BL's Weekly Update....

[Long Time Gone]

I'm all for the walkout, but it has to be unanimous. I'm in during the last session in Oct. His speech is not part of RGT, so I'm not required to be there.

 

[snozberry]

I contributed to the completion factor the other day. I screwed up the D15 time though by departing 10 hours late. But at least they didn't cancel the flight and ASA got paid for it! I can't believe Delta doesn't step in and say something about this crap. And if SH wants the D15 and A15 time to improve, maybe a contract would be an incentive for us to actually care.

 

[jegermeister]

These weekly pep talks remind me of the band playing while the Titanic was sinking.

 

[JoeMerchant]

These weekly pep talks remind me of the band playing while the Titanic was sinking.

I agree 100%..... however doesn't it sound like BOTH sides are playing music while the chairs on the deck of the Titanic are being rearranged?

On the one hand, we have a puppit management team (ASA), which isn't even calling the shots, giving us weekly pep talks that everyone can see right through..... The strings on this side of the table are being pulled by SGU and Virginia Ave..... not by BL...

On the other side of the table, we get weekly pep talks from ALPA that include

"We are confident that we will get a release this time"...... followed by "We are surprised by the fact that we didn't get a release this time"....

"ALPA is a sinking ship..... There is nothing more ALPA can do for you.... you need to leave...."

Meanwhile, the ASA pilots are caught in this battle between ALPA national and Jerry....

BOTH sides are playing music, and ALPA is telling us to jump in the life rafts.... Oh by the way there aren't enough life rafts for everyone and the life raft won't be as comfortable as the ship was....

Some warned of the iceburg long before it was struck..... but the band played on.....

 

[JoeMerchant]

I think everyone should just walk out when he enters the room. Last year I boycotted and went to get on my plane back to DFW early!

That is the equivalent of putting someone on your ignore list simply because you don't like what they have to say. Management doesn't want you to listen to ALPA, and ALPA doesn't want you to listen to management....

The smart thing to do is to listen to BOTH sides and find the truth somewhere in the middle.....

 

[shamrock]

The smart thing to do is to listen to BOTH sides and find the truth somewhere in the middle.....

Unless, of course, one of the "sides" is an evil Union that is responsible for all that is wrong with the airline industry. Then you just turn any discussion, regardless of subject, into a platform for your already well documented opinions of that Union.

 

[ASACRJFlyer]

Well said, Shamrock...

Any thread that tries to unite the pilots, give us a place to vent and documents the NUMEROUS examples of how this management has a total disregard for its employee group brings Joe Merchant, spouting his anti-ALPA rhetoric and beating his dead horse to even further into the grave.

If you don't like ALPA national, then how about getting on board with the rest of the pilots here at ASA and doing what it takes to make our management realize that release or no release, we won't put up with this poor treatment any longer? Can you imagine if every ASA captain wrote up every LEGAL mtx descrepancy and taxied at an extremely "safe" but legal speed? We wouldn't need the NMB to release us because management would be begging to sign a contract. This wouldn't have worked in the past because we would just be replaced but now no other regional can cover our flying since they can barely cover their own.

With Joe, I know the answer. He's already well known for being in bed with management. He, LJ and his "coalition" would sell out the rest of the pilot group for their own gain. I would imagine Joe would be the type to scab if it ever came to that. So the real question is what about the rest of our pilots?

 

[JoeMerchant]

Unless, of course, one of the "sides" is an evil Union that is responsible for all that is wrong with the airline industry. Then you just turn any discussion, regardless of subject, into a platform for your already well documented opinions of that Union.

I never said that ALPA was "evil", nor have I said that ALPA is responsible for all that is wrong with the airline industry. Not that you probably care what I really said, but here it goes again...

1. ALPA isn't "evil", rather it is ineffective at combating managements portfolio whipsaw tactics. If any of you are really interested in stopping the "race to the bottom", then you will need to reform ALPA.

2. ALPA isn't "responsible for all that is wrong with the airline industry". The 5 main causes of our current predicament are:

a. The Deregulation Act of 1978 signed by Jimmy Carter.

b. The rapidly increasing cost of health care and retirement due to increasing longevity and health advances.

c. The attacks of 911.

d. Bankruptcy laws that allowed weak carriers to bring healthy carriers down.

e. Competition for flying within a brand (ie portfolio concept)

ALPA isn't "responsible" for the first 4 events, however it has reacted poorly to these changes. ALPA is partially responsible for the 5th. and has in fact made it worse with creations such as MidAtlantic, Compass, etc.

The important thing is to listen to both sides, and make informed decisions based on the facts that are presented. Blindly following either side off a cliff based on pure emotion is foolish....

 

[JoeMerchant]

If you don't like ALPA national, then how about getting on board with the rest of the pilots here at ASA and doing what it takes to make our management realize that release or no release, we won't put up with this poor treatment any longer? Can you imagine if every ASA captain wrote up every LEGAL mtx descrepancy and taxied at an extremely "safe" but legal speed? We wouldn't need the NMB to release us because management would be begging to sign a contract. This wouldn't have worked in the past because we would just be replaced but now no other regional can cover our flying since they can barely cover their own.

