Realignment Bid
 

How does the realignment bid work?

Company decides where (# in each seat, for every aircraft) they need pilots. Run a bid allowing seniority to determine where you end up. Those forced to move don’t have a seat lock.

junior pilots that move backwards complain. Senior pilots tell tales of past excesses. Junior pilots whine about senior pilots! History repeats itself!

Are there practice bid results as in a system bid?

Yes, of course. Think its contractually required.

Hypothetically if you get excessed out of the CA seat, do you have to go through the same 3 month ITU CA training when you eventually can hold the seat of the aircraft displaced off of?

I think it depends how long you are out of the seat. So given how long we take in between bids, Yep.

You can bid to relieve excess and change fleets/bases, if a senior pilot bids to relieve then a junior pilot may not get bumped. Bidding to relieve also may entitle you a move package to base, I would have to dive into the contract to remember all the details.

Is there a difference between realignment and displacement? The contract wording seems to lean towards your explanation, but let’s say an ANC11 CA bids to MEM11 FO and now that seat is overmanned. How would a junior FO not get bumped? They couldn’t force that prior ANC CA to go to a more
open seat aka 75FO could they?

I believe in your scenario since the ANC CA is bidding to relieve the pilot can go anywhere their seniority holds. If the pilot bids out, assuming ANC was not closing, that would let a junior ANC CA stay in ANC, but yes if MEM11 FO is overmanned a MEM FO would get pushed out unless enough pilots in that seat bit out above him.

Has anything been officially posted other then on JF..ok didn’t think so…Carry on..and welcome to the airlines for all those loosing their heads over this.

yes. Company email from VP Flt Ops.

Let’s say the company only needs more pilots on a specific fleet. The 767 for example. Are the junior pilots who are already on the 767 safe? Seems pointless for someone to be displaced out of the very fleet that they are needed.

I think if you’re on the 76 you’ll be fine. Supposed to get I think 26 more. I think under the current order they have options for 50 more.

What’s the low down on the positions that are being reduced? Curious outsider here.

posible, absolutely. But hard to guess what happens until the numbers in each in every fleet is published. If enough MD11 FOs getting excessed go to B757 Captain then More junior captains get bumped. The former 75 captains then decide to be 76 FO then bottom 76 FOs go wherever they have seniority. So most junior at risk of being only able to hold 75 FO.

having previously awarded or actually trained from previous awards is irrelevant. This is what I understand it to be.

(Note: Not at all what I want to happen!)
.

That all depends upon how much are displaced on top of you….the junior could very well (and have been in the past) displaced to a NB.

This is the result of fdx spraying and praying hiring into WBs, now seniority is all out of whack. Time for realignment. Welcome to fdx!!!!

This is the way. We'll all be flying ****boxes and toolboxes eventually.

We don’t have specifics yet but if I was a bettin’ man it’s going to be mainly the MD-11 getting drawn down with movement towards the 767 and 777.

Wow!!! Outlook for us Express peeps don’t look good…buckle up!

We all knew the MD was going away. And it's negotiations so.....

-losing.

ps. When the contract is up for vote, No doesn’t start with a Y. Make sure to click on the section that says No and not yes.

Gee I wonder when the company says, sign this concessionary contract and you’ll get xyz replacements aircraft. Like a broke record.

^^^^THIS^^^^
Keep the faith,
fbh

Of course it doesn't. What a coincidence that the doom and gloom has begun at the same time negotiations are getting heated, strike vote is looming, company digging in their heels, etc.
Don't fall for the BS.
What does it cost to put out an email with dire predictions and talk of a "realignment bid"?
What does it cost to actually publish said bid?
The same thing it costs to cancel that bid.
Or let the bid happen and throw everyone into a tizzy, especially all the recent arrivals since 2015 who have had wonderful advancement and unicorns and rainbows. The company would love to stomp on their privates a bit and try to reduce their willingness to fight.
Maybe the bid stands, maybe it doesn't. But either way, if you're wringing your hands and worrying about the future of FedEx, you're spending less time backing ALPA and doing what's necessary to get us the contract we deserve.

