Originally Posted by corndog6

So slowplay says he is not running and Carl says he wants to be mec chair. Does anyone know the truth?

Originally Posted by DAL 88 Driver

No. That is not what I was referring to. I was talking strategy... proactive appeasement (that's what I like to call DALPA's approach over the past 8 years) or nuclear bomb (the burn the house down just because you're ****ed mentality). IMO, neither of those are going to get us where we need to be. The first one has been tried for 8 years, and we're currently 32%+ BELOW the buying power we had before we took that draconian 32.5% pay cut almost a decade ago! UNSAT. The second approach (burn the house down) is just stupid... akin to shooting oneself in the foot.

Of course there's always going to be give and take. That's just life. The problem is that, on the "give and take ledger", we've done WAY more giving than taking. It's time to even it out more. And we've got a lot of evening out to do! We took a 42% cumulative pay cut, lost our pension, and had thousands of our jobs outsourced. A 42% cut requires a 73% increase on day one just to get back to square one. I know you are tired of my broken record on that... but it is A FACT. And a fact we simply cannot afford to ignore if we are going to restore this profession and put our careers back on track. DALPA has been ignoring this fact (even doing everything they can to distract us from it) for way too long. IMO, that has done tremendous damage to our prospects for restoration.

I don't know exactly what DPA will or will not do. I suppose that is to be determined once they become our representative and the process begins of taking input, developing an objective, and then developing specific plans and strategies to achieve the objective. It will be a difficult, uphill battle... especially given the lower expectations that DALPA has allowed to be set for management and for many in our pilot group. It will take being very clear to all concerned that we do not accept bankruptcy as a reset and that we expect to get our profession and our careers back on track. It will most likely take some assertiveness on our part. We will have to earn back the respect of management, after spending almost a decade losing it by demonstrating that we don't really respect ourselves and our profession that much.

Originally Posted by corndog6

So slowplay says he is not running and Carl says he wants to be mec chair. Does anyone know the truth?

Originally Posted by corndog6

Given how the mec seems to work, you will know who is running after the election or if you happen to be in the room when the vote is taken. I hope this guys does not **** off the regulars and trigger another recall.

Originally Posted by corndog6

Given how the mec seems to work, you will know who is running after the election or if you happen to be in the room when the vote is taken. I hope this guys does not **** off the regulars and trigger another recall.

Originally Posted by DAL 88 Driver

If it's a competition to see who's the highest paid, then they've placed pretty high (almost won, but then there's that pesky SWA).

If it's pursuing the objective of restoring our profession and putting our careers back on track, then they've been a miserable failure... essentially sustaining the 32.5% pay cut we took almost a decade ago in an extreme emergency! Yeah, DALPA's set the bar for formerly bankrupt carriers. And that's part of the problem IMO... They've set a bar that essentially says we agree that we're not worth what we used to be and that we don't expect restoration. I think a good case could be made that we (DALPA) have screwed the pooch for the entire profession by demonstrating acceptance of bankruptcy as a new baseline from which we only expect "reasonable" improvements going forward. Imagine how much better everybody else might be doing if we had set a higher bar...

Originally Posted by Hillbilly

Just to make sure I understood you clearly, are you saying that it is the Delta pilot's fault that United, CAL, USAir and AMR couldn't get a contract that raised the bar above us? That was my takeaway, but I'm hoping I misinterpreted you.

Originally Posted by Carl Spackler

Not speaking for DAL88driver, but I agree with that assessment. Nobody had a healthier company or outlook than us. C2012 was THE time for Delta pilots to step up to the plate and lead the industry in every measurable way. Even if it was just a small margin above everybody else, so long as we led. That would have given the rest of the industry a better chance to better themselves. We failed. By accepting a cost neutral contract where our COLA pay raises were fully funded by concessions in other areas and allowing 70 additional 76 seat RJ's, we failed. We failed ourselves, we failed to capitalize on our circumstances, and we failed the rest of the pilot profession. We need to own up to it and resolve to do better.

Carl