Originally Posted by
Cycle Pilot
So, working six to seven days is not enough for the junior guy? At what point is it ok for the senior guy to get off the couch and come to work? I just listened to a senior guy talk to an ALPA rep in the JFK crew lounge recently. He was talking about how unfair it is that there are buckets to begin with. He was telling the ALPA rep (and the ALPA rep was agreeing) that reserve should be 100% seniority based. Junior guy always flies. Nice. I know it's coming. Didn't somebody just submit a proposal to remove the bucket system?
Variations of this resolution came out of several LECs earlier this year. Some bases wanted more seniority on RSV (ATL) and others wanted less seniority weight/smaller buckets (DTW??).
The MEC wasn't sure how to proceed with such conflicting information, and decided to conduct a poll of the pilot group on the Bucket size issue, among other things.
The results of that poll have been analyzed and will be presented to the MEC this week in SEA. They will then decide how to proceed. All of this is academic until the next time we engage the company anyways, because the company is under no obligation (and would almost certainly decline) to change the bucket sizes to allow more seniority on RSV, as it makes us less efficient as a group. The SOT can make recommendations to the company, but it would probably be ignored unless we ask them for smaller buckets - which many see as a concession.
I'm curious to see what the results of the poll say. We should hear something after the meeting this week.