Smokin' Crack???
Packdog, are you management? It just seems that you are a bit too disappointed that the TA was voted down.
The suggestion that turning down the TA will result in a furlough is just plain ridiculous. If UPS wants to furlough, they will do it, with or without a TA. UPS is a VERY profitable company and the TA amounted to a low ball offer. There is no restriction to using Captains as IRO's. Using FO's would have saved the company money, but it didn't give the pilots much of anything except an incentive to work more (thus less hiring, not more).
The TA not passing won't hurt the company's abilty to grow their route structure or continue to acquire airplanes. Nor will it hurt the company's profitablity. Don't get me wrong, I want the company to do well and grow. But when we work for the most profitable company in the transportation industry, we should have industry leading wages.
I venture to say that if the TA had passed, we wouldn't have seen a contract for "about two years after the amendable date." Do you think that passing the TA would have given UPS an incentive to negotiate a new contract on time...no way. They obviously wanted an amendment or they never would have offered a TA while they are in negotiations with the teamsters.
Peace, WG