FDX Reserve Lines!!!!!!!
 

42 MD-11 Reseve F/O lines......in November????????? I predict utilization rates upwards of 90%. At least they'll drop a day.....Oh, nevermind. :mad:

Expect lots of draft. And for those who believe that the root of UNION is UNITY.....Enjoy the 60-63 hours of pay.

It will be self critiquing, for us and them.

Those who don't hold out for draft in Nov and Dec will be throwing money away. They're betting on an ill-informed membership.

Hope that H1N1 virus doesn't become an epidemic during these next 2 months. Having read the recent FCIF, I certainly wouldn't want to spread any germs around, nor have someone else do the same. Or course, I might be confusing this with the 4a2b virus. Either way...DON'T FLY SICK!!!!

Forget next month, I got called twice last night for draft. I answered the phone and declined the first time (10pm)and I slept through the second call at 0215 this morning.

Just say NO!

I tried to trade 2 trips with open time last night for a couple of xtra added trips and of course, got the dreaded "insufficient reserves" tag.

I called the scheduler and he was very nice and cooperative and he told me that on my trip next week on one of my days they were already at -1 and my other trip later in the month was already at 0. I told him I thought we were over manned. He said that he had no more reserves left last night and has no more for today and had been calling (R1200RT obviously...) for draft.

After further review..... the guys that got the trips are flying them extra and at straight time and are banking 130 hrs for the month of Oct.

I don't think this group will ever learn. Some of us "just say no" but there's a guy w/i 20 numbers of you that can only say "YES! YES! YES!"

Hey it is their make up bank, they dropped all the trips and who are youse guys to tell them how they can make it up, blah blah blah.

Those of you guys who see nothing wrong with C/O check the 140 hour a month club's schedules. Again I don't want to cap anything. But make the C/O guys work for their pieces of silver and this problem will be (largely) self correcting.

Please elaborate for the feeble-minded.

Right now C/O entitles you to CIC:

You get to cherry pick open time before all others enabling you to book a 140 hour month as pain free as possible.

Right now with C/O you are entitled to Reserve leveling for you C/O trip:

So you have a 40 hour C/O line, what do you do? Why not bid reserve next month and gain 30-40 hours of CIC to cherry pick lines. Not only that you gain 40 hours of leveling so some shlup gets to fly your reserve trips until he catches up.

Ever wonder why the C/O reserve lines tend to always overlap? It allows the company to get a lot more straight time trips with out using reserves or draft thanks to CIC. Get rid of CIC and let the guys who want to fly 140 hour months bid for open time on thursday night like the rest of us.

I think you are focusing way too much on your "get rid of CIC campaign". JMO, of course. But I think CIC is actually a good thing. What about the not-so-senior shlup that has a 5.5 hr carryover that bumps him of a week long trip in the new month? He should have to make that up in open time? I think it is of more value to the less-than senior guy, than the 40hr/month carryover guy.

A300 draft call
 

I just received a call for draft on the bus. I politely declined. No draft here until 4a2b is gone. My BLG is one of the lower ones in the bid pack and I sure could use the cash, but I am standing firm. It is frustrating that so my of my brothers are willing to undermine the greater cause for a short term gain. My stand may be in vain with so many selfish members, but I see the big picture. Knowing I am not part of the problem is worth draft pay any day in my book. Sadly, I feel I'm in the minority.

Good on ya! I have been called more for draft since Mar than at any time before. I too have declined, so you are not alone - and I agree with the missed pay - at least we can look in the mirror without feeling the need to puke all over ourselves. Hopefully that will catch on....

Could be but you can't consistently fly 140 hour months with out CIC. As I said look at their schedules.

And explain the logic of reserve leveling: other than to hose the Jr guy.

The easy fix, like I said elsewhere, you ought to be able to use CIC to get your guarantee for the month to blg + 13,& anything else goes into makeup where you can slum with the rest of the peons.

FYI. If you go into VIPS and do a key word search on "draft", it brings up a form on which you can check the button that says "You prefer not to be called". It's probably a lot easier to do this once than having to avoid the dollar temptations of repeated calls. If you're not wanting to do it, even the strongest will eventually get to the breaking point if they're called regularly.

i have draft turned on so i can know when they are drafting and pass info to my rep. i've been called at least a dozen times since 4a2b and said no every time. i will continue the same until 4a2b goes away.


lifizgud and xusair--thank you!! there are at least three of us, keep the good fight

CIC seems to be your "soapbox" issue, and you like to refer to yourself as a peon, I guess that is a code word for junior, so let me reply.

In the November bidpacks the MEM, 727, MD11, and A300 have a total of 374 reserve lines. Excluding SIBA reserve lines, nine lines have greater than 4 carryover R Days. With a whopping R-Day guarantee of aprox. 4 hours and a 6 hour buildup that doesn't approach the numbers you are talking about. Are the 9 lines, roughly 3% of all the reserve lines, with excessive R-Days, making you life unbearable, you claim you are slumming.

The leveling issue you continually bring up is ridiculous. For one it is applied different every month. Some months you get leveled for CIA trips before you fly them some months you don't. I called the "Union" to clarify this discrepancy and they were of no help. The contract is a little unclear, go figure. But let me offer this, CIC trips should be leveled at the beginning of the month. Why? Because somewhere you traded days, willingly or not, R-days that you would have been setting home waiting for a call, for days you are responsible for flying. You will do that flying or it will be taken out of your sick bank. To ease you suffering I would be willing to have those R-Days moved to other days instead of "having" to pick up a trip to make up for "lost" days.

