Originally Posted by
FmrFreightDog
Have to disagree with the statement that new hires have lots of choices. Their choices are limited to the company's needs at the time. When I got hired at "Brand X", as I recall the choices were DTW DC9, MEM DC9, and ANC 742. Now, assuming I went to work at "Brand X" because I live in MSP and want to work in MSP (neither of which are true, thank goodness....
), I think it's a good thing that I was afforded the right to bid that ASAP.
Don't get me wrong, I'm all for seat locks to reduce excessive bidding around the system and unnecessary training costs. But to lock a new-hire with a family and a house and the whole deal in, say, DTW, into flying out of NYC or LAX (yeah, yeah, I know we don't actually fly out of LAX anymore..) for a year just because those were the company's whimsical needs at the moment is a cruddy deal. Odds are that guy will have applied to Delta because he has an expectation to drive to work.
Not looking out for the "yet to be hired" will bite us in the butt in the near long term. Stuff like this will drive qualified applicants elsewhere.
And... selling the not-yet-hired out has a pretty poor history. See "B Scale"...
Then again, if this last AE is any indicator, most of us are going to end up commuting to a base/seat we don't really want eventually anyway, so...
I'd like to see the new recovery language as well before passing judgement on this issue. However, I don't think it's unreasonable for a new-hire to spend 12 months in his assigned equipment, provided they are allowed to bid in seniority order on available slots for their class.
It wouldn't be a financial setback for the first 12 months either as 1st year pays the same regardless of aircraft type.
I do take issue with the "it sucked for me, so screw them" mentality. We need to avoid using junior pilots as negotiating chips.
This would not exactly be pushing them under the bus though, and if we get some serious gains in recovery obligations it might be worth it. It appears that the process is working itself out in this instance, and our ELECTED reps will consider the pros and cons and make a decision.
So far I've liked what I've seen out of the last few LOA's wrt training and scheduling improvements mid-contract. Hopefully this constructive mentality on the company's part will continue on through Section 6. It's encouraging to me that they're interested in looking for mutual "wins."