Airtran MEC voted no

[madjack]

"I'll shake hands and move on regardless, cause I want to be happy when I come to work"

Your MEC would not even let you vote on the AIP, they knew better...AAI ALPA has escalated the situation and divided the groups...nice work...

 

[JT12345]

We seem so far apart guys and girls. Both sides have valid points and my life is getting too short for this. Maybe arbitration is the best thing.

There are no gaurantees what the outcome will be from that, and maybe there is a better chance of not blaming each other and moving on in a positive way.

 

[madjack]

Maybe arbitration is the best thing.

Maybe that was in the ALPA playbook...

 

[JT12345]

Maybe arbitration is the best thing.

Maybe that was in the ALPA playbook...

Then explain the anguish and exhaustion from this on this side of the fence?

 

[Roomwithaview]

Jt

No one's blaming anyone here. You've made it clear what you think you're entitled to and you guys vehemently rejected an extremely generous offer. You can and will live with those choices. We'll see how it works out for you.

I was dreading SL9. I was a staunch no voter so you and I had that in common. I can't believe the money Kelly threw at you guys on top of seniority f$k job we were going to take.

You keep trying to sell that position that an AAI career prior to 9/27/10 was the same as a SWA career. There ain't an arbitrator in the world that could smoke that much crack.

 

[JT12345]

No one's blaming anyone here. You've made it clear what you think you're entitled to and you guys vehemently rejected an extremely generous offer. You can and will live with those choices. We'll see how it works out for you.

I was dreading SL9. I was a staunch no voter so you and I had that in common. I can't believe the money Kelly threw at you guys on top of seniority f$k job we were going to take.

You keep trying to sell that position that an AAI career prior to 9/27/10 was the same as a SWA career. There ain't an arbitrator in the world that could smoke that much crack.

I gotta go. Really. For a while.

 

[luv2fly]

Lear,

You mentioned in your above post: "The current offer". I am sure you are aware that there is no current offer? It has been rescinded by SWA in its entirety.

 

[Ty Webb]

Ty and Lear, thanks for being gentlemen. I know we have all been emotional, pissed etc. Us/You and we have said things we probably regret. However, gentlemen nonetheless. Thanks guys.

Baker

Thanks, Bake.

It has been stressful for everyone, and will continue to be for a while, unfortunately . . . . This kind of stuff has a way of bringing out the worst in everyone. I think many of us are trying to elevate the conversation, and keep it out of the mud. Glad you are, also. Gup's been setting a good example for us. :beer:

Regards,
Ty

 

[scoreboardII]

Sorry, Red, doing my best to just push away from the forums for a while, didn't mean to ignore the question.

The MEC, MC, and the MEC Chair and Vice-Chair gave us a breakdown of just that weekend's timeline. From what I remember of this timeline, these are two separate events, the GK meeting is one, then the MEC went home and the MC stayed and continued to negotiate up to Friday.

On Friday mid-day, the MEC was briefed on the current offer on the table via conference call. The consensus was that it was not acceptable. The MC asked if they should walk away? The MEC said that they didn't want to sour relations by just walking away from the table mid-day, and that they should stay and negotiate. Here's where the first disconnect seems to come: I've spoken one-on-one with all but 2 of the MEC reps and some of them thought that the MC was going back to further work on the deal that became the AIP and some thought that by saying the deal wasn't acceptable that we were going back to OUR last offer from the previous week. No one clarified, the call ended, and the MC went back in, thinking they had been told to work on the CURRENT OFFER until the end of the day then go home.

At the end of the day, still not getting anywhere, they got up and said, "Sorry, but that just won't work, and it's time for us to head home. We'll talk on Monday." and went back to their caucus room. Two of your negotiators came in about 15 minutes later with a 6 pack and said, "Can we just talk for a few minutes?" Your negotiators moved off of one of our MC's biggest sticking points, so the Merger Committee decided to stay and work through the weekend, which brings us to disconnect #2: the MC never called the MEC and told them the change in plans.

During the day Saturday we moved off one of our big sticking points as well, and things started fleshing out quickly in the AIP. Someone on the MC sent the MEC a text message saying "making progress" and the MEC member was like "They're still there???" That MEC member called Linden and the other reps, Linden called the MC, and the MC said "We need a conference call today, get the MEC together" at the same time our MEC was calling Linden saying "we need a conference call", so Jack (MC chair) called Linden later and initiated a conference call where they discussed what had been done.

At that point, the MEC split. Some said "OK, see what you can get" and some said "We didn't authorize you to move off that one point." The "see what you can get" crowd won that issue and the MC finished what became the AIP.

Again, that's just my understanding of it from the briefing at the MEC meeting and talking with some reps. Don't a bunch of people go off on me, I DON'T MAKE THE NEWS, I just report it in hopes you guys can understand what the MEC AS WELL AS THE MERGER COMMITTEE are telling the line pilots about the chain of events that brought the AIP. As someone else mentioned, I don't believe anyone is lying, rather I believe that the perception from SWAPA was that the MC was doing things that the MEC was fully-briefed on as far as points they would move off, etc, and they simply weren't. Hence the disconnect and resulting failed vote.

Lear, I won't go off on you buddy, but if this description of what happened doesn't fit the definition of negligence, I don't know what would.

How can your side expect us to negotiate further when they clearly have a dysfunctional process, no real idea what they want, no way to get it?

 

[redflyer65]

Thanks Lear. Just wanted to try and understand how it went down from your prospective. Sounds like there was a little bit of a communication breakdown for sure.

RF