Lewbronski

Lewbronski

First fairy tale in the Railway Labor Act Fairy Tales book: “Don’t go near the ice monster. Once he gets you, he’ll put you on ice forever and never let you go!”

Champeen07

This is not about saying the regionals shouldn't get the pay raises. They absolutely should. Its about time that they are accurately compensated for their skill and responsibility. This is all about saying that if this is their price, its maddening to be working for less. We should be getting much much more. I am hoping I am not disappointed with what they bring in an offer.

Lewbronski

If you want to get "much much more," you need to be doing the work. SWAPA won't deliver something to the pilot group that the pilot group isn't able to provide the leverage for. To provide the leverage to SWAPA to get "much much more," you need to figure out how this game works. You then need to be educating the guys you fly with, who have almost universally been misinformed on how the game needs to be played.

This game is a lot like nuclear deterrence. To have a credible nuclear deterrent threat that keeps the peace we need to have a massive nuclear arsenal that is fully operational at all times and has the ability to annihilate the other side at a moment's notice. Peace through strength, right? 99.99% of pilots believe that when it comes to national defense. But, when it comes down to it, probably less than 50% of pilots believe in that principle when it comes to preserving the well-being of ourselves, our families, and our profession.

If we all are not willing to pose the credible existential threat to the other side (management) in our negotiations, then we lose. The company walks all over us, as they are currently doing. They do not feel a credible existential threat to their existence. They see the weakness in us. The way we are being treated right now is what we get for being weak both right now in this contract cycle (for example, we filed for mediation at least a year later than we should have) and last contract cycle when we ratified TA2 with a value more than a billion dollars less than The Platform that every member of the BOD signed a letter saying they wouldn't settle for less than.

If you were a corporate executive, you would also take advantage of the weakness exhibited by our pilots in order to return maximum value to your investors and shareholders. That's capitalism.

Most pilots seem to believe in capitalism. Except when it comes to their relationship with their employer. Then, it seems like most pilots believe in a form of socialism: give to the company. Do not claim ownership of our share of the economic success of the corporation.

Bottom line, if you want "much, more more." learn the RLA. That's where our leverage is. You can learn it on your own. You don't need SWAPA to teach you. Just start Googling. A great starting point is John Livingood's RLA site. Read all of the pages there. There are quite a few of them (click the "RLA Nuances" button).

With the RLA, like Delta is doing right now (and has been doing since they filed for mediation in January of 2020), we can leverage the company into acceding to our contractual demands. If you're going to passively wait and see what offer SWAPA will bring you, you will be disappointed. Unfortunately, that is what most pilots do. And even more unfortunately, we will likely get a contract that reflects their lack of commitment. Now is the time to get very, very involved if you want "much, much more."

KPer

All improvements to our crappy STD/LTD/LOL system must be applied retroactively to all of our brothers and sisters currently out on medical.

Lewbronski

Oh heck yes. Retro for them.

And I'm definitely also holding out for the ability to charge the company for my time spent (at my seat position and longevity) for having to deal with rejected health insurance claims ... among a boatload of other pay, work rule, hotel, retirement, ancillary, and other items.

Minimum 55% DOS pay rate raise to bring us up to inflation-adjusted parity with UAL year 2000 large 737 rates plus additional raise to reflect the fact that a 55% raise would mean that, in real terms, we hadn't received any raise at all in greater than 20 years.

Paid tail swaps, double for unplanned tail swaps.

Premium for the rest of the trip following a short overnight (<14 hours). Premium for a long (>10 hrs) duty day for the entire day.

No more JA's. JA's filled by reverse Dutch auction system where the pay is raised on each round of bidding for a trip until a taker is found or the trip cancels. Bidding starts at 2x fully rigged rate for trip (ie, one one-hour leg pays 13)

Minimum 25% NEC.

Retiree medical coverage.

Separate hotels from FA's. SWAPA in charge of Pillot CAB, which we'll now call "PAB.". Duty time starts early if van has to leave hotel unreasonably early. Can't stay at less than a 4-star property. Must have healthy food (not fast food, not gas station, not Chili's or Applebees or similar) within a 10-minute Google Maps walk of property. Must have full-size gym access at hotel or within 10-minute Google Maps walk of hotel with no charge for one-day pass to work out for the day. Typical hotel gym doesn't qualify as full-size gym. Must be in a low crime area. Hotel must have been built in last 10 years or newly renovated in last 10 years.

DHR ratio increased to >= .91.

Claw back of sick time accrual for premium trips at premium rates.

Premium for entire day when over four legs in a duty day.

Ability for captains to avoidance bid FO's.

If I discover a pay error, I receive double the amount of the error.

sMFer

Any contract that doesn’t forbid us from the crappy SMF Arden West is a no vote for me. It needs its own chapter.

Opakapaka

To funny. My AA Buddy was a B737 FO and upgraded to capt on the A320. That AF dork is lost in time.

BobbyLeeSwagger

Also something to watch out for. GoJet is up to 180k.

Grumpyaviator

This done in a spirited manner would be a better SWAPA day than pizza, beer and Rah Rah!