airlinepilot50

If I fly with a CPP candidate flying sick, do I turn them into the Chief pilot? United is trying to force an unsafe operation. I feel sorry for anyone that opted into this scam.

DoSomePilotStuf

It is each pilot’s responsibility to determine if he/she is fit for duty. Unless they are obviously debilitated by their illness there’s not much you can do. Hopefully it won’t go that far.

airlinepilot50

Around 5% of the current pilot group has a chance to go over to United based on the new policy. The best solution is to get hired at any cargo/LCC airline and then apply to United if that’s your end goal. United’s new policy is encouraging pilots to leave Expressjet at a faster pace which is not a bad thing. The pilot group deserves better.

Guppydriver95

United guy here. This stupid sick leave policy is the same one we have here. Only difference is it has never been used to punish a single pilot. If they are truly disqualifying anybody based on the fact that they got sick on a holiday or over a training event, that’s pure BS. I’m embarrassed to be associated with a a company who’s HR department utilizes such a ridiculous policy. If you’re sick, you’re sick. Please stay home and don’t infect me and the rest of the passengers and crew. Good luck to those of you wanting to end up here. ALPA keeps the BS management harassment at bay, so once you get here, you won’t have to put up with that crap anymore.

Cheers.

airlinepilot50

We need United ALPA to stand with us. If you can send a quick email to your leadership in this matter, it might help. Thank you!

SpringLanding

With the amount of pilots taking all their sick time before leaving XJT, or on here talking about taking a 6 month "quality of life vacation", or a "sickation" IE lying about being sick so they can drop a trip, it's no wonder management thinks pilots are exploiting the system.

United is asking to see evidence of *unexcused* use of sick leave at the times when it is *commonly* exploited by dishonest pilots, right? Those pilots who use sick time as personal vacation are 1) screwing over the company by dropping a trip in close 2) Screwing over a line holder or reserve pilot who will have to pick it up and 3) screwing over passengers who are trying to get home for a holiday like Christmas.
For those complaining, you can thank your fellow pilots for making this loophole close.

DoSomePilotStuf

You said it well. The reason United doesn’t want these same people on their rolls. What kind of POS screws over everyone around them and then goes on a tirade that they have “earned” their sick leave and should be able to do whatever they want without any consequences? Then act like it’s the Union’s job or management’s job or whoever to do something to change the policy that the parent carrier has of “we don’t want that type of person working here screwing everyone over and creating a toxic culture.”

To all those whining about how bad the QOL was over the summer, it was bad everywhere. Even at the majors. The impact of the MAX groundings has had on the passenger capacity of the entire industry cannot be overstated. When the company you work for is short staffed and there is huge demand you are going to be asked to do extra. Doesn’t matter where you work.

FlyRight2876

Ahh, the "Subodh Spin". Gotta love it. There are always a small amount of bad apples at every company. The main difference is the bad apples can get wrapped in with the those who fall ill at an unfortunate time.

Notice how the revision includes excused and unexcused sick calls?

"Note that every pilot completing their interview in Denver with United already signs a “Career Path Program Release and Acknowledgment Letter” that allows United access to all information about attendance, training and disciplinary actions for the duration of their employment at ExpressJet. This revision more accurately reflects the Acknowledgment letter.

Dependability – A complete dependability history (excused and unexcused occurrences) will be reviewed by United’ BOR. Program participants must maintain dependable attendance, meaning no documented and unexcused occurrence of the following in a rolling twelve (12) month period while employed by ExpressJet:

1. Sick call over company recognized holiday

2. Failure to operate assigned flight or event without notice

3. Notification of sick leave less than 4 hours prior to departure

4. Notification of sick leave after beginning of reserve duty

5. Sick call impacting an assigned training event

6. Failure of the pilot to be contactable when required

7. Sick call prior to or following a scheduled vacation

8. Greater than four (4) absences, unless those absences are covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act


Now the main kicker here is if someone has one little blip on their record and doesn't show a history of this activity will they be ok?? What if they become ill after a vacation and have a legitimate note but no real prior history of this activity?

