Sure. And look forward to the Cubs winning the World Series, the Dow hitting 25,000, and me kicking Giselle out for snoring in the next 12 months.

More info to follow.

 

Well, I'll admit, I've never actually seen a Professional Instructor employment contract. i was always under the impression that they had the option of coming to the line "if we were hiring at the time their 3 years was up"? That's slightly different than your interpretation of "if there are no pilots furloughed"?

Anybody know for sure what the deal is?

 

Hiya Mark,

How's it going ?

Why put them in HKG, when the TDY F/O lines are better then the ones given to the ones based there...JMHO.

Cheers,

FF

 

Do ya need a Lear Type to get a corporate gig?

 

It is spelled out in the contract, each contract signed is different depending on the mood of Mgmt at the time - even if you saw the contract of someone signed on last month, that does not mean it is the same as the one signed last year.

As far as the "brother-in-law" comment - HA HA HA. Go ask some of the professional instructors as if they feel they are in the same club as the flexes and LCA's, etc.

And, last, any pro who refuses to come to the line right now only loses the seniority from the few other internals who do move to the line. Even if they delay the move, they will more than likely be in a class before any external new hires when hiring does start. My take is the loss of 2 or 3 numbers is not worth the risk of BLG reduction and/or furlough. That is just my take.

 

My impression was that the min quals for corporate are the same as the line - what is competitive, I have no idea.

 

Have had many professional instructors for training in the last two weeks. They are allowed to come to the line when their three year contract is up, however, if they choose to stay in their current job, they may. The kicker is that if they choose to stay, they cannot go to the line until FedEx begins to hire again. The first MD11 pro under this plan chose to stay last week.

 

"At least three from corporate and as many as 20 from the schoolhouse" If this quote is accurate then the lost of seniority associated with delaying the transfer to the line could easily be a lot more than 2-3 positions if most of the 23 professionals/corporates decide to come to the line. Giving away 15-20 seniority positions could be a crucial deciding factor in future aircraft bids, upgrades, vacation, monthly bids, etc. If they don't come to the line on time, are they still covered by the original contract or do they sign a new one? Tough decision but I think I would come to the line and get on the seniority list unless I had some really solid intell saying it was a bad deal. The fact one pro has already declined to come to the line suggests this may have already happened and the intell was not favorable. I don't know how he/she could have made an educated decision since our Union, CP, Mgt and VPs haven't shared anything of substance about 2009 crew manning, other then a potential excess bid. JMHO

 

Not picking on you MadPuppy. You can't help looking at the situation with your own eye. We all do that.

But giving up 20 or even 100 seniority numbers, IMHO, may be the smart play here. If said individual has a pretty steady job with, perhaps, mouths to feed, a mortgage to pay, and auto loans in this bad economy, why would they give it up for a chance to be furloughed and lose everything they have?

I expect folks to chime in with, "You should always be financially prepared for a furlough, I am." Well, good for you. No sarcasm. Just don't expect everyone to have the gifts that have been bestowed upon you. Not everyone can take a furlough right now. Where are you going to get a job right now? Before you answer, really look around.

BTW, I do expect the pros to have better knowledge than the rest of us if the company is being straight with them. I hope they do the right thing and advise each pro realistically so they don't fall off the cliff financially. The powers that be don't think we have a right to it. That's debatable. Not much we can do about it anyway.

 

There is no way the company would allow pros and corp guys to come over if we were going to furlough. Yes, we are overmanned...for now. They are probably just scaring these guys because they would rather keep them in their current position and not have to hire more pros and corp pilots. It costs FedEx more $$$ if they go to the line.
I got it from a higer up that 26 months is the "magic number" that we would have to furlough for it to make financial sense. We probably could have furloughed over a year ago, but, to furlough now and have guys fly on min hours with no OT (you guys wouldn't pick up open time would you?) for the next 26 months is ridiculous. We will be + 8 A/C in 2 years from now and that includes heavy staffing on the 777.
My guess, will will be hiring a year from now...but what do I know, I'm 30 from the bottom?