100LL... Again! said:
To clarify-
Regardless of what has gone before, it would have been very classy of the CMR pilots to request that DAL furloughs be hired without resigning sen #'s. If I were at CMR and in a position to do so, I would have made the request.
Perhaps it will surprise you but I agree that it would have been "classy" to ignore the history and request that DL furloughees be given preference over furloughees from other carriers. The point is, what killed that classy overture was not a "hate DL syndrome" on the part of Comair pilots
it was the strategy employed by your MEC Chairman. A simple "hey, we could use some help" would almost certainly have resulted in a positive response and the "history" would have been ignored as water under the bridge.
Unfortunately, that isn't what happened. There's a huge difference between "we need some help" and "You will do this now or I'm going to tell. And by the way, if you do it I will give you this worthless bribe." When you want my help, don't offend me before you ask for it.
Speaking only for myself, I would have been willing to support quite a bit more than a waiver of seniority resignation. For instance, no interview, full credit for DL longevity on future vacancies, and no promises of any payback. Given the approach that was made by your leadership, I won't even support the waiver.
What irks me now is the effort to shift the blame for what the Delta MEC didn't do right to every Comair line pilot, the constant threats of black-balling, and the constant reminders of the imagined largess on the part of Delta pilots during our strike. That merely uncovers what I would generously classify as an udesirable group character flaw. It sticks in the craw, puts salt in an open wound, and serves no purpose other than to remind us of the very real and unpleasant history of your MEC's activities against the collective interests of Comair pilots.
Rarely do you (DL pilots) need anything from the likes of us. Your leadership spends much of its time threatening, attempting to dictate, attempting to intimidate, and trying to take from us. Then when 10% of you need some assistance, that same leadership comes to the table not to ask for it, but to make yet another threat and a patently bogus offer on which it obviously can't deliver. That is NOT how you "win friends and influence people."
No matter how hard I try, I cannot believe that your leadership is too stupid to realize the reaction that such an approach would generate. Therefore, I have to believe that the approach was deliberately designed to elicit the precise response that it did.
Perhaps I am giving your former MEC Chairman more credit that he deserves, but I do not think he's an idiot. He knew what he wanted going in and it was not help for his furloughed pilots. He wanted a "NO" answer, knew what he had to do to get one, did it, and that is what he got.
Politics is a dirty game and, in my opinion, your "leader" intentionally chose to play politics with the situation of you furloughed folks. Comair pilots did nothing to you guys, your own MEC Chairman did.
Big point - the furloughed pilots are the ones being affected, while any pilots who possess "mainline a$$hole disease" are not likely to make use of this hiring.
Exactly! Now, do you really believe that your "chief" was too dumb to know that? I think he did know, and he was more interested in making a political statement and inciting animosity in the line pilots than in obtaining minimal help for the furloughees. In other words he sold you out for a perceived political advantage that he did not even achieve.
He could easily have seized an opportunity to mend the fences in which we would have willingly joined. Instead, he chose an opportunity to widen the gap. I wish I could say I was surprised, but given what I know, the truth is I was not. Leopards don't change their spots.
Would I have expected anything in return? Heck no.
We wouldn't have expected anything in return either. What we got was a threat and the offer of a phony bribe. So, we responded with lack of interest. What did he expect us to do, wag our tails and salivate?
But I don't make my decisions based on what others do for me. I just try to do what is right.
I like that. I try to do the same. However, I confess that I do make some decisons on the basis of what others do
to me. I'm sure you can pick up on the difference between "do for" and "do to."
I'm glad you have a job. I'll be happy for you when you return to DL and I do hope it will be soon. I regret missing the chance to fly with you. I wish things were not the way they are. Maybe some day it will change. I'm still willing to cross the bridge, but we must meet in the middle.