what? We will be plus 19 on new aircraft. The atlas 747 are gone past June, there are 32 of those beasts hauling our freight and an atlas pilot base in Memphis is about to close. That is great news and am sure those guys cost a fortune to contract especially with our trunk aircraft sitting idle along with the crews. This was a good message from JB. Numbers and facts. Express is the heartbeat of this organization.I am actually surprised, I thought we were doomed. If any of you can recal that bs that dd used to send out? I remember his last one on Christmas Eve, yeah, it was priceless. It’s why they canned that dude. Ineffective and out of touch.

also, teamsters are going on strike and we took many long term contracts from browns customers. ESG sentiment is way up, earnings up, stock up, dividend up. 5 April the investors don’t want to hear about a FedEx pilot strike…. Especially while our execs are toughting the brown out…. We have all the advantage right now….

Dood.....What the??? Is this NoWork again?

I remember when we were excited that we negotiated great A380 rates and voted in that contract. I also remember after signing where those orders were soon cancelled and FedEx ordered shinny new 777's and then decided to pay us at book wide body rates and not 380 rates. I remember APLA saying that's not what was in the negotiation notes and filing a grievance about pay rates that we lost.

FedEx holds all the cards and knows the plan, you only hear what they want you to hear.

I remember when I got hiredfolks were saying how if you bid the A300 you could get a sweet deal when they got parked in a couple years….that’s was more than 5+ years ago.

What did the negotiation notes say?

Feel free to look up the grievance.

The same way every bid works at FedEx per the CBA in Section 24. IMO, a "realignment bid" is JB's way of describing a System Bid in which you have reductions in one or some aircraft/bases and vacancies in other aircraft/bases.

Here's how a System Bid works.

For each crew position (Rank/Base ... for example CA 777 MEM), the company shall publish:
1. Current Staffing Level
2. Minimum Staffing Level (arbitrary number set by Flight Ops)
3. The Maximum Staffing Level (arbitrary number set by Flight Ops)

The minimum and maximum number can be the same as seen on previous bids.

They also shall publish:
4. Currently awarded/assigned each crew position
5. Currently activated in each crew position
6. Dates and times of which the System bid closes.
7. To the extent known .. blah blah blah ... when training .. blah blah ... is expected to begin ... blah blah and the training footprint ... blah blah and training throughput by crew position.
8. Required certificates for each crew position
9. Additional information as appropriate.

So, how does it work?

The bid is processed in system-wide seniority order (from the #1 pilot down to the 6,xxx pilot).

STEP ONE: (the Good): For each crew position for which the Dynamic Staffing Level is LESS THAN the Minimum Staffing Level, a pilot will be awarded/assigned such crew position according to his standing bid.

What does that mean? If the #1 pilot who is a CA 777 MEM pilot enters CA 767 MEM (the crew position) as the standing bid, and the 767 Dynamic Staffing Level is less than Minimum Staffing Level, then the #1 pilot is awarded CA 767 MEM and the Dynamic Staffing Level for 767 CA MEM increases by one number (total of all the pilots in category plus the new CA). If the pilot entered CA 777 MEM on the Standing Bid, the pilot remains in the crew position (assuming the crew position wasn't subject to below).

STEP TWO: (the Weird) For each crew position for which the Dynamic Staffing Level is EQUAL TO or GREATER THAN the Minimum Staffing Level AND LESS THAN the Maximum Staffing Level, a pilot will be awarded such crew position according to his standing bid, PROVIDED THAT:
A. The pilot's currently awarded/assigned crew position is over-staffed (Dynamic > Maximum); AND
B. The pilot is senior to the most junior pilot (in the "TO" crew position) not subject to assignment.

What the heck does that mean? If the #1 pilot who is a 777 CA MEM enters 767 CA MEM on the standing bid, and the 767 CA MEM Dynamic Staffing Level is => than the Minimum Staffing Level and < Maximum, the 777 CA MEM pilot can only be awarded the CA 767 MEM if the 777 CA MEM category is over-staffed and the 777 CA MEM pilot is senior to the most junior 777 CA MEM pilot. This is called a "Stand In Bid". In other words, junior pilots will be removed from the over-staffed category and sent elsewhere; however, a pilot senior to the junior pilot can elect to move out of a crew position for said junior pilot. In this situation, the 777 CA MEM Dynamic Staffing number is reduced by one number and the 767 CA MEM Dynamic Staffing number is increased by one.

