General Lee said:
Surplus1,
You did give some good points.
Thanks. You made some interesting points as well. This is what I think of them.
But, I highly doubt that our MEC Chair is now in "Cahoots" (SP?) with the Delta leaders.
Try not to be unnecessarily defensive. I did not say that your MEC Chairman was in cahoots with Delta management nor did I imply that he was. What I said was that Delta management is asking for concessions because the Delta MEC wants them too.
Where do I get that idea? Simple, from the public statements of the DMEC, confirmed by nearly every Delta pilot writing here. The public position of your MEC has been (ever since the Company asked you) that you will not give concessions unless "everyone" else participates. We are an integral part of "everyone."
Since it is no secret that Delta, Inc. is essentially a non-union company it does not have to ask for concessions from any employee, other than those represented by unions. At Delta itself that is the pilots, the dispatchers and the pilot instructors? At Comair it is the pilots, the FA's and the mechanics. At ASA it is the pilots and the FA's (I'm not sure about the mechs.).
The Company wants concessions primarily from the Delta pilots. Therefore, since you want the "others" to participate as a condition of considering those concessions, it is common sense that management should ask for them in an effort to placate you. That is what they are doing.
Since the concessions requested of Comair pilots would (according to the Company) amount to approximately $8 millions per annum, a drop in the bucket when compared to the losses generated by your division, asking this from a subsidiary that has contributed a better than double-digit net profit in the last reported quarter is tokenism at its finest. It gives you what YOU demand, it costs Delta nothing to ask and, if we say yes, they make $8 millions more per year. Why would they not try to grant your publicly expressed desire? They certainly don't
need concessions from Comair __ we are making them a hansome net profit.
That's not throwing darts looking for answers, it is simply common sense deduction. I doubt that it really escapes you.
So, I wasn't at that DW meeting---did you guys ask the tough questions like you said you were on this board? Did you ask him what he supported?
The ALPA President spoke for more than an hour (uninterrupted) and took about another 40 minues of questions. So yes, he was asked what the asking pilots wanted to know while he permitted tham to ask.
I presume you are smart enough to recognize a few things. 1) The ALPA President is an accomplished politician and public speaker; 2) He does not walk into meetings without advanced breifing and preparation; 3) He prepares __ for what he will say, i.e., the spin of the day, and prepares for the questions he is likely to receive, just like any other politician.
It happens I do not like this man's administration of ALPA, but notwithstanding, I have known him well for at least 8 years prior to his appointment to his current position and he is now in his second term. His MO is no secret to me. When I know the issue, and I certainly know the issues related to Comair and related to ALPA's policy towards regional carriers, there are few surprises in what he says or how he will answer questions. He's a well versed "spin doctor".
The only real "problem" is ensuring that the pilot group is educated as to the policies and political positions of the union's national leaders and staff, before they make their orchestrated appearances, thus reducing the gulliblity of the pilot group. Every Comair pilot is not an expert on DW, but we are not babes in the woods either. The ALPA President is a tool of the mainline pilot groups tha put him in office and keep him there. Any regional pilot group that thinks otherwise is simply naieve.
Woerth came with the "party line", presented it well, fielded the questions with the party answers, and side stepped the one's that he didn't like or was not prepared for. If he "mispoke" or deviated it was not more than once or twice. Not unusual
It is not necessary to "ask him what he supports". All you have to do is be informed and listen to what he says. Neither he or his administration are a mystery. At least not to a very large number of Comair pilots. We know what side his bread is buttered on, and so does he.
As far as the "expensive props" issue---
I agree with your assessment of what the turboprops do and why they may be needed. The idea that they are "expensive" and contribute to the higher costs of carriers that operate them was not mine, so don't give me credit for it. All that I did was throw a well deserved barb and the remarks of DCI CEO Butrell, which were included in Pilcher's story. One more conflicting statement by one more Delta executive. Nothing new about that.
You are correct about the Delta PWA and the lack of growth for DCI without new negotiations.
Congratulations! I applaud your acknowledgement, even if it is somewhat belated. Be careful however, you may be deviating from the "party line" of your MEC and your peers, both of whom claim that your "restrictions" do not affect our growth or harm us in any way.
The point that you don't seem to get is that more DCI growth can also mean less mainline growth, and less high paying jobs.
I get the point alright, I simply know that it is spin designed to promote a political agenda.
It is flawed and patently inaccurate.
Whether you all like it or not, the fact is that the existence of DCI has consistently enhanced the growth of mainline in good times, and in these not so good times, it has prevented the further downsizing of the mainline. It is therefore a plus for the Delta pilots, a plus for the pilots of the DCI carriers, and a plus for the Company. What is unfortunate is that the Delta pilots are in denial and will not admit reality.
Your failure to admit reality does not equate to my missing the point. In fact it supports rather handily that you all are missing the point.
None of that has anything to do with where I personally prefer to work. There is no link between the two except in your mind. The tactic is ineffective and irrelevant.
I agree that the mainline will eventually grow again and I hope that it does. The more the mainline grows, the more we can grow. The relationship is symbiotic.
We hope too that you will get some new and replacement aircraft of the right size. When your equipment is able to serve a market more profitably than our equipment, I fully expect that you will replace us on that route. I support that and believe that you should. That is not a new position on my part, I've stated it many times before.
General, it is not we of CMR that object to the Company's justifiable replacement of one or more routes by the "right size" equipment for the market.
The objection to right-sizing of aircraft is the policy of the Delta pilot group. You are the one's that have invented, promote, and continue to pursue a series of artificial restrictions on our flying, that are not beneficial to you, not beneficial to us, and not beneficial to our Company. Additionally, they divide our union and place it at risk. Do not blame us for what you do.
That is the real strategy---right?
That
is the real strategy of the Company and it is also the right strategy.
That is precisey why it is so unfortunate that the politics of both ALPA and your MEC are the exact opposite.
Your agenda is designed to prevent right-sizing and force the Company to operate the equipment that
you fly, whether or not it is the wrong equipment for the market. Your leadership and the ALPA leadership have both pursued that flawed policy for more than a decade. If anyone is "missing the big picutre" in all of this, it is not too difficult for the informed to see who it is. If you still have any doubts, it is ALPA and every "mainline" pilot group.
That agenda and policy reminds me of the now infamous "Full Pay to the Last Day" slogan attributed to the former USAirways MEC Chairman who, having contributed to running his own pilot group into the ground, has since been "elected" as an ALPA National Officer.
Very much like the senior executives of many major airlines who, while demanding major concessions from pilots and other employees, simultaneously and secretly vote themselves extraordinary compensation/benefit "deals" when their own failure to manage is costing the shareholders billions, bankrupting their companies, and devastating the lives of thousands of employees.
Tell me again, who doesn't have the "big picture"? It certainly isn't Comair pilots.
Not just Comair taking over the US.
That statement jeopardizes your credibility, unless of course you're just being facetious. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
We want a healthy Mainline--and then eventual profits can fund better contracts for DCI as well...
Sorry, but I don't buy the implied altruism. What you want is to keep what you have, increase what you have and, if you can get away with it, reduce what we have. If a healthy mainline happens to give you what you want that's OK, but if it takes an unhealthy mainline to get it, that's OK too. As for funding better contracts for DCI, that's quite a stretch ... I don't see you devoting a lot of interest in that direction. On the contrary, I see you working to eliminate or reduce DCI. You just haven't been very successful so far, but you're still trying.
