Originally Posted by
Busboy
I didn't say you were idiotic...I thought what you said was idiotic. But, looking back on it, that may have been too harsh. Sorry.
Like you, I'm a refugee from two other airlines. And, I've spent my time on reserve at all of them. So, I have a fairly good idea of what goes on outside our little FDX bubble. But, is that really important? I'm sure you've heard one of these from a merged list: "You know how many Tiger guys it takes to screw in a lightbulb? Five. 1 to screw it in and 4 to tell you how great the old one used to be."
The reason that your thesis set me off is that I experienced reserve HERE at FDX, precontract. And, I can tell you that the contractual gains in OUR contract for reserves FAR outweigh the gains for lineholders. One just needs to look at a bidpack from precontract days compared to today's contract. There's no comparison.
So in my opinion, saying that our contract has left out those on reserve just isn't valid. But, like I said...The contract has much room for improvement. For all of us. And when the time comes, it'll be up to us, not our MEC, whether we get those improvements or just roll over, again.
Busboy, not to be insulting, but what you experienced here and other airlines in regard to reserve is cats and dogs to what others have experienced. It was not the contract that improved the reserve system here, it was the FAA after the LIT accident. The days of on reserve 24/7 ended.
Post LIT all airlines had to revamp their reserve system and there are light years between major carrier systems for reserve pilots and what we have here. I would challenge you to explore all of the major reserve systems before you just compare them to what you know pre LIT.
Believe it or not, there are better ways of doing things than what we think we have invented in our own little union bubble. Most of these improvements are cost neutral to the company. The problem here is that we are new in the contract experiences and the company wrote the first one. Add that to the fact that most reps and union leadership really don't care about improving the reserve system because it does not affect them, and it is better than what they had, and we are left with a substandard reserve system in which the company has complete control over a reserve pilots life. (Just try and move or drop an R day).