20Fathoms

Do have? No idea, Scoop asked how often guys are hitting 108. I gave him a single data point, which for me was not often. A lot of times it’s not even possible.

myrkridia

I'm gonna leave the embarrassing typo as a form of well deserved public shaming. I'm just saying that 108h is not that crazy for someone working 18 days.

FL370

108 hours of pay for union volunteers is abhorrent.

CRJphlyer

Why do you say that?

CaptKochblauch

The butthurt is absurd. If ALPA work was so lucrative, guys would be lining up to volunteer, or to run for rep. Why aren't they? Maybe the work is tougher or more time consuming than flying the line...not enough juice for the squeeze.

All I know is that it's a rare month indeed on a NB that I fly less than 110 hours, and fewer than 18 days to do it. I go home and crank up the Xbox while the alpa guys are dealing with pilots who need help.

I don't get the objection. more pay for alpa people literally does not harm a single delta pilot

Red Swingline

You actually cracked the code here and don’t even realize it. The impetus behind these changes is to make being a rep a full time position. Under the new rules, every rep will get a minimum of 8 days of ALPA duty every month - 6 lounge days and 2 admin days. At 6 hours a day, that’s 48 hours towards the LCW. Just takes 1 trip to get into most LCW’s. MEC meeting months are easier to hit the LCW because they’re now worth 9 days (7 meeting days + 2 admin days) or 54 hours. But wait , it gets even better. The three months a year a rep is duty officer they won’t have to fly at all that month. And if that’s not good enough, they won’t have to fly any month in which they have vacation either. Throw in a couple of strategically placed sick calls, (which they can just convert to ALPA days under the new rules and not lose any sick time or accelerate their move towards LTD) and it’s conceivable that a rep will never have to fly the line again if they don’t want to. But don’t worry - they’re still eligible for green slips!

SkiBum95

I have to agree. I rarely get more than 100 hrs in a month, although I rarely work 18 days either. I'd guess 80 hrs/month is more common in my WB category.

Definitely not a fan of the pay raises...

JetPilotDaddy

Maybe they are just trying to move the needle now with the historical 'averages' before all the GS dry dry up in Mecca.

20Fathoms

Well respected answer. Wasn’t trying to be a d^*%, just trying to push back a bit on the narrative that triple digit hours is something that is normal and anyone can do. Not everyone is NYC or ATL based and can get GS#4 with a snap of their fingers.

Heck I tried max credit in January to pay off some Christmas presents: blanket GS request and weekends off to maximize GS availability. Finally got one but just a 2 day, well short of 108 and that’s with all the stops pulled out at 35 percent BES. GS#2 in my category simply does not exist. And that’s on a narrow body: as a further data point I once had a blanket GS request in on the widebody fleets and had the phone ring exactly once in a 3 year period! It simply was not possible to hit 108 no matter what you did.

I have a deep respect for our union volunteers and they seem adept at their jobs overall especially compared to our peers. But let’s not pretend 108 hours a month for a 9-5 or WFH isn’t a cush gig because it most certainly is. It is also more money than I could have possibly attained in January no matter how many days I was willing to work.

FangsF15

Do folks have any concept for how much time and effort, you might even say…. work goes into being a rep? My wife would shoot me if I ever ran for rep, those guys/gals are constantly answering phone calls on a myriad of issues, fielding emails, angry rants, before they even do any of the work you talk about here. It’s pretty much a 24/7 job. Same with the full time “108” hour folks. They have to be in the office 18 days a month. You realize that, right? How many days did you work last month? No working from home, except for all the extra time above 18 days they have to put in. Many of the (very few) folks who get 108 hours are “working” nearly every day of the month. Besides the fact that the company has to pay for the majority of the people making 108.

I talked to 2 of my reps (one of whom was on vacation), and they asked me to guess how many phone calls they’ve had to field from angry constituents about the issue. I guessed many dozens, maybe a hundred +. He chuckled. Nope. Less than 10 in the biggest council by far. As another side note, when the company was informed they would have to pay more for the full timers, the company reportedly laughed and asked why we weren’t giving these folks 10 or 15 hours of pay per day.

The masses don’t care about this. At least not enough to write or call their reps on this issue.