Not true. The RJDC was born out of ALPA's actions in 1999 and the 2000 BOD meeting. The ALPA members involved, including me, wanted their representative seated at the table when matters of their pay and working conditions were being negotiated.
I was there. What you wanted was your pay and work rules negotiated by the mainline.
Since the only limits of Scope were the
size of the aircraft,
not pay and work rules, the objective of the RJDC toads was to
- Have someone do their heavy lifting for them.
- Score a number on the mainline list.
I was involved in the process as a mainline pilot interested in getting something called "brand scope"...where all the flying would be done by the mainline and it's direct affiliates. When we heard the shrill, irrational argument that we were limiting pay and work rules, we pointed out a fact that the RJDC still refuses to understand:
Pay and work rules aren't set by Scope...they're set by the leverage and will of the pilot group negotiating them at each carrier.
Put another way, the DAL PWA does not address the pay or work rules of it's feeders. You didn't get a seat at the table because your contract wasn't being discussed!
ALPA ignored on their own Constitution and Admin Manual, then locked my Rep's out of the negotiations.
Puh-leese! Cite the sections of each document violated. Please be specific...and sober.
[Note: ASA pilots were also "locked out" of Qantas' negotiations for the same reason: Nothing in the ASA contract was being discussed]
Without any RJ drivers at the table, Delta sold flying out to the lowest bidder.
Are you implying that pilots need protection against OTHER pilots trying to build time/quals? Are YOU a "lowest bidder"?
Keep that thought in mind. It'll come up again!
When I tried to explain "whipsaw" people literally called me crazy and labelled me "Chicken Little."
Nah...you were smart. You realized there is a hierarchy in the business. If there wasn't, you'd have gone straight from your flight training to Delta. But you didn't. You needed to build time somewhere. Everyone does. I did it in the Marine Corps. You did it somewhere else. I was paid less and had crappier "work rules" in the Corps. Kinda works that way...
The whipsaw you recognized exists because pilots starting out in the profession need to start somewhere. They are willing to work harder for less to get to the land of big pay and good rules. That vulnerability exists largely at the smaller end of the fleet size. (There are few RJ's crossing the Atlantic or Pacific)
Mainline pilots (no longer building time or adding quals), insulate themselves from much of that building-time, smaller jet turmoil by drawing a Scope Line at a certain size. Where the line is drawn depends on many factors, such as the economy, government, health of their company, will of the body, etc. Sometimes (mid 90's) the line is easier to draw. Sometimes (
Hell-o, Chapter 11!) it ain't.
Once ALPA decided to send this flying out side the protection of mainline, it went to the lowest bidder, which effects our profession negatively.
1. It has
always been outside the protection of the mainline! The "old school" comtracts at NWA, UAL and DAL had 70-seats "or DC-9" as their limit. With turboprops, the hub-and-spoke system was self-limiting. With the advent of small jets...that changed. We reacted.
2. And
WHO is the lowest bidder, again?
You?
Even mainline is not immune - currently one of, if not the, lowest bidder for big RJ flying is the Delta PWA. Has anyone seen Compass' rates? Anyone know what NWA's DC-9 pilots might find themselves flying?
Compass rates are in the DAL contract?
NWA DC-9 pilots will move up the A320, B757, and widebody aicraft. For the next few years they'll continue to fly the DC-9. They're here.
Some pilots about to be hired (a year from now?) at NWA might find themselves flying the EMB-195 or other similiarly-sized aircraft on our list...at rates in our contract.
Do any of us want a profession where it takes a Delta pilot ten to fifteen years to break even on leaving a small jet carrier?
Why do
you care? You only care about RJ rates...right? The rates at DAL are none of your business, just as the rates at YOUR airline are none of their's.
This settlement was a win / win.
Ha! It was a
nothing/nothing settlement.
The coordination between ALPA members holds the key to working together to improve our profession.
Agree, but don't over-sell it. You may see Openers, but you will NOT see prioritization, valuation, and fall-backs. You won't see "trade items" or quids. You'll see the Opener.
This sort of coordination worked before and will provide a benefit again.
It could...but only if the RJDC toads recognize that there is a cost to brand scope and the ability to coordinate. That cost will not be borne exclusively by the mainline. Want brand scope? Bring your checkbook! It's gonna cost YOU too...not just me.