Originally Posted by aflouisville

I came pretty darn close on the timetable for calling off of the furlough. Give me some slack. I am told that the recalls will begin in the spring and speed up markedly when the duty time rules on the horizon begin to scare the hell out of the movers and shakers.

Originally Posted by FliFast

In my opinion, the evaluation of manpower needed for Peak vs. the manpower currently on hand has left a gaping hole in the UPS business model.

I just have a few opinions on today's announcment.

First, I think UPS made an assessment that the pilot participation in last year's MOU would mirror our participation in the JA/OT ban. I don't remember the actual percentages, but let's say it was 75%. I'm curious if they predicted the same for the JA/OT ban. Without question, we have had nearly 100% participation in the JA/OT ban. I truly feel this caught the company by surprise. I also feel that the message is clear that this will continue until the last man is recalled (2013-so they say).

Second, I contend that running an operation especially air ops through the sole use of cost-control accounting and balance sheet discipline has proven to be flawed. The scenario I like to use is to save money by never changing the oil in your car until the engine fails and the costs are exponential. Another favorite used by many is the "....tripping over dollars to save pennies". It takes operational control, operations experience, two-way communications (and respect) with the troops on the front line, and common sense to run a successful operation. It is easily arguable that these factors have not been present in the operation for the last 18 months. Needless to say, service failures and chaos have prevailed.

Thirdly, today was a positive milestone but certaintly not the endgame for this accounting excercise. I thank my fellow pilots for saving many of our jobs through their solidarity on JA/OT and contract compliance. We still have 109 families on the street. Their recall will mark the end of this experiment. I would not be surprised if they are used during the next year as bargaining chips during contract negotiations.

Finally, I hope the EB asks some of our chest-beating, company accountants how much money this excercise actually saved vis-a-vis the cost of training (and soon re-training), service failures, and the intangible value of ill-will. Long after these MBA executives leave UPS the cost of their experiment will still be present.

FF

Originally Posted by iarapilot

Good for you guys. Even though we have no rights in our contract to call a ban, if we did, we would still have guys falling all over themselves for draft and open time.

Originally Posted by aflouisville

I came pretty darn close on the timetable for calling off of the furlough. Give me some slack. I am told that the recalls will begin in the spring and speed up markedly when the duty time rules on the horizon begin to scare the hell out of the movers and shakers.

Originally Posted by Shaggy1970

Af,
I will give you credit for your predictions and obviously you have friends in high places. .... Thanks for your time.

Originally Posted by Shaggy1970

Af,
I will give you credit for your predictions and obviously you have friends in high places. Couple of questions for you since your in the know, what do you think this will cost UPS in the long run? I mean in terms of services failures, lost customers due to lack of those failures, lack of flexibility to shippers, failure to capitalize on growing market share, general mistrust and contempt from their employees, no more growing the business opportunities from the pilot group and the list goes on .... Don't they care about any of this or their employees? Thanks for your time.

Originally Posted by CheyDogFlies

Originally Posted by aflouisville

I came pretty darn close on the timetable for calling off of the furlough. Give me some slack. I am told that the recalls will begin in the spring and speed up markedly when the duty time rules on the horizon begin to scare the hell out of the movers and shakers.

Originally Posted by FliFast

Isn't there language in the new rest rules allowing for more 2-man flight hours on Int'l flights. Specifically, you won't need an "eater" unless the flight is over 10 hours.

Anyone with a clarification on the Int'l portion of the proposed rules ?

Thanks,
FF