Originally Posted by baseball;[url=tel:3451764

3451764[/url]]YES.

I am sure Mr. Insler is babsitting him right now while the MEC attempts to pacify the pilot group and triage their way out of this mess.

Here's the deal. The MEC Chairman has been in the training center his entire career. He only has about 2500 total time combined in all fleet types at UAL and in all seats. That represents his entire 25 plus year career at United. There's no way for him to feel the pain and anger of line pilots if he has never come out here and done the job. When you elect local council reps they should be cut of a similar cloth as you, the line pilot. When you elect a Master Chair, it should be someone the line pilots instantaneously recognize as a champion of their cuase. Someone who has walked the walk and who carries street credibility when he/she talks. The MEC Chair cannot regain his lost stature. He has fallen from grace and no one can pick him up, save himself. We, the line pilots don't have his back. We don't see him having ours. The company knows the pilots are ****ed. But, here's the deal. They also know pilots aren't ****ed at management, they know we're ****ed at our union. Management loves this. But, that's ok. It's part of the grieving and healing process.

Management knows they can't reach a deal with this MEC now. The pilots will have to go through the recall process at a few domiciles and ultimately at the MEC. It will take about 90 days to get the ship back in the water. And, that's OK too. The right thing for Hamilton to do is resign. Will he? No, likely Insler is advising him on what to do. Back in the day, Paul Rice used to put his own recall on the agenda at every MEC meeting. Why? As a sign of both respect to his fellow officers and pilots and to make it easy to make a leadership change should the body feel he was off course. That's what Hamilton should do now.

Unionism is a learned activity. You can read all the books you want to, but until you get in the pits and start hammering you aren't battle tested yet. UAL pilots and UAL MEC reps have had a very cordial and professional relationship with Management. Management doesn't want to pick a fight. Why? It would unify the pilots. It would give them a central cause to rally around. We at United don't have battle axe wielding figures like Debbie McCoy, Fred Abbott, or Jim Starley to worry about. We aren't up at night making voo doo dolls in the likeness of Jeff Smizek. We just go to work, fly our jet and go home. Sounds pretty cushy right? We aren't fighting over Captain's authority, and when we call in fatigued that call is handled professionally. We have FODM's that generally assist us when in need.

We've got it pretty good, operationally speaking. So, that tends to make us lazy and complacent as unionists. We need to start HATING something. But, mostly we've got to get unified around the idea that "We are Worth More." We're worth more than our management presumes and we're worth more than our MEC assumes. This is a great opportunity for the former CAL MEC officers to stand up and speak up. Get the MEC's attention. For the most part your still dealing with leftover CAL management and that "low ball mindset" is being institutionalized within the missile silo's in Chicago. We know what Zullo is doing. What we don't know is who he is mentoring. There are always two. The Master and the Apprentice.

The relationships that were formed in the CAL Contract known as POS 02 are still being massaged today. At the CAL MEC, it was well stated "it's all about the relationship." Do not be surprised to learn how many former Contract 02 negotiators are involved in this mess, both from the company side and the union side.

Originally Posted by Waltabi

Shouldn't you be hanging out in DEN ?

Originally Posted by Chowdah

Kind of makes sense why the only clear winners from this deal were the current TK cadre. I’ve got no jealousy for another person’s success, but having PIs make a bunch of money is one thing, having them sign as the PIC when they barely fly is another. I truly hope this doesn’t come off as bitter, but I just think from a safety standpoint this doesn’t make much sense (other than our MC’s connections to TK).

Originally Posted by awax

I’d be quite surprised. Is the current NC have direct ties? I know who two of the company’s negotiating team is LUAL, so I’m not tracking.

I do agree that POS02 and this TA stink. Aside from that, who are these mystery men?