Originally Posted by
Cujo665
The entire reserve rules section is being rewritten currently, and with the staffing crunch hitting all the other carriers there is little interest in anything other than an industry leading RSV program. Other than that I think most would rather take it to the arbitrator since ALPA has rarely lost grievances over seniority violations.
It isn't so much the pilots not wanting a rewrite, as the company unwilling to do so. Performance numbers have been high since they began making up their own reserve policies (but I think it's more due to being over staffed) and as such, are not willing to change that since they don't really care how we feel about anything. The arbitration process might work in our favor (or might not [turnbacks]) but it will be YEARS before it is resolved there [LTFO].
Originally Posted by
Cujo665
Their projections are based on only needing 15 new hires a month. Last month we did 28, and this month we're doing 13. 2.5 / 6 are just math problems, and if you take current numbers and extrapolate them, their numbers work. I'd expect some variation here and there; but they are banking on AA flow creating the drive to keep their regionals staffed without having to significantly raise pay. To do that it has to actually work. Thus far to date this year their numbers show that close to 70% of all AA new hires came from Envoy. In the last 3 years we sent 1/4 of our pilots to AA, and that was before the retirements really began to pick up which happens this year. Next year they are projecting at least 300 will flow to AA from Envoy. That is expected to continue.
The only way it works is with new hires, which currently, there aren't many out there to hire. Ric said he wants 400 in just over a year. That's nearly double "only needing 15 new hires a month". Also, despite having a temporary slow down, we are still losing aircraft. I'm glad they are flowing more than the minimum, but that is only happening now due being over staffed and them wanting the high priced pilots off the payroll. I wouldn't expect it to last much past the 824, as we hit their staffing goal and pilots on the new pay cap.