Bent Over
Why would IBB have been negotiated in 2010? Thats insane. It would have been negotiated in 2007. If it would have been voted down (as it should have been) the negotiations would have continued.
You guys were fooled and those same people left you and went to the other side of the table.
Oh well. We have to live with the bs that it is. I'm just happy you can't sign my name as a supporter of the garbage.
I don't want to here any more crying about how an NJI guy is a captain and I'm not bullcrap. Unless you actually voted no for IBB.
First off, IBB would NOT have been what would've taken place in 2010. We would have entered section 6 negotiations. An entirely different animal and set of rules for both sides to play by. Sorry, it's not just semantics. There is a big difference in the playing field between the two.
As for the rest, well, I would agree that there is room for improvement on a lot of fronts. But why you seem to think we would have had a better go of it if we had passed on IBB and waited until 2010 is beyond me. Sure, we couldn't predict the future and see the huge economic downturn, or the latest crazy change of management, but just look at the numbers! If we had passed on IBB, how much more would we have had to ask for in 2010 just to get back the money we passed on in IBB? And there was a nice signing bonus too, no? And even though we couldn't predict it, as we now see, we would have been trying to get these huge increases for ourselves during one of the worst economic times we've seen, and with an intransigent management team in place to boot!
As for doing it like 2005, I would suggest taking off the rose-colored glasses you appear to be viewing history through. Do you remember our supposed "line in the sand"? It was the 6 S's. So, with supposedly everything going our way in '05, how many of those did we accomplish? Did we actually achieve a six figure salary at year 5 (captains)? How about single carrier? Did we get everything we wanted with scope? As I recall, we fell short of most of our goals. And that was with what we now know was a "weak" management team (sorry, but Santulli and Boisture didn't play hardball anywhere near what they could have). How would it have gone with this team?
IBB actually reached most of our original goals, and did it without things becoming contentious.
As for the downsides of IBB, I agree there are some. But it has to be put in context. For starters, do you know of ANY contract ANYWHERE that is perfect? Is there any labor group you know of where the employees say, "Naw, this contract is perfect. Let's just skip negotiating this time and see if we can just get this thing extended as is."? I think this is important because with nearly 3000 pilots in our US operation, all type-A's, and with differing priorities in life, we simply will NEVER see a contract that makes everyone happy.
Also, regardless of whether we are doing IBB or section 6, it's important to remember that they are NEGOTIATIONS. No way will we EVER get everything we want because the company wants things too (some of which we'd prefer they don't have), and we will have to give them some of what they want in order to get some of what we want. You can look at it as win-win for both sides or lose-lose for both sides, but either way, there will be give and take.
Obviously IBB didn't come close to living up to what you thought it should be. But it was voted in by an overwhelming majority, and I think most folks are happy with it. As a group, I don't believe we have buyer's remorse so much as we continue to identify areas that need improvement so we can work towards making it better on the next round of negotiations. Pointing out shortcomings doesn't mean most of us feel it's a bad deal. I have personally pointed out areas that I feel need fixing, and I hope we work on them next time around. But when I look at the overall picture of where I am now with IBB vs. where I would be if still on the '05 contract, or worse, had to negotiate in 2010, I am fairly certain I am much better off with IBB.
And don't mistake hating the fact that the company is trying to utilize loopholes in the contract to bone us, with people disliking the current contract. Good lawyers will always find loopholes no matter how good the contract.
Just remember that we will have to give in order to get. For the things you don't like about the IBB contract, ask yourself what you would have been willing to give the company in order to have those things go your way.
Sorry about the long post. Hard to get across certain ideas in a few sentences. (at least for me)
