Originally Posted by
WhiteMorpheus
*le sigh*
Please go educate yourself on PBS. Once you do, PM me an explanation of how SAP, as we know it, would be of any benefit without destroying seniority more than we already have by allowing senior manning of upgrades and making seniority worthless on reserve with the bucket system.
Retaining SAP by having a 2-round PBS bid with flying withheld for a "SAP" pot means you are taking lines away from the upper echelon of low-seniority pilots to accommodate senior pilots that have screwed up their bids. If a senior person bids properly they WILL get the line they could/would SAP into (as long as the system rules match the current SAP parameters). They may lose the fine-grain control of hand-picking trips from the pot, but days off, start times, overnights, and total credit are all things you should be able to provide bid rules for.
A 1-round bid would really make SAP a nearly useless tool, you might as well just call it FCFS and get something in exchange for "giving up SAP."
As for destroying seniority how does that work? Once you're senior enough for round one you get SAP... that's how seniority works...
Regarding senior manning, you can thank the union for suggesting that little gem of an agreement in exchange for a small increase in flow. They threw senior FO's under the bus so they could flow a month or two early.
I'm in favor of the latter. I want every trip and reserve block to be in the pot from the get-go so I can bid a hybrid line with 14+ days off worth 65-75 hours every month. There should be ZERO open time remaining when the bid is closed so reserves only get used when someone calls out sick, takes MIl leave, or needs a PED/PUD (or for operational necessity 🤣
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Scheduling could build out all the open time anytime they want, you don't need PBS for that. The company chooses not to do that now, why would they want to do it with PBS?
And I am telling you that the Union is considering reducing the effectiveness of SAP, and given the Companies track record of making the Union look like fools by actually understanding how contract language works, if we give the company an inch where SAP is concerned you can pretty well wave goodbye to it.
If you don't believe me just look at how badly the union got played with the reserve "improvements", or how our union is still agreeing to these last minute convoluted holiday pay LOA's. Instead of holding their ground for a permanent agreement that actually includes reserves (aka half the pilot group).