Originally Posted by CAAC ATP

Reserve Yellow Slip question. I put in a yellow slip for a 2 day trip and was assigned a non yellow slip trip. The trip I tried to yellow slip was awarded as a yellow slip to a junior reserve pilot. Both pilots coming from days off. Both pilots days of availability exceed the trip length. Both pilots awarded a two day trip. The only difference is the yellow slip went to a higher raw score. Does this sound right?

Originally Posted by Bucking Bar

How? When we allow other pilot groups to do deals with our management for Delta flying and our former Chair / President works out his own scope deals via the grievance process and our NC does deals without guidance? Sad to say, but I see nearly no indication that the Delta MEC is engaged in anything other than providing local services. Strategic planning? For what? Moak does whatever he pleases. We read about the result of ALPA negotiations with Delta Management in the news or other airlines' web boards. Then we gripe and moan at our Reps for something they did not know about and had no part in.

Don't get me wrong. I very much appreciate the hard work of our Reps. Individually our Reps are terrific to a man. But collectively they can't even deal with the fact that they've been locked out of the room, marginalized and become irrelevant to the representation of Delta pilots as a body.

Without our MEC acting to correct national's power grab we might as well not even have a MEC. On the tough issues which are specific to Delta pilots WE HAVE BEEN PURPOSELY SILENT. Our MEC has got to find it's representational willpower and take on the subversion of our union's democratic process. The number one strategic issue facing our union right now is the inability of our MEC to do it's job as a political body.

I commend you individually for standing up and encourage others to do so. We members of our union need Representatives who assert the best interests of the Delta pilots without concern for majorities or the self serving opinions of professional admin. Union work is difficult when there are shots fired across the horseshoe. Often the toughest work is most rewarding.

Until we take control of our union, a strategic planning meeting has little ability to change the trajectory of anything.

Originally Posted by Check Essential

Did these men get it right?

Lee Moak
Tim O'Malley
Parri Olmstead
Mike Pinho
Rick Dominguez
Roger White
Rich Harwood
Ken Rogers
Tim Canoll

Let's not kid ourselves. I undoubtedly left a few names off the list but these are the men who wrote this contract. With stunning speed, the whole intricate (and time consuming) "process" was circumvented.

When we cast our vote the question we need to answer is do we trust the judgment of the handful of people who brought us this contract? This is not the contract the pilots wanted and it is not the contract the MEC wanted.
This was done by a very small group of people who decided what they thought was best for Delta Air Lines and the Delta pilots. They largely disregarded the survey, excluded the elected reps and cut a deal. They then used the powerful machinery at their disposal to get it out to membership ratification. The information and communication resources they control are formidable. They overwhelmed our MEC reps with National's lawyers, economists, political types warning about our chances at the NMB, etc. etc. They are doing the same with the pilot group as a whole.

Make no mistake. These are smart guys. Big picture guys. They've been in power a long time. They are not management but they clearly view themselves as managers of the pilot group. They are pilot advocates and they want everything they can get for the pilots but they also see themselves as responsible for the corporation's health. They believe deeply in the philosophy of labor participation in "corporate governance". They place great value on a pilot member of the board of directors. etc. etc.

I haven't seen the survey but it seems obvious that in many areas these people substituted their judgment for the collective wishes of the pilot group and our elected reps.

On the other hand, "Time value of money" is not just a slogan or cliche. It is real. The dysfunctional, anti-labor NMB is also real. These men made a strategic decision to make an end run around the long, torturous, drawn out NMB negotiation and mediation system that has undeniably been broken for the last decade. That may have been a stroke of brilliance and the best thing that ever happened or it may have cost us hundreds of millions. Would the Railway Labor Act have worked for us or slowly smothered us? That's the decision we have to make. Will we really do better by taking that long road?

It's done. Fait accompli. We have a TA. We are going to vote.
We need to decide -- did these men get it right?

Originally Posted by flyallnite

FTB Quote:


"I know all of that seems obvious but here is my point, Herb fell in love with his SWA employees and brought his customers along. We’re falling in love with our customers and bringing our employees along. And that's why we feel like and probably are just one of many equal parts of a conglomeration of entities."

This may be one of the best quotes regarding airline management I've ever heard. You should send this directly to Richard Anderson. I actually think he'd get it.

Originally Posted by forgot to bid

But who are we anymore?

Originally Posted by forgot to bid

but now those Delta customers who bought their tickets from Delta are served not only by Delta pilots, but Pinnacle pilots, AF/KLM pilots, Alaska pilots, Skywest pilots, Shuttle America pilots, ExpressJet pilots, Skyteam pilots, GoJet pilots

Originally Posted by Elvis90

I just put a contract on a house in Minnesota. I expect to hear about the closure of the MSP pilot base anytime now.

Originally Posted by qball

Just in time for the 2 billion tax increase too. Might not have heard about that as it got buried by the gay marriage deal.

Originally Posted by hockeypilot44

This post just ****es me off. Are you for us or against us? The new FAR's will make what we are currently doing illegal because it is dangerous so you feel we should give a concession to keep from hurting the company? Again, who's side are you on? The domestic side will flat out being hurt by this. If it was really a make or break item for the company, we could have left the domestic side alone. I'm really tired of hearing about our 12.5 percent raise. It is a 4 percent signing bonus raise followed by a 6.5 percent raise. It's a 10.8 raise rounding up. If you get part of the raise from profit sharing, you don't get to count it. So we get a 7.8 percent raise + 3 percent COLA. We then get two more COLA. We actually gave up scope allowing more regional jets to get this. We failed miserably. I was a hell no vote. The more I think about it, the more it bothers me. Our increase in health insurance next year will easily eat my 3 percent. I'm disgusted. I initially thought a 40 percent raise on day 1 was fair. Then I decided that I was probably being unrealistic so I cut it in half to about a 20-25 percent raise on day 1. I never in a million years thought my own union was going to agree to a 10.8 percent raise in exchange for allowing more regional jets. The fact that our union can't admit it made a mistake really bothers me.

Originally Posted by Free Bird

It was either Ed Bastian or RA that recently said that the 717 deal was a once in a lifetime event and they had to get them. Based on that statement I think the company would of come back to the table in a hurry. Don't forget the company is who really wanted the contract to be wrapped up asap.

I think that we had leverage (something the company wanted) and we let it go.