In our contract, we have a policy that if you have 9 years of senioirty and can hold CA in base, you have to upgrade. BUT, this part of the contract is not enforced! We have numerous guys/gals who can hold CA and have not been forced to UG. Granted, a few of them are grandfathered in because of a variety of reasons, but majority of them are not. The company/union are simply choosing to not enforce it. This is a great example of Junior guys getting walked over. Many of you may say "Oh, but you will upgrade sooner!" This is not necessarily true, here is why:

Lets say I am based in ABC as an FO. There are 25 FOs, me being 20 our of the 25, and the top 5 should have been forced to UG. Well, that means that I have to bid 5 extra lines that contractually, I shouldn't have to bid. Quality of Life sacrificed. CA seats open up at ABC and FOs from DEF base bid the upgrade at ABC and are awarded it. So I am still number 20 out of 25 on the FO list, keeping me on reserve. Years go by, the 5 senior guys still havent been forced to UG and I get close to the UG, and then the senior guys decide to take the UG.

This is actually what is going on right now at the airline that I am at. Personally, I dont really agree that anyone should be forced to upgrade, but, it is in the contract and therefore should either be followed, or removed from the contract. However, the precedence has been set.