New trend for AirTran negotiations?

[-9Capt]

You (meaning all you "company men") are the reason no progress has happen in the pass. Do you really believe that removing one person at the table would change anything.

Amen.

We could have had a contract signed a year ago if this pilot group would have done what needs to be done.

 

[gt1900]

Ty.. I didn't say MB made the qoute now did I... Re-read my entire quote. It was a quote made by our union that made these negotiations personal.. Simple as that.. I stand by what I said...
"As far as the union goes, I support them 100%.. But I also think they have thier heads up thier @ss somtimes, just like the company.. Calling our management Frank Lorenzo style management was the start of the piss poor negotiations."

So as you so put it.. "get your facts straight, and quite being a useful idiot"

 

[USARET]

It's more than obvious to me that management had been successful in it's "divide and conquer" tactics. From the "all is well "crowd to "it's the end of the world as we know it" group, I'd say management is ready to finish this thing off with a nice POS contract that will most likely get voted in. Unfortunate to say the least.

 

[FlyWolf]

After reading this entire thread (and remembering my old nasty commuter job and what we had to go through), can't help myself but to pray that the meh/aai merger doesn't go through.

 

[fletch717]

After reading this entire thread (and remembering my old nasty commuter job and what we had to go through), can't help myself but to pray that the meh/aai merger doesn't go through.

Really? From what I can tell your contract is a lot worse than AirTran, But hey your management loves you. So you've got that going for you, which is nice.

 

[Lear70]

After reading this entire thread (and remembering my old nasty commuter job and what we had to go through), can't help myself but to pray that the meh/aai merger doesn't go through.

Wolf, you gotta remember... the majority of the rank-and-file pilots don't suffer anything except for a long contract negotiation without COLA raises.

I've been reassigned ONCE in a year. That includes being on reserve. 99% of the time I complete my flight as-scheduled which means I really haven't been bothered with the management tactic of rescheduling pay.

I was already off for Christmas Eve and simply didn't answer my phone the couple days leading up to Christmas Day when I had to work. No Junior Assignment.

The majority of us don't have a problem and aren't really negatively affected. This place is SO much better than where I came from, that I have a hard time staying mad when I hear something the company is doing, because it doesn't affect me or many of the pilots I know here (I can think of 2 out of dozens I know who were affected by recent side letters and pooch screws).

Do I like the way the company violates our contract? No. Do I like the way our negotiations are going? No. Do I think it affects only a small percentage of the overall group? For now, yes.

THAT'S why I worry about a sub-standard T.A. The Association isn't shooting for anything that would bring us on par with even JetBlue's blended rates, much less SWA, and the rank-and-file guys don't see what the MEC officers see with what management does every day. A LOT of our pilots think this job is fine, and would be happy with a few tweaks (hence the 40/60 split on the last election vote).

I can't imagine that the line operations at MEH are that much better. Most of us come to work, do our jobs, go home, and get paid properly, just like you guys. I don't think it'd be a huge decrease in QOL for the MEH guys to be AAI pilots.

Not that I'm "for" such a thing now,,, far from it, as you already know.

Just my .02 cents.

 

[Steeler Fan]

Out of my class of 15, 14 are still here over 5 years later.

Out of my class, 4 of 7 are still here.

1. In the hiring pool at Southwest when he was hired here. Left as soon as he could. Nice guy (lived in a Southwest pilot base city). By his on admission, never gave AirTran a chance because Southwest was his #1 goal.

2. Interviewed at Southwest 6 mnts after being hired at AirTran. He thought training was too disorganized compared to the military. This was his first airline. He also lives in a Southwest domicile. Also a good guy. When I talked to him on the phone, he said that the culture is just different at Southwest, and in hindsight, he feels that going to Southwest was the best move he ever made.

3. He left here for Emirates about 3 months before upgrade. He said that he always wanted to fly widebodies and always wanted to fly across the pond. I personally didn't get it, but he was senior to me, and the rest of my classmates were happy to move up a number.

 

[FlyWolf]

Really? From what I can tell your contract is a lot worse than AirTran, But hey your management loves you. So you've got that going for you, which is nice.

I didn't say anything about contracts. All about the QOL, and yes our management respect the pilot group (most of the times), after all we provide that Best care in the air, remember

 

[FlyWolf]

Wolf, you gotta remember... the majority of the rank-and-file pilots don't suffer anything except for a long contract negotiation without COLA raises.

I've been reassigned ONCE in a year. That includes being on reserve. 99% of the time I complete my flight as-scheduled which means I really haven't been bothered with the management tactic of rescheduling pay.

I was already off for Christmas Eve and simply didn't answer my phone the couple days leading up to Christmas Day when I had to work. No Junior Assignment.

The majority of us don't have a problem and aren't really negatively affected. This place is SO much better than where I came from, that I have a hard time staying mad when I hear something the company is doing, because it doesn't affect me or many of the pilots I know here (I can think of 2 out of dozens I know who were affected by recent side letters and pooch screws).

Do I like the way the company violates our contract? No. Do I like the way our negotiations are going? No. Do I think it affects only a small percentage of the overall group? For now, yes.

THAT'S why I worry about a sub-standard T.A. The Association isn't shooting for anything that would bring us on par with even JetBlue's blended rates, much less SWA, and the rank-and-file guys don't see what the MEC officers see with what management does every day. A LOT of our pilots think this job is fine, and would be happy with a few tweaks (hence the 40/60 split on the last election vote).

I can't imagine that the line operations at MEH are that much better. Most of us come to work, do our jobs, go home, and get paid properly, just like you guys. I don't think it'd be a huge decrease in QOL for the MEH guys to be AAI pilots.

Not that I'm "for" such a thing now,,, far from it, as you already know.

Just my .02 cents.

Thanks for the clarification Lear70, it just sounds pretty bad reading this thread.

Our contract is up in 08, and I am sure we will be going through the same issues soon.

Good luck to you guys with your contract negotiations.

 

[Steeler Fan]

Get your facts straight. . . . quit being a useful idiot . . . It wasn't Mike Best that made that statement, it was Steven James, who has been gone now for over two years.

Here is the quote . . . and it rings even more true today than it did then:

"Pilot leaders say they're also angry about fat pay raises for AirTran's top executives last year, disclosed shortly after the airline asked for concessions in the next pilot contract. . . . .

"We have a Southwest [Airlines]-style contract implemented by a Lorenzo-style management," complained union official Stephen James, likening AirTran's executives to former Texas Air chief Frank Lorenzo, who was reviled by labor leaders after taking over several big airlines in the 1970s and '80s and slashing costs and jobs.

Invoking Lorenzo is an indirect shot at AirTran Chief Executive Joe Leonard, one of Lorenzo's lieutenants in the mid-1980s. He was chief operating officer of now-defunct Eastern Airlines when it was part of Lorenzo's empire and was ripped apart by labor strife. . . . . .".



.

In terms of fact, Steven James left AirTran in the summer of 2006 to "Fly Widebodies and Fly International". He was a classmate of mine, and was involved in the union pretty much right up til he resigned from AirTran.

Like gt1900 said, the quote in an NPA quote.

Although Steve said it didn't expect to read it like that in the newspaper, came from a NPA official, and therefore the NPA gets credit for saying it.