Realistic Time Frame for new contract at RAH?

[donkeykong]

Republic guys,

I'm furloughed YX and would like to know how long you guys have been in negotiations. Do not make this another RAH/YX FlightInfo deathmatch.

Reference the Pinnacle TA thread, 1556 days from amendable date!

Bedford obviously will drag this on as much as possible to keep the current rates. Is there any hope to avoid that long of a wait?

 

[likeitis]

Republic guys,

I'm furloughed YX and would like to know how long you guys have been in negotiations. Do not make this another RAH/YX FlightInfo deathmatch.

Reference the Pinnacle TA thread, 1556 days from amendable date!

Bedford obviously will drag this on as much as possible to keep the current rates. Is there any hope to avoid that long of a wait?

I think it will be shorter than that. Only 10% of that time period was under Obama's NMB. I have feeling you will disappointed in the end result though.

 

[Minimaniac]

The RAH contract became amendable in October 2007. Initial contract talks began in May of that year. The negotiations have dragged on for a number of reasons, and not all the fault lays at the company's feet. In 2007, the regional airline economics were looking good, and it was felt that the good times would keep going. Our union did not want to rush into a TA, as it was felt the economy would support even higher pay and better work rules. Not to mention, no contract worth signing is ever hammered out in a few months. Then came the oil boom/bust, and the union was put on the defensive. Bedford had doom and gloom to back the RAH proposals, and of course the union did not want to hear any of it, despite the bleak outlook in summer 2008. Furloughs happened, amounting to about 5% of the seniority list. Slowly things stabilized, and the union seemed to have solid footing on which to base its plan of attack. This is late 2008/early 2009.

Then, all heck broke loose as Teamsters International took over our Local, locked the doors, and threw everyone out, including the EXCO. In the end, this was an extremely good thing, since the President Gene Sewell was given the boot and now faces internal and federal indictments relating to his "work" as head of the Local. Sewell was the one who gave RAH the contract we have today, and is the driving force behind the reputation of RAH having a toothless, spineless union. He was our President AND legal counsel (double billing, part of his legal woes now), and he never went to bat when we needed him most. But, he is history, and hopefully so is that chapter of RAH history.

Recently, all sections of the new contract had been proposed, and either agreements or impasses were reached. The next step was to go in front of a mediator. However, just as that was about to happen, we were all ambushed with the Midwest and Frontier acquisitions (proposed). The potentials for new fleets, new business models (no longer all fee-per-departure) and new pilots with helpful backgrounds made our union withdraw certain proposed sections, including compensation, from the negotiating table. That is where we stand today. Our union does not want to make a proposal on compensation UNTIL we know which airlines are being acquired, what Bedford plans to do with those companies, and some concept of where integration will take us is understood.

The sooner we get Midwest pilots integrated, the sooner we will get a TA. Nothing will happen until the Frontier auction process is complete, because that too is a big piece of the puzzle. We also have a little sideshow with Mokulele, now that Bedford has taken majority control of that company.

It is my impression that our EXCO wants to get as many "mainline" pilots on our list before we have a TA to vote on. You guys will be more likely to help us to achieve our goals in this next contract, and be likely to vote in a way that will benefit us all.

Truthfully, I think that a TA t vote on is about 1 year away. There is still alot of restructuring going on within our union since the takeover/trusteeship. It will be a few months until Bedford lays out his plans for Frontier, should we get them. Midwest seems like a decided plan, with 190's to replace the 717's on a one for one basis, possibly adding a couple extra airframes. Our union is being cautious right now. They want a comprehensive contract that does not leave us in a situation like we are in now four years from now. We want all contingencies planned for, and we want less questionable language (thanks, Sewell). Likewise, Bedford does not want to commit to a contract until he has a good ides where his revenue will be coming from, and how much revenue that will be. Sure, he wants to get the cheapest deal possible, but even a bad TA may be unaffordable if he doesn't line up a dependable revenue stream. He will drag things out until Midwest revenue is a known quantity, and Frontier flying shows continued profit (assuming the RAH bid wins in court). The fragile economic recovery and uncertain futures of our fee-per-departure partners only serves to make bedford more gunshy now. The

As a frame of reference (though I dont know how much of an improvement our current contract was over the previous one), all pilots received a backpay check based on 4% of all w2 wages from the previous amendable date through contract signing. 4% sounds low this time, but at least there is a precedent here for being compensated for a long, drawn out negotiating process.

I hope this explains it.

 

[buscap]

Gosh.

I wish I could delete so many of my previous posts.

I feel very small.

 

[sitbackrelax]

So are you guys going to try and get horiozon+ pay scales. Rumor I heard is that your negotiators thought they were too high?