Why a priority for open time trips before the general open time window? Because you are picking up pay that has been "lost". You have lost days that were initially awarded due to a conflict. Some conflicts are self-induced others are not. Some see this only as a pay issue, but those who opt for quality of life, and are senior and smart enough, have additional reasons.

Your one statement in particular shows your true colors, "Get rid of CIC and let the guys who want to fly 140 hours a month bid for open time on thursday night like the rest of us.". The handful of "clown's" flying that amount of overtime are an infinitesimally small percentage of the 4500+ pilots and have little or no life outside of flying. Yet you advocate changing the "system" because of so very few, in order that thing will be more fair. Fair for who? The guys with the bot programs? Pilots who have friends in the scheduling community? Pilots who have the fastest internet connections? Pilots willing to set at a computer all day and fish for open time? Give it a break. Your not upset about CIC, your upset that you are not yet able to be one of those guys with their head in the trough, you just can't get enough at those thursday night feeding frenzy's, you clam to attend.

4.A.2.b has put this pilot group in a position of weakness and division, this is not the time to be making wholesale changes to provisions of the contract that received little or no attention prior the implementation of 4.A.2.b.. Let's concentrate on the problem 4.A.2.b, not the "pet peeves" of the vociferous few who are taking advantage of a bad situation to further their own agenda.

p.f.c > VIPS > Crew Information > Misc Preferences - Draft Choice

Mine's been set to "You prefer to not be called" since its inception. I still get calls! ;)

I've been called also with a not to be called option. As I mentioned before on another thread, one was for a two hour show when I wasn't even in Memphis. :confused:

I'm never in Memphis when they call. If I was in Memphis when they called, I'd already be on or between trips! :rolleyes:

You get leveled once the trip has been flown. If you trade your CIA trip for a trip in Open Time you lose that leveling.

A lot of us in the minority know how you feel. But you can have the peace of mind knowing you did what has to be done, considering the circumstances....4a2b, etc. Now if only the majority of our "brothers" would have a sudden attack of clarity, we could do many things to change the way management deals with us. But being a realist, I know that is expecting to much from those who need to wise up!

Not to argue, but, I have been to contract enforcement several times with this issue. CIC trips are sometime leveled when assigned other times they are leveled when flown. I have the documentation and have discussed this several times with scheduling and ALPA. It has been leveled, on my schedule, both ways within the last four months. ?

Please don't confuse 4A2b carryover with how the company likes to run carryover in more normal conditions. Take a look at the HKG or 757 bid pack if you want an idea of how it is used to fly more with less pilots.

I am perfectly able to get C/O and do often, it allows me to drop a trip and keep my blg somewhat aligned with bidpack averages. I have not participated in open time thursday since 4A2b began. Why should someone get leveling credit for extra flying? Please explain.

Some people just don't understand that there is no reason to hire or return BLG's back to normal when one pilot does the work of two people.

Between vacation and sick calls from Aug07-Sep-09 there is at least some sort of activity on EVERY WEEK for over two years straight :mad:

MEM11 2070 06Oct09

cic leveling
 

If you are on rsv the previous month you are leveled on block out. If a reg lineholder the previous month you are leveled on block in at the end of a trip. It is best to have a couple of days off in this case before starting r-days or you could be assigned a trip before you are leveled. (I was burned on this once and worked all remaining 12 r-days because of it.) (I usually protect min days off.):eek: Learned a painful lesson.....

And of course he is as DP flyer.

Let me help...MEM11 2070 06Oct09

Man, that dude works more in one month than I do in 3!!

I'm sure what you have stated happened exactly as you recall. Unfortunately by the contract, there are some questions. If you are on reserve Sect 4.H.1.a states trip guarantee will be credited upon assignment. The only modification to that leveling would occur if the trip did not actually launch. Then leveling would reflect 0 or show pay towards leveling depending on when the assignment was canceled. If you are on a trip which carries into a month of reserve the following applies. Section 4.D.2 would apply, why, because it is the only section the deals with trips and r-days in the same calendar month. This section states that Credit Hours earned prior to an r-day shall apply toward reserve leveling. In other words, each day into the new month should show a different number of hours earned/leveled until the trip is completed, not dumped in all at once upon block-in, there is no contractual basis for crediting after block-in. In addition, Section 4.D.2 was the section referenced by contract enforcement and scheduling as the reason CIA's were not leveled until flown. I don't have any problem with that. Just do it the same every month for every person. One final thought, section 25.M.5.a states that a reserve pilots leveling position at the beginning of a bid period shall be 0. This is not the case, check the reserve leveling on day one of the bid period. I know mine showed 15+ hours on day one, coincidentally that was the same amount as my CIA. I think this is what has some people stirred up. Philosophically I think CIA's should be leveled upon assignment, but the most applicable provisions of the contract state otherwise. I have been burnt by and benefited from improper leveling, it shouldn't be that way.

Oh yeah he was famous when he was in LA - consistent DP flyer and complained to the LEC Chair "What are YOU going to do for ME?"

Or, he does the work of 3 guys in one month!

Check out these
 

2379/10 oct and 2386/10 oct (mem 11). Both just got filled by guys aparently volunteering. They were unfilled with less than 2 hours to show time. 2386 looks like you have to fly over 8 in 24 and has an F/O with 100+ hours of BLG. This guy's working every week as an air prostitute. YGBSM!