Originally Posted by
gloopy
Nothing in 117 makes our contract unworkable. Long call going to 19 hours when, by the company's own admission "most" conversions happen around the 16 hour mark is far from some new unworkable catastrophe. You can still be on short call too, because your "required schedule check" is now, like it always has been, NLT 2am on your first work day, so then plus 10 hours 117 rest, so you can always get a noon short call on day one, and then be notified of additional short calls while on short call, provided you are notified of your 10 or more hour rest period at that point.
Whatever the company loses because of this was not only completely preventable by constructively engaging DALPA for the year+ they knew this was coming. But they waited til the last second and forced a potential crisis by refusing to negotiate and trying to change the contract by memo and putting us on a perpetual 2 hour fantasy leash that doesn't exist and putting the pilots in the position of putting out the company's self induced helmet fire that they got while counting their money and enjoying their 3 year JV balancing window by getting us to hopefully self gut our own contract.
And now in the 11th hour it appears they are basically saying "that's right, and y'all ain't gonna do jack about it neither".
Gloopy,
Great Post. The company was "hoping" for a different interpretation of 117. Well we know how that goes, "hope" is not a strategy, hell it ain't even a tactic.
The one thing that I think some are missing is that some Pilots are saying even with 19 hours for long call they are not required to acknowledge until 3 hours of report. While this is our contractual obligation it is a means to an end - the means to not be on a short leash on long call. And besides 3 hours does not work with 117.
Is this our (Pilots) problem - No it is the companies problem, but if anyone thinks we (DALPA) will win a grievance when a pilot is given 19 hours notice for long call and waits until 3 hours prior to acknowledge they are crazy.
Before 117 we had a 9 hour window which was applied via the "NLT 3 hours to report" verbiage.
It is quite reasonable to replace the "NLT 3 hours until report" verbiage with "within 9 hours."
Now before I am tar and feathered I think SDs memo was total BS.
Management fiat does not cut it - we have an agreed to contract. If they want to change it they better start bargaining, but until then the company will have to suck it up and assign long call trips further out - too bad they should have planned better. They will need to carry more reserves because they will need to rely more heavily on short-calls and even green-slips. Short notice IAs in my opinion will no longer be legal. The company wants 117 to be neutral manning wise - well apparently it may require us to hire more Pilots.
I still think, and hope, the union and the company will come to an agreement and in my opinion the agreement should benefit the Pilot group with a longer long-call leash.
Scoop