Nice BYOB!

I like the way you looked cleanly through the rhetoric and pressed on with your plans for you and for Atlas.

As much as the talk makes you think it is a sinking ship and the rats are jumping overboard you can bet your life that it will not be that bad at all...

Mgmt. is greedy and divisive towards the pilots right now, that is their job and they do it well, you can't let emotions get in the way of that. Got to keep an eye on the ball.

With that said, management is probably keenly aware of the gun they are playing with is loaded and if they force a substandard contract on the pilots, then they will have everything to lose. There will be no manpower left to move their planes and bring their plans for future expansion into fruition.

They (management) have to be careful too. Simply said...

 

If some *****ing and moaning on the internet has you flustered realize you'll have to deal with a lot more than that actually working here. Yes there is some *****ing and moaning on the flight deck. I wouldn't say its at a bad level, but you almost always get somebody complaining about one thing or another. Most of our pilots are good to fly with though. That said, if you are in your 30s or 40s you will have somebody asking you if you have apps out to other airlines on almost every flight. Usually they're asking because they think you should have apps out, and if you don't it can get tiresome answering why. If you do have apps out, there's also a slight chance they're asking for the opposite reason. That they're tired of all these young pilots just coming to Atlas to fast track themselves to a major. The biggest thing that can wear you down though is having to constantly make sure the company is giving you CBA compliant duty, rest and travel.

 

FWIW...I had the Check Airman on my OE a year and a half ago ask me who I had my apps in with....after sensing my confusion and apprehension on why he would be asking me this...he told me that if I didn't (which of course I did) I was a complete idiot.

He was a great guy btw, no malice behind asking ... he was just curious.

 

I am not sure about your definition of "normal times" and I too agree that harassment is wrong.....in most cases....the exception being, pilots on furlough.

As for discouraging VX, I personally think that should be saved until later, say at an impasse during negotiations. If or when that happens, then VX'ers should be shunned, much like those that refuse to wear the Teamsters lanyard.

In any case, now, we should all be following the CBA to the letter, not make deals and not do them any favors.

 

I think the debate over VX is putting a lot of effort into something that really doesn't affect operations much. What would the company do if we all stopped VX? With our current CBA probably spin everyone's schedules willy nilly to make it all fit. We saw it over the winter when there was so much extra flying being offered even with everyone VX'ing to their hearts content they still had to blow up schedules to fit in the extra flying.

Point being, pilots have many other ways show solidarity and put pressure on the company. Following the CBA religiously, not doing other people's jobs to get the planes out on time, and even making sure everyone has their silly yellow lanyards on shows the company that we mean business. Whether pilots VX or not is small potatoes compared to DHL throwing a fit when Atlas can't get the packages delivered on time.

Plus besides showing the company how much pilots do for the operation as a negotiating tactic, I think it's a good lesson to get the non-pilot employees to pull their own weight. The company as a whole will work a lot better if incompetence is not tolerated instead of passing issues along for pilots and other employees to deal with.

 

I believe that everyone in the company should VX every single day every month. Using the logic that the majority of guys do not VX, per our CBA, those individuals wait 59 hours, then give them a big fat "NO, I'M NOT INTERESTED IN THAT TRIP, GOOD DAY SIR!" then they move onto the next guy that's VX'd and he waits 59 minutes and gives them the big Suze Orman "DENIED!" Now they are in panic mode looking at the ticking clock and a ****ed off customer. Eventually, they will get to a "YES", or, they get frustrated and illegally zip code schedule one of the known company team players out of seniority, in which case, EVERYONE senior to him will get paid for that trip while sitting at home. This tactic would also prevent name calling, finger pointing and all the other infighting that would otherwise fit perfectly into Ford and Harrison's little divide and conquer playbook. This would cause anarchy and confusion in Purchase and they would have no idea how to handle it other than to illegally assign trips followed by our scheduling committee telling them they get to pay 25 pilots for one single OT trip.

 

Fun idea but I think that would require way too much effort and coordination from the pilot group. Be also fun if only FOs do take offs and landings so all the captains run out of currency all at once. However we need to be realistic here. Plenty of other ways to frustrate the company during negotiations that don't set the union up for a work action lawsuit (not that I think they'd have much ground for either of our scenarios but could still drag the union into protracted legal wrangling). Key word that everyone has been saying is fly the contract, nothing more nothing less. Atlas like every other company relies on pilots to carry the operation and without them on board things can go south very quickly. No shenanigans required.

 

I can't help but laugh every time a 20+ year captain tells me I should leave. I know captain crusty is deeply concerned about my future and all I just wish he'd mind his own business.

 

Yeah, you're absolutely right. Just simply flying the contract causes full service failures, late block outs and management bonuses being taken away, all without any liability to our crews. Threats from Purchase maybe; but, nothing that will stick, (crews just doing their jobs). Every time I go to work and do nothing except what the CBA and do what those little blue books tell me to do, it's a "Giant" feat just going from the hotel to the airplane. My favorite thing to do is sit outside a hotel and watch the clock waiting for transportation. At this point, I refuse to do anyone else's job for them when I show up to work.

 

Same time Captain Crusty got hired in '93 upgraded almost immediately, rode out 9/11 and the 2008 recession, collects a fat military pension, oh and likely has lived in base this whole time. But yeah this place is DOOOOMED!