Ok. Since I'm on a long productivity sit (as usual, just a few minutes short of getting a hotel room for the day) I will elaborate on my comments for those of you who don't understand the intent of my post or who can't quite face the facts.
The thread is entitled "Reasons Not To Come To Pinnacle". It is not entitled Never Come To Pinnacle, Pinnacle is the Worst Place on Earth, I Hate Aviation or anything else. It is entitled "Reasons Not To Come To Pinnacle" and is exactly that: A list of reasons that in my mind make Pinnacle a bad choice for
most people right now.
Whether people ultimately decide to come to Pinnacle is entirely their choice. I do not bear any ill will towards anybody who decides to come here. I simply want people to make an educated decision.
You would have to be a complete moron not to know that the hiring market has changed. I am aware that there are far less job opportunities available at the moment. However, this does not change the basic facts about working at Pinnacle.
Allow me to elaborate:
- A 9 year old contract, amendable for over three years: FACT
- Lowest FO rates in the industry: FACT, look at any other 50 seat jet rates for years 1,2 & 3, even Mesa is higher.
- Mandatory overtime ("junior man"): FACT, you will have to justify your junior assignment refusal to your base manager at a later date and hope that the junior man refusal will be excused. Not all refusals will be excused, especially if you have multiple refusals. Furthermore, scheduling has been junior manning via crewtrac. This means that you have to self-notify (accept) the junior assignment before you can check-in for your trip or have to call scheduling. That makes it kind of hard to use the "I've been drinking" or "I'm in the middle of a swamp hundreds of miles from civilization" excuse. Scheduling has also been leaving voicemails telling people that they are junior manned and that they must call back although there is no contractual obligation to do so.
- Mandatory extensions (one refusal per month): FACT, you can only refuse one extension per month. Once the monthly extension refusal has been used, you are required to accept up to 2 extensions per month not to exceed 9 extensions in a 12 month period. Reserves can and will be extended into their day off. You are not entitled to redeem your lost day off ("comp day") in the next bid period unless the extension takes you below 10 days off. In many cases, the "comp day" which you are contractually entitled to is denied due to "operational necessity". Many reserve captains end up with less than 10 days off for consecutive months. If the above two points don't qualify as mandatory overtime, then I'm not quite sure what does.
- Vindictive management, or lack there-of: FACT, pilots are subject to disciplinary procedures "up to and including termination" for relatively minor infractions or perceived infractions. I can not talk about specific cases due to confidentiality issues however suffice it to say that I have seen good pilots suspended/terminated for minor issues that at another airline might not even result in a meeting with management. The sick policy encourages pilots to fly sick. You are only permitted 3 sick calls per rolling 12 month period not to exceed 6 days TOTAL - not each occurrence. Anything exceeding these guidelines will result in warnings and eventually disciplinary action.
- Inept dispatching/scheduling (you will be hung out to dry if in violation): FACT, the company self discloses to the FAA. We have a few good dispatchers however the majority are in my opinion inexperienced and over saturated with too many flights. Most schedulers do not even know what "Whitlow" means... They will try to coerce you into accepting an illegal assignment (which hopefully they wrongfully believe to be legal). Should you accept their reassurance and accept said assignment, if it is later deemed to be illegal, the company will self disclose to the FAA and you will be hung out to dry.
- Total hypocrisy in regards to the "guiding principles": FACT, not only for the reasons stated above but also a lack of effective internal COMMUNICATION, RESPECT, and ETHICS and VALUES. As Higney stated on another thread, a recent change to the W&B policy was implemented without any COMMUNICATION to the pilot group.
- Lack of work rules: FACT, we have amongst the worst work rules or lack there-of in the industry. Just to name a few: 50% deadhead pay, 50% cancelation pay, no minimum daily pay regardless of total duty time other than the 75 hours/month guarantee etc...
- Reserve pilots would be treated with more dignity on a bad day in Burma: OK, thats my opinion
- Many of us would cut off our nose to hurt our face: Well let me put it this way. I'm the kind of person that normally bends over backwards to help out. I have to make a decided effort not to do anything more than is professionally required of me by the contract until we get a new contract and are treated and compensated with some basic dignity. I will however always help a passenger and will not take it out on them (other than a legal strike of course
).
- A complete lack of morale caused by the above. FACT, 99.39% strike authorization vote which I believe is the highest strike authorization vote in ALPA history. This company has many talented and good people however management is wasting this valuable resource that could really help the company grow and succeed by delaying a fair contract. We are professionals and will do our jobs professionally but to the letter of the contract until we get a fair contract that will eventually result in an improvement of morale.
So you see, I'm not trying to make anybody's mind up for them as to if they should apply to Pinnacle or not. I am simply sharing with you some facts and some opinion so that you can make the choice that is right for you.
As for the people who say: "why don't you just leave?" Well, it's not that simple. Although I'm by no means super senior, I have accumulated seniority here. To make a lateral move does not make sense to me. Also, when I came to Pinnacle, most people did not foresee a 3 year wait for a new contract and to be honest, I did not know what I know now. That's why I am sharing this information - so that people can make an educated decision...