AirTran expansion likely, says Hoeksema

[Citrusflyer]

Just a question, but where did you hear that they talked the entire week over Scope? I have yet to hear one word about anything that happened last week.

 

[Lear70]

NPA email came out late yesterday afternoon.

Without quoting directly from it, it didn't divulge ANYTHING except that they spent nearly the entire time talking about Scope, Merger, and Acquisition.

They mentioned briefly that they submitted an updated compensation section to the company and that the company took it for analysis.

They mentioned no other sections worked on, worked out, or T.A.'d, just reiterated how important Scope, Merger, and Acquisition are and hinted that the current scope doesn't bind AirTran holdings by telling people to read the CURRENT Agreement to look for loopholes.

The next negotiating sessions are scheduled for tomorrow and Thursday.

 

[PCL_128]

Rich, I wouldn't read too much into that. Scope and M & A is always difficult to negotiate, even if they aren't trying to screw you. The language is virtually impossible for a pilot negotiator to write, so the attorneys for both sides are usually the ones negotiating that language. When attorneys get to writing contract language, it takes a while even if it seems straight forward to us. Lawyers can argue for days over the intent of a single word.

 

[Lear70]

I understand it can be "difficult", but 5 FULL days? 8 hours a day for 5 days??

With all the Midwest talk going on plus a need for a replacement airframe in 5-7 years, I'm thinking there's a bit more to it (principally worried about E190 type of flying replacing the 717 in the future by a Mesa/Freedom carrier).

Not to mention the NPA email came right out and said "pay REALLY close attention to Scope and M&A when the T.A. comes out".

Hopefully they'll get it worked out. The murmur in the crew room is that this thing is DOA due to 3 big ticket items being given up: 12 hour max assignable duty day, reserve pay cumulative daily (no more 100+ hour credit months for reserves flying 60-70 hours), no block-or-better on a leg-by-leg basis (given up in a recent LOA for nothing in exchange and rumored to be included in the T.A.).

When the company is profitable, no one in the pilot group sees giving up any work rules as an acceptable outcome. The Wilson Polling data is rumored to have DRAMATICALLY shifted to MUCH higher expectations (due to the improving aviation economy and continued company profitability) which, at this late in the negotiating game, probably isn't helping the NC.

 

[PCL_128]

I understand it can be "difficult", but 5 FULL days? 8 hours a day for 5 days??

I doubt that it was 5 "full" days. Typically, you will show up in the morning with your proposal, give it to management, and they will go away for most of the day for their lawyers to look it over. They'll return at the end of the day with their counter-proposal, and the whole thing starts over again. The NPA has one of ALPA's former attorney's, Seth Rosen, working on the negotiations. Seth is one of the best airline labor attorneys in the business, and he'll go over that thing with a fine tooth comb. Five days is nothing.

With all the Midwest talk going on plus a need for a replacement airframe in 5-7 years, I'm thinking there's a bit more to it (principally worried about E190 type of flying replacing the 717 in the future by a Mesa/Freedom carrier).

Not to mention the NPA email came right out and said "pay REALLY close attention to Scope and M&A when the T.A. comes out".

Don't get me wrong; I'm not trying to downplay the importance of scope. You know how I feel about scope. The entire agreement is worthless without an iron-clad Scope and M & A section. I'm just saying that there's not necessarily any reason to worry that management is trying to outsource your flying simply because the scope discussions are taking a while.

Hopefully they'll get it worked out. The murmur in the crew room is that this thing is DOA due to 3 big ticket items being given up: 12 hour max assignable duty day, reserve pay cumulative daily (no more 100+ hour credit months for reserves flying 60-70 hours), no block-or-better on a leg-by-leg basis (given up in a recent LOA for nothing in exchange and rumored to be included in the T.A.).

As someone hoping to be a 'Tranny pilot in the future, I hope you don't give those things up. Those 100+ hour credits would go a long way towards making up for the payrate cut that first year. Honestly, that's the best reserve pay system in the entire industry. Giving that up would be a huge mistake.

 

[CitationLover]

lots of speculative buying today, MEH up 4% to above $14 again.........

 

[Lear70]

That's because AirTran came out with the quarterly conference call and said that the Midwest deal absolutely will go through.

More rhetoric, I'm sure, but certainly enough to make the stock price take a small jump...

 

[gt1900]

Not to stir the pot, but when did he say that? I listened to the conference call and never heard JL say that.. But I didn't listen to the question and answer period..

 

[Lear70]

Got it off the .org site from one of our other pilots who evidently listened to the whole thing.