bigjets said:
No argument that bob didn't deliver on his rhetoric, even riding into negotiations on his unicorn Ulysses, it's odd how the FAs did much better in BK then us, and now bob has all sorts of advice after the fact for the apfa TA. but to say the IAM or the alliance is going to be our salvation is complete nonsense. AMFA or NO Union is the clear choice for us, but to be locked into these two industrial unions the twu and iam will definitely not benefit mechanics industry wide. The iam contract is a slap in the face while the FAs get offered industry leading contract (arguably).
Unicorn?
Never said the FAs didn't do better than us, just said I wouldn't vote for a five year deal with no profit sharing after seeing all the "oh the no voters are idiots" posts I decided to jump into the discussion. I see them making the same mistake we made in 1995 tying themselves to a long term deal after a long period of lowered expectations and felt they should have sought a shorter term because we all know that the more money the carrier makes the more dissatisfied we get about being left out, especially when we were forced to "share the pain". And you are correct I stayed out of it till after it was done. In part because I simply didn't have the time to look at it, and in part because generally the APFA does pretty well.
What I see is a 9% increase(good, but not as good as we got in 2001), followed by all 2% increases, that means in real terms one raise followed by four years where inflation and Medical takes more than they get in raises. So by the end of the contract they will be right about where they are now. Over the same period of time AA will likely see its best profits ever. Remember 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000? Then what, the next cycle started, but the expectations had already been raised, then 9-11. I suspect that profits will have been substantially reduced by their next negotiating cycle.
Glad to see you see the light as far as the Association. No Union, well, not too glad to see that because it does kind of validate WeAAsles concerns, however I think you are a minority on that.
We need to avoid another long term contract, and another long negotiations period, they do not protect us from downturns and lock us out of making gains when times are good. The shorter the better, and if there is no movement no jerking around, get to the next step of the process. The fact is that the only real pressure a Union can put on the company is stuff like we saw in the industry prior to the deals set in 2000. (Summer of Hell) If they are getting what they want they have no reason to move, if dissatisfaction manifests into service disruptions then there is an interest in making deals.
