We’re not going to get more just because we feel that we deserve it. It’s going to be a hard and drawn out fight. Regardless of if we go to mediation, we’re not going to get as much as we feel that we deserve, and the company will have to pay for some things that they don’t want to. We’ll get Delta plus, but some will be upset with the amount of the overage. If the Delta deal was worth $7B, we’re not going to get $10B. Our struggle is over work rules that would limit crew productivity and increase cost from a company standpoint, but increase compensation and QOL from a pilot standpoint. Mediation and strike votes are levers to pull when we get to an impasse, and being that both sides are frequently meeting, we’re not there yet. People are understandably tired of waiting, but we also just started over fresh with a new MEC after the recall/replace process. From a negotiating standpoint we’re not years into the process, we just started over.

 

From the little things I’m hearing I don’t think it’s going to be impossible to negotiate to legitimate Delta plus with good work rule improvements. I do think it’s impossible to somehow envision acquiring every single individual best line item from Delta or UAL contracts while dumping every single item that is inferior. That seems to me to get us to that $3B better than Delta number and we won’t get that after any mediation either. In the meantime our retro checks are never going to get back better reserve rules or other things that are real QOL but don’t reflect in retro. Let our NC try to get it to Delta + with an AA snap up clause and if they can, let’s move on. If not, then we take the long way.

 

The problem is that "delta plus" means different things to different parties. It is the new term in place of "industry leading" which should be a sign that you are about to hear a hard sales job. The pay rates are easy but the cost of the work rules is what we are negotiating/debating and while managements offer is "delta plus" they are costing basic improvements to scheduling and reserve sections of the contract at absurd levels. We are also bringing certain sections up to where delta was in Ltd, profit sharing, and sick leave which brings the total cost to the company to a pretty impressive figure (an even more impressive figure with creative math if you're trying to play broke like management is.)

Delta plus is vague and a bad term to use. We should be asking for delta QOL and compensation plus something for being the last of the big 3 with a contract. American should have a TA within a few weeks and then there is us walking into a summer from hell. Fupm. Kirby tried to be cheap last summer and it bit him.

 

Everyone said we’d have a TA in a few weeks too. I don’t know that they’re really any closer to a deal than we are.

This summer won’t really be affected without a deal, it’s future growth plans that could be slowed without one. TK is currently at max capacity and there is no significant backlog for OE. If things do get tight this summer, they’ll just offer premium trips and people will line up to take advantage of the extra pay.

 

“Better” is never going to be universally agreed upon unless we match their contract line for line and then tack on some % to an easy to measure metric, and then someone still won’t like it for some reason. But I think that legit “better” as perceived by 80+% of the pilot group is hopefully achievable. If we want to measure easily should we swap to their scope and instructor wording? That might have some unintended consequences. We need improvements in many areas, no doubt about it but we shouldn’t pretend that our entire contract is a steaming pile. It will be interesting to see if the NC and mgmt make some headway.

 

Random thought... if/when we get a new contract, will our union dues decrease accordingly? A 30ish percent raise over the next 4ish years would mean that we are also giving the ALPA a 30 percent raise. Has ALPA addressed this? I'm guessing not...

For a 30 year old at United, this is the difference between tens of thousands of dollars over the course of a career.

 

The Big 3 execs have this guy spreading the word that pilot salaries are unsustainable. No mention of how sustainable / unsustainable airline executive salaries are. Hmmmm...
Pilot salaries
I'd call the author a tool, but that would imply he's useful.

 

Read the comments too, most will infuriate you… unbelievable how clueless some people are. Who would be ok to work under rules agreed to 10 years ago and without a raise for 5 years? Not to mention the additional Delta and United cost for 1Q was mostly to cover retro payments, no mention of this anywhere.

 

I bet they appreciate you getting them more clicks and therefore advertising dollars.

 

you do understand how percentage math works - right?