757? HKG? CDG?

What are you guys talking about?

Isn't this the bid that includes the 380?

What's all this stuff about an LOA vote? Is that coming up soon?



Beertini

 

No new hires required. Since the LOA passed they can just inverse people into the FDAs. Our union leadership assured us it will go senior. Why do I think I'll spend Christmas sitting in Hong Kong with a day off waiting for my reserve days to start back up on 25 DEC?

 

Okay. 4.

Seriously, though. I doubt more than 2 SFS F/Os will bid HKG right seat-if that many. There will be a handful captains for whom it will make sense to bid HKG regardless of how much of an a$$fork it is, but right seat? Forget it.

 

Safe bet, but they won't need many new hires for a couple years for the FDAs. Remember that pesky little STV thingy?

 

Okay, how many F/Os do you think will bid HKG LEFT seat?

 

70%.......................

 

I don't know about you all, but here's what I think about the LOA bids. With over 400 S/O's in the 727 and another 40 something coming back from the excess, the seat is fat. Now, don't you think there might be a few, say forty or so that would like to get paid a bit more? They could bid the right seat in CDG and still come out ahead. As for the captain seats, 727 F/O's will probably take a stab at it. HKG is similar. You have a few that will stay in the Pacific moving up from SFS and then add a few coming from the right seat of anything to the left seat of the 300. The right seaters can come from the other 727 guys that need some kind of a pay raise. Albeit small.

Some people are thinking that the company is going to sweeten the deal when they see that the seats are not getting filled. Well, I don't think so. We let this thing get through. It's as sweet as it gets. We have people scoring hat tricks on disputed pairings month after month. We've been doing it to ourselves for long and I don't think it's going to change with this LOA bid. Plus if the seats go unfilled, STV's for a few unlucky ones. It is what it is. I'm betting all the seats will be filled, no problem.

If you were hoping that this thing would be fixed by pressure after passing it, be ready for a surprise. I hope we learn from our mistakes.

Just the opinion of a 32%er

 

Lawn dart, the SO's would get more money but it will cost them soooooo much more to live that they will end up negative cash flow. I think the FO seats will only be filled at about 20% with bids. IMHO


another minority 32%er

 

The dollar just hit another all time low against the Euro. Maybe that 20% is too high

 

The real test will be when we see if the company uses a few STVs as a stop gap, or if it becomes "standard practice" and we use them in lieu of hiring into those FDAs if there are some vacancies.

The company and the union are confident the FDAs will be filled. I think there will be some serious FO vacancies--but I've been wrong before and I'll reserve judgement. We can go round and round on the board with predictions but time will tell how many vacancies will be created.

If there are vacancies, the tone the company and union take on filling them will be a defining moment. Flt management indicated these things are nothing but a stop gap measure and they don't expect to use them much. For everyone's sake, I hope they are right. If this things become "permanent temporary positions", sort of like those 179 day billets in the Air Force to choice garden spots, and the company makes no move to fill those gaps with new folks who WANT to be there, then I think the company will lose a lot of future negotiating credibility and our union will have learned a very hard lesson. Even though I voted against the LOA, I hope that does not come to fruition. I'd rather be "wrong" and have happy people in the FDAs that have guys getting shacked for bad deals with me on the sidelines going "I told you so...."

I also think this will have some effect on upgrade bidding. Right now, if you are an A300 FO, and you are the last guy on the list...about the worst thing that will happen is you'll spend 15 days in MEM on A reserve. If we end up sending guys for 30 days plus travel time to China, there may be some who decide its better to be 80% on the 727 than 100% on the bus. Eventually, I expect the MD-10/11 to have similiar ramfications.

In short--the company and union said "trust us". 68% said "okay". I hope the 68% were right this time. The LOA is OVER, and we are now in this together. If we get the FDAs fillled with volunteers, FDX gets its labor at a discount and makes money, and the 100% upgraders are happy--this can be win/win/win. The company and the union come out looking like visionaries. If we start crushing guys and gals and sending them against their will--the company is going to have a hard time selling anything to the pilot group in the future, and I think the MEC will have lost any trust they haven't already previously squandered.