Edited for clarity..

“Flying The Line” use to be required reading. But, a podcast with a few chapters are available online if anyone is still interested in history, common sense, and INTEGRITY.



Edited to add....

Like others have said, picking up OT with brothers & sisters on furlough is never a good look for any work group/pilot group, Union or Association, no matter the excuses. Then again, the Voy is no longer “Eagle Proud.”

 

This applies, when the OT is not at premium. Flying open trips at 100% is not kosher, but at premium, it hurts the company.
At Envoy, OT pickups costs more than what staffing the airline appropriately would. The old etiquette does not apply at MQ.
That is why the company wanted to remove our OT LOA.

 

Wasn't it flight cancellations that got you raises? OT is often much cheaper than carrying more full time staff, all with benefits, all requiring training. Up to a certain point OT is a much preferred thing from a financial standpoint.
On the other hand, flight cancellations are not good.... and when it's for a lack of crew they need to hire more. (or recall sooner).

You really should explain your rational for that statement to your pilots. Coming from somebody inside a union, it's very odd indeed.

(I'm assuming based upon your prior posts that you do hold some union position)

 

The entire employee cost is looked at, not simply the wage per hour. They look at everything from the on-boarding costs which includes the recruiting staff, the interview hotels, medical tests, transportation; then new hire on-boarding, ground school, hotels, transportation, simulator time, the instructors time, the administrative staff time; then paying the company share of all benefits, providing paid vacation time, and paid sick time.

It is much cheaper to pay an OT premium, even at 100% than to hire an extra employee that costs all the extra training, benefits and vacations. That holds true right up until the point that it becomes cheaper to pay all the misc costs to get the lower hourly rate. When that happens is something only they know.

You can't advocate NOT picking up OT, but you certainly shouldn't be encouraging it. The flip side is, if your pilots are already doing the right thing and the company has quietly threatened the union for a job action due to a large drop in OT pickup, then making that post would be a smart move.

This is for any airline, not just yours.

 

It's 150%. If you're not currently at envoy then gtfoastfu

 

Another thing to consider is how many of the furloughed pilots were actually line qualified? From the looks of the list a significant number were in the training pipeline and of no real use right now.

 

this guy gets it. Saying the extra cost hits them where it hurts is laughable. Good explanation above. Some will say, they’ll just junior man us anyway and the flights won’t cancel. Exactly, yes they will, but then they are short on people AND it costs a ton to pay the ones picking up the open flying involuntary. Huge difference. Key question is where is the break even point, only the company knows, maybe roughly at least.

Any means to justify picking up open does not really sit well with me. I kinda sorta get the part picking up to get back to min guarantee, but those we let go has a min guarantee of zero. If you need time off for family events etc, just take the hit and let a reserve fly and deal with 60-65 hours or whatever. Nothing says we have to make 72 hours every month.

Everyone is learning during these times, pilots, union, and even the company to certain extent.

These are all opinions, not direction.

 

If your above quote is true, company would not have furloughed & would be recalling pilots & staff, instead of offering OT. They pull strings and fake strings to distract & influencing labor towards a direction. Inc has extensive, experienced Mgmt, legal and finance team.

I often respect your opinion many times. But how can you speak with two mouths?

 

It clearly bothers the company more because they've been trying to take that letter over and over. To suddenly stop would thrill the company because that's what they wanted all along. And according to Tom, the cost savings from the letter far exceeds the cost of the pilots furloughed, or am I misremembering?

 

Why not keep the letter and follow ethics, integrity, and history while pilots are on furlough.

Just because we can do something does not always mean we should (during this time with brothers and sisters on the street.