Remember when this is over...
United thought you were worth .15 cents on the dollar compared to your counterparts at DL and AA (tumi TA total value vs DL TA value)
United doesn't want to give you industry matching let alone industry leading profit sharing (AA mgmt offered up DL PS)
United doesn't think you deserve a seat at the table, they won't replace BQ making UA the only major airline without a pilot in senior management
United's CEO said a contract would take 2 weeks...it's been over 4 years since your contract became amendable, you should be negotiating the follow up to the contract that started in 2020, you are an entire contract behind
United's latest proposal falls short of industry matching in a number of sections, the only section that is likely to be industry leading is scope, which was fought for and won years ago. It's not industry leading if you already have it

Market forces will force United into an industry lagging/matching contract but remember when this is all over how UA treated you and if you are thinking about going to UA is that the place you want your future to be? If you have been at UA for under a couple of years, consider your options, because this won't be the last time UA treats it's pilots this way...

 

Keep picking up overtime guys.
Keep making those FC/gate PAs.
Don't wear your lanyard your union asks of you.
Don't show up at picketing events.
Jump through hoops to make the labor drama that goes on behind closed doors transparent.

Without you, how would United survive? I'm sure you'll get a cookie or a big bonus in your Christmas stocking this year.
I hear there's a big "TUMI of the month club" benefit that's being added into an eventual contract next year.

Good thing we don't have a threat of an actual strike right now, I can't imagine the scabs a strike would create here at this point in time.

 

“When this is all over…”

They have already made the relationship clear as day. They have made our position in the industry compared to our peers clear as well.

“When this is all over” those who foolishly allowed themselves to believe that “maybe it would be different this time” with Munoz and now Kirby will never make that mistake again. Just another management team with their golden parachutes and egos, and you are nothing but a number and a cost. Don’t be in “love” with a company that doesn’t “love” you back. This is a clear and helpful reminder of how fake all of the company BS is. Every “Flying Together” headline and BS town hall.

Seeing it for what it is, it’s purely transactional from here til retirement. No free “favors,” no more than your job description and a focus on safety, and none of it performed other than when and where it’s convenient for me and my family to spare some time with me at work. It’s liberating to be reminded what this relationship really is.

 

^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

For most folks here…is it really worth living the next 30 years like this?

 

I find it odd that so many take business personally. Make no mistake, every business, when given the opportunity, will screw over its employees; such is the dynamic we have created in this country. There's no such thing as a benevolent executive. Even the "good" ones like Oscar have a responsibility to the shareholders whose influence greatly outweighs labor. The experience of any worker in this country should be purely transactional. Companies have no loyalty to any individual or labor group. We are, and always will be, replaceable in their eyes. We provide them a skill, they provide us money to live our lives. I owe them nothing more than to do the job expected of me as the professional that I am. I choose to do that job to the best of my abilities and take care of people not because it makes the company look better but because it provides fulfillment for me. I have no ill will toward my customers or my colleagues.

We will only get what we deserve, and by deserve I mean we will get what we remain unified toward and fight for. No company will ever give more than they're required to give, and I feel like the current MEC leadership is doing what the membership is asking of them and are communicating updates with regularity.

Coming from another airline which went through contract negotiations last year, this process is slow, frustrating, and tends to bring out the worst in people. United pilots deserve an industry-leading contract, and should have had it years ago. Knowing now the philosophical difference between ALPA and the company on what constitutes "industry-leading," I'm satisfied with the pace and feel like meaningful progress is being made. Accepting as a basic tenet of negotiations the company won't give more than they have to, I'd frankly be skeptical if progress were being made too quickly because it would tell me we weren't asking for the right things.

Beyond that, my union speaks for me.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Exactly!!

 

For what it's worth, it should always be this way for any pilot at any airline.

Even over here at the almighty Delta, we view our relationship with management like that. We perform a service, they pay us well. They day they no longer need us to perform that service, they'll kick us to the curb and be rewarded by the shareholders for doing it. They will always try to find a way to pay us less and will always answer to the shareholders, not us.

No pilot should ever buy into the management kool aid and propaganda. Nobody is special. Nobody is valued. You're just a cog in a wheel (or a widget). Always keep your relationship transactional.

 

Management realizes that we skipped an item on the RLA checklist..

File for mediation….

I’m sure they stand around the water cooler in downtown Chicago laughing about
that everyday.

 

It’s not bitter to personal. It’s just business. It is for management too.

I enjoy coming to work when I actually do, and try to take care of my fellow co-workers. (That DOESN’T have anything to do with PPD propaganda or acting as a waiter/waitress during preflight). That also does not mean falling for corporate strategies that have been used against union employees since the beginning of time. Nothing about this game has changed. Same BS new management group feigning to be new and different. The old salts (that have been through far worse than me) that people sometimes mistake for “bitter or grumpy” are just being realistic about what it is. They’ve seen it. Be open minded about their views too.

Like another on this thread said… My union speaks for me.

In the 12th Captain Smith reminded everyone about how we the union employees ARE United Airlines. We are the only ones who have hitched our proverbial wagon to this place for decades. Management will come and go for another offer in a heartbeat, and it will happen many times in our careers. We (the pilots) must stand together to make this a better, safer, and more rewarding United Airlines.