Hey Breeze, what sort of contract items do you consider to be a "must have"?
For me, the basis of this East-West dispute goes all the way back to RJs. I doubt we'd be fighting for the scraps from Parker's table if half of our passengers weren't being flown by outsourced jets. We're dealing with the fallout from the legacy of the past concessions by pilots at all mainlines. It wasn't just ALPA; APA did it too. They got theirs - the money - and all they had to do is agree to outsourcing. Great for the guys punching out ten years ago or more. Brilliant for managements. Devastating for the later generation of pilots.
I agree, however, the RJ's were like evolution....and until managements figure out that RJ's lose money, we are stuck with that.
I am not opposed to fair SLI.....I have 6 yrs left, but do believe that I should be given an opportunity to get back into the left seat before retirement, ahead of someone who has another 10-15 yrs left at this company. After all, we (I) gave up a huge paycut in investing in the continuation of this job......$9.8 billion.
Other than that...I think we all are worth a contract that equates industry standard....maybe even 10% less, and all the beanies....good retirement, good health benefits, and good quality of life, vacation, etc.
Personally, I want this company to succeed, so that is why I condone industry -10%. But, I ABOSLUTELY HATE the idea that management is getting bonuses of 200 % off of our backs.
They are the enemy and are playing this out to the max.