Originally Posted by RckyMtHigh

So how do you think negotiations would be going if the 93% hadn't voted yes? SWA and the industry as a whole is in slump, we're overmanned, and have an activist investor looking for cost savings. Any leverage you claim we have would be long gone.

You don't have to wonder, just look at how negotiations are going at FedEx.

The 93% you look down on saved you from yourself. While far from perfect, I'm happy we locked in the gains we did get when we did.

Originally Posted by 123AB

I have only been here for 11 months and I am losing steam. I watch all kinds of blatant waste on the line. I've noticed our corporate leadership doesn't really give us any real direction other than "I luv you" or they are overly excited about ideas like assigned seats as if we were the first airline to ever come up with the idea. Quite a few CAs are telling me I will probably get furloughed in the next year and at first I shrugged it off, but it does start to weigh on you a bit. And the Chiefs seem to be cracking down on really good people for very minor things. Trying to keep my head up, but it can wear a person thin.

P.S. I have also deadheaded a lot lately because even though I have a line, crew scheduling seems to treat me like a reserve with constant reroutes. But the point I want to make is I have noticed a lot deadheading. It's truly hot AF in our 700s and even though I'm uncomfortable, it is eye opening to see what our paying customers are having to endure. It's seriously bad sometimes and it embarrases me.

Originally Posted by Lewbronski

The sick leave issue for pilots out for an extended period, among many other issues, could have been solved by applying leverage to our contract negotiations. However, again this cycle, we failed to secure solid, specific contract language to address the predicament we now find ourselves in. If you believe SWAPA and 93% of the pilot group, it was at least partly attributable to the belief that we did not have enough leverage to achieve a truly industry-leading contract. That thought was undergirded by an almost complete, and I would say negligent, lack of understanding of the RLA. That, in turn, resulted in a nearly complete failure to leverage the best negotiating environment for pilots since the 1960's or earlier.

As it stands now, the company is not even taking advantage of a loop hole in our sick leave use policy. They are simply applying the policy, as written in the contract, handed to them by 93% of the pilot group who voted "YES!!!"



It's not like management just started acting this way recently. But like an infant playing peek-a-boo, SWAPA and the pilot group seem surprised every time the company pops its head back up doing the same old sort of thing again.

It has been going on at least as long as I have been here - for about two decades. It's pretty comical. We seem to have had the learning lobe of our brains lobotomized when they offered us the kool-aid and Nikes at new hire training.

But it's not funny for the pilots who will be effected by the sick leave use language we agreed to. Now pilots out on an extended sick leave will be sacrificing some or a lot of their vacation accrual, costing them future income and saving the company cash.

And I know we all can't wait to start riding those middle seats on nearly every DH when we go to assigned seating. But that probably won't be all that hilarious either after the fifth or sixth time.

Oh well, there's always 2032.

Originally Posted by Otie

You're not getting furloughed. Tell these morons to ****.

Originally Posted by Otie

You're not getting furloughed. Tell these morons to ****.

Originally Posted by Otie

You're not getting furloughed. Tell these morons to ****.

Originally Posted by PNWFlyer

Spirit has entered the chat.

Originally Posted by 123AB

I am super grateful it passed too. Yes, I am new and don't have the experience or insight most of you do, but if that contract did not pass things would have likely ended up a lot different.