Hey boys and girls I have a question.

Now that BLGs are back up to contractual guarantees and we are back up and running is there any reason VLT/DFT/MU is a bad deal? Or, is there any moral reason to turn down a 150% trip?

I don't think so, but I had a guy/buddy call me a scab for doing one today

I saved the email just in case I feel threatened and need to call LK.

 

Hopefully it was tongue in cheek. That term gets tossed around too loosely here. Have your buddy check out the threads on Spirit on this forum for a "spirited" discussion on scabs!

 

s\

Tell your "buddy", he is an idiot. If the wrong people in management see that email, they could have him fired for threatening a fellow employee. There is nothing wrong with flying on your days off if that's your choice.

 

but ... I've thought for a long time that ALL FLYING OVER BLG should be paid at 150%. Maybe we can negotiate for that in our upcoming contract negotiations? Isn't JetBlue that way now?

 

You do something like that and it kills our flexibility. Don't think for a second you would still be allowed to drop and get a make up bank. Personally I like being able to drop 30 hours one month and make it up the next month - get paid exactly the same but a little play hard, work hard. Can't beat our flexibility...generally...and don't want to destroy that.

 

Well, of course he was kidding, or he wouldn't have been called a buddy. He just brought up a good point and I didn't really know what to think about it. So, I was killing time and thought I'd ask the brain trust here on APC.

 

Boy is that an oxymoron.....if you consider this a brain trust....you are in bad trouble...

 

Even using Scab in a joking manner had one of our 727 LCA's get fired here once when the great CB called management and said he was intimidated by a dainty 5'2 young woman using that when joking with his F/O. ALPA did get her job back but not her LCA gig if I recall. With friends like CB..well you know the rest.

Anyway, now that the charade of 4a2b has been temporarily dropped I see no problem with flying VLT/DFT. It is always your personal choice. The question I ask myself is why is it there? Is it there because we have people on furlough? Is it there because others lines and pay have been unfairly cut? Is it there because other pilots have decided to spend more time at home while the company refuses to acknowledge our value to the product this company delivers in the form of a new contract and we have to go to mediation to get relief? Is it there because someone went sick in the field and they company needs help to recover? It's is always a personal, ethical and moral choice for an individual to make, unless it is struck work. Then the term used by your friend would have been accurate IMO. I don't see that in this case you have anything to worry about though..

As an aside..wouldn't it be great to put into the next contract a clause that says anytime 4a2b is used or anytime we are more than a year past our amended contract end date and still in negotiations, that all draft, vlt, and carryover becomes struck work? Bet our contract would be signed pretty quickly if that were the case..

 

I don't see any problem with flying VLT/DFT now. Are they calling many people these days? I am a "prefer not to be called" person. Not really making a statement but, the only times I got called it was 3 AM and they needed someone in 30 minutes.

 

I turned down 4 DRF calls (MEM MD11 capt) yesterday (Wed, 16 June)! What's going on in Crew Sked? First call at 1100, last call 2345.