Looks like Pinchanickle could be done! Y'all see what they want from the pilots? WOW, might as well quit imho

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August 16, 2012
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| Please CLICK HERE to view our current pay rates.
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Thank you for reading this issue of the Pilot Hotline. If you have any questions regarding this hotline, please contact your local representative.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Update on Revised 1113 Term Sheet
Safety Committee Update
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Update on Revised 1113 Term Sheet* [toc]
The Negotiating Committee, accompanied by MEC Chairman Tom Wychor and ALPA staff from the Representation and Economic & Financial Analysis Departments, met with the company today to receive a revised 1113 term sheet. The full term sheet is attached to this update. While our analysis of the term sheet is just beginning, we are sharing it now so that all pilots can see and understand the demands being made of our pilot group.
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We encourage all pilots to read the entire update, but to briefly summarize the new information presented today:
·******** The total ask of all labor groups has increased from $42.6 million to $76.5 million per year. The pilots’ share increased from $33.2 million to $59.6 million dollars annually.

·******** The term sheet itself includes the entire ask made in May, along with additional reductions in pay rates, changes to pay structure, modifications to cancellation pay, reductions in vacation accrual, reductions in deadhead pay and further changes to the health care plans to provide only a single HRA plan.

·******** The proposed pay scales will be capped at 12 years for captains and 4 years for first officers. Upgrading pilots would start at the first “step” of the captain pay scale regardless of longevity.

·******** The deadline required by the DIP financing agreement for filing a motion in bankruptcy court to reject our collective bargaining agreement has been pushed back to September 13.

Background ******
As you are aware, the Negotiating Committee had been in session with management throughout May and June to work towards a consensual agreement with reference to the prior term sheet. Management withdrew from those negotiations in late June citing a need to revise their business plan in light of the new scope limitations contained in Delta’s collective bargaining agreement with its pilots.
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The company spent the next six weeks performing an internal analysis of the business plan. The company informed us late last week that they would be presenting the new 1113 ask today. The plan presented today is still based on a fleet of 140 CRJ-200s and 41 CRJ-900s in the final “steady state.”
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Term Sheet Summary
The new term sheet contains all of the original demands from the May 8 term sheet, including re-insertion of the provision for 10 days off on reserve that had been removed in the May 18 revision. The total value of the ask increased by 80%, from $33.2 million to $59.6 million.
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The revised term sheet includes demands for additional changes in the following areas:
·******** Pay Rates. The proposal includes significant reductions in pay rates for Captains, ranging (according to the company) from 7 to 24% from current rates. There have also been further reductions in the proposed single First Office rates beyond one year of longevity.

·******** Pay Scales. The company has proposed capping pay for Captains at 12 “steps” and capping First Officer pay at 4 years of service. Moreover, the company is seeking a provision to require pilots who upgrade to begin at “Step 1” Captain pay, no matter their prior longevity as a First Officer (or, for pilots who have been previously downgraded due to a displacement, their time as a Captain). Such a scheme would be unique in our industry.

·******** Cancellation Pay. Replacement of our current leg-by-leg cancellation pay with the guarantee based on the value of a pairing (Trip Guarantee).

·******** Customs Pay. Removal of all customs pay.

·******** Vacation Accrual. For pilots with more than one year of service, vacation accrual would be reduced by one week.

·******** Recurrent Pay.* Pilots will have their recurrent training blocked off in PBS but zero (0) credit will go towards the line credit.** Actual pay for training will remain the same.**

·******** Uniform Allowance. Eliminate uniform allowance.

·******** Per Diem.* Eliminate Per Diem on day trips.

·******** Move benefits.* Eliminate voluntary move benefits.

·******** Reserve Days Off. Reduction of minimum days off for reserve pilots to 10.

·******** Deadhead Pay. Reduction in deadhead pay from 75% to 50%.

·******** Health Care. Instead of the two CDHP plans proposed in the May 8 term sheet, the revised term sheet includes only a single HRA plan, with a 35% pilot contribution.

