I can't figure out if something is being lost in translation, or if people are just looking for reasons to be angry and direct it at individuals.
Here are my thoughts:
Original term: The 'pay agreement' prior to the previous vote originally spanned through the start of this year. The company was under no obligation to 'come to the table' before now. They did, and we netted a nominal increase in scale and profit sharing, with a few other terms favorable to the pilot group, with no 'gives.'
Contract: The 'pay agreement' isn't a traditional 'contract,' in the union sense of the word. However, it's in the company's best interest to treat us like a union—or better—in that department, because the threat of organization is always in the air.
Items of contention: If you think 'Block or Better' would have happened as a result of rejecting the previous pay agreement, OR that previous pay agreement left us in any worse of a bargaining environment today than voting 'no' would have, then we simply disagree, and those are the points we disagree on.
Recruitment: The company is playing the long game. Whether they're doing a good job of it is an open question, as they're extremely opaque in operation. We're filling classes, yes, but some of the people coming in are going more or less straight into the left seat of a CRJ. The company has launched several new initiatives designed to widen the pilot pipeline. Lots of Aussie accents on frequency, a new RTP, and so on. This is the point where we actually have some leverage for negotiations, I feel.
Summary: I believe that we are in relatively the same position that we would have been if we hadn't voted over the summer to accept the pay package, with the exception of the mood of the pilot group, and a slight bump in scale from last year. In my opinion that, combined with current market forces, stands to give us leverage to actually make progress in the pay and QOL departments. The carrot in negotiations is recruitment; the stick is the specter of a union drive that might, at this time in history, stand a reasonable chance of succeeding.
In summary, it's perfectly fine to disagree with me on these issues, or longer-term strategy ... but the "yes voter" witch hunt is a surprisingly nasty thing.
-Fox