Originally Posted by
Blueskies21
Shyguy, I don't understand where your hatred of the Mesaba furloughs stems from. Sure, they got second or third year pay, vacation and sick time but how does that affect you? Why would you wish for another guy to get worse treatment? Most of the Mesaba furloughs had already been furloughed once before, so they've suffered plenty. As for where they'll fall in the final list, who knows? Who knows where any of us will fall. Are you just mad the list isn't done? We're all mad about that, but wishing for another pilot to lose doesn't exactly follow the golden rule. Not that everybody follows that, but walk a mile in their shoes and you might find some sympathy you're lacking now.
This has nothing to do with hatred for them. And I do have sympathies for any furloughed pilot. Being forcefully unemployed is something that we all hope to avoid, but it can come at anytime in this industry. I'm against the MOU's longevity credit on the principal of the matter. Once Pinnacle started hiring in Summer 2010, we received XJ furloughs as newhires, but with longevity credit, while newhire off-the-street pilots did not get any credit. Many Pinnacle newhires from 2010 were furloughed from other airlines too. How are they any different? Some of them had been in the industry a lot longer than a 2008 furloughee, but once they started at Pinnacle, they got no favoritism, no break, no credit.
In a seniority based system, things need to be fair with everyone on the same level playing field. I could have been furloughed from XYZ airlines in 2009 and then hired at Pinnacle in summer of 2010, but I won't be getting 2nd year pay. The point of seniority and longevity is defeated by having a MOU such as this. I didn't get any breaks as a newhire pilot. Current Pinnacle employees that work as a non-pilot, and then 'transfer' to a pilot position (basically assigned a class date) got NO credit for being at Pinnacle in their prior position. Sure, you could have been a scheduler for 2 years at Pinnacle. For example, I could have 2 years at Pinnacle (my Pinnacle longevity) and then get a class date. The only thing a pilot kept in this case was the prior employee number. But guess what? I start at the bottom of pilot list, with first year pay, and zero longevity as a Pinnacle piot. Isn't that a little unfair? You're gonna give longevity credit to a furloughed XJ pilot, who has zero time at Pinnacle, and yet, you won't give any longevity time to Pinnacle pilot transferee, who came in from another department. I mean, technically, he's been at Pinnacle. Isn't that Pinnacle longevity? The answer is 'no' because your longevity and seniority at Pinnacle depends on when you started class date at Pinnacle. And for us to issue a MOU that allows this longevity credit to a SELECT few (the XJ furloughees) and ignores all others is a little unfair. I say current Pinnacle pilots who served at Pinnacle in another job capacity should start a revolt and demand back-pay and longevity credit as well! It's about being fair and level in a seniority+longevity-based system. That is my point.
So the above is one argument I have against it. Here's another: we have been told that Pinnacle can't afford to adjust my longevity from my sim date to my class date (the now official DOH) because it would cost them "too much." Really? Getting my payraise two months sooner would cost "too much?" Yet, they had no problem offering longevity credit to incoming Mesaba furloughee pilots? Again, nothing against you furloughees. I say welcome aboard. But the MOU was a company and PCL ALPA decision. Our union should have used leverage and tried to get us our longevity credit before they went out and fought for Mesaba furloughee longevity credit as newhires. Do you see my point?