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Longevity
The company represented throughout the presentation that they believe our pilot group’s average longevity is the main source of their cost problems. Hence, the proposals to reduce vacation accruals, capping longevity steps on Captain payrates and modifications to the 401(k) matches. They have cited, as “comparable” carriers, airlines that did not even exist while some of our pilots were already working to help our own airline to grow. Now, the company is seeking to penalize those pilots for their loyalty through good times and bad.
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To be clear, we fundamentally disagree with the company’s premise. Our longevity patterns compare similarly to other large regionals such as American Eagle, ExpressJet, SkyWest, etc. The fact that our pilots are experienced should be rewarded rather than penalized.
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Our Process and Next Steps
The MEC convened this evening to review the term sheet and share their initial impressions with the Negotiating Committee. The Negotiating Committee, along with the support of ALPA professionals, will now begin the work of analyzing the proposal and the supporting documentation provided by the company to determine the true needs of the company. It remains our goal to reach a consensual agreement on any changes to the JCBA viewed as necessary by the MEC.
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We plan to meet with the company tomorrow and next week to review the term sheet and supporting documentation in more detail.* Additionally, we will continue to work on a letter of agreement regarding upcoming realignment notices.
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The company’s intended deadline for an 1113 motion in the bankruptcy court is now September 13, and, though that deadline has shifted multiple times in the past, we will commit the necessary resources to work productively with the company towards our goal of a pilot-ratified agreement.
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Your Role
Your role as a line pilot in these negotiations (and that’s what they are – the 1113 term sheet is a starting point and not a destination) is to stay informed and stay professional. As we move forward in the process, we will be ramping up our Pilot-2-Pilot and SPC programs so that all pilots have the information they need to make an informed decision when the time comes. We encourage every pilot to show the professionalism that brought us survival during past challenges, success during good times, and will carry us through this bankruptcy.
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Quick question......with the new TA does it still look like a reserve pilot will only get guarantee each month, or can a new hire(especially one that lives in a very junior base, very close to the airport) some how attempt to fly more/credit more, etc?

I've heard it is best to be senior in a junior airplane, but what about being junior in a junior airplane at least when it comes to making some extra coin?

 

The proposed terms at Pinnacle are a disaster. Holy crap it's bad. Maybe management should just shut the doors....

 

Others may disagree but here is my opinion.........and you know what that's like!!

With the way the economy is and with the block hour plan being not much different than last year or possibly less, I think it will be very hard for reserves to break the guarantee this winter. As a reserve, the only way I see guys making extra money is to greenslip on their days off. If you are going to try and do this, I'd try and group my days off as much as possible in the beginning or end of the month. The beginning because a lot of guys have carryover trips along with the ones who have trips in the beginning days of the month. Less competition so to speak if a GS does pop up.

Hey, it's what my plan is if I get a 330 bid. (I live close to the airport too.) I'll be super junior but I'll bid as many days off in the beginning of the month as possible, throw in a GS for them, and sit reserve for the rest!

Good Luck!

Denny

 

If you are living in NY, you are one of the few. Do what Denny said, but do it on the most senior piece of equipment you can hold...preferably int'l.

 

My brother New and Denny,

Y'all are going about it the wrong way to get Ferd in pictures. While he is smooth and sly, a motion activated game camera would work great. Set one up in the upper left corner of the NRT sportsbar and we can all from the master.

 

Did you like the part about getting displaced and then when you upgrade again starting at year one? Also how about how they are telling us their fleet plan still includes 140 crj 200s?
If we voted this is we would undercut gojet good lord

 

Pinnacle FO,

Consider what management is trying to achieve here. They want to take another swing at destroying the longevity system which has been the time honored way our profession has rewarded experience. More experienced pilots fly more productive equipment and get paid more. Presumably that's the reason I get paid more than you for similar work.

I am posting this on the "mainline" thread because mainline pilots need to be aware of these trends. We all need to know our history. Delta acquired "regional" airlines and learned that pilots don't need a legacy contract, legacy rest scheduling rules and legacy pay to get pilots to operate an airplane safely. As bankruptcy approached Delta, management knew what it could get away with because management was already operating two other airlines with "regional" contracts.

This is why what happens to you, and Comair, applies to us. ALPA can not complain something is "unsafe" or "unfair" at one airline when at an alter ego subsidiary they accepted the practice for competitive reasons.

Just remember that pilots don't buy airplanes. We don't earn enough (particularly true in your case). Surely Comair's example frightens Pinnacle pilots, but consider their history. Comair took concessions to take ASA's flying during the previous decade, then more concessions to save their own neck. The age of their fleet and management inefficiencies took them out anyway.

Your pilot group will do better by steering a straight course through this storm, you can't out run it with concessions. Pinnacle's fate is up to mainline carriers' fleet plans, including possibly American's. I'm optimistic for you, but acknowledge little of what mainline management does on the small jet level makes strategic sense.

Perhaps the most sensible way to do an airline is to fly you own airplanes. Hope to see you at a mainline carrier flying passengers who's tickets have the same name on them that your paycheck has printed on it soon.

 

I sometimes wonder when it comes to longevity based pay at the regionals if it would be better for the pilots to just have a 3-5 year pay scale? Don't reward longevity with pay, just schedule. But if the point is to get time and move on then don't reward staying. As to the pay, make it somewhat around the average, higher than years 1-5 but lower than years 13-20. Maybe it'd help mitigate being undercut in this asinine whipsaw system.

Sorry typing while walking...

 

Scambo,

Noone junior in New York can hold international anything. International categories, yes, but not international flying. The only exceptions are some 2007 hires that went on the 765 when the ER was still an ER, and haven't been disloged yet. And there are 164 pilots senior to me trying to get in there to dislodge them.