And the union wants us to wear their lanyards to show our support for them?

Uh, no.

It is very difficult to hold union leaders accountable for their actions that are to the detriment of the crew force.

If we didn't have agency shop, we could vote our displeasure with our feet.

The union, of course, deemed agency shop more important than full per diem.

Follow the money, it's all about the dues.

 

LMAO! Now that is funny!

 

Wait a second! Isn't Harvey Watt the company that sells us supplemental disability insurance? Sounds like a conflict of interest to represent the company as a "third party" in reviewing our doctor notes. Something smells real bad! I have to stop watching all those Judge Napolitano clips.

 

Chiming in with my discontent with this issue and this POS CBA!

The hits keep on coming as more of the implementations are in place.

 

I think this is all pretty funny.....the company is going to NOT pay you if you don't present a note from your doc describing in great detail about your swamp-nuts. And we're supposed to feel a sense of relief that the company won't issue an advisory letter Oh the horror of having an advisory letter in my file.....

Tell you what.....give me an AL.....as a matter of fact, gimme a stack of those effin things. We have guys at this company with files an inch thick that are still moving iron all over the world, so give me a piece of worthless paper, and let me keep my pay for the sick time I'VE EARNED!!! And as soon as the schedulers play above board with all of their scheduling games that get grieved, then I WON'T have to use SCK time as a scheduling tool !!!!!

Add this to App. S in the FOM, and we're slowly being cooked like a frog.

now, where did I place my union lanyard again?...........

 

I've had to submit two doctor's notes before. None of them ever stated the reason why I was there. The notes were more like forms that just said "Mr. PTB was under my care today. Date"

I've never had any issues.

 

CBA has always contained verbiage indicating the desire for a Physician's statement "explaining" why we called in Sick

And it's always had language indicating The Company can request one if it "has a good faith, and objective reason" to do so; or SL over a Major Holiday as defined in the CBA.

I would say that under BM the heat was turned up so high it was prima facie that The Company was requesting verification in a manner that wasn't in Good Faith. Under BM, seemingly calling in Sick if you had Reserve days was an indication that you were abusing your sick leave and generated a notification of potential adverse consequences up to termination.
While it's nice that RF seems to have set a more realistic STS value, think it will be nicer to have additional set of eyes looking at it prior to generating a note request. Just really wish the timeline was set at a firm 24 hours

But I can't think of any contractual reason that would require the company to continue tracking SL usage w/ Paper and Pencil versus an updated computer system.
That they should "go back" to the old system. Should we go back to telephonic or faxed bidding? Eliminate PFC and make all of the drops\adds\open time perusals over the phone?

 

That is no longer acceptable behavior. From the RF note addressing this subject - you need to have a reason why you could not perform your flight duties. The doctor’s note must identify the reasons for the pilot’s “inability to perform your assigned duties due to illness or injury.” Physician statements of a vague or general nature are not acceptable.

His example:

“Rob was seen in my office on August 10 because of an injury to his arm and shoulder,”

Does that explain why a pilot could not perform duties? NO. It describes a medical issue in broad terms. What if the doctors note said Pilot X cannot apply proper pressure to a brake or rudder pedal and will be out of work for 6 days?

Pilot X cannot properly adjust to altitude changes without unreasonable discomfort.

Pilot X cannot reliably operate the aircraft controls....cannot properly talk on the radio.....cannot climb stairs......cannot carry luggage.....you get the drift.

Now that does explain a required duty that cannot be performed without mentioning a specific medical problem. This is the route everyone should pursue. NO MEDICAL DATA - just a specific duty that cannot be performed.

They want your medical details and that is not in the contract.....a specific limitation(s) to preform duties is now required.

Out

 

I would also add that 99% of the Health Care Providers out there have no idea what would limit a pilot "specifically" from doing his or her duties. This isn't the military where you have a board certified Flight Surgeon who is an expert in Aerospace medicine. The Health Care Providers we see are Physicians, Dentists, Mid level NPs and PAs, Podiatrists, Optometrists, etc. They have no idea what a rudder pedal is!

So I go to an Optometrist and he gives me eye drops for an eye infection and he is supposed to say I can't see the runway to land? It's total nonsense and they won't write it! Why? because they open themselves up to lawsuits for other areas of operation like driving a car or a bicycle and no provider is going to write 500 restrictions to your daily activities to cover their a$$! The patient has to exercise common sense and judgement in their actions.

We need to look at a Paid time Off (PTO) system in our next contract. This is ridiculous!

 

If we have a positive sick bank or disability bank, we should be able to use it. Period. There should be no questions asked.

Teachers get up to a certain amount of "personal days" as well, in addition to their sick banks.

In this business, when I have missed countless holidays and special occasions over the years, you should be able to use your sick bank for a "personal day". I am not really talking about using them for Christmas, but things like graduations and weddings.

The union and the company should explore holiday pay. Any holiday requiring a sick note, should pay draft for the entire trip that touches said holiday. That includes the day before and the day after, as the company now dictates sick notes for those days as well.

The junior guys who have to work holidays should get draft. Everyone else on the ramp is getting overtime, we should as well.