Originally Posted by
LivingTheDream
SF,
I've met you a couple of times... seem like a good guy... but I swear I shake my head at some of the things you say.
Don't know where you came up with any of the above. You may want to re-read my post.
As I heavily implied, of course I put qualifiers in... just impossible to account for every possible contingency.
As far as turning down gs's on the phone... either they know your SF or you've never been involved in a very short staffed situation (i.e., no one else with gs for that trip).
And I do treat every one with respect, like adults... but definitely have not always received the same back in kind... except in Japan!
Also, just to be clear, you favor a system that is completely skewed to the company? I.e., one answers the phone and sked may or may not allow you to pass on the gs out of the kindness of their hearts?... because that sure is not contractual... and it sure has not worked in my favor in the past.
Totally agree with your take on GS coverage. On the ER I have seen some bizarre rotations built by scheds to cover some weird scenarios that have gone out as GS's. Rotations that could never have been foreseen when you were putting in all the qualifiers on your GS in order to ensure that scheds only had to call you for a GS that you would agree to, so as not to "waste their time".
I have had several weird GS that I would not have been called for if I had qualifiers in. For example, Maybe I would prefer to not do a GS that reports before 0600 and think that such a GS would be the typical 2,3,or 4 day trip in my category. Then a 8 day, 50 hour rotation with a 0545 report gets built and goes as a GS. I'd sure be willing to take the early report to get that GS but my qualifiers caused them to skip me.
Blanket GS + a Google Voice # as my only DAL contact has yielded some big GS's that I would not have been called for otherwise. If scheds doesn't like the contractual requirement to call me on my blanket GS and give me 10 minutes to decide(if more than 3 hours to report), then they should seek to change that PWA provision the next time we negotiate a contract. Then perhaps we can say to them, "what are you willing to give up for that?" Making crew sked's job easier is NOT part of my job description. Yeah, maybe I'm a little bitter about all the times that sked's has not given a Flip about making my work life easier.