from the MEC:

Fellow Pilots,

By now most of you are aware that Trans States Airlines did not prevail in securing additional flying under the UAL RFP despite having a low cost, competitive bid. Unfortunately, this means that all recall letters will be rescinded for our furloughed brethren. TSA President Rick Leach has posted a memo on the TSA OPS website explaining why TSA was unsuccessful with its bid. A TSA MEC Special Announcement has been emailed to all furloughed pilots informing them of the pending rescission. The MEC remains committed to the return of all furloughed pilots to active status and the overall success of Trans States Airlines.

This seems like a good time to reflect on what RFP’s really mean. While a successful bid would have been advantageous to TSA pilots, especially furloughed TSA pilots, we can’t ignore that much of this flying was originating from a fellow ALPA carrier. Our gain would have been at another carriers loss. Our furloughed pilots would return while another carrier would be furloughing. Hundreds of pilot’s careers would be restored while just as many would be recycled. This should highlight the fact that “OUR” flying is never truly “OURS”. This fact has been witnessed time and time again over the last decade. This should reinforce the work that the Fee For Departure Committee (FFDC) is doing to establish protocols and provisions that would allow pilots to go from one airline to another with seniority and longevity intact. In an ideal scenario, pilots would merely work within an entire airline system with the capability to voluntarily bid to vacancies at
other carriers maintaining both their seniority and longevity when the move from one airline to another. This would eliminate the endless whipsaw between pilots at competing carriers as well as eliminate the price wars that air carriers themselves engage in over RFP’s. Ultimately, it leads not only to greater stability for pilots but also the regional airlines themselves.

Some of you may be thinking…”Why would I want to allow a pilot from another airline to jump in our seniority list and knock me down a number?” Well, everything has a cost. The cost of having a truly stabilized career instead of constant up’s and down’s and recycles is to buy into an insurance policy. By purchasing this insurance policy you get to advance your career with a better quality of life, better pay likely, few scope concerns, built in furlough protection and a much more stabilized career. Obviously, these concepts are very new and are only in their infancy stages but one-the-less they are being developed by the FFDC in an effort to improve all our careers. Time will tell if theory can one day be put into practice. One thing is certain, these concepts will take years and maybe decades to see if they come to fruition. Until then we need to be our own best advocates by helping each other out in our time of need.