. If negotiations break down, I believe that this MEC will be quick to file for mediation. Until then we need to remain active, but give them time to work. Expecting this to follow personal timelines or happen quickly is about like standing in the desert and shouting “rain damn you!”. It might make people feel good to vent, but it won’t accomplish much.

Truth!

Why in the world would a Mediator even agree to take this negotiation? What would they DO when we are making steady progress? If my understanding is accurate, once in mediation our negotiation schedule belongs to the Mediator? How long until one is assigned, briefed on the current status and ready to set a schedule? Mediation may well be necessary but right now it's not a sword we should be swinging. Let this team do their job, follow the comms, demonstrate unity in the ways they ask, get smart on the process, talk (on the phone or in person) to your reps, and mentor those pilots who aren't as connected.

Just be smart.

I agree, every update seems to be progress is being made and they are meeting weekly….mediator wouldn’t do anything until things break down

And so the company would just keep making sure there is small progress here and there. Makes us feel good and buys the company more time to drag this on into 2024.

just wondering-
what is your date for when things break down and how do you define “break down”?

Our own union has stated Picketing on 12 May..
Is that a date for Mediation request?

I define it as when union days nothings happening and we’ve hit an impasse. The first thing a mediator will assess is what progress is being made and how often are they meeting .

My gut feeling is the union is going through every section with a fine tooth comb trying to find improvements, they aren’t rushing. A mediator doesn’t mean a silver bullet for either side

We aren’t at the table, so we really don’t know what is going on behind closed doors. I don’t know how any of us without knowledge of what is actually going on at the table could define an appropriate date that negotiations should be concluded, or state that it is time for mediation. We seem to have good people in place now and we are going to have to trust them and let them do their job. When they say that it’s time, then we go down that road. Until then we continue informational picketing and the company can try to figure out how to fill vacancies under our current contract.

It starts the clock.

You can't have a strike vote without being in mediation if you want to be taken seriously. (Their CEO laughed at them for it, the mediator did not) our CEO would laugh at us for having a strike vote without being in mediation. It's just legal procedure.

Ask the Delta guys why they got their contract. They followed the RLA, UALPA has not and we are that far behind because of it.

I hope the "New MEC" can pull a rabbit out of the hat but they should use the legal procedures available to them to force the issue.