Let me apologize. I was out of line. I havent gotten a letter yet (shockingly). But if/when I do it will probably be on my mind, too. Suppose that is the purpose. Its complete BS.

 

Agree 100% No apology necessary.

 

I really hope that no one out there that is legitimately sick gives 2 flying Fs about any letter and calls in sick. For the love of all that is holy, don’t come to work sick and get me sick and cause it to infect my entire family.

 

This. I only use sick leave when legitimately sick, but ever since the letter came out I’m actually looking forward to pressing the “call in sick” button again.

Why would anyone in their right mind be afraid of this letter? It’s a tacit admission by management that there is absolutely nothing they can do when we use our contractual benefits, other than mail a passive-aggressive form letter.

 

ASAPing the letter won’t do anything. The FAA has long held that airlines can set their own reliability policies and standards. The FAA believes that these two things are not mutually exclusive:
- Pilots are legally required to self-ground when they are sick, which in our case means calling in sick.
- Employers can discipline pilots that are determined to be unreliable.

This is why pretty much all regional airlines have “points” systems that are far more punitive than we have. Call out sick too much, you get disciplined or discharged. From the FAAs perspective, if you following the FARs and calling out when required makes you an unreliable employee, your employer is allowed to take action on that.

All of this is why we have union protection and a PWA. Why do you think the company sent these BS letters rather than issuing actual discipline? It’s because they can’t issue any discipline, as they have no cause under the PWA to do so. That is where our protection lies. The FAA is not going to come help us.

 

What is the "upside" of the company sending those BS letters?

 

They are flailing when it comes to the current sick suspension. Psyops is literally all they have.

 

To intimidate pilots, obviously. There are plenty of people who are legitimately concerned about that letter and allowing it to affect their sick leave behavior (you know, pilots who aren't terminally on APC). Some people are even in tears!

Which is, more or less, what the company wanted. Even if sick wages go down by 0.1%, the letter was a success in management's perspective.

 

Call me when guys get a meeting with a rep. This sounds like a panic attack by management after getting reamed in a meeting with no particular purpose. Some guy in management came up with this idea, got it through legal, and sent it. It will probably have an effect on some guys to not call in, some the opposite.

I fly the contract as best as I can understand the dang thing, and take care of my crew as best as I can. Management can send me all the letters they want to say they are making sure I fly the contract.

 

that it will probably scare some pilots into not calling out sick. This is a business, the company is spending more money on sick than they used to and they don’t like it, so they’re doing what they can about it - which is not much. This is the best they’ve determined they’re allowed to do, since they can’t discipline under the PWA.