Originally Posted by
horrido27
Here's an honest question from a Continental Pilot. It sounds like the " 8 Ball" is a United tradition. I like that (Traditions rock~)
But the question is this-
How and who brought it over to the CAL Side?
To me... if it's a "New Hire United" Tradition, it should not have been started/brought over to the CAL Side. United Furloughees being offered "New Hire" Positions don't really fall into the "Traditional" New Hire category.
Do/did the tradition continue when United was recalling their own pilots back in the day?
How did it get to the first class>? Did the UAL MEC Chair or someone from UAL ALPA come over and (with) the CAL ALPA Reps start the tradition?
Hopefully in years to come, the NewHire/Furloughees will have a special bond within this company. I know that I welcome them whenever I see them and am glad to have them here.
I can't comment on the individuals who made their 8 Ball decision.. that's up to them to defend their position and without knowing all the facts, I would be doing a disservice to comment on them.
This merger is/has been a mess from Day 1. Sad thing is, as much as I blame the company and poor management.. I also blame the Union and National.
Hopefully, once we have a JCBA & SLI (in 2013-2014?!) we can move forward and get a Union that represent us as a whole. With real leadership and people who are looking out for our interests and not their own or Nationals.
Just my opinion.
Motch
Motch
My first paycheck of the month is "new hire" pay. My vacation is "new hire" vacation. My indoc portion of training was "new hire" indoc. It was fine, but the instructors themselves admitted it is for new new hires and not 12 year FOs. My sick leave balance is "new hire" sick leave balance - my UAL balance is still sitting at UAL. Now there are plenty of things that are not "new hire" but I can find a lot of CAL documents that say we are "new hires."
All of the classes in the last year have been populated with UAL furloughees treated as "new hires" and that is why I would guess that the ball was brought back to life.
It's a great tradition and a bit of fun and only a good thing for the class and for the pilot group IMHO. Two losers and sadly from the UAL side tried to ruin it because they were too cool for school - I was standing 5 feet from them listening to their lameness pour out of them - it was embarassing.
Respectfully