Nice B6 history lesson

[BLUE BAYOU]

When oil hits $150/brl and spikes up to $170 next spring 2012-- http://online.barrons.com/article/S...791590055646.html#articleTabs_panel_article=1, what kind of contract are we going to be able to negotiate?

The losses this pilot group will incur will pale in comparison to what you consider "give-ups" during the last four years. You argue about our premium trigger being raised by 8 hours but fail to mention that we got a significant raise for the 78 hours we get paid now at base rate...

If you can sit here and tell me that ALPA will provide for my family and write the checks that are deposited into my bank account-- then I'll vote them in.

 

[BeachBummer]

CNTRL-C we will revisit this next summer.

If oil hits $170 bbl No one would fly even if you picked them up and carried them to the airport. It would put most if not all airlines into a national crisis. If Jb were to declare BK ch-7 or ch-11 the PEA no more than a CBA is not worth the paper it's written on. Enjoy fighting that fight on your own.

Much bigger problems than a contract negotiation. Take your fear mongering elswhere.

 

[Blue Dude]

FYI, Blue Bayou, our PEA's remain in effect until the CBA is signed. If we end up negotiating in a really adverse environment, then there's no rush to sign is there? The PEA represents the floor. We remain industry leaders in productivity and operational flexibility, and industry trailers in benefits and retirement. There is no "give and take" when we've already given all we're going to at the outset. For all the scary talk of "zeroing out the contract" and "it's all on the table", the simple fact is that nobody is going to approve concessions from the current PEA. We would simply wait out your hypothetical oil spike and continue when conditions improve. That's not an ALPA promise or OC prediction, that's my personal analysis of our position. We're in a much stronger position than you seem to realize.

BTW, A321's are coming in two years and we have no pay rate for them in our PEA's. Look it up. Are you going to volunteer to fly them without a pay rate in writing? I'm not willing to perform a service for which there are no contract terms. I wonder how anxious the company would be to settle negotiations quickly rather than park planes or defer deliveries when there's money to be made, all for the sake of frustrating the pilots?

 

[Fubijaakr]

Just a question, Dude. Without a CBA, what would prevent B6 management from having you guys fly the A321 at your current A320 rates?

 

[Blue Dude]

Just a question, Dude. Without a CBA, what would prevent B6 management from having you guys fly the A321 at your current A320 rates?

We don't have a CBA, but we do have pay rates in our individual contracts. There are exactly two models listed, neither of which is the A321. No pay, no fly. What are they going to do, fire me for refusing to operate equipment we have no pay scale for? Bring it on, I'll retire 20 years early.

 

[Fubijaakr]

So I assume the pay rates are for the E-190 and the A320. They could just say, "the A321 is just an A320. Same pay rate." I mean, do you need a different type rating to fly an A321?

 

[Blue Dude]

A 757 and 767 share a type rating, but they're not the same plane. If it doesn't say 320 on the data plate, we don't have a pay scale for it. That's my "interpretation". Sorry, must arbitrate for a different one. Might take years to figure it out.

 

[Fubijaakr]

True, but there is a significant difference between a narrowbody and a widebody. Are you telling me that B6 management won't try to apply the 320 pay rate to the 321?

 

[Blue Dude]

Of course they will. And with ongoing negotiations, I wager that the negotiating committee will make few accommodations that could weaken our bargaining position. The letter of the contract says "A320". Not A320 family, A320 variants or Airbus narrowbodies, only A320. I, as a signatory, construe that to mean only A320 aircraft. The company, as the other signatory, would construe that to mean anything requiring a A320 type rating. They will impose their view, I will object, we all end up in (individual) arbitration in a few years and no matter who wins, it will cost millions in lost productivity alone. Unless the company wraps up negotiations fairly quickly with specific pay rates and we can all get on with flying airplanes.

 

[Caveman]

Blue Dude is correct. My PEA only lists A320 and E190. I won't fly a 318/319/321 or a 170/175/195 unless I have an ammendment to my PEA with rates for those aircraft. Hopefully in the very near future I'll be able to reference my copy of the CBA in excatly the same manner.