dickie q said:
Please, when your management comes to you looking for concessions, it won't be because of Mesa, it'll be because Delta pilots won't stand to be the only ones taking a pay hit.
You seem to have missed completely or chosen to ignore my repeated effort to say that I do not blame MESA pilots for anything. I say again, you did not cause these events, you are victims of them placed into this untenable position due to the actions of ALPA.
If our management comes to us for concessions, it will not be because of the Delta pilots. It
will be because a number of regional carriers with whom we compete, have far lower costs due, to a large extent, to substandard collective bargaining agreements. Your TA merely adds fuel to the fire.
The Delta pilots themselves are facing that same problem, not because of what we do, but because USAirways, United an others to come, have made or will make concessions that place the cost of their compensation packages 30% or more, below the Delta pilots. That is precisely what your TA will do, as well as the contracts at Eagle, TransStates and Chautauqua.
I don't "blame" MESA pilots for this, but I fail to comprehend why you can't understand or won't acknowledge the principle.
Your reaction to Freedom is necessary and I fully understand the dilemma. What annoys me so much is the fact that Freedom would never have been created, were it not for unreasonable Scope at USAirways, placed there as a direct consequence of ALPA policy and fully supported by ALPA. Likewise, Republic has been created at Chautauqua specifically because of yet another ALPA action.
What does it matter if we hire off the street for new AAA flying or give half the new jobs to furloughed AAA pilots and let them keep thier recall rights?
That's an excellent question, but it begs the issue. I'm not opposed to your (or anyone else) hiring furloughed pilots in preference to "off the street" pilots. On the contrary, I believe that we
should do just that when we can.
However, that is NOT what the Jets for Jobs protocol requires. To pretend that it does, is to misrepresent the facts.
Nobody is jumping anyone on the senority list, they are all at the bottom.
Really? If that is true, then you haven't accepted the "Jets for Jobs protocol" or you don't understand it. Explain to me please how you avoid jumping seniority, when 1/2 of the new captain positions will go to furloughed pilots from another airline? Don't pilots at MESA have the right to upgrade in order of seniority? Explain to me how you are not jumping seniority. when First Officer positions in jets and with higher pay, will go to pilots from another airline, while your own First Officers are frozen into the B1900 until they make CA? Explain to me how you avoid jumping seniority, when the J4J protocol essentially exempts some pilots hired under it from furlough while at the same time permitting the furlough of MESA pilots who are "technically" senior?
If, as you try to say, the Jets for Jobs protocol does not abrogate seniority, then please explain to me WHY it cannot be implemented at any union carrier whose pilots do not first "agree" to it?
These furloughed pilots that you hire under J4J may have bigger "numbers" (lower seniority) than your own pilots on the list, but they get access to the best jobs in your airline, in preference to your own pilots. In other words, they acquire the right to "super seniority". What entitles them to that, their good looks?
I've been in this business way too long to be sold that bill of goods.
The J4J protocol clearly violates the seniority rights and contracts of the receiving pilot groups. If that were NOT the case, it could be readily implemented without your consent. Why is Chautauqua going to the "trouble" of creating the alter ego Republic? Simple; because Chautauqua pilots refused to give up their rights and J4J cannot be imposed upon them without their consent
because it abrogates their seniority and CBA.
In every instance where this protocol has been "accepted", that acceptance has been
coerced by the ALPA in conjunction with management. It's as close to extortion as you can get without actually crossing the line and the coercion violates ALPA's Duty of Fair Representation.
If you want to cover your eyes with your hand and pretend that there is no sky because you can't see it, be my guest. Just don't try to convince me that J4J is anything less that politically motivated theft.
This enviornment is increasingly difficult not only because of the state of the industry but Freedom as well. These are realities, not just concepts, and our union, because of limited scope, has little power left. I am convinced that job transfer and furloughs would have continued without our acceptance of this TA.
You are probably correct about that and I do not argue the point. The union did not create the economic conditions that we all face and I don't pretend that they did.
That doesn't change the fact that the additional problem of having to deal with an alter ego, at the same time, is the direct result of actions, past and present, orchestrated and pursued and supported by the Air Line Pilots Association as a part of its agenda. Were it not for Freedom, you would not be in the pickle that you are and you would not have to subject yourselves to the hegemony of ALPA national, the UMEC and J4J. In short, you would not be devoid of the leverage you say, and I agree, you don't have.
Believe what you want, but when my MEC tells me that this is THE BEST deal that we can get from MESA today, I believe them. My MEC speaks for me.
Spoken like a trooper! I see you have a good memory. I admire your confidence in your MEC and I have no problem at all with your voting your conscience. This may very well be the best deal that you can get under the circumstances. I don't know.
What abhors me is not the recommendation of your MEC, it is how your MEC and you got put into that untenable position and by whom. That's what I'm angry about.
Please remember also that your percieved problems are caused by JO led Mesa management and not Mesa pilots.
I agree that the problems, perceived or otherwise, are not caused by Mesa pilots. I've said that repeatedly. I agree also that your mangement has taken full advantage of the opportunities it was given. What p!sses me off is the fact that your management was handed these opportunities on a silver platter, by the union you pay to represent your interests. When a robber baron is invited into your house, who is to blame if he leaves with most of your belongings? Yes, he's still a thief but, in my book, so is the person that knowingly extended the invitation. I know who that is and I'm not afraid to say it. I hope you and others can figure it out.
Best wishes.
PEN YOUR EYES FOLKS!Go ahead vote yes......and have almost 5yrs. to learn the hard way,I guess in reality that is the best teacher.
