DirectTo

Which is why I pointed out three things. I've not heard a single complaint about the 1900 days. Pre-Dash, pre-base consolidation, pre-ALPA.

piper338

Just read a few posts, I really have no business here just curious, what exactly is a "Piedmont Contract?". I work for Piedmont and some days I feel like the contract isn't worth the paper it's printed on. Management sees it as more of a suggestion.

DirectTo

Our potential one isn't remotely close to yours if that gives you an idea of what we're looking at. I do thank the FO who sent me a copy of yours, at least it gave me a reference when looking at ours.

Sadly Q200/Q300's aren't common, but I looked at what everyone else gets, not just pay wise, but benefit wise, for what we should be shooting for (not getting, shooting for) and we aren't ballpark close.

No offense to guys at Piedmont and Mesa, but you guys get screwed as it is, and we would love your respective contracts for the most part. Some parts of this contract are good; capping insurance, block or better, at least some deadhead pay. Others are pitiful; pay rates, duty, scheduling, and management rights.

Heard a lot of "No" in Cleveland today, but of course you never know what people are really voting. I still think it could go either way but will be less than 60/40 one way or the other with good participation.

Floridaflipper

Yes, I do work for a regional - XJT. Have been there since 1999. Our Contract '97 (when we were primarily a turboprop operator) was better than what I saw in bullet points.

50% deadhead pay - NEVER would vote for that.

$1.45 per diem - No reason why anyone should be getting less than $2.00 with a new contract. (Yes, I know ours is currently $1.85, but if the new contract is for less than $2.00 with incremental raises each year it will be a no vote) There is no reason that the regional guys should have lower per diem than mainline. We eat at the same places they do (aside from int'l). I don't know about you, but to me, it seems every year the prices go up at the airport restaurants while my per diem remains the same.

Commuter clause - Great start, but that language is worthless. Look at ours, it will blow you away and it is largely a no (or at least very low) cost item to the company.

Block or better - that looked good, just make sure that there isn't some obscure clause that you have to start the trip before you get paid or something like that. Make sure that your block or better is at a minimum day by day - not for the whole trip.

Look at the WHOLE TA, not just the pay rates. We were able to get a whole lot of favorable rules in our contract that aren't necessarily reflected in the pay rates but will show up in the pay check.

Bottom line, if I lost my position at XJT and had to choose between CURRENT CommutAir vs leaving the industry, I would leave the industry. There is NO WAY I would work there if the conditions are that bad.

And to be perfectly clear, I would LOVE IT if CommutAir could get a fantastic contract. But from what I saw, this isn't it. I really do not feel that just because they are a small operator that they should have a contract inferior to the biggest regional.

Diver Driver

FloridaFlipper: The block or better is done Leg by Leg per the contract language. I do not see any obscure language there. Our commuter clause is the one thing that I don't like, but it's better than what we have now, which is nothing.

Reserve guarantee isn't done like a lot of airlines, most places, if you don't fly above 75 hours/month, you aren't paid above guarantee. Here, it's done by day. Any day above 4h' work, you're paid the difference above guarantee. You can make a lot of money on reserve here.

You're right about the perdiem. We get $1.25 now, this is a raise for us. It is also a first contract. I've never seen an airline get a rock star contract the first go around. Just about everything is an improvement, nothing is a step back.

We can get the ball rolling and pass this thing, or vote it down and work under the current pay/rules for another year or two until another TA is on the table that could potentially be less than what we have up for vote now. This TA is up for amendment in 2014, it's a short duration contract. It's a ton better than what we have now and those of us still here in 2014 will have an opportunity to make gains on it during the next set of negotiations.

flyingreasemnky

When was your first TA negotiated? There is a lot more that comes into play than you think. The economy and the status of mainline you fly for at the time of negotiation are big players. Your first contract was negotiated before 9-11 and a lot of other things that changed the industry we have today. We at Colgan only got the contract we did because of Mesaba and like many people have said already, this is probably the contract we would have ended up with.

A lot of negotiating capital must be wasted on the basic protections in a first contract. The ALPA reps that negotiated this contract are pilots from the line and are fighting for their QOL as well as yours. They wouldn't have settled for this TA if they thought they could get more.

The Commutair pilot group is trying their best to better their working conditions and they are getting the best they can for now. I have no doubt that their next contract will be leaps and bounds better than this one. They won't have to waste so much of their bargaining power on basic protections and can focus on pay rates, deadhead pay, etc.

The people that spout the anti-ALPA sentiment aren't aware of what their pilots on their merger committee give up to try and make things better. I know at Colgan one of the merger guys had to put off his upgrade for quite a while and was pulled away from building time on the line which could affect when he gets to move on to a bigger and better company. He easily could have been in the last class at JetBlue had he not been on the committee but decided he would give his time to make this place better for him and his coworkers.

Remember when voting on your contract, that payrates are really not as big a factor in determining what your paycheck is, its the work rules that determine if and when you get paid. I was on reserve when we got our contract and I would have seen a miniscule pay raise due to the pay rates alone. But because of the work rules that we got, I saw my take home pay more than double.

Does the Commutair TA have any Junior Man protections (as in max for the year and month)? There is nothing better than telling scheduling "No". I have been over my max junior mans since May.

aibal

Currently or in the TA there is no junior manning.

Diver Driver

There's JM currently and there will be after the contract. Here they call it 'cash flying'. I've been called for it before and usually just say no, because I commute.

If you're finishing a trip and you get volunteered for additional flying, there's provisions in the contract to provide 150% pay and you get your days off back. Currently, no structure is in place to get you anything. I've been over on a day off before and lost the day off. I really hope this contract passes, it's a MASSIVE improvement over what we currently have.

zildjian_zach

I will say that having been unable to attend the roadshows, the info sent out yesterday definitely elucidated the motives and logic that led to what we ended up with (specifically what I wasn't happy with) and I do feel better about it if it goes thru. I won't be registering as a commuter though. Not at least until I see how they've handled the first few missed commutes and sick calls with others.

SLIbandit

Hey Juice, just let the regional lifer's be just that: lifers. I hope floppy likes his new Jerry-rigged SureJet contract....