Originally Posted by
hockeypilot44
I agree with this statement. The reason why this worries me is because a judge almost always sides with the company no matter how black and white the grievance. When Bedford tries to put the Frontier pilots on the Republic list, he is going to try and change your 77-99 seat classification into a 77+ seat classification and bring Airbus pay to Republic levels. I am glad the union is grieving this, but why don't the pilots just not fly the 190? After all, you have no contract to fly an aircraft with that many seats.
The contract specifically states 78-99 seats. It is not 78 +. Neither the company nor the union can change the text that is printed in the contract. There is NO payscale in our current contract that could possibly cover a 100 seat aircraft. Therefore, a section was written that lays out the process for establishing a new payscale. This process does not require a payscale to be established BEFORE the new aircraft is flown. It DOES set a time limit on how long it can take until a new pay scale is in place.
Bedford is not who decides to put the Frontier pilots on the RAH seniority list. That is a union matter. Look how much influence Doug Parker has had on the integration of US Airways and America West pilots if you think CEO's control the integration process.
The company has taken the stance that one seat can be deactivated, and that the newest 190 will be a 99 seater. This is simply a delay tactic. Negotiations cannot begin until the company acknowledges that these 190's have 100 seats. it will be a while until the court forces the company to acknowledge that these planes have 100 seats. In the end, the company will have to give in. They have set a precedent by paying our 135/140/145 captains the 50 seat captain pay rate even if one of the 50 seats of a 145 is deferred. We do have a lower pay scale for less than 50 seats, yet the company has chosen to recognize that pay is based on seats installed, not seats that may be occupied. Also, the 100th seat is physically installed. Photographs and weight and balance records are indisputable. That plane is a 100 seater.
Anyhow, I think the game plan in HQ is to delay the negotiation of a 100 seat payscale long enough to have a new CBA come out in the meantime. A few concessions to the pilot group could potentially (in the company's eyes) alleviate the need to back-pay for pilots flying the 100 seaters from today until the new CBA signing. In short, they want to get about 1.5 years of 100 seat pay for for free.
Like everything in the real world, everyone is going to have to wait a while. You can bash us for a month, but we can't make the courts work faster.