767 Pilot is correct. We have some pretty ugly stuff, and there is no such animal as a disputed pairing in our contract, so we pretty much have to grin and bear it. In the past what has happened with some of the very worst pairings is that guys would call in fatigued often enough that the company would change them around, or sometimes just shift them to another domicile to see if anyone noticed. Ultimately, the boxes not moving gets the company's attention. OTOH, there are plenty of folks willing to "tough it out" even when they are babbling incoherently and bleeding out of their eyeballs.
I dont think the FDX guys are "whiners." Actually it would tweak me pretty badly if we had used negotiating capital to get such a thing as "disputed pairings" and they were getting picked up out of OT faster than a weekend HNL layover, so I understand the frustration. The company comes back to them and says, "well if this DP is so bad, why does it only last 30 seconds on the OT list? You guys must just be whining about nothing." Then the pairing becomes "undisputed" and the schedules spiral down the toilet. Unfortunately the negotiators should have seen that coming. Trying to get guys to not pick up OT, any OT (disputed or not) that is allowed in the contract is futile. Its just the way it is.
Last edited by viktorbravo; 04-10-2008 at 06:12 PM.