Originally Posted by
Pineapple Guy
sailingfun, I agree with you. I was trying to show the error in iahflyer's logic that said NFLs were a replacement for SILs which I, like you, agree they aren't. SILs seemed like a good idea at the time to DAL and were a GREAT deal for the pilots, but weren't contractually required, and in the end DAL determined they weren't worth it to pay a guy 55 hours and have zero ability to use him.
iahflyer and others are blaming ALPA for negotiating NFLs and claiming that is the reason SILs are no longer being offered and I don't believe that. It is yet another reason for the bash ALPA crowd to bash ALPA, which is always a fun side job.
I don't doubt that the company is getting something for having people on reserve than on a SIL. The question is, how much is it worth the company? Apparently, it's worth the extra 15 hours of pay. It is entirely possible that last year the money worked out for SILs to be worthwhile, while this year it didn't. I'm just saying that it appears that the company is trading SILs for NFL. People can disagree, it's my impression.
As for SILs costing the company money, like I said, that might be possible. However, most of the GS I've seen on the ER-B the last few months are for trips that show in a very tight time frame - within 1-3 hours. In these cases, the SCs must of been used, and there isn't time for a LC pilot. In the past six months, I can't remember a GS going out for a trip further than 3 hours. There is a lot of whiteslips for next day trips, but no GS.
I'm not an ALPA basher, I really think they do some good stuff. But they tend to not be pushing the envelope on issues these days. It doesn't take a lot of negotiationing to agree to what the company wants - isn't that why we have a union?