Imagine a world with an LOA that allows the company to offer SILS of 1, 3, 6, 9, or 12 month duration for bid, in targeted categories. They offer them in the WB fleets where they’ve intimated the “targeted ALV reduction” would go, and possibly in fleets where they want to hold pilots without retraining. They’re worried about the take rate in those targeted fleets, but they ignore the fact that each month they hand out a bunch of short calls to reserves, they’ll have more takers the following month (and that is without the natural effect of pilots bidding for SILs just to have no obligation to the company). The LOA might even stipulate 45 day notice for CQ for SIL taking pilots, for additional pay for travel/CQ days, just to manage training for takers. While not for everyone, does anyone not think they could get pretty close to the targeted ALV reduction results?

The company gets what it wants: reduced costs in targeted categories and reduced training churn, plus the gratuitous evil chuckle that goes with handing out extraneous short calls each month. The union gets the satisfaction of voluntary measures and protects jobs.

Obviously it can’t work because it won’t tickle the sadist erogenous zones of RG and his hapless JL puppet, therefore it will never happen.