You were on the EB, enlighten us. Apparently for some they can do no wrong and the usual suspects defend every move they make.

 

What enlightenment do you seek, grasshopper? How they "tricked" us into voting overwhelmingly for the contract extensions? My read is that they made a decision based on the information that they had at the time (and their human ability to prognosticate the future) that the contract extensions were on balance a good idea. I have no idea whether they were right or not. My inclination is to think that the first one maybe so, the second probably not, but that's with the benefit of hindsight, which they didn't have.

I can't see into the future any better than they can. What I can see is that these guys signed up to serve the larger group and are doing their best at it, which is why the "tricked" verbiage is so annoying. You are of course free to disagree with their judgment, and I think it's a sign of a healthy union that you exercise that freedom. But unless you have some sort of evidence that they're "secretly working for The Company" or whatever other nonsense, do us all a favor and dispense with the tinfoil hat stuff.

You could even run for office.

 

Bottom line: The EB's job is go extract maximum value and return for the pilots who generate the massive revenue for the company. On that measure they failed us, and we're now bottom feeders of the industry with FedEx's TA.

And how many more years of this?

My guess is two.

 

Maybe by the time Teamsters contract is due, summer 2028, so that’s right. Two more years with way substandard pay and beyond awful schedules.

 

I agree they are doing the best they can. It is surprising that BT made a video about UPS slow rolling negotiations like it’s unexpected. I asked before voting on the 2nd extension why the EB thought these negotiations would be different than 06/16.

The answer I got was they “hoped” it would be different. I told them I was a no vote.

 

Under Contract 2016, the top rate in Sept 2020 would have been $337.65. Extension 2020 pushed the top rate to $361.69 in Sept 2022. Extension 2022 pushed the top rate to $401.01 in Sept 2025.

Why does that matter? Because FDX's last raise was Nov 2020 and their top rate was $335.56. And while we we'd all like to hope we'd have had a contract by now without Extension 2022...hope is not a plan and there's no way for the EB or this pilot group to have to have guaranteed that outcome. Nevermind we'd also have been in negotiations as COVID volume which was never sustainable fell off a cliff, corporate revenue dropped 10% from COVID highs, and the airline became overstaffed (in the Company's opinion anyway). With Extension 2022 in place, we got a fairly generous VTP and then a few months later the Postal contract which brought the pilot group back to or just ahead of COVID high numbers. Would VTP and Postal have happened anyway if we'd have been in negotiations? Maybe, maybe not...there's no way for anybody regardless of their opinion on the hindsight validity of Extension 2022 to *know* what the outcomes would have been.

The EB aren't soothsayers or omnipotent; they're pilots like us, humans who have to evaluate a situation with all information known at the time, considering what is also unknown, and use that information along with their experience to make the best decisions they can, knowing they'll be responsible for both positive or negative consequences of those decisions in the future. All the Extension 2022 materials are still availble on the IPA website, including videos with reasoning. Feel how you want to feel about it today, but that doesn't change what was known and unknown and fully communicated back then. Individuals can use the benefit of hindsight to continue arguing four years later about the validity of an extension that ratified over 90% in favor...or we can move forward together from where we are today to secure the contract we have all earned.

Back to FDX: their DOS raise is a massive 39.76% to get them to $469...3.14% below DAL/UAL Jan 2026 rate of $483.74. UAL/DAL's top widebody rate will increase to be $498.25 in Jan 2027.

Without the extensions, the same 39.76% DOS raise as FDX would get us to $471.90. With Extension 2020, we'd need 37.76% at DOS to match DAL/UAL Jan 2027 rates. With both extensions, we'd need 24.25% at DOS to match DAL/UAL Jan 2027 rates. Compared to the ginormous percentage of FDX's DOS rate increase, that provides a lot of relative "pie" on a per-pilot basis to devote toward other articles, including scheduling.

I happen to think the FDX TA2 and Delta exchanging openers are at least marginally positive for our timeline, but that's just my suspicion...I don't *know*. All I can do to get us there sooner rather than later is support our team and do my job and my job only.

 

Then there are those where the EB can do no right. You're as usual as a suspect can get.

 

One thing I have come to realize is UPS could care less about our competitors/industry peers. They are gonna do whatever they want and will only settle when they are ready. They harbor absolutely zero affinity, zero caring for any of their employees. I know this is not unique to UPS, but UPS seems to really like to stick it in your face.

 

If you’re talking about honoring a Teamster’s picket line we absolutely can do that. It’s in our contract.

 

I know we can. The point is that I believe showing the company that we will actually walk out gives our negotiating team tremendous leverage compared to a simple strike vote that no one believes will actually result in a strike. Sure, the company is going to sign on the dotted line with the Teamsters first, but Wall Street will have seen IPA pilots giving interviews on CNBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Fox News, etc about our specific issues. That’s leverage we don’t have with negotiations quietly occurring in Boston completely off Wall Street’s radar.