Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement.

...and no "fences" have been brought up yet....although I'm sure they will be. A "fence" would prevent an ATL CRJ-700 Captain (ASA) from bidding and displacing an EMB-145 Captain (XJT) in EWR....and vice versa.

 

18 months is the rumor floating around in the training department.

 

You have no idea what you're talking about. .

 

Just talked to our chief pilot and was told their will be no fences, just one giant bid as early as October.

 

That's hilarious! No such integration can happen until we have ratified a new contract. I wouldn't expect that to happen for at least 3 years...probably longer.

 

This is exactly what the negotiating team said during the alpa lunch during recurrent. 3 years at best........

 

May be I should have bought a Bose headset instead of a Telex.

 

3 years until a new contract? As in 3 years until the lists are merged? Wow that sux. That's longer than it took DAL/NWA with over 12000 pilots involved.

 

Per the laws, there has to be a JCBA before an SLI.

I'm hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst. If its going to be three years, that's just longer we get to work under our current CBA until we have a crappy/substandard one rammed down our throat.

 

It's because of the nature of the three-way hate fest:
- ASA pilots generally want QOL improvements and a reasonable pay increase. Most of the ASA guys I know understand that remaining competitive means growth and job security and don't want to break the company's bank with demands.
- Most of the XJet pilots I have talked to have exactly the opposite attitude and think that they're working under a 'concessionary' contract and that they can't possibly gain enough of a pay increase to make their job worth it.
- Management relies on very inept mid-level managers who need an unrealistic amount of scheduling/duty flexibility in order to pull off the monthly schedule at all...nevermind doing so efficiently or cost effective.

The mix of those elements is going to make it practically impossible for everyone to agree on anything. I anticipate a mediated solution.

This merger was SO not a good idea...love to have been a fly on the wall when the cultural differences between the labor groups (and how those problems would be addressed) were discussed. That'd be good for a laugh.