pool is cool

The company Email I received today said "a few hundred" FedEx Express management and staff were notified of their positions being eliminated and they will all be given options to continue in other FedEx Express positions.

DLax85

Agree to some degree --- but I don't believe they'd be able to furlough 300 guys and still run the 727 at it's current pace...at least without significantly increasing the avg monthly BLG in the 727/SO seat.

Looks like the upcoming 757/FO excess bid is going to bump & flush 120 or so into the back of the Boeing.

After they're trained, my guess is they could afford to furlough somewhere between 150~200 without too much pain.

Hopefully, it's zero.

One reason, they may be following thru with this "bump and flush" to the back is to offset the Union's argument that if they are in no position to furlough, then they can not enact 4A2B.

Perhaps this gives the company greater traction if/when the greivance over 4A2B goes to an arbitrator.

1800 RVR

Sure. The union sent out a poll to all members with 7 options. It was a voluntary poll, and your answers were not set in stone. It was a "fishing" expedition, if you want to look at it that way. When you submitted your results, your name is attached, so if you chose 1 of the options, they may call asking if you are still interested. Now, without digging back in my emails, the choices were generally as follows: I believe there may have been 4 retirement and early retirement option combos, enticements being no penalties, continued healthcare, etc., would you take a mil. leave, job sharing (2 pilots bid 1 line - split the pay and split the work), would you bid a low-time line for pay - no work, etc. I can't remember the exact details of each option, so I may have made some mistakes, but this gets you a general impression.

I have heard through secondhand info, that the company was shocked that we came up with these ideas, they needed time to study all of the info that we provided, and that various proposals have been exchaged back and forth. Both sides are still working language. Now, official channels say that talks are ongoing. No details. But, if something does come out of this, the success of this type of program is people still stepping up and doing what they said in their survey. So, knowing the fickleness of humans, this is an ambitious idea with the odds stacked against it. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Now, as for the "we have no intention to furlough" comments made by your management - our guys were saying the same thing all the way up to them saying "Oh, we need $54 mil in savings or 300 will get furloughed." Once they get all your pilots in the seats that they want, their tune will change.

Gunter

Who told you FDX was going to continue to operate the 727 at it's current pace? I know it wasn't PC. He said we are going from 57 to 50 operating airframes. To go up to 52 at some point in the future.

Do you think the company is worried about us getting traction for 4a2b arbitration? If they were they wouldn't be using reserves as heavily as they are now. They would just let open time hawks get the trips and point to poor reserve utilization. The draft they are paying now doesn't help their case either. Of course, draft is largely unnecessary because they have the line averages too low.

No, I don't believe they are motivated by 4a2b arbitration scenarios.

What I do see is continued work to develop a leaner flight ops model. Great time for it, I guess.

Gunter

You want a good comparison? Look at 727 FO. They are manned, under the 4a2b experiment, so tight they can't drop trips or R days. I can imagine the SO seat being similarly manned if they "pull the trigger" on a furlough.

And, no, I haven't run the numbers myself.

bottomfeeder2

First post on here but thought I'd add my 2 cents:
Back seat seams to be just as critically manned as the right seat....for now!! Reserve utilization is crazy high and no chance of dropping or moving r-days! Lines for Apr. were mostly in the low 80's (5-week month). Very similar if not identical to the right seat..

FXDX

For what its worth, even though I have been called for draft a few times in the last month, I haven't had any trouble at all dropping trips this month or last.

Right seat 72.

DLax85

I don't think it's dropping trips that's the problem ---- it's moving or dropping R days.

DLax85

The "net" # of SOs who can bid lines isn't that much different than the "net" # of FOs who bid lines.

April Bid Pack #s:

Total Capts= 312
Pay Only Capts = 46
Net Bidding Capts = 266

Total FOs = 243
Pay Only FOs = 30
Net Bidding FOs = 213

Total SOs = 266
Pay Only SOs = 48
Net Bidding SOs = 218

Now, we are looking at another 23 or so DC-10 SOs coming to the Boeing (...though estimates run as high as 50% of them will retire before completing training)...and 122, or so, from the bump and flush.

Given that, we're plussing up the back by 145 after all the training is done.

To furlough 300 would mean taking 155 of the current SOs away.

I don't see how you operate the jet.

SuperMario

A bud said he flew with a cap'n a couple of days ago who was called in for a draft trip, and while in the AOC checking the flight release he received a crew notification that his R-day move request was denied. Reason? You guessed it - Insufficient Reserves!