Originally Posted by
ZapBrannigan
This isn't really part of the topic of this thread (as far as we know) but a buddy of mine sent me an email explaining the 3a lawsuit for those of us who never heard of it before yesterday. I thought the information was important enough to share. Here is what he sent me:
"I’m sure you have heard by now that the judge ruled in favor of the pilots on the “3A arbitration.” 3A refers to the section of our PEA (individual contract) that states that every pilot will receive an identical percentage pay increase that a new hire receives. In 2007, the 190 pilot rates were extremely low and the company increased the 190 pay rates without increasing Airbus wages an equal percentage amount. This was found to be in violation of section 3A of our PEA.
This is obviously good for those pilots that were involved in the lawsuit, but I’m not sure how it will affect us that are not involved. I don’t think it will negatively affect us too much. The good things that came out of this are that there is now legal precedence that we can be viewed as a group and not viewed as individual contractors (beneficial in a merger). Maybe it will also force the company to treat the PEA as a real contract instead of changing it on a whim when they feel necessary.
I don’t know how or when the pilots will be paid as that is yet to be determined. There is obviously a lot of speculation about back pay, future pay rates, and a B-scale. There is a lot of discussion on the company ***** board about future pay rates, and it may stand that after our pay increase for 2014 the rates will be in line to what the pay rates would be as dictated by the 3A ruling, therefore no B-scale. There are some, and especially the lower-level management types, that say the company will do the right thing and if the 3A guys are giving an increase due to the ruling, they will give it to everybody. I would be surprised if that happens, but I don’t really know.
I’ll let you know as I hear more official information, but I am thinking and hoping that this will be better for all pilots. On the downside, the company is now liable for a very large pay out that could have an impact on other areas. We’ll see how it all plays out."
How I THINK it will probably play out is the resulting pay bump from 3A will be probably what we were going to get anyway for 2014. The pilots invovled in the 3A lawsuit will get retro. So, basically, I think this decided the pay issue for them. If they de-couple the pay rates from the 320 and 190, watch as training costs go through the roof when guys starting bidding off the 190 to the 320. Right now, it's not THAT much of an issue since our pay is pretty much off of one category and the rest are just a percentage of that. Simple formula, and it's easy to figure out if it's right or not. De-couple it, and guys are gonna start jumping. Right now, they're bidding QoL. But if you can make 5 figures more being on the 'Bus, that might go out the window. The only thing that might save on training costs is the 2 year equipment lock.
As for paying for the 3A thing....how about we cancel that lodge project again? I'm not really sure we should be spending money on what amounts to a resort in Orlando right now when so many other issues need to be dealt with first.