Comair exit poll

[doh]

It isn't scientific, but there is an exit poll on our website. I took it yesterday and a little over 60% say they voted yes. Those of us who voted no overwhelmingly said it was because we thought it would under cut ASA or that it was just a bad thing for the industry. I am sorry for our brothers and sisters at ASA, but I am only one vote. We are in a spin and not enough people are willing to give a little right rudder to stop it.

 

[chperplt]

The voting is far from over and that web site is easily manipulated.

Regardless of what we do, it's not going to fix the industry.

By the way.. IF you're reading this Fred. How did your dinner meeting with GE go Monday night? Are they going to help us out with some cash?

 

[~~~^~~~]

The others that vote "yes" probably don't want to post their names on the ALPA site. I would be ashamed. That "yes" vote is something that no one will look back at and be proud of.

And the bar gets lowered another notch....

 

[cl65capt]

When do the polls close and when will the results be made public?

 

[chperplt]

And the bar gets lowered another notch....

What bar?? The bar left the building a long time ago.

 

[chperplt]

Polls close on the 1st at noon.

 

[Wacopilot]

we are not the reason the bar will be lowered. that is on the backs of every pilot group under us that choose not to join us. we are in this predicament because no other pilot group choose to keep the bar high. the top is a lonely place to be.

Waco

 

[C425Driver]

I just took the exit poll and it looks like 58.7% yes to 41.3% no.

Along with doh, I add my apologies to the ASA pilots if this goes through. I did what I felt was right for many reasons, but I am also just one vote. I also add my apologies to the rest of our peer airlines if this goes through. We stood up for what we thought was right in 2001 and now we may be throwing a good chunk of that away.

I've been in the crew lounge a lot lately and the discussions for both sides seem very passionate, yet respectful (with a couple of exceptions). I just hope that all who vote try to make a very informed decision and thoroughly weigh the benefits and consequenses.

C425Driver

 

[MetroSheriff]

I never thought I would see the day when better than HALF the Comair folks would offer to buy airplanes for Fred. You guys were the class of the industry.

Let's just hope lot's of no votes are yet to be cast. If you pass this thing then ASA is phucqed.

They ought to have a bucket where the YES voters can turn in their battle stars.

 

[P38JLightning]

define "phucqed"

I never thought I would see the day when better than HALF the Comair folks would offer to buy airplanes for Fred. You guys were the class of the industry.

Let's just hope lot's of no votes are yet to be cast. If you pass this thing then ASA is phucqed.

They ought to have a bucket where the YES voters can turn in their battle stars.

Regardless if this pay freeze passes or not, there simply is no way to tell if it will undermine ASA's negotiations until after they get a new contract.

If the freeze passes, then we will have to wait to see if ASA passes us across the board (not just the 5 year CA rates or whatever, but all of them, plus retirement, work rules, etc.). If Comair accepts the 2 year pay only freeze, and down the road ASA settles for yet another "Comair minus" contract then they were never going to top us anyway. That's like saying "please stay higher so that when we eventualy underbid you we will make more than we otherwise would have made".

If the pay freeze does not happen here, then ASA will be obligated to top us out of rhetoric. If they do not (and no one, including [sources say...] the NMB agrees this is reasonable, and the NMB controls what you are even allowed to ask for) then they were just hoping we stayed even higher so that their "Comair minus" contract will be higher than it otherwise would have been.

So either way, ASA needs to pass our with freeze or without freeze contract. If they don't, they can hardly cry foul.

Also, if the freeze is rejected, and management carries through with their previously direct and currently thinly veiled threat to stagnate us followed by a gradual drawdown, what do you think ASA's chances will be to get that ever elusive "Comair plus" deal? As far as the NMB will be concerned, every other subsequent contract since ours, plus ours, will be viewed by the entire industry as unsustainable. If that happens, ASA really will be "phuqed". If the freeze passes, ASA will at least be able to say "Delta management has zero problem with the Comair contract now, and are giving them massive growth, so we feel it reasonable to ask the same".

So which is better for ASA pilots, a theoretical 4 year old bar that hasn't been topped, or an actual, yet slightly lower (but still very high) and recent, bar that Delta management has just said they can live with?

But I think we can all agree that if the freeze passes and then down the road ASA signs a Comair minus (including the value of the freeze) contract and then says "yeah but had you not agreed to the freeze we would have topped not only your frozen contract, but the original one too!" will be pure BS.

So which is it?