whatever!!
Hey slappa, although i do in part agree about the ineffectiveness(by the way, they can only be as good as their membership is) of the AOA i do feel the boys there are doing their level best. I have always viewed things as not what the AOA can do for us but what they prevent the company getting away with.
I believe NR and the others have already been given their figure to work with and it is now up to them to screw it down as much as possible, hoping we will accept less. Now a little birdie has told me NR is very frustrated with the way things are going, roadblocks etc, this would indicate to me that the AOA are doing at least something.
Ulitmately 2 factors are going to drive this figure.
1. The cost involved in losing freighter jocks and trying to get us to fly frieght a/c.
2. The cost required to attract new joiners, not at critical levels yet but then we havent even started with the real recruiting push yet!!!
Of course there are the threats of losing younger pilots to their domicile airlines but i feel Cathay wont bother about this until it really happens, after all, since when have pilots had the balls to vote with their feet??
Age 65 will help, but most soon to be retirees are A scale and CX arent in a rush to keep them.
So as far as the AOA are concerned, until you are all happy to individually neg your contract with NR, then i think we really do need them!!