Hearing that the company is going to be “retiring” the MD-11s. Anyone inside wanna confirm?

No official announcement. But suddenly a lot of “openings” on the 747 side. Seemingly it is to open the gateway for the MD-11 guys to move over.

Western Global just ran an ad a few days ago on planejobs.com for MD-11 first officers.

I have to push back against these comments. WGA has a great MEC that works hard and has accomplished a lot. There has been attrition of course, but from my DOH to my leaving in early '23 there were definitely some marked improvements after the 69% yes vote. I'm assuming you have a thousands of hours of jet time with over a decade of airline exp. like me, so I won't lecture about unions and all the stuff in the background and how hard our union bro's and sisters work to make things happen. That said, despite management's almost complete refusal to even acknowledge the existence of ALPA on the property the union was on the horn with various agency's of the Federal government even before the vote, to force the company to at least start to function like first world airline and I'm happy to provide examples that I either witnessed or was a part of:

1. Not long after the vote, we began co-ordinating with OSHA to to move the needle on getting the aircraft cleaned. There was no potable water on the MD's, but even worse there was zero in terms of a cleaning program. Airplanes would go month's (flying into Africa and the Middle East) with the same blankets and pillows, all kinds of funky smells and a science experiment in the lav. Afterwards aircraft cleaners starting showing in ICN, ORD, and LAX if I remember correctly, that didn't happen out of the kindness of the company's heart or by accident.

2. Worker's Comp: WGA had a solid intimidation program about on the job injuries. I won't expunge on specific examples for obvious reasons, but if you worked there pre-union I'm sure you're aware of some of the garbage that went down.

3. Early in COVID, the company went into complete denial of anything wrong and kept their move airplane mentality. Don't ask questions, lean into COVID. There was at least 1 747 crew and a bunch of mech's that got sick in May/June of 2020 and were denied the 10 days of extra COVID sick time. The company was really quick to scoop up funds from the CARES act, but super hesitant to share any of that with the employees (which is exactly what that money was for). I wasn't involved in the background on this one, but I know the ALPA lawyers were busy writing letters (this was before the vote) and suddenly the company started reaching out to the affected parties and giving out back pay late in the year. That also didn't happen out of the kindness of management's heart.

4. Early in 2022 there was a COVID surge with our pilots and mechanics in ICN. People testing positive were getting forced into the covid "jail" hotel for a certain numbers of days (5 at the time I think). Those that weren't positive, but exposed were instructed to shelter in place in Korea for 3 days as recommended by the CDC. Bright idea fairy struck the company again, and they decided to dock PTO days or withdraw pay from those that had take 3 down days to protect their fellow employees (again per CDC guidance). The MEC stepped in again and informed the company that this was against Federal law.

5. Rest Facilities: When the new POI came in the MEC along with others in the union quickly pointed out that we did not have the climate controlled and light controlled bunks required per AC to run 4 man crew, 16 block hour days on the MD-11. The company had previously worked out some kind of sweetheart deal to get this approved from the prior POI before his retirement. This took some time, but after the union came on the property this went away almost a year after the vote.

I know everyone wants an Atlas +10% or more contract and it's frustrating when the company stonewalls during negotiations. However, it's a bit disingenuous to say the MEC is ineffective. I definitely saw a lot of improvements post ALPA.

I wish all the best to my friends there during these troubling times and don't really hold any angst or ill-will towards the company despite the tomfoolery. I made the best of my time there. Oh, and to someone else's question, the MD's are going away over the course of the next year I believe.

you know, every time a WGA pilot flew a trip in these conditions, you brought down the entire industry. Especially given the hiring in the industry the last few years, I would resign before I would put up with that crap.

That's a god damn arrogant, asinine thing to say, if you never worked there. You do you. Stay in your god damn lane, brightspark. Seriously.

👆🏻Keyboard courage right there!

Are you Avbug?

Says the 20,000 hour pilot with 2,000 hours in his logbook.