Originally Posted by
Bluedriver
There is a fundamental disconnect here. The regional airline opinion that reserve is just something to suffer through is not going to fly with Blue pilots. We have a good number of pilots who reserve on purpose, or cycle between RSV and line when it suits them. At times RSV goes senior. We can drop or swap RSV days, and that's not going away in the name of "you'll be a lineholder someday" or "RSV only lasts XX years". The point of a collective union should be to create as many desirable positions as possible, not for some to get fat eating the rest.
Some of you seem want to leave things as they are with RSVs, and throw a small bone to them instead of allowing RSV to be 1st class citizens, that's just not going to happen.
And RSV times are increasing as our airlines get bigger and more mature. Gone are the days of the junior upgrade only being on RSV for months, that time is measured in years now.
There isn’t though.
Nowhere did I say the prevailing sentiment among the NK masses was “screw reserves”. You made the assertion that the grid/dtz only works at the detriment to reserves pilots, but it doesn’t have to be that way. However, improved reserve life has to be bargained for, and it happens that the past couple negotiations occurred during times when pilots weren’t experiencing prolonged time on reserve due to expansive growth. Boosting their QOL wasn’t high on the priority list, but it wasn’t out of malice, there were just more pressing concerns than the forward thinking “hey one day seniority progress will slow, so sweet reserve life will benefit future pilots and senior guys will want to bid down to it.” Context is important.
There have been many dropped balls in previous negotiations, but that’s spilt milk under the bridge.