Only if they are posted on a AE first.

are you sure? I always thought an unfilled contingency vacancy can go to a new hire.

This is exactly my understanding. The requirement is that pilots have an opportunity to bid on the position, PWA 22.E.10 doesn't say anything about the vacancy being posted as open on an AE, just that there can be no active pilot who bid for it, which would seem to include vacancies under both 22.E.1.c and 22.E.1.d which are contingent vacancies and other vacancies.

In point of fact, when discussing what positions have been available for new hires, discussion on whether there were unfilled contingent vacancies or backfilling was not completed has been part of the discourse.

Yup...he is correct. A contingency vacancy is not a category vacancy. See 22.E.10 and 22.A.9

"category vacancy" just means that the only ones available for new hires are First Officer positions, it is not mentioned as "category vacancy" as a regular AE either.

The question was about contingency vacancies. A new hire cannot be awarded a contingency vacancy. That vacancy would have to be posted as a category vacancy in a subsequent AE and, if unbid, then becomes eligible to be filled by a new hire. Look at 22.E.1.c. I didn't write the PWA, just telling you how it works.
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I'm looking at the PWA. I just don't agree that it says that as clearly as you state. That doesn't mean the company doesn't fill them like that but I recall class drops including contingent positions that were never offered in a subsequent AE.

Are you sure they were contingent vacancies? Got an example? Not calling you out but I'd like to see where a vacancy not offered to the pilot group at large was, instead, proffered to a new hire.

First, contingent vacancies ARE offered to the pilot group at large, they just aren't specifically posted since they come available during the AE process. Secondly, I thought I had some old AE postings saved but apparently I deleted them so going through class drops won't help me unless someone else has some old ones.

There's been vacancies last two or three bids. I think 3 new hires have gone to it in the last 18 months.

When I hired (early 18) there had been consistently 2 or more ER slots a class.

Two years later, I have less than 10 below me.

Granted, this is more vacancies than we've had, but I haven't seen them offered to new hires even though there have been unfilled slots.

I do know when I went through IQ, there was a lot of grousing from the SLIs and NSLIs about it shouldn't be a new hire plane.

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