Originally Posted by
Scoop
Gunship,
You are not wrong, but I don't think you understand my point. If the company and the union do not come to agreement and they stick with requiring us to acknowledge long call trips within 2 or 3 hours then I think every reserve Pilot should acknowledge within the contractual requirement - if only to force the company to negotiate with the union. If this makes reserve pilots not legally rested for the trip per 117 then too bad for the company. A company memo does not undue our contract.
If on the other hand, the company assigns long call trips 19 hours out then I think a reasonable Pilot would acknowledge within 9 hours as before 117. To me this is the key - to allow long call Pilots a long call leash. Like I said, the NLT 3 hours wording in our contract is a means to an end. The desired end is a 9 hour response window.
I see the companies interpretation as unworkable and unreasonable, but I also think that Pilots who want to wait until 3 hours prior if they have 19 hours notice are just as unreasonable. Does anyone really think we would win a grievance if given 19 hours notice prior to reporting and we insist on waiting until 3 hours prior to acknowledging? I realize this is what our contract says, but the change in the law eliminates the option of a 3 hour prior acknowledgement.
The bottom line is that the law has changed. Acknowledging long call assignments in 2 or 3 hours aint gonna cut it - sorry SD. If the company is willing to work with us and push the assignment of trips further out - say 19 hours, then we should work with them. If they insist on a quick long call acknowledgement then we should comply with our contractual requirements.
Scoop
Work with them? Are they working with us on JV compliance? How about sick leave harassment?
Look, it's tempting to say that we can work with them, but we all know that crew skeds will do anything to cover a trip. What you are suggesting here is that the pilot group
voluntarily give up a key quality of life provision in our contract for zero quid, simply because they said so. Well, sorry, that's not going to work for me. And nobody has the right to tell me to do that. I paid for this contract. If the company wants a rolling 2 hour short call leash, then they'll need to negotiate in good faith for it.
And yes, I am confident that every grievance would be won. Slam dunk. The company simply will have to staff with IAs, GS, and short call until this is resolved. And nothing stops a pilot from acknowledging a trip outside the 10 hour window, he simply has the option not to, per the contract, or to be doing something else, such as commuting in for a trip.
What other sections of the contract would you like to ignore?