Some of these ideas came from other Atlas pilots, some came from me (Atlas Line Pilot), while others were thought of by Atlas pilots working together.
I am not going to talk about increased hourly pay rates as everyone wants more money per hour, no matter how much we are paid.
Note: These are my opinions only.
Required in the New Contract, in no particular order:
1. International Gateway Basing with PBS.
- No more bases (JFK, MIA, ANC)
- Your Gateway is your Base. If you live near MIA, MIA is your base. If you live near MCI, MCI is your base. If you live near Dubai, Dubai is your base.
2. Line Guarantee
3. Atlas 401K Direct Contribution...no matching at all...suggest 15%
4. X Days are days off, with no compensation. ANYTHING other than an X day gets you Daily Trip Rig. In other words, R1 days, Training days, Vacation, and normal working days are paid at the same Daily Trip Rig rate.
5. Max Duty Day is 20 hours.
- Duty Days cannot be extended by the company. Duty days may be extended due to unforeseen circumstances, like an in-flight delay, an ATC delay, etc. If there is a major problem, like the only runway in Bagram closes for 2 hours, then the Crew and the Company may jointly decided the extended Duty Day is the best choice in the situation.
- If, by unforeseen circumstances, a Duty Day is extended past 20 hours, for any reason, then Duty hours 20-22 are paid at Double the Hourly Flight Pay Rate Above Guarantee. Duty hours 23-25 are paid at Triple the Hourly Flight Pay Rate, Above Guarantee. Duty hours over 25 hours are paid at FIVE TIMES the Hourly Flight Pay Rate, Above Guarantee.
-This should cut down on the company's making the flight crews do 20+ duty days and giving them $50 credit to eat a meal. This is crap.
6. Profit Sharing. No restrictions/exemptions/exclusions
7. Preferential Bidding System with 30/60 day lines
8. Fixed Perdiem of at least $90/hour.
9. Two Payscales, one for Captains, and one for F0s (no different payscales for different planes).
10. No Training Pay. All pilots Day One on first year pay.
-For those who may not have thought of this...for Atlas to function well in the future, we need new hire pilots, and the current Training Pay system is terrible.
11. Variable Days Off Bid:
- There would be a 6 or 12 month bid period where you bid for how many days of work you want. You would be for less, equal, or more days of work than we have now.
- With the current system of 17 days of work required, an example of the Variable Days Off System would be 1/3 of the pilots works 15 days, 1/3 works 17 days, and 1/3 works 19 days. X Days pay would be the same for everyone as far as 1st X day, 2nd X day, etc.
12. Monthly Guarantee increased to at least 72 hours/month.
13. All days off guaranteed if requested.
- In other words, vacation and training days would not reduce the number of days off you received in that month
- Easy to do with a checkbox on the bid schedule:
- One would be for Vacation Days. If you check the box you require ALL your Vacation Days be duty free, AND ALL your normal Days Off be duty free.
- One would be for Training Days. If you check the box, you require ALL your Training Days to be assigned during your Normal Work Days.
14. Deadhead pay changes.
- If you Deadhead on a Commercial Airline in Business Class or better, you are paid 0.5 hours of pay for each hour of Deadhead Duty Hours.
- If you Deadhead on an Atlas Air controlled aircraft (non-Airline ticket), or you Deadhead on a Commercial Airline in Coach Class, then you are paid 1:1 for each hour of Deadhead Duty Hours.
Desired in the New Contract, in no particular order:
1. Pilots get paid the higher of these four guarantees
Note: This system is typical for most airlines.
First: Monthly Guarantee Credit
- No changes (except for a higher monthly guarantee)
Second: Bid Line Award Credit earned for the month
- You would receive a credit of the higher of the Actual Bid Line Credit, or the Planned Bid Line Credit. You would not lose pay if your Actual Line Credit was reduced below Planned.
Third: Daily Trip Rig Total Credit earned for the month
- No changes
Fourth: Pattern Rig Total Credit earned for the month.
- Each Pattern (trip) has a certain amount of credit that is planned. You would receive a credit of the higher of the Actual Pattern Credit, or the Planned Pattern Credit. You would not lose pay if your Actual Pattern Credit was reduced below Planned.
- If you only had ONE Pattern scheduled for the month, then your Line Award Credit would be the same as your Pattern Credit for that month. However, if you had, for example, TWO patterns scheduled for the month, then your Line Credit could be less than your Pattern Credit for that month.
At the end of the month, you would receive the higher of: Your Monthly Guarantee, your Line Bid Credit, your Daily Trip Rig Monthly Credit, or your Pattern Rig Monthly Credit.
2. Vacation Increase:
-Years 2-4: Two Weeks
-Years 5-9: Three Weeks
-Years 10-15: Four Weeks
-Years 11-14: Five weeks
-Years 15+: Six weeks
I would like to start a dialog, so that the crew force can start communicating what we want in the New Contract, and get these ideas of what is most important to us visible to the Union, so that the Union knows what the Crew Force considers a “Major Improvement” in the New Contract.
I welcome all comments, feedback, suggestions, improvements, etc.
God Bless and namaste