CaptBuzzard,
I was able to get out of Lakes a few months ago, but here was the last contract stuff, any updates from current Lakers please shout.
In Nov. of 1997, a Teamsters contract was signed that did not bode well for the pilots. Unfortunately, the pilots pulled a stupid stunt to get Mgmt to pay attention to them. This most likely led to some concessions by the pilot group to get a lot of pilots rehired with no letter of reprimand in their files. The contract that was signed was a three year deal and if you can do the quick math, that was up in Nov 2000 with the last cost of living increase in Nov 1999 (ie you still get annual pay increases, but they are at a 1999 pay level). With Lakes' financial position, a new contract probably won't have much of an increase because Mgmt can claim that they are already pretty bad off. The Union waited a while to get a federal mediator appointed which should have finally happened earlier this year, but negotiations keep dragging on slowly, mostly (and I don't blame them) because pilot reps keep leaving for better jobs. This leaves the pilot side of negotiations weak and so not much gets accomplished.
I hope this helps, and "Once a Laker, Always a Laker."