Originally Posted by
GoHomeLeg
This exactly.
I feel some of our pilot group has forgotten the company has been blatantly violating the contract since the end of January. I mean people are still picking up tons of open time, dropping the brakes early (remember the only time you can drop the brakes prior to the before start check being completed is when the push is being done by a Lektro tug), basically doing whatever they can to help the company.
Meanwhile it'll likely be well over a year (if ever) until major issues become contractually compliant. Personally I believe the company is just going to allow things to operate as is and negotiate the next contract to be compliant with the way things are now.
Bottom line, the only reason starting pay is going to $41 and referral potential up to $10,000/per is because they believe they needed to do that to get new hires. As long as people already on property are doing their part to help the company keep performance numbers up the company has no incentive to do what's right. This means less upgrades and lower quality of life than what is explicitly provided for in the contract.
I agree with some of what your saying but contractual grievances have little to do with performance...and in fact keeping our performance numbers up helps us sustain our competitiveness in the regional marketplace, it's what ensures we continue to survive and potentially grow
Contractual Grievances have to be settled in a certain amount of time or they go to arbitration and are ruled on, I would assume we are getting close to that with IOCC, and I'm willing to bet it will go to arbitration.
As far as open time, pilots are creatures of habit. Everyone looks out for themselves and not the greater good of the pilot workforce. There are many people at Compass and other airlines that use open time to supplement there income for various reasons (kids, toys, medical bills, student loans). Asking people to not pickup open time while honorable isn't going to be accepted here or anywhere.
We have to lean on our union representatives with the hopes they stand there ground and not give the company any leverage. The union is in a very good position right now, we have the leverage because we have contractual requirements for compensation and new hires. The company has reached the cap and going forward if they want to do something more, they have to negotiate, just like they did when they made the LOA allowing the company to raise FO rates without negotiating. Theres also contractual rights to opening a crew base, the company just can't announce an opening, there are certain provisions and notices that have to be met. The minute we give them an inch, they will take a foot...and thats the way its always been at any airline with a union.