Originally Posted by
Zoomie
While I feel sorry for those at UAL who have been totally screwed by their parent company, what's done is done. This post is about some hard love and a reality check.
Some valid points for sure, esp. regarding Category and Status. Junior UAL pilots, esp. furloughees, generally do not fair well in that argument.....but....like Airhoss and Motch were discussing above, there has to be a balance. Career Expectations: A UAL fellow like myself hired in 1997, was going to retire 158/8700 or in the top 1.8%. Then, after shinkage, but before the merger it was about 158/7000 or the top 2.2%. Well, 2.2% of the combined airline of 12000 is 264. IOW, using a relative seniority argument for Career Expectations, my retirement number should slide about 106 numbers.
This is one thing that makes the SLI so hard here. Balancing the larger number of narrowbody Captain slots at CAL with the larger number of widebody Captain and F/O slots at UAL. I don't think I should take your n/b Captain seat tomorrow, but at the same time, I don't want you to take my w/b Captain seat in 5 or 10 years. Sure, some CAL guys will say "fence it then...I don't want it" but that is total BS. I don't retire until 2033. We gonna fence it till then???? NOPE. And just cause some SAY they don't want it, what happens in 10 years?? Talk is cheap.
Now Longevity...that's the third thing. Have not seen this word in an ALPA merger policy since I have been in ALPA (1991). That is a can of worms. You made a solid argument regarding Category and Status. I made one for Career Expectations. Now Longevity. Using myself as an example, it's nice to know that 15 years of continuous service might count for something.
I hope they can figure this out without alot of fences, but I believe if fences are needed, It would be better to fence UAL guys off your n/b Captain slots for a period rather than fence CAL guys off of our w/b (except for a short fence for w/b Captain to protect guys near retirement). After all, I don't believe i should be an instant Captain, nor do I believe my Career Expectations regarding my last 5-10 years should change DRAMATICALLY by piling on a ton of young guppy Captains ahead of me who were hired in the last 10-12 years.
JMHO,
Sled