Originally Posted by
MinRest
Who knows what is true or not but some friends in higher places have said there have been zero discussions on downgrades, an amount, or anything of that nature. I wouldn't agree to say that it is the "go-to" move. Again, if there is a legitimate overstaffing in a given seat, then maybe. We obviously were overstaffed enough to offer LOAs and ILs but again, we continued to upgrade first officers to captain, during this process lol. We knew PBS was going to make things more efficient which is why the company wanted it, so the lack of open time isn't super surprising but clearly, we are in a period of slightly reduced flying, a bit of overstaffing (apparently in both seats) and we are waiting for deliveries to make up the difference.
The closest I can get to the negotiation table is through my rep. He said that the letter allowing reserve pick up on days off was cancelled to allow for paid leaves which would prevent downgrades. He said that there was a lot of negative feedback about this that peaked when premium started getting handed out in late March. He said if the MEC had not chosen to negotiate down the path of temporarily pausing reserve day off pick up and also offering paid leaves that there would have been a certain number of junior captains downgraded. I don't have access to an insider like OTZ does, or you apparently (lol) but asking one of the parties at the negotiation table about it seems pretty legit to me. This isn't my opinion and I heard this said by 2 different reps at different times. Maybe it is seen as an over reaction by now. Judging by our internal forum the MEC caught a lot of flack about the path to stop furloughs so they certainly took a beating over nothing, if what you say is true. For now I'd trust that my rep isn't lying to me.