Originally Posted by
Dave Fitzgerald
I think this is a good example of why the practice had to be stopped. No consistency and no defined process. Errors on top of errors. I hope this does lead to a LOA so we can get it back. However if the company wants to throw a tantrum and continue to get something for free, oh well.
Since they did not pay you properly, my guess is you have no recourse. It wasn't defined in the contract.
Oh, I will get paid. I got an answer to my payroll query already.
As for the practice, I for one am sorry to see it end, since I always bid "low". Our schedules suck so bad now due to the homogonis nature of the pairing and the flying on the 756 fleet- that is the only way to have any flexibility. So in a vacation month (every other one for me), I have no way to pick up time if PBS builds the line on the low side of the range. My alternative is to bid wide and suck it up with a possible 14 days off.
I did take the IAD LEC advice and wrote to that company negotiator whose email address they provided. According to him, the company was very willing to put the practice in an LOA, just like the center seat practice- until it could be fixed at the next contract. The union did not want that. They wanted a complete overhaul of the pay system to automate that AND FMLA, MIL Leave, COLA, etc... That was not going to happen and they knew it. This goes back to the UALPA fundamental philosophy against picking up open flying. So, we live with crappy PBS schedules, no way to fix them in vacation months, lower pay in vacation months, and less scheduling flexibility.