Sick leave is the scapegoat to get us to work more.

They won't/can't make the rotations more efficient because of marketing's obsession of a different fleet each day of the week for the same flights, thus causing 30+ hour domestic layovers.

Another thing is the greater number of female new-hires in their child bearing years. Lot's of time missed when they aren't flying the last couple of months prior to and after delivery.

Also, the large amount of new-hires from the military still in the guard or reserves vs a fully retired military pilot.

Looks to me that they want the rest of us that don't have these options, to pick up the slack with high ALVs and get surprised that after months on end of flying 80+ hours per month and no way to trade days or drop because of capped days, guys bang out sick.

Finally, if there is a spike in May, why not change the sick bank renewal to hire date. It would smooth out the spikes. Makes perfect sense if someone needs an elective surgery to hold off until May. Imho, a large percentage of the alledged spike could be eliminated by going to hire date.

Rant Over