Originally Posted by
CALPilotToo
Yea, but you shouldn't support junior guys bragging how good things are at CAL on public forums that they can hold CA after ONLY being here for 2-3 years. Management knows this and realizes the junior guys just don't get it and won't be willing to rock the boat. Same as C02. You should be expalinaing how bad our contract is and that is the ONLY reason we have 2-3 yr. guys holding CA. No other reason than that. Yes, bid it and enjoy the CA pay but understand while they are getting a 100% upgrade rate it is not a pay raise. It should be even a lot more than that along with much better work rules. A pay raise is when a company pays you more than you are making today for the same staus and equipment. Not upgrading. Just like when I bid B777FO I am not taking a pay cut. The pay rates for the status and equipment have not changed.
I agree that if the slot is available bid it but quit making it sound like everything here is great because I'm going to be a CA in 3 years. It kills the effort to truly get a pay raise across the board on the next contract.
Maybe I should not worry about fighting for a pay raise in the 3-5 year CA range as these guys are obviously tickled to death right now with what they've got. I'll expect all the money to be in 10 year plus side of the pay rates.
I agree with your post about 99.9%. Cal new-hires should not be bragging about how "good" things are at CAL. If I took the upgrade @ CAL, I would be back to my pay in 2001, pre-CAL. Fortunately, I don't have to do it for the money and won't because being junior @ CAL is terrible. Being relatively senior, 50%, is bad. The disparity between being a reserve and a line-holder @ CAL is not the company's fault, it's ours. Most Union's eat their young, but @ CAL it's absolutely ab-horrible;29k/hr to fly a 777 with no health insurance. I'll be voting no for any contract negotiated by "pilots". IMHO, CAL is heads and shoulders above our competitor's, no offense as I think we should all feel that way about the company we chose. For the life of me, I can't understand why we are playing bush-league negotiations without a professional negotiator, and not the ALPA one! I don't know how many times I've heard Captains tell me "that's just the way the company is", as if we don't have any culpability in our sh!tty existence and lack of the company's respect; sprawled across exit-row seats in coach on our way from Berlin. Our plight is a direct result of
that group of quasi-pilots who sold their souls and nuts to F Lorenzo. The new-hires now outnumber those guys and can probably offset the 1996 votes that Lorenzo bought '83-'85. Captains.......Please do all you can to mentor your new-hires as to the ways of the company. Remember, this is the best job most new-hires have ever had. They need your guidance. BTW, a big congrats to the NWA pilot group, especially the Captains, solidarity and balls still exist somewhere.