STEP THREE: (the Bad): For each crew position for which the Dynamic Staffing Level is GREATER THAN or EQUAL to the Maximum Staffing Level (over-staffed) a pilot will be awarded as provided in Situation B, or awarded/assigned as provided in Situation A, such crew position, provided the pilot is:
Situation A: Subject to assignment from his currently awarded/assigned crew position, and senior to the most junior pilot (in the "TO" position) not subject to assignment; OR
Situation B: Senior to a pilot in his currently awarded/assigned crew position who: #1 is imminently subject to assignment, and #2 has the seniority necessary to hold the ("TO") crew position.
Situation B is the same thing as above, shall be considered a Stand In Bid award.

Ok. ... what the heck does that mean? If the crew position is over-staffed (Dynamic >= Maximum Staffing Level), a pilot subject to removal from the current crew position will be awarded/assigned a new crew position to which the pilot is senior to the most junior pilot in the new crew position (Situation A: AKA the ole bump and flush), OR, a senior pilot can elect to move out of the current crew position that is over-staffed so that a junior pilot might remain in the current crew position and the senior pilot goes to a new crew position (Situation B: AKA the Stand In Bid Award)

With me? Now it gets better.

STEP FOUR: (the Ugly): If a pilot who is subject to assignment, and who is not assigned in accordance with Steps 1,2, or 3, will be assigned to a different crew position as follows:
Case A: If the pilot hasn't listed a crew position on the Standing Bid that the pilot could hold in Step 3 Situation A, the pilot will be assigned to the US based crew position with the highest pay rate that the pilot's seniority can hold, and in the crew position which would give the pilot the highest relative seniority from among all those crew positions whose Dynamic Staffing is LESS THAN the Maximum Staffing Level.
Case B:If the pilot cannot hold any crew position as provided in Step Four Case A, the pilot will be assigned to the most junior held US based crew position regardless of the Maximum Staffing Level.

STEP FIVE: (NEW HIRES): For any crew position that has LESS THAN the Minimum Staffing Level after processing the System Bid, the company may hire a pilot(s) up to the Minimum Staffing Level.

STEP SIX: (the YGTBSM): Assignment Right of Return (ARR) ... going to paraphrase this a lot. If you are moved to a new crew position, you have up to 18 months to bid back into the previous crew position to which you were removed from. Anyone with ARR rights go first to the crew position before anyone else in Step 1 provided the Dynamic Staffing Level is LESS THAN the Maximum Staffing Level.

STEP SEVEN: (FDA Assignments) Read the CBA for yourself! I'm brain dead.

There's also bid restrictions/seat restrictions which would prevent a pilot from bidding. See the CBA.

This is my opinion on how this works. Contact FDX ALPA's contract enforcement for specific questions because I could be very wrong in my explanation. It is worth what you paid for.

Losing? bc i i missed an email on my ipad?

Again from our Senior VP Flight Operations in his latest message - " Thank you all for everything you’re doing to deliver what only FedEx Express can for our customers."

FUPM

That's fine. If we're getting moved to lower paying equipment, we're gonna need even bigger raises.

Not the case anymore. They got rid of the excess process and the new process allows them to peel from the bottom. The former bid to relieve process always prevented them from taking a few off the bottom in HKG so they could decrease the passover pay numbers. Evertime they excessed a few seats in HKG the top guys would bid to relieve to score the house hunting and other benefits in the package.

Sorry for the bad info, I did not look to se the changes in that section. I last looked into it when I was bidding to relieve excess when 4.a.2.b was alive.

so in this case is every seat open for anyone not seat locked? And then if you are forced out of your current seat it goes down your bid preferences until you land somewhere your seniority can hold?

Yes. Yes.

Along these lines, does a differences bid (757-to-767; 2-day transition) count for a seat lock? It is it just ITU training (3ish month training)?