Airline Pilot Central Forums - Any "Latest & Greatest" about Delta?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Check Essential (Post 1536602)

DALPA has responded to Dickson's letter ---

The MEC Contract Administration Committee put this out yesterday afternoon:

Q. Do you feel the new long call acknowledgement policy outlined in the Flight Operations All Pilots Letter dated December 6, 2013 complies with our contract?
A. The Company and the Association disagree about FAR 117’s interaction with the mutually negotiated provisions of the PWA.
• The Company believes the PWA language says that a pilot must make himself available for a trip that is placed on his line 12 hours prior to report and that the new FAR 117 prospective rest requirement changes the timeline under which a pilot is expected to acknowledge an assignment.
• The Association believes the PWA language with regards to acknowledgement remains unchanged and that the required prospective rest period cannot begin until after a pilot has acknowledged an assigned trip or short call conversion.

Q. What guidance would you give the pilot group concerning the requirement for a long call pilot to acknowledge a trip or short call within 2 hours of assignment? Since it appears to be in direct violation of our contract as it exist today.
A. As stated above, the Association believes the PWA language with regards to acknowledgement remains unchanged and that the required prospective rest period cannot begin until after a pilot has acknowledged an assigned trip or short call conversion.

Q. What ramifications could a pilot expect for following the contract vs the Flight Operations All Pilots letter?
A. If a pilot’s schedule or pay were to be negatively impacted as the result of complying with our contract, the pilot should prepare to file a grievance. The Delta MEC’s Contract Administration Committee will help you work through the process but the basic steps are:
1. Contact your LEC representatives, go to your chief pilot and request any necessary corrections.
2. If the request is denied, contact Contract Administration and they will help you write a grievance.

Definitely an appropriate response, IMO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by cni187 (Post 1536552)

So how many of you reading this web board are on a smart phone?? I'd bet that 99.9999999% of the pilots at Delta have a smartphone. Everywhere you look people look like zombies staring at their phones. How long does it take someone to pull up delta net and then log into Icrew? 2 minutes? Ok maybe 5 minutes sitting in certain gates at ATL. In this day and age of technology, how many of you leave your phones at home when you go out to do anything??? I'd venture a very tiny portion of you. So why are we having this massive whine festival about checking your schedule and acknowledging an assignment??? You know almost everyone has their smartphone glued to their palm doing something online every waking minute of the day. ***???

I am the .00000000001%

Thanks for posting the language, ftb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sink r8 (Post 1536501)

Thanks, George. I can't cut-and-paste it, but I was looking at the actual contract language.

Take a look at 23.S.5.a. What do you think it means?
Take a look at 23.S.5.g.2.b. I think that's the section which lets you acknowledge up to 3 hours prior to show.
Now, look just above, at 23.S.5.g.2.a, and again at 23.S.5.a, and tell me how they work together.

Does the company have the right, currently, to expect you to answer your phone anytime (which would be a big surprise to all of us)? Who chooses whether the assignment and acknowledgment take place electronically, or via phone?

All of this contract section quoting reminds me of when RAH was in clear violation of our contract and ALPA said they weren't. Gents, it doesn't matter if you can read and apply the English language. What matters is whether your CBA is in constructive engagement (CE) mode or not.

IDK, but due to the lack of a DALPA response to the SD letter (which I am sure was not vetted thru DALPA contract admin), I am reasonably sure DALPA is in CE mode, not enhance the DAL pilot's life mode.

Okay, I think crow tastes pretty good after reading DALPAs response. Yum, crow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsquare (Post 1536626)

I am the .00000000001%

Why don't you just quit whining? Where's your humility?

Today is ripe with opportunities to make gatehouse PA's btw.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Check Essential (Post 1536602)

DALPA has responded to Dickson's letter ---

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sink r8 (Post 1536625)

Definitely an appropriate response, IMO.

I agree. This is a perfect response to Flt Ops' letter.
The MEC got it exactly right. Our contract remains unchanged.
There are long established procedures for handling "minor disputes" under the Railway Labor Act.
This issue will either be successfully negotiated or resolved via grievance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sink r8 (Post 1536417)

Believe me, I get it. I routinely use Reserve as an alternative. I am all about QOL. I do NOT want to have Scheduling hard-wired into my skull. I'm just trying to assess our leverage realistically.

What's becoming painfully apparent is that 117 is generating a lot of unintended consequences. On the whole, it seems more negative than positive. I'm very concerned about 2-man crossings > 8 hours, and MUCH more TAFB with long layovers (Int'l and Domestic).

The number of QOL-busting issues that are currently in play is impressive, and only getting bigger. This isn't a mini-LOA issue.

Two-man ocean crossings aren't allowed in the PWA. Only domestic can go to 9 hours.

Three-man crew limited to 12 in the PWA, versus 13 in FAR 117. So sorry.

If they want to play rough, we can always walk away from the table and wait until the first major snowstorm in 2014. They lose the ability to make inverse assignments...

Maybe they need a lesson in corporate psychology...

Quote:

Originally Posted by cni187 (Post 1536552)

. How long does it take someone to pull up delta net and then log into Icrew? 2 minutes? Ok maybe 5 minutes sitting in certain gates at ATL. In this day and age of technology, how many of you leave your phones at home when you go out to do anything??

I don't care how long it takes, or how prevalent it is. I refuse to be tethered to my phone simply because the company says I must, in direct disagreement with the contract. I don't care what percentage of folks are glued to their devices.

I REFUSE to let Dickson take this bite out of my QOL.

Allowing the company to unilaterally abrogate the contract is a very slippery slope. What's next?

Quote:

Originally Posted by tsquare (Post 1536626)

I am the .00000000001%

Me too. Flipper here.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starcheck102 (Post 1536638)

Fine with me. We don't just need to be good at using the "N" word once in a while, we must also be patient and deliberate. The company is going to try to apply some pressure via QOL changes. This is an example for Reserve, the 33-hour layovers are for Regular. Creating huge sits as IROPS buffers is probably part of the plan.

There is going to some pain and discomfort. We can run to the union, and ask for a band-aid and some pain medicine, or we can hold firm on our principles, and exert leverage by withholding our consent.

I'd rather see us get the new FAR's to interface correctly with our PWA correctly, than see us apply pressure for immediate but temporary relief from an injury deliberately inflicted.

Right now, the company is not showing signs of engaging constructively.