Well I am voting "no" on a non-pass benefit TA. And I'm distributing my "no" request to as many crews as possible. If I can get 200, I'll be happy.
I personally think that's cutting off our noses to spite our faces. After talking at length to the contract gurus, there's really no way we can put pass benefits in the contract other than what is in there now. The reason there hasn't been a grievance filed on them yet is because they haven't gone into effect yet. I'd expect one to be filed as soon as possible on Monday when they do go into effect. There are already several filled out.
If we had pass benefits such as priority international days and what the mainline partner gives us when it comes to buddy passes, parental travel, etc, I think we'd be the first airline ever to have that in a contract. I'm not saying it's not possible, but I'd also say it's a little unreasonable to throw out a good TA over something that would be groundbreaking from ANY airline standard (not just regionals) if we got it. I'm guessing what's gonna wind up happening is we win the grievances over our pass benefits on Pinnacle aircraft (I doubt an arbitrator with any sense will buy the "Well, TECHNICALLY, it's DELTA charging the fee" BS the company is peddling), and the company will either re-imburse us for the ZED fares, buddy passes, dependent children, etc. In the face of so much $$$ out of the company coffers, THEN they might start pushing for better benefits. Although, I'm STILL looking for hard evidence that Freedom and Shuttle America's Delta benefits are changing on the 23rd as well.
pilotlight said:
They are the ones who went out and signed 9 regional airline service agreements and now they are trying anything to get out of them. Its quite immature in my opinion.
Actually, Delta signed deals with 5 (6 if count XJT, but that's over and done with already). They've been actively trying to get out of the deal with one of those 5 for over a year now. They inherited deals with 3 others through the NWA acquisition. Most, if not all, of these contracts were signed before the economy went in the crapper. I'm sure Delta wanted to spread out their feed to avoid another issue a la Comair back in 2001.
Well it looks like Pinnacle is the first to take the bait. If Pinnacle pilots were to strike, could Delta use that as an argument to cut them from their contract with DCI or would it take more than that?
I'd imagine that's EXACTLY what they'll do. Kind hard to make your A14 goals when your planes aren't flying.
Now, as for what's going on with the pass benefits, there's a couple of things. We've already seen the company threw up their hands and said "There's nothing we can do," but were any of us honestly surprised on that one? Our union's been in touch with the Delta MEC, and from what I heard yesterday, they're going to bat for us with Delta management to try to convince them that this isn't a good idea and will cause division in the Delta brand. Their also trying to get the June 23rd date pushed back, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.
I think a more productive issue would be looking at our call in honest policy. Once this hits, there WILL be guys missing their commutes to work over the new boarding priority. If you take XJ to work and an XJ guy shows up for the jumpseat followed by a Delta mainline ramper and his family going on vacation taking the rest of the empty seats in the back, you're hosed as a commuter. Second flight rolls around, rinse and repeat. Heck, the way it reads, this could even happen on our OWN flights, although as a CA, if I've got an XJ, Delta, or any other DCI carrier guy and a 9E guy trying to get on the jumpseat, non-rev priority be damned, the 9E guy is going. They don't like it, they can call me into the base manager's office and we'll play the "CA's authority on the jumpseat" game. With the way things currently sit (or will after the 23rd), a policy of "If you miss your first flight, we'll positive space you to work" might work. Might also have the same effect as the grievances when it comes to costing the company $$$.
