gzsg

Perfect post. New deal will be very rapid.

Whiskeyjet1

Like I said, I DONT LIKE THE TA. But saying you’d strike because your feelings are hurt is really really dumb. Still you, buddy!

ytumama

So in addition to creating a guaranteed day before reserve commute and hotel it also decimates available premium? Awesome. The temerity required to call these reserve improvements is impressive. Though I’m fairly sure all those 0630 departures will get “soaked up by volunteers” instead of sitting in open time like they do now./s

Aldo Raine

So, do we use Dominion voting machines by chance?

Who audits our vote?

Mudge

I guess some of us have a little more conviction than others. Yes, telling us that a new contract with inflation masking lower actual pay is an improvement IS an insult to every pilot on property. Would I picket for 14,000 friends and colleagues for better pay and QOL tomorrow. Absolutely.

LuvsTacos

It’s a pay cut.

Andy

Do you know the risks of mediation? Ask an Alaska pilot. Do you know the steps required to get to mediation? No, or you wouldn't suggest immediately going that route.
This looks like a shoot, aim, ready post.

I share your disappointment and frustration, but it's probably best to spend an evening discussing this with Jack Daniels and coming up with calm solutions that don't involve negative consequences.
At this point, everything's baked in until July 16.

RJSAviator76

You mean arbitration? Alaska guys got hosed in the arbitration, not mediation.

AxlF16

Andy's pretty sharp so I don't think he'd mix up the two. I am curious to know what big risks he sees in mediation?

Lewbronski

Perhaps a better question is, "Do you know the risks of NOT entering mediation?" Without entering mediation, a pilot group under the RLA will never pose any risk of ever going on strike because, as you know, mediation is a process that must be gone through before the NMB will ever release disputing parties into a cooling off period and potential self help. Without the possibility of going on strike, management NEVER faces any possibility that passengers will book away from their airline in the run-up to possible self help due to the realistic possibility of a coming strike. Management will never feel that pressure.

Never entering mediation strips - neuters is probably a better word - a pilot group of arguably the most powerful leverage available to it.

In the case of the Alaska pilots, their "Kashtration" arbitration award was not the result of entering into mediation. In a mind-boggling display of professional malpractice, the Alaska pilot group decided to enter into a Letter of Agreement ("Letter 01-02") with management that required the parties "to begin their negotiations by June 1, 2004 and complete them by December 15, 2004. Letter 01-02 provided that if ALPA and Alaska were unable to reach an agreement on all of the terms of a new labor contract, they would submit wage rates and not more than ten non-wage issues (five per side) for resolution by a three member arbitration board comprised of one ALPA designee, one Alaska designee, and a neutral member selected by the parties (the 'board')." That "neutral" board member was named Richard Kasher, hence the "Kashtration."

What happened to the Alaska pilots had nothing to do with mediation. They never entered mediation. They agreed ahead of time to binding arbitration. That's entirely a self-inflicted wound. Neither the NMB nor the company did that to them. They did it to themselves.

Also, if you guys enter mediation now, you're doing it waaaay late. But better late than never. Your contract was amendable Jan 2019 with a 270-day early opener, meaning you guys may have been in talks since May 2018. You're 3.5 years+ down the road without filing for mediation. That's totally unsat. You haven't even started the mediation timer yet. You guys currently have ZERO leverage under the RLA because you don't even begin to accrue leverage under the RLA until you enter mediation. Entering mediation now would hardly be an "immediate" thing.

Finally, the steps required to enter mediation? They're pretty simple. After direct negotiations with the company have been underway for any amount of time, either side can apply for mediation with the NMB. When that occurs, the NMB will create a case for the dispute and assign a mediator to the case. There are nuances regarding the timing of when to request mediation so as to avoid appearing overly eager to enter mediation but there's nothing cosmic about the steps required to enter into mediation.