jj158

So I hate to bring up this topic on here cause I'm sure there are going to be some old guys complaining about us complaining about not getting our bonuses but here I go....

Have any of you been effected by non-payment of your bonus? The company recently published an announcement (for select pilots) that they would not be paying out bonuses until "final staffing decisions have been made." And, frankly, I'm not mad at Air Wis for doing it. If I can help the company emerge from this stronger by foregoing my $10,000, I'll happily do it. ALPA on the other hand, they are misrepresenting us and I'm not sure if they're just being lazy, don't care, saturated with other tasks, or a mix of the three.

If you call up your reps or anyone else in ALPA you'll probably hear statements that are non-committal and provide little information (i.e. "we're working on it", "we're not sure", "we'll let you know", etc.). Further, each one will offer different information--one will say "we're working on it" and 5 minutes later someone else will say "yea, we can't do anything, sorry". Don't believe me? Try it. Call multiple ALPA leaders back to back.

So in an effort to clear up some of the confusion/myths and pose questions to the group, I'm posting them below.

MYTHS

• We shouldn't get the $10,000 because once we're furloughed we'll have to pay it back anyways.
  • False: the bonus agreement only outlines repayment terms in a "termination" scenario. Both ALPA and the company believe that furlough is not termination. Get your $10,000 and use it to live off of while you're furloughed.
• ALPA has nothing to do with the bonus. That's an agreement between the individual pilot and the company.
  • False: read LOA 37, Section B in the new contract (roughly page 220). Per the agreement between ALPA and the company, they are required to pay a minimum bonus of $5,000. If the company decided they didn't want to pay a sign-on bonus anymore, they would have to sign a new LOA with the union. ALPA is, in fact, the one who authorized a bonus so any argument of "we have nothing to do with bonuses" is invalid.
    • "The Company shall offer a minimum recruiting incentive amount of $5,000..."
• If you save the company money now, they will furlough less pilots come October 1. Do you really wan't your $10,000 at the expense of someone getting furloughed?
  • False: the company's calculation of how many pilots to keep on payroll is simple. How many pilots do we need? I really do like Air Wis and I think they treat us relatively well, but I doubt they'll say "Oh the pilots saved us $1,000,000 so lets keep a few extra on the payroll."
• The bonus agreement says that you haven't 'earned' your bonus yet. They will pay it once you've 'earned' it.
  • False: the bonus contract does differentiate between 'owed' and 'earned'. But it very clearly states the timeline for depositing the money into your bank account, which they have not done and have said they will not do moving forward. The bonus contract does not give them discretion to change when it is paid.

QUESTIONS

• Can ALPA take money out of our bonus?
  • Ask Air Wis payroll and they will tell you your bonus is subject to dues. Call ALPA's national office and ask them if it is subject to dues. They will say it is and point you to the constitution and by-laws. Ask our local ALPA and they'll all scratch their heads and say "hmmmm... I'm not sure." They can't have "nothing to do with the bonuses" and then simultaneously be taking dues out of it. This question has been asked for almost three weeks now and we still don't have an answer.
• How many pilots are effected by this and how much money is missing from the pilot group?
  • I'm estimating about 100 pilots, which would be about $1,000,000 missing from the pilot group. ALPA has no clue though.
• Can I negotiate anything with Air Wis?
  • It's hard to reconcile "you can't ask for a hotel room when you pick up a trip, but you can ask for $41,000." Using this logic, I could make a deal with Air Wis to get a new car in return for flying 1,000 hours this year because I don't see anything about getting cars in the contract.

SOLUTIONS

• Air Wis has said they are open to working with the company to find solutions to help the effected pilots. But that was nearly a month ago. There are an infinite number of solutions/remedies that can be put in place, but ALPA has to be involved. In fact, they have a list of about a dozen ideas that do no harm to the other pilots, cost the company little/no cash today, and help the effected pilots. ALPA is dragging their feet and misrepresenting us.
• If you're effected by this, call your reps. File a grievance. Email/text every person in ALPA. If they say "I'll let you know" ask "When?". Set a date to follow up with them (i.e. I'll call you back Friday at noon to get an update). I know lots of pilots who need this money, could use relief on short-call reserve in a new base, could benefit from having the commuter clause relaxed, could benefit from being told their reserve times 8 hours earlier for day 1, etc. They just started their careers, moved to new cities (to be told to move to another city), got married, had kids, bought a car/house, and this bonus money can go a long way helping them.

Air Wis wants to talk and help, but ALPA is dragging their feet at our expense. Hold ALPA accountable!

Fox51

Thank you for your well thought out post on this issue. The points you make, backed by research from LOA 37, is very helpful for me me and most likely many in the pilot group. I will be contacting my rep and asking questions about this. I'm sure you have seen the message some have received regarding the annual bonus. I appreciate the time you put into encouraging more involvement from our MEC and ALPA.

jj158

Do not only contact your rep. File a grievance. There needs to be a documented paper trail that pilots took issue with this and requested ALPA's help. File a grievance, call your reps, call the grievance committee chair. Don't accept their deflection--set follow up dates and times. Then message everyone in your class--everyone effected by this that you know and ask them to do the same.

GA2Jets

This is my soapbox:

Why is Skywest taking so much **** flying in ORD?

​​​​The thing from UA has been, every regional has a base to focus on. Skywest has DEN, SFO and LAX, so why are there so many crj2s for Skw flying to places like **North Carolina** out of Chicago when we could be doing it?

It makes me wonder how TF we are supposed to expand into any other aircraft (700s lolol) if we can't even nail down half of the 200s in ORD. Honestly, it's pathetic.

jacburn

EAS Routes?

DarkSideMoon

If I remember correctly there’s like less than a dozen EAS routes out of Chicago. I can only think of 3 that SkyWest serves and Air Choice does another 2-3.

BLURCEO

Good many from ORD,
DEC - Decatur, IL
SLN - Salina, KS
CMX - Houghton, MI
MKG - Muskegon, MI
PAH - Paduch, KY
CGI - Cape Girardeau, MO
OGS - Ogdensburg, NY
SHD - Shanandough Valley, VA
LWB - Lewisburg, WV
CKB - Clarksburg, WV
EAU- Eau Clarie, WI

Escargot

New permanent bid out. My rough estimate shows about 108 getting furloughed. That's around 20% of the pilot group. A big improvement from 50%, but not all sunshine and rainbows either.

Anyone else care to speculate? How many do you think we're set for? Thanks

GA2Jets

For this and the precious displacement, they've averaged out to around 35 hours per line holder. That makes me think that the company might justify keeping almost everyone if they can get that many hours. 50% with the vague possibility of growth in the future might just be enough...

RabidW0mbat

looking at max backfill vs current FO’s, my math says we’re 136 fat. My guess is 125-150 get notices.