Today's Wallstreet Journal, page B3...Union Strong

[X-rated]

We don't agree on it being fair for the "G" guys to go to the Global.

Even G-4 seems to realize (And boy! He's a hardhead) that the present EMT is trashing our company, really, it's not the union.

The EMT didn't make this company, the pilots did. But, the EMT can certainly ruin it. They don't give a rat %&*k about anybody but themselves.

If any of us are gonna get through this we have to band together. Like the union, hate it, it's our only chance.

Take care, Semore

Semore, we can certainly agree on the rest.

G-4, I'm not union diehard either, but they are a necessary evil for aviation companies of a certain size. They can be just as corrupt and inept as management, but at the end of the day they are the only hope of countering the urge by some in management to increase profitability on our backs. We do not work in a free market. When you have a seniority system and have a large pay inequality between left and right seats, selling your skills to the next operator becomes problematic. Management knows this and uses it against us. Rules need to be established to define what is expected of us, and management needs to be held to those rules so they cannot put profits above safety. A contract is not necessarily bad for anyone. The downside only stems from greed on both sides of the negotiating table.

 

[pilotyip]

The downside only stems from greed on both sides of the negotiating table.

And there lies the problem. Pursuit of greed by both sides has the potential to destroy something that is a 90% the best job on the country. I see everything from l=hold what we have which seems reasonable, to match DAL and FedEx which seems unreasonable.

Is it as management draws a line further away from the present contract, the union has demand something further way in the opposite direction from the present contract.

Then great part from the union side is if you are not for the burn place down option, you are not part of the brotherhood. From those of us on the outside, NJ is close to a dream job, I say 50% of our pilots have applied at NJ. Hope things work out for everyone.

 

[realityman]

Yip,

You are completely wrong on your comments on who is considered a good union member and who isn't. I know you only have what you read on FI to go from, but you are wrong. Like every group, we have our extremists. And like most extremists, they tend to be the loudest, which is basically what you hear. However, most of our members aren't so far out there.

In fact, we suffer from the problem of not having nearly enough engaged even a little bit in what's going on. Apathy is a big problem for us right now. Quite frankly, the extremists serve a useful purpose because they help balance, at least a little bit, the folks that don't get involved or express any opinion.

As far as what wages we should make, that really hasn't been determined. Most of us who are engaged agree it should be more than what we presently earn. Whether it's FedEx wages or something else hasn't been laid out yet. I'm not sure why FedEx or DAL wages are unreasonable, but no one has declared that's what we'll end up with.

One thing I do know, we have to do better than just maintain what we have. Inflation is reducing our wages every year. The value of the entire payscale has been dropping at the rate of inflation since 2007, which is when our current CBA was signed. To get the buying power we had in 2007 we already need to see a 24-32% increase in the pay scale. And the longer this drags on the more we need just to break even. And if we want even a small "raise" we'll need to get even more than that.

Please keep in mind that the company has an inflation adjustment clause in all our clients' contracts, so they collect more and more every year. But we don't see a dime of that. Hey, that's the contract we signed, but that doesn't make it unreasonable to fix it in the next contract.

I'll probably never convince you of anything. One man's greed is another man's reasonable request. All I know for certain is that the cost of living goes up like clockwork every year, and I expect to be compensated for it on a level close to or equal to what the top tier in this industry (that of aviation) makes. And I don't think it'll destroy the company to do so.

 

[X-rated]

To get the buying power we had in 2007 we already need to see a 24-32% increase in the pay scale.

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

 

[G4dude]

Semore, we can certainly agree on the rest.

G-4, I'm not union diehard either, but they are a necessary evil for aviation companies of a certain size. They can be just as corrupt and inept as management, but at the end of the day they are the only hope of countering the urge by some in management to increase profitability on our backs. We do not work in a free market. When you have a seniority system and have a large pay inequality between left and right seats, selling your skills to the next operator becomes problematic. Management knows this and uses it against us. Rules need to be established to define what is expected of us, and management needs to be held to those rules so they cannot put profits above safety. A contract is not necessarily bad for anyone. The downside only stems from greed on both sides of the negotiating table.

I find hard headedness an excellent substitute for intelligence.

 

[t-bone]

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

They must be using the new math...common core?

 

[X-rated]

I find hard headedness an excellent substitute for intelligence.

Hell, you've got me beat; I'm not even smart enough to find a substitute.

 

[realityman]

http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl

X-Rated,

Thanks for that. I didn't know that website was there. According to that site, the average inflation has been about 2%/year since 2007.

I derived my numbers from simply researching the cost increases of a number of common items everyone buys, such as milk, eggs, oranges, etc...

The results I got were increases anywhere from 2.5% to 4.1%. Admittedly, I don't know how many of those things you'd have to research to get an accurate idea of real inflation. I only looked at a small handful, maybe 5 or 6. But my unscientific results pointed me towards an inflation rate average of just over 3%, so I stand by my assertion that we'd need AT LEAST a 24% increase in wages just to earn the same buying power as we had in 2007. And if we wanted only a 10% "raise" then we'd need to achieve a 34% increase in wages. That's a sizable number, and personally I think we should be making an even larger raise.

While it may seem daunting, I think we can do it. It's just going to be difficult. But few things that are worthwhile are easy.

Sorry T-bone, common core was after my time. But I'm pretty good with an abacus and my fingers.