NWA Straw Poll on TA

[Occam's Razor]

I'm voting yes. No question. It is my company, and I think we need to keep our powder dry.

Some points:

135Driver wrote: "And, if I'm not mistaken, the contribution doesn't start until AFTER they come out of bankruptcy. UAL was there four 4 years!"

He is incorrect. My paystub reflects a 5% contribution into my DC plan on the March 13th paycheck. It has started.

Duration: We've never had a contract last for it's duration that wasn't modified signifcantly mid-term. We got some of our greatest enhancements mid-term (10% pay increase in 2003 while others were moving the other way, and time-and-a-half pay in 1996), and our biggest improvements to Scope. The landscape changes constantly, and this TA gives us a chance to use future changes as leverage. We've done it in past, and it's a bit silly to think we won't be able to do it in the future.

SJet: Will not cause furloughs. It will slow expansion of the 100-seat fleet in the future according to some, but the same logic suggests the 100-seat fleet slows growth of the 125-150 seat fleet. That hasn't been the case in the past, but suddenly is fait accompli in the future? I don't buy it. In any case, that battle was lost when all of our peers swallowed the 70-seaters.

Work rules: The work rules were adjusted in our favor (trip rigs, avg day, DH credit) to reduce/eliminate furloughs. It was done by keeping the pay cut at 23.9%. Smart move. Taking care of the junior pilots should be "job one". The senior pukes (like me, a top-half captain) will be ok.

PERP: (Early Retirement Program) Good! If the pension legislation passes, I think it will be popular with the over-55 group. (Probably more popular than my plan to force all of them, at gunpoint, to clean their raingutters on a rickety step-ladder!)

The "no" voters are always the most vocal. That's normal. Very few pilots raise their voice to shout "Yes!". Keep in mind that 13% of NWA pilots voted "No" to the largest pay increase in the last 30-years...at a time when the other airlines were taking hits. The bottom 10% of the list has a different perspective, and I appreciate it. Those with high-earning spouses have a different perspective too.

< 50, Blue Book

 

[Hvy]

You know, with your experience and age level I would expect better come backs from you. Something with a little more thought, a little more depth, and I could go on for a while stooping to your level, but I think I've had enough.

Just can't handle muck fighting for very long, so...

Thanks for the good interview wishes.

Not trying to fight nor stoop to the level of trashing one's family. I'm much too happy and successful to waste much time on that. Besides, in person I'm sure that your mouth wouldn't be as loose as your fingers are on the computer.

By the way, my daughters are 5 & 10. Still interested in having them on their knees?

 

[Dizel8]

.
SJet: Will not cause furloughs.

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I am curious how you figure sjet will not cause furloughs. Are you figuring the low guys on the 9 will slide over to sjet and continue working?

As someone else has said, I am curious why the NWA pilots are willing to give up, what they said was a show stopper, scope and alter ego ops?

 

[YourPilotFriend]

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I am curious how you figure sjet will not cause furloughs. Are you figuring the low guys on the 9 will slide over to sjet and continue working?

As someone else has said, I am curious why the NWA pilots are willing to give up, what they said was a show stopper, scope and alter ego ops?

NWA plans to expand the 76 seat market before any changes are made to the mainline fleet. They probably will sell SJet to prevent mainline creep, so it's likely we will see the regionals get 55 aircraft first. Then SJet will probably get 40 airplanes and be sold off. You're looking at the reduced capacity of NWA right now, the only thing left is to shift aircraft around on routes. Some DC-9's to 76ers, some 50 seaters to 76ers, and avro replacement.

 

[Boeingman]

As someone else has said, I am curious why the NWA pilots are willing to give up, what they said was a show stopper, scope and alter ego ops?

Because the negotiating comittee capitulated. I also didn't see the equity stake they demanded either.

 

[Occam's Razor]

Because the negotiating comittee capitulated. I also didn't see the equity stake they demanded either.

You weren't there. The negotiators did what they were told by your reps.

You haven't read the T/A. The equity piece is there.

You don't have to like it or support it...but your opposition should be based on something empirical, and not on something you either don't know, or didn't read.

 

[Occam's Razor]

I don't have a dog in this fight, but I am curious how you figure sjet will not cause furloughs. Are you figuring the low guys on the 9 will slide over to sjet and continue working?

Because the DC-9 fleet is still being utilized in numbers that NWA published over 6 years ago. It will be around for the next 5-6 years, so it will require mainline pilots to man it. It will be replaced by other mainline aircraft, as described in the T/A. The T/A doesn't park the fleet. The SJet op is in addition to the mainline.

As someone else has said, I am curious why the NWA pilots are willing to give up, what they said was a show stopper, scope and alter ego ops?

Where did you read that 76-seat jets was a "show stopper"? I don't think I read that anywhere...and I do have a dog in this fight. I read plenty that said moving the DC-9 (and/or 100-seat) flying "offshore" was a strike issue, and that loss of fragmentation and successor language was as well. Our position on all of those issues ended up in the T/A.

 

[Boeingman]

You weren't there. The negotiators did what they were told by your reps.

You haven't read the T/A. The equity piece is there.

You don't have to like it or support it...but your opposition should be based on something empirical, and not on something you either don't know, or didn't read.

The capitulated comment was a direct quote from a good friend of mine who is a 9 Captain. He certainly doesn't share your views, but you are welcome to your opinion. I did get the e-mail he sent from the council 20 rep. Certainly doesn't seem to me like the nc did what the reps wanted...at least that one.

Opposition? Your grasping and as much as you pretend to be, you are not a mind reader. Frankly, I don't care one way or another what you do with your contract.

Either way, Steenland will be back for more after this haircut. You can count on it.

 

[Boeingman]

I read plenty that said moving the DC-9 (and/or 100-seat) flying "offshore" was a strike issue, and that loss of fragmentation and successor language was as well. Our position on all of those issues ended up in the T/A.

So why did NWA buy FLYI certificate then? Does this not concern you?

 

[redflyer65]

Why in God's name would the pilots allow the 76-120 seat planes to be flown under any other banner than Northwest is beside me. Fly them at Northwest under your proposed payscales. Is that so hard to achieve?

The company gets the rates they want, and the pilots get job security of not being sold to the highest bidder down the road. This is un-friggen believable.