Let me ask you ASACRJFlyer.... who do you mean when you say "make our management realize that release or no release, we won't put up with this poor treatment any longer?"

Do you mean ASA managment? Do you mean Skywest management? Do you mean Delta management?

Which management team do you think is making the decisions here? Do really think it is ASA management?

Answer those questions and then we can debate the rest of your post....

 

[ASACRJFlyer]

Does it matter??? Let's say it is not our sorry excuse for leadership at ASA but either Skywest or Delta calling the shots at the negotiating table... Delta isn't going to put up with consistently poor performance statistics for long before they tell WHOEVER is doing the negotiations that enough is enough, sign a contract and get the numbers back up. The option they used to have of just bleeding us dry of airplanes doesn't work any more since they've stretched themselves as thin as they can on staffing (at all regionals) and don't have anyone else to send the planes to. That's the sad thing, this could be a great place to work and still be extremely profitable at the same time... but the powers that be (whoever they are) refuse to see that. All you have to do is look at Southwest or JetBlue to see that well treated and happy employees have a value you can't put a price on.

 

[JoeMerchant]

Does it matter??? Let's say it is not our sorry excuse for leadership at ASA but either Skywest or Delta calling the shots at the negotiating table... Delta isn't going to put up with consistently poor performance statistics for long before they tell WHOEVER is doing the negotiations that enough is enough, sign a contract and get the numbers back up. The option they used to have of just bleeding us dry of airplanes doesn't work any more since they've stretched themselves as thin as they can on staffing (at all regionals) and don't have anyone else to send the planes to. That's the sad thing, this could be a great place to work and still be extremely profitable at the same time... but the powers that be (whoever they are) refuse to see that. All you have to do is look at Southwest or JetBlue to see that well treated and happy employees have a value you can't put a price on.

It absolutely does matter who you are negotiating with. We could secure the best contract in the world tomorrow, and then over time we could go the way of ALG, ACA, and CCAir, or the way of CMR, Mesaba, XJT, or PDT..... Let's face it, the highest paid member of the portfolio concept hasn't faired well.

Is it too much to ask the union to battle the portfolio concept FIRST, then work on raising the bar? Trying to raise the bar without fixing the portfolio whipsaw may just result in elimination....

Let's say you could convince me that we need to keep this up to force their hand. Two questions for you or any other of my opponents....

1. Why aren't we asking for a single list with Skywest?

2. Why aren't we pushing for Horizon rates on the 700?

Seems to me, if we had as much power as some think then we should be pushing for those two issues? If not, why not?

 

[Turtlesfly]

9/11 is not the #2 reason for the woes of the airlines - not 6 years later.

All airline woes are due to corporate greed. Period. There is no number 2 reason.

 

[ASARJMan]

All airline woes are due to corporate greed. Period.

Exactly! And those greedy airline managements took advantage of the "old" bankruptcy laws to gut hard won contracts, killed pensions while they guaranteed their pensions, and killed morale among all employee groups.

But.......
ASA Employee Appreciation Week Is Here!

 

[JoeMerchant]

So 30 years of declining revenue due to competition had nothing to do with this situation?

So health care costs rising at 8-10% a year on top of those declining revenues didn't have anything to do with it?

So huge pension shortfalls due to poor actuarial assumptions regarding rate of return and life expectancy didn't have anything to do with it?

So USAirways and United who were failing before 911 and used BK to reduce costs didn't affect Delta?

So the portfolio whipsaw isn't affecting it?

OK, whatever you guys say......

 

[Long Time Gone]

Let me ask you ASACRJFlyer.... who do you mean when you say "make our management realize that release or no release, we won't put up with this poor treatment any longer?"

Do you mean ASA managment? Do you mean Skywest management? Do you mean Delta management?

Which management team do you think is making the decisions here? Do really think it is ASA management?

Answer those questions and then we can debate the rest of your post....

I notice you didn't include the rest of ASACRJFlyer's quote in your response.

With Joe, I know the answer. He's already well known for being in bed with management. He, LJ and his "coalition" would sell out the rest of the pilot group for their own gain. I would imagine Joe would be the type to scab if it ever came to that. So the real question is what about the rest of our pilots?

You never seem to fight the fact that you are in bed with management, and that you, LJ, and anyone else you can find would in deed sell us out for your own personal gain. Why is that? You always want to find fault with ALPA and turn every thread into an anti-ALPA discussion, but yet I never have seen or heard of you doing anything positive for the pilot group or in support of them. Please don't give me the "During the CMR strike......" speech. Heard it and erased it.

I found it amazing last year when Scott, during one of his RGT speeches, openly stated, "Contrary to everyone's belief, I have not been to JB and LJ's cabin in the mountains." This statement was made without anyone even prompting him for information. The subject wasn't even brought up by anyone in the class.