Originally Posted by
757Driver
Kind of a chicken before the egg thing.
We don't pick-up open time PERIOD when there are furloughed Pilots. And by using the word WE, I'm referring to the Pilots who are informed Union members who care about the guys on the street. Unfortunately there are also quite a few who don't give a rats ass about anyone but themselves and no its not just our scabs.
I do not pick up open time and I hardly ever trade my trips. Unfortunately due to the ALPA endorsed age 65 rule change however, I am not senior enough to always like what I am awarded via the ALPA agreed to Preferential Bidding System.
BUT THE BUCK STOPS THERE.
This BS, failed, quasi-ALPA policy of "we dont pick up trips" came on the heals of the same union people selling pilots on contract '02, by claiming that it "wasn't a pay cut" because with the removal of the pay bank system, "you could fly as much as you wanted to to make up the difference". I won't even mention how the LPPs affected W-2s long after the ink dried on '02.
Maybe you'd like to further define what an "informed union member" is? If you're one of ALPAs leaders, let's just admit it's been difficult to define a magenta line the past few years, let alone stay on it. We need to put this OT pick-up issue behind us and move forward to insure that we don't weave any similar divisions into the fabric of what will soon become known as JCBA '10.
The reality of the business cycle is in no way the fault of the pilots not on furlough.