Originally Posted by
Sink r8
As I read it, our 3-hour acknowledgment is dead. It's illegal. They can't assign retroactive rest for Reserves, so you need to get your assignment, and go to bed, shut the curtains nice and tight, and sing yourself a lullaby.
I think the questions are:
1) Do we really have a responsibility to be available via phone at any time? We seem to have a responsibility to be available for contact, and we seem to have the right to acknowledge electronically.
2) Who has the right to determine how contact is made under the current contract?
The bottom line is that there are some issues in the contract that are changing because they violate FAR117. Some of these penalize the company, and this one seems to penalize us. Nonetheless, there needs to be a discussion on how the transition occurs, and I think we all agree that it's not SD's prerogative to make decrees in that regard.
I would submit that a waiver could be sought to allow the 3 hour rule to remain, based on the whole concept of FAR117, which was crafted to mitigate fatigue. A 0200 call for a 1400 report is the kind of interrupted rest the whole law was designed to protect us from.
Also, can you call in sick from fatigue (legally in eyes of company)?
It is a shame this is happening. Many of us reserve's have built our lives, recreation and activities around the ability to be out of contact for more than 2 hours. This will have a dramatic impact on many individuals and their family's. (The above is just a useless rant)
Finally, what did we give up in the past to get the 3 hour rule and what is the plan to restore what ever concession we conceded.