Originally Posted by GunshipGuy

Thanks. Good link. Question I have to ask the Fidelity guy when I call to talk about the transition to just the DPSP: How do I determine what portion of my DPSP is Roth and what isn't Roth?

Originally Posted by GunshipGuy

Scoop,

If as you said, a grievance filed for the scenario you painted would not stand much of a chance of being successful, what's a union or pilot to do? SD has made the company's position clear, and you can pretty much count on getting a call from the CPO as well as getting a PD put on your schedule as a result if you use the contract in a way you're free to do.

My take (tell me where I'm wrong):

So pilot A doesn't acknowledge a trip until 3+30 before sign in and gets a PD put on his schedule--doesn't get paid. How many pilots are going to do this? My guess is not many. DALPAs not going to pay pilots who decide to do it the anti-SD way; there's no point after a day or two when others are falling in line. The company will come down on those who use the PWA to its fullest and pilots will fall in line. Unless DALPA were to make as strong a drive for getting all reserve pilots to wait until 3hr plus > 1 min to acknowledge as they had to get us to vote yes for the TA, there's not going to be enough pressure on the company to come to the table on this issue.

It would appear that the company played hardball on this and won't suffer much. They will probably want to clean this item up in the next round of negotiations and claim they're giving something in return, but in reality you know they're not or they would have given it now. Maybe after a couple of weeks they'll give DALPA a little something after they show them it wasn't all that big of a deal (since we didn't put up much of a fight).

I think the company looked at the data and saw that most pilots acknowledge trips pretty early on. My category typically got them out about 14-15 hours before sign in.

Originally Posted by gloopy

Nothing in 117 makes our contract unworkable. Long call going to 19 hours when, by the company's own admission "most" conversions happen around the 16 hour mark is far from some new unworkable catastrophe. You can still be on short call too, because your "required schedule check" is now, like it always has been, NLT 2am on your first work day, so then plus 10 hours 117 rest, so you can always get a noon short call on day one, and then be notified of additional short calls while on short call, provided you are notified of your 10 or more hour rest period at that point.

Whatever the company loses because of this was not only completely preventable by constructively engaging DALPA for the year+ they knew this was coming. But they waited til the last second and forced a potential crisis by refusing to negotiate and trying to change the contract by memo and putting us on a perpetual 2 hour fantasy leash that doesn't exist and putting the pilots in the position of putting out the company's self induced helmet fire that they got while counting their money and enjoying their 3 year JV balancing window by getting us to hopefully self gut our own contract.

And now in the 11th hour it appears they are basically saying "that's right, and y'all ain't gonna do jack about it neither".

Originally Posted by GBU-24

I need to get wise on a GS question...

How does a trip on a GS that spills b/w bid periods work/pay? The kicker is I'm going from a reg line to a Resv line.

Originally Posted by buzzpat

Word in the 73 world is that the 75s aren't going anywhere soon. Which makes the -900s growth aircraft for the foreseeable future. That means hiring. And based on the lack of reserve coverage lately on the narrow body's seems to me to be a little late. We can't cover the trips on the books. I was supposed to fly the GDL red eye from LAX to GDL. CA no showed, no green slips and no IAs. The trip went no op and I burned out. Full boat to GDL and no CA 12 hours later. That cost the company a pretty penny. There goes the overmanned theory.

Originally Posted by Scoop

Gunship,

If on the other hand, the company assigns long call trips 19 hours out then I think a reasonable Pilot would acknowledge within 9 hours as before 117. To me this is the key - to allow long call Pilots a long call leash. Like I said, the NLT 3 hours wording in our contract is a means to an end. The desired end is a 9 hour response window.

I see the companies interpretation as unworkable and unreasonable, but I also think that Pilots who want to wait until 3 hours prior if they have 19 hours notice are just as unreasonable. Does anyone really think we would win a grievance if given 19 hours notice prior to reporting and we insist on waiting until 3 hours prior to acknowledging? I realize this is what our contract says, but the change in the law eliminates the option of a 3 hour prior acknowledgement.

The bottom line is that the law has changed. Acknowledging long call assignments in 2 or 3 hours aint gonna cut it - sorry SD. If the company is willing to work with us and push the assignment of trips further out - say 19 hours, then we should work with them. If they insist on a quick long call acknowledgement then we should comply with our contractual requirements.


Scoop

Originally Posted by Scoop

Gunship,

You are not wrong, but I don't think you understand my point. If the company and the union do not come to agreement and they stick with requiring us to acknowledge long call trips within 2 or 3 hours then I think every reserve Pilot should acknowledge within the contractual requirement - if only to force the company to negotiate with the union. If this makes reserve pilots not legally rested for the trip per 117 then too bad for the company. A company memo does not undue our contract.

If on the other hand, the company assigns long call trips 19 hours out then I think a reasonable Pilot would acknowledge within 9 hours as before 117. To me this is the key - to allow long call Pilots a long call leash. Like I said, the NLT 3 hours wording in our contract is a means to an end. The desired end is a 9 hour response window.

I see the companies interpretation as unworkable and unreasonable, but I also think that Pilots who want to wait until 3 hours prior if they have 19 hours notice are just as unreasonable. Does anyone really think we would win a grievance if given 19 hours notice prior to reporting and we insist on waiting until 3 hours prior to acknowledging? I realize this is what our contract says, but the change in the law eliminates the option of a 3 hour prior acknowledgement.

The bottom line is that the law has changed. Acknowledging long call assignments in 2 or 3 hours aint gonna cut it - sorry SD. If the company is willing to work with us and push the assignment of trips further out - say 19 hours, then we should work with them. If they insist on a quick long call acknowledgement then we should comply with our contractual requirements.


Scoop

Originally Posted by DeadHead

Do you think the company has put off hiring as long as they have because they thought that they would have added crew scheduling abilities/efficiencies through their interpretation of 117?
I'm wondering if between 117 and a 7th short call day if the company perceives a leaner staffing model than actually needed. I find it surprising that we have been canceling flights because of lack of crews. I always thought that kind of thing rarely, if ever, happened at a mainline company especially with our current management team.

Originally Posted by flyallnite

Work with them? Are they working with us on JV compliance? How about sick leave harassment?

Look, it's tempting to say that we can work with them, but we all know that crew skeds will do anything to cover a trip. What you are suggesting here is that the pilot group voluntarily give up a key quality of life provision in our contract for zero quid, simply because they said so. Well, sorry, that's not going to work for me. And nobody has the right to tell me to do that. I paid for this contract. If the company wants a rolling 2 hour short call leash, then they'll need to negotiate in good faith for it.

And yes, I am confident that every grievance would be won. Slam dunk. The company simply will have to staff with IAs, GS, and short call until this is resolved. And nothing stops a pilot from acknowledging a trip outside the 10 hour window, he simply has the option not to, per the contract, or to be doing something else, such as commuting in for a trip.

What other sections of the contract would you like to ignore?

Originally Posted by Denny Crane

No that money is already pretax. Should be just like making a rollover to an IRA. (Which I wouldn't be surprised if that was an option when the DC plan is terminated.) The total amount deposited by you and Company cannot exceed $52,000 in 2014. If you are under 50 then you can put a maximum of $17,500 in the 401k. If you turn 50 or older in 2014, you can make catchup contributions totaling $5,500. So anyone turning 50 or older can contribute a total of $22,000 a year. The Company will put in their 15% until reaching a total of $52,000 for the year. If you will exceed that amount for whatever reason the excess will be taxed and paid to you as income.

To me, it doesn't matter if that $52,000 comes from my contribution or the Companys. Whatever money that is in excess of the $52,000 comes back as taxed income anyway.

Denny