And that, my friend. is exactly the problem

 

Well, the Sopranos was cancelled. What's Tony doing these days?

jk

 

Just have a provision were anybody who picks up a DP has to pay a 2% extra fee to pay for the SIG's time, or dinner for the volunteers. Just a "Union" surcharge...take all you want, but we get ours!

 

Get rid of Soft Parameters. Its either legal or its not. If our work rules are that weak in our Industry leading contract, than let's get some work rules with teeth.

 

I'm tired of hearing what the union CAN'T do. Most of us have a pretty good handle on what is legal and what isn't. Illegal actions are far removed from those which could/should be taken and as far as I can tell, aren't with any effective regularity.

Jag comes up with a great general recommendation (for all of us)....LEAD!

Busboy has the best specific recommendation: At least once a week, I get an email telling me which DPs were flown in the previous week. What I have never once received, is an email specifically outlining the above Busboy quote.

The union would be breaking no laws by outlining the process and pointing out exactly how section 25.BB.E works. The force needs constant reminders...preferably with pictures

 

The message line includes a list of DPs which were flown this week with a link you can click on to see the pairing. Is that enough?

I have talked DPs at both meetings I've had in MEM, and will continue to work with folks explaining why its important. I'll also include that info in my block letters. However--do you really think folks are picking them up not KNOWING its wrong?

Again--I KNOW it sounds like a cop out--but YOU GUYS have to be disgruntled voices in your crewmembers ears...

 

I asked FE the "they have the technology, why not do it" question at the joint council meeting. The answer got somewhat garbled when DW interjected his "personal choice, etc" sidebar. So I emailed FE for clarification and got (in part) the following answer:
So. . .we know what the intent was; but they honoring only the explicit lines in the CBA and not our intentions. We can't make them-- yet; but seems we've have no leverage in the recent past. I'd really hate to wait till 2010 and watch a simple thing fall off the table.

After having heard DW's MEC script on the subject (subtitled: personal choice and avoiding workplace violence)
I prefer Albie's answer. It's lawyered-up yet simple to understand. We have seen what happens to unions' wallets who cross lines like these.

Education can improve many things in life. Many moons ago, I heard JI explain the DP process in detail with the real world consequences to us and $$ implications to the company when they are and aren't flown voluntarily. But alas, I have forgotten the details. Everyone needs to know about the process beyond the CBA and those implications up to the non-disclosure limits. So how about someone telling us the complete bedtime story?

While a personal "No DP" bagtag could be in the union's non-comfort zone, I would think that a "R U flying a DP?" could be part of an education campaign. IMHO, I also don't think that DP's flown by non-members should count against us in the evaluation process.

 

That is where we are headed.

 

Obviously not.

Good! Don't stop!

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. But certainly there are those who don't think it's that big of a deal. The union's job is to ensure awareness, not only of what pairings are disputed and flown, but what the whole thing means in the first place.

And that's the other half of the equation----it's up to all of us.

 

The union should admit that the current process is broken and doesn't have the support of the crew force. Might as well save everybody the time and effort and shatcan the whole deal. Its not working, and it never will as long as we have independent contractors who are willing to undermine the process. We can sit around here and moan about it all day long but the dbags who pick up DPs will continue to do so until we change the process.

Either negotiate a clause that prevents any pilot from picking up a DP (ie, they MUST be assigned to reserves), or do away with the soft parameters (as previously mentioned) and be done with it.

We look like cub scouts to the company because we can't even get our members to not pick up DPs. The crew force must like them, so let them have em.

I personally support the SIG and have never flown a DP. I don't think our system is working though, and is doomed as long as it relies on the "support" of our independent contractors.