Delta Dispatch Contract

[pljenkins]

Dispatch is a small group in comparison to the bottom line, but the dispatch contract at yours and mines airlines don't exist in a vacuum. Better believe the pilots, flight attendants and mechanics are all watching our contract negotiations with great interest, so much as it would be easy, efficient and cost effective from a legal and retention point of view, throwing gobs of cheddar at the dispatch group could prove counterproductive when the pilots sit down and plunk that new contract on the table and say "me too".

 

[manniax]

Dispatch is a small group in comparison to the bottom line, but the dispatch contract at yours and mines airlines don't exist in a vacuum. Better believe the pilots, flight attendants and mechanics are all watching our contract negotiations with great interest, so much as it would be easy, efficient and cost effective from a legal and retention point of view, throwing gobs of cheddar at the dispatch group could prove counterproductive when the pilots sit down and plunk that new contract on the table and say "me too".

I can agree with this - but only to a point. When the pilots do their negotiations, they won't be asking for a pay raise based on what percentage raise the dispatchers got - they will be comparing themselves to what pilots at other airlines make (UA, AA, SW, etc.) That is often an excuse the company uses - and I can see them not wanting to do anything too extravagant for any one workgroup for that reason - but you didn't hear about the pilots at Southwest demanding a retroactive wage increase when the dispatchers there got their new contract either.

 

[BoilerOps]

I can agree with this - but only to a point. When the pilots do their negotiations, they won't be asking for a pay raise based on what percentage raise the dispatchers got - they will be comparing themselves to what pilots at other airlines make (UA, AA, SW, etc.) That is often an excuse the company uses - and I can see them not wanting to do anything too extravagant for any one workgroup for that reason - but you didn't hear about the pilots at Southwest demanding a retroactive wage increase when the dispatchers there got their new contract either.

Not that I'm defending DAL but an airline doesn't make fantastic profits by agreeing to raises in a labor contract they can't easily modify later if those profits don't hold up. It's a hard pill to swallow for those of us in our profession but at the end of the day I don't think DAL wanted to set that precedent without moving to SWA work rules because they'd lose that leverage in future negotiations. In the future I think a good middle ground would be to pursue standard (larger or more frequent) bonuses associated with good operational performance and consistently low fuel consumption, but like you said I don't work there so it's a moot point (and was probably discussed at length in any case).

 

[pljenkins]

Let me point out that my statement wasn't meant to advocate wage stagnation, but simply to point out that any contract within a company that sees a significant increase won't be ignored by other work groups...

 

[#1FMS]

Not a huge win, but better than a prolonged dragged out process. The company has no incentive to get anything done: things are good now, the operation is fine, and most of the competent dispatchers are using a lot less fuel. Might as well just work under the same ol' contract.

If it goes down, more money will come our way - at the expense of 9 and 10 hour shifts. All those extra days of work will do wonders for the commuters. I am just shocked there are so many newbies against it. We even have a few that had to practice the test a few times, then got in and now they don't think it's enough? Ha...they should just be glad to be here. Same with the new guys off the street: mad about pay, yet they are making more in year 1 than they did in year 8 at whatever place they came from? Give me a break.

I don't know anyone that's mad about the pay, but many of us simply think we can do better than the company's first (low) offer.
A number of people don't pass the test the first time (I passed first time), but what does that have to do with thinking we could do better? Nothing at all, just like making more than we did where we came from has nothing to do with it.
There have been bad times when we had to make concessions. Consecutive record profit is not such a time.

 

[MT]

Ratified.