The union has a little to say about that:

"17 May 2019

The CPP information outlined in the company communication seemed to be threatening and everyone should be made aware that we have had about 12 final review rejections since November, and none of these folks have had anything in their records that, per the CPP policy manual, disqualified them from the program. It is also important to note that performance, training, and sick/attendance are all areas where the company continues to push our pilots in an unprecedented direction. The training department is not currently operating at the high-caliber level we have always known. Pilots are getting sick more because they are being worked to the bone, experiencing increased numbers of short overnights, and we all have elevated stress levels. These issues all affect our immune systems and make us more susceptible to illness. Our performance is the best it can be; we have all remained professional during this tumultuous time and we should all be proud of that. If that is ever in question, well, they are grasping at straws and are not recognizing all we do.

The company continues to push, they try to do more with less, and they are distributing misleading information designed to make working at ExpressJet more desirable than it really is! I wish they would come to the negotiating table and right the ship, but time and time again we are told problems will be fixed, only to see the same results. We rushed a contract in late 2018 in order to help secure a better future for ExpressJet, but the deal is not done. I am getting sick of repeating it, but since January the company has continued to spiral."


In addition to your comments about being over worked over summer:

This is not going to be exclusive to the summer. Unfortunately even with the hiring we are experiencing a net loss of pilots. The vast majority of pilots are leaving from the bottom and middle of the list. There is a large contingency of "lifers" that are not going anywhere.

Only the bottom feeder regionals are/were at desperation levels with staffing. All the Envoy's, Republics, PSA's, Endeuvers, etc. of the world were more than staffed. The places that offer career progression, pay and a future are sitting fine with staffing so don't play that little game.

Over the last 6 months of hiring this company is still at a net loss on pilots. That teamed up with Subodh's history of making 90% of lines go to minimum days off (look no further than Commutair) and treating line holders like reservists means that people will be spread thin for the foreseeable future.

It's great to get your hours in fast in that first year if you don't have your 1,000 121 time. However, after the first year or so when you learn the aircraft and get that time the luster of being an airline pilot will have worn off and you'll be looking to have a better work/life balance, pay, QOL and some "career progression", both long term and short term. That means upgrade in the short term and that also influences the long term since most good carriers want 121 PIC time. That just won't be the case here with the still shrinking 145 fleet that is being replaced by the 175's.

So, in short, to those new hires who just want to start, don't cut off your nose to spite your face. Think smart.

DoSomePilotStuf

Upgrade times will come down. The math is simple. Granted, the lifers at XJT have proven to be very undesirable to the Majors, but even with them firmly in place there will be opportunities with the hiring taking place. The upgrade will be down to 3 years with the next bid and there are only 50 on the seniority hired between 2 and 3 years ago. It’s mathematically impossible for upgrade times not to come down if hiring continues. However when someone graduating high school this year eventually gets hired at XJT, upgrades and then gets hired at a major you will still be sitting in the left seat of your 175 with your bitter attitude acting like you deserve something better when it is you who so willingly cuts off his nose to spite his face.

FDXFO

Every pilot should be against this policy, even company guys/gals like DoSomePilotStuff. You think it's ok for United to see your entire attendance/reliability history including even excused absences without any context at all? Heck they probably even have access to your FDP extension refusals. Everyone know that an FDP extension is the rule at XJT and not the exception. They run the airline under the assumption that the pilots will accept extensions. If your end goal is going to United, I would advise going to another regional outside the CPP and trying to get on with United off the street. Unless you'd rather be at XJT with min days off every single month, infinite schedule changes while on a trip, a management team that continuously lies to its employees, and then eat this sh*t sandwich every month for years waiting for your # to come up in the CPP pool only to find out you are rejected on your final review because of that trip you called in sick for 3 hours prior to showtime back in 2011.