Originally Posted by
Left Handed
The reason we came up with the 4 days off in the first place is that we had very unproductive trips, and the company built trips with no 30 in 7 conflicts ever, so theoretically we could have worked 6 on 1 off 6 on 1 off etc. We still have horribly unproductive trips. This is because of our strategy of going somewhere once a day to go more destinations instead of frequency to fewer places. PBS would not solve that because the pairings that are built and put into PBS would still be horrible. I don't think a higher daily min would change that either, simply because the company doesn't have the frequency to make it work. It would end up the same trips with a higher min day for us (which of course I would be for
).
Sorry, but this is incorrect. Completely incorrect.
The Spirit CBA includes 5/4 days off between blocks of duty because the "ante union" Spirit work rules were 5 on, 5 off. Spirit was basically a supplemental carrier and everyone worked 5 on, 5 off. Those work rules were written into the first CBA, C1999.
Period, end of sentence.
If you doubt me, the answer can be found in the original negotiation notes, and reproduced in the neutrals opinion published back in 2009 when we won the 5/4 off arbitration. Check it out.