my take is that the company is extremely confident that a deal will get done this week.
why does the company need a deal? negative PR from AMT in miami, terrible summer operational statistics, terrible PR from cancelled and delayed flights. all these issues, impacting revenues and profits. impacting the reputations of parker/isom.
why i do believe a deal will get done this week? we desperately need heads for fleet, yet, the company is delaying hiring until the last week of sept. - and could further delay hiring them. why? these people have interviewed and passed drug tests. why the delay? to avoid new hires jumping 2 pay scales? to avoid paying more in bonuses? i would think this is a tip-off.
what would make the company extremely confident? the money, of course. retro and their stated bonus. no retro? the company would be foolish to be confident.
as far as future offers getting worse? maybe. we know that as employees, we can't approach the BOD. samuelsen is not an aa employee. he is the one who can publicly lobby for the BOD to send parker/isom packing.
a further increase in negative PR may be last straw..if samuelsen publicly concentrates on operational preformance and financial numbers. correlate the poor numbers with poor negotiating skills.
parker seems affable enough. i hope he turns things around and i believe he/we will. amazingly enough, i expect to be compensated with numbers that would have blown him away from his america west days, but he needs to realize he runs aa, not america west.
don't be chintzy/petty and pull retro. it is insulting AND sets a very bad precedent for future negotiations.