I have not decide which way to go but, I just don't want to be in the same situation as our flight attendants with there contract where they were offer something reject it only years later to ratify something that was a whole lot worse.
It is obvious from posts like this one that not very many people in this debate were employed at AirTran when the FA contract negotiations were going on, and too many people are buying the AP version of events.
The previous contract the FAs had was horrible. There was very few pay protections or positive work rules for line holders, let alone reserves. The union bought into the whole limited pie argument and chose to sell the reserves down the river for better workrules and pay for line holders. This of course was no big deal because the average FA stayed on Reserve about 3 months at the very most. Well guess what, two years later, suprise, surprise, reserve for FAs is anywhere from 10 to 14 months. It did not take long for the company to figure out that if they built less hard lines and pumped up the reserve lines as flying expanded that they did not have to pay for wx cancelations, deadheading, etc etc. If you think this management is not going to explore every dark corner and grey area of what ever contract we sign, you have not been paying attention for the last two years.
Next time you are on a trip with an FA with a 7XXXX or earlier senority, ask them about their old contract compared to their current one. Maybe they should have signed their first TA, but the contract they lived under was horrendous. There is no reason that WE need to sign a TA that is a step back in every single area except sub inflation pay raises.
I can taxi slow, but I can not guarentee that I can make up 5 minutes of door time on every single leg.
All that being said, I am happy to see Flying Colors has come over to the NO camp.
Vote No! Vote Often!!
GT
