Originally Posted by
Dash8widget
The leverage that the company is trying to use lies in the following:
23.S.5. A long call pilot:
b. must be able to report for an assigned rotation which reports no earlier than 12 hours from the first attempted contact by Crew Scheduling.
c. must be able to report for a rotation within 12 hours of first attempted contact for conversion to short call.
What SD was basically saying in his letter was this - if you don't acknowledge your assignment outside the 10 hour window then you are no longer "able to report for an assigned rotation" and are therefore in violation of 23.S.5.b. So even if you follow the contractual acknowledgement guidance to the letter, you can still be in violation of the contract
At first blush, I was thinking ALPA had the leverage here. Now, I'm not so sure
So you're assuming that SD can just erase Section 23.S.6.b. ??
6. A long call pilot who is assigned a rotation or converted to short call:
a. prior to release from a rotation, must acknowledge such assignment or conversion prior to release.
b. via telephone contact or electronic placement on his schedule on his last non-fly day (other than a vacation day) before an on-call day, must acknowledge such assignment or conversion no later than:
1) three hours before the scheduled report of the rotation, or
2) one hour before the scheduled start of the short call period.
I agree with APCLurker.
Why do you think one section is enforceable and the other is not?
That 9 hours without obligation is the heart and soul of our contractual "long call". Without it you can never silence your phone for a good night's sleep or take a flight that is longer than 2 hours or go anywhere outside of cell coverage, you can't see a movie longer than 2 hours. etc. etc. etc.
Dickson's letter just put every long call reserve on "contact short call".
His letter also relies on the PWA "Long Notice Ladder" provisions and says he's being forced to do this because it requires "any awarded/assigned rotation that is scheduled to report 12 or more hours after first attempt to contact to be assigned to an available long call reserve pilot before the rotation can be assigned to a short call pilot or any other pilot lower on the Section 23 N. “long notice ladder.”
He likes the long notice ladder and seems to think he has to follow it to the letter but what he doesn't mention is that the short notice ladder has just been completely blown away by his new memo. Sections 23.O. 2, 3,4,6,12,13,14,16,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25 and 26 are no longer legal according to Dickson. There can never be another short notice white slip or green slip or yellow slip. That little jewel is going to require significantly more short call reserves all by itself. He's picking and choosing the parts of our PWA that are to management's advantage and just saying that the ones that work for pilots no longer exist.
I think we all see the dilemma here. Since FAR 117 several provisions of our contract no longer make sense or are in conflict with each other. It must (and will) be re-written. It is either going to be done through negotiations or by the system board or an arbitrator in a grievance procedure.
Steve Dickson can't do it in a memo. (unless ALPA let's him. We haven't heard from them yet 
)