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Old 07-19-2017, 12:07 PM
  #1967  
oldgb
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Joined APC: May 2017
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Originally Posted by Galaxy5 View Post
For the reason you think it'll help in future negotiations, it will actually get used against you. Strict adherence to the contract is what helps when it comes time to work on the next one. The company makes a note of every time a pilot waives part of the contract (here it's the extra pay, but it could be a scheduling issue, fatigue, etc., I'll try to draw an analogy to illustrate this for you), and when the next round of negotiations come up, they'll put all that in front of the union and say "look, your pilots are fine with the rates as they are now, so we don't need to raise pay." 200% is a short term fix, it's not in the contract, but the more people use it, the more the company can argue status quo (that's the legal term) in the next negotiations.

This is also not a "pay rate" as you suggest. Pay rates are codified in the contract and cannot be raised and lowered at the company's discretion. This is a short term fix and will go (and has gone) away as quickly as it appeared. They didn't just magically realize that your services are worth more. Flight completion at the least cost to them is worth more. They've got some pretty bright folks (with numbers, guys, not necessarily leaders, don't flame) who have done the math and told them that paying 200% now and canceling x number of flights still makes more money than actually paying the pilots more.

A little history on this, 200% existed 3 years ago, then it evaporated. Some guys took a pretty big hit because they made financial decisions based on that extra pay. It wasn't a pay rate in the contract, though, so when it was gone, well, sorry guys. Then we were told it'd be a cold day in hell before it ever came back.

The analogy: scheduling sucks and a bunch of guys are fatigued. Nobody calls in, though, because fatigue calls aren't pay protected. The union approaches the company about improving schedules because pilots are fatigued, but the company counters with "well hey, look at this really small number of fatigue calls we actually have...you know, empirical data. We don't have a problem, so we're not changing scheduling." Call fatigued when you're fatigued, and guess what, that's ammo for several things in the next contract.

If, after fully understanding the implications of picking up 200% pay, a dude or dudette still wants to pick it up, by all means, have at it, but don't expect a hero's welcome when you show for your trip.

tl;dr version: Fly the contract.
Thanks for the background, and input. I'm new to this whole thing, and trying to learn. My two biggest take aways from your comment, after the "Fly the contract" (which makes complete sense as you explained everything) are: 1 - fly by the regulations and call in fatigued when you are fatigued. 2 - don't budget over minimum pay. Take the extra over the guaranteed minimum and save it, or pay off debt. Never run your personal budget on something that isn't guaranteed.
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