Originally Posted by
9kpilot
Pretty doubtful this will go through. Lots of guys out on the line can't believe the ta. Same pay as now for the bottom 75% of pilots. Carib pilots taking a pay cut, and the top guys get a raise. It looks like they copied our current manual and made it a ta. If we won't get a raise, might as well not have a contract and union dues!
Here we go again. Guys below 7 years seniority got a smaller raise than those above 7 years because in 2008, the junior half of the list got a $2+ raise, while the top half got
nothing. If you factor in the 2008 raise and this one, it still favors the junior guys overall. I have no problem with people voting no for this TA, just do it for a good reason. The fact that you think they copied our current manual and made a TA from it makes me think you haven't read it. Stop hiding behind the anonymity of a forum like this and posting meaningless garbage. It's great to discuss the pro's and con's of this TA, but some facts would be nice. So here are some:
There are numerous improvements in the TA, like increased sick time which accumulates bi-weekly, long and short term disability, scheduled duty breaks, a 401k contribution from the company, increased min guarantee for the week and for the day, increased per diem, extra pay credit for unscheduled overnights, extra pay when you have less than 10 days off, vacation slide, an open time pool, improved vacation bidding, increased bereavement leave, full coverage for jury duty, and, this is something not everyone has, an ASAP program, which is huge. Ask any regional pilot who doesn't have it. This also doesn't factor in improvements that the union brought about that were implemented prior to the TA, like our base bidding system. Ask some guys who have been here for a while how much the old bidding system sucked. And be honest, that's a long list above.
There are also some negatives. Junior guys in the Caribbean won't be pay protected if or when they return next season, and senior guys are effectively pay protected but their pay is frozen until the rest of us catch up. I agree this is a big downside and very nearly outweighs a lot of things above. Just please take a deep breath, ignore all of the crap flying around in the Caribbean, and make an informed decision. If you want to vote no, then do so, but then help the union come up with some better alternatives that they can propose if this TA gets voted down.