Originally Posted by
Balder
I also heard they will try to do the 85hr/13dayoff squeeze for awhile. But they still have to comply with contractual limitations and reserve coverage, and we have to hold them to it. I agree with ALPO, with building very high hour schedules comes more sick calls, as well as little room for anybody picking up the open time. Speaking of picking up open time, maybe it's time to refocus on holding back on that.
It has happened before that the higher ups in management have mis-judged this stuff. We'll see....
And pilots should do their part. If you are sick...call in sick. If you are tired and fatigued...call in, period. PO's latest "bullet-points" clearly states his opinion. Surely the union supports that position.
My previous carrier played the same stupid game during negotiations... More flying, less days off, squeeze all they could from us and guess what? A TON of more sick and fatigue calls. Soon, they were short of crews and canceling flights left and right. Literally hundreds of flights canceled due to pilot fatigue, timeouts and sick calls in a single week. I'll never forget that. Even though the company never formally admitted it, I knew an internal computer code where I could look up the true cancellation reasons: "crew ops". Make no mistake. Our company will attempt the same.
And for the Reserve guys and gals: No favors! Got a call from scheduling to be at the airport "as soon as possible please"? Do as a good buddy of mine did last week: "Well, it's raining outside so I will need my full contractual show time. I'll be at the crewroom in 2 hours and after accurately checking the weather, notams, picking up my jepps, reviewing read-files, etc..THEN, I'll head to the aircraft. If that is good for you, it's good for me."
He told me the captain was in a hurry to push, and my bud told him to cool off, cause "I gotta do all my checks. Can I see the logbook please?".
And when it comes to open time... well... we all know what the right thing to do is.
Peace!