Originally Posted by iaflyer

Here's my take:

Last winter, we had SILs for categories that were overstaffed. Some, like ATL ER had a bunch - and last winter we were flying more than this winter. Even this September there were some SILs if I recall. October, no SILs - many thought it was odd because we had been hearing how overstaffed we were and maybe furloughs. November, no SILs. Odder.

Then, in early October, poof, out of thin air comes the NFL option, and we've had no SILs since then. I agree that the company may be seeing it as "15 hours of pay to get another guy on reserve is fine." Fine by me too, because as a reserve, I'm barely flying. I flew 1 trip in October, and two in November. The company discontinued SILs *while* NFLs were being negotiated. I would bet a dollar that the company bluffed and told the union, "oh, by the way, we don't plan on SILs anytime soon, so you get NFLs or nothing" hoping the union would agree. If I had been a rep, I'd say, "no, lets stick with SILs - I bet they will cave and we'll get SILs all winter long".

True, the NFL does give pilots the option of a 1 or more months leave of absence essentially. Perfect for the guy with another business, military reservists who want the month off and can add flying/pay there, the pilot who wants the holidays off and has money saved, long vacation, etc etc.

But, SILs did the same thing, you just got paid 55 hours. I think SILs are better for the pilot group as a whole than NFLs. If the MEC has asked our opinion about NFLs, I think that the pilot group would of said that. Also, SILs make a category smaller for that month, allowing more junior guys to have lines.

NFLs do the same thing, but there are far less NFLs being taken than SILs. I think someone else did the calculations and SILs are cheaper for the company than NFLs, because few people are taking NFLs than SILs.