You raise all the important points. Management is one by one showing their true colors. Death by 1000 cuts. They are making enemies of the pilots with each heavy handed policy.

What is so amazing is they brag about the great relationship with the pilots and they are making sick money, why are they treating us so poorly??

Greed is one of the 7 deadly sins for a reason. IMO it will only get worse. Appeasement will only increase management's lust for concessions.

The $5000 catch up for those over 50 is not included in the $51,000 max. So in 2014, you can contribute $56,000 if you are over 50.

I've been saying this for years. "Death by 1000 cuts" is the game plan. Paint us into a corner so that one day, we have no options other than fly to the max every month for straight pay, take reroutes and never call in sick. Or face the wrath of management on your career. Then what's next... "why did you divert?... That airplane's not broken, take it or quit. You're fatigued? We're going to put you on administrative leave while we look into that. We'll get back to you."

I'm sure lots of guys who voted for TA12 are surprised that all the things they said the company 'would never do', that they are doing exactly that. This isn't your grandfather's Delta. This is 21st century pilot pushing at it's finest.

Wake up and smell the management fellas. It's happening.

They are becoming uber-rich while telling you that you need to 'stay humble' and be thankful that you could give up profit sharing and contractual benefits for your micro-raise. All while they give other employees hot dinners, cash cards, free uniforms, paid special assignments while pilots 'volunteer'. Nice. We don't have a representational problem. We have a membership problem. No union in the world can help us if we don't start standing up for our profession.

No . I am suggesting just the opposite. If they push out long call assignments from the current 12 hours to 19 hours - how is that giving up a quality of life provision?

As far as "simply because they said so." You are missing the part where I say if they don't come off their current negotiating stance we should simply comply with the contract - you and I are in total agreement here.

Finally as far as the JV and sick leave goes - This is a separate issue. The FARs have changed - the way we operate will change.


How many time do I have to repeat - If the company insists on 2-3 hour long call assignments we should simply comply with the contract?

Scoop

Yes. 100% correct.

Scoop

Scoop,

I'm sorry if I'm misreading your post. I think you're saying that 9 hours is 9 hours, right? Assuming they would make the minimum call out 19 hours on long call... correct? Ok, I see what you are saying. That's an entirely new ball of wax that would change short call obligations as well. Many pieces of the puzzle left to fit.

I'm sorry, but you have this backwards - the nine hour response window is just a means to ensure the pilot is able to meet the NLT 3 hour requirement. The NLT 3 hours is the contractual requirement - NOT the nine hours.

From the Scheduling Reference Handbook:
"This effectively means a long-call pilot could turn off his phone for as long as nine hours, provided he then checks his messages and/or schedule in order to comply with the above requirements for acknowledgement."

In other words, as long a pilot checks his schedule every nine hours, he will be ABLE to comply with the NLT 3 requirement. It does not mean that there is actually a 9 hour window. The ONLY requirement is the NLT 3 hours - period.

Now, would an arbitrator agree with the reasonableness of waiting right up to the 3 hour limit? I have no idea, but I'd hope so since it's the only contractual limit actually we have.

Nice! :cool:

This is going to be a big first test for Capt. Donatelli.
I think he will rise to the occasion.
As soon as management takes their first hostage we are going to see what he is made of.

DOH! :eek: Talk about public math error! Need to carry the one! :)

Thanks and Go Hawks!

Denny