I don't believe this is true. MEM 757 FOs who bid MEM 757 Capt were not awarded that seat on this practice bid, when more junior pilots from displaced seats were given that award.

Once again, I'm not saying the practice bid is wrong, or some how not in compliance with the 2015 contract - which we passed. I'm saying it's different than the old "Minus 1 Bump & Flush" system we had prior. Did we, or at least our 2015 Negotiating Committee, fully understand the affects of the changes we agreed to?

A 2023 TA is looming on the horizon. Read it ALL. Understand it ALL. Ask questions on why something has changed - especially if it's something new the company has proposed. Who benefits from the change? Who loses? Their proposals are rarely innocuous.

In Unity (for everyone),
DLax

From another post:
MEM 757 FOs who bid MEM 757 Capt were not awarded that seat on this practice bid, when more junior pilots from displaced seats were given that award.

Moral: We often fail to see the 2nd and 3rd order effects of company proposed changes that we are told "aren't really changes" and "won't affect anything". The 2015 CBA is what it is. I'm looking forward. Eyes WIDE OPEN. Hopefully, we all look forward that way.

In Unity (for everyone),
DLax

If that actually happened then they need to
either check their bid or send a DART because a M57F should have had access to anything their seniority could hold.

Based on the feedback and outcry on here and JF, it seems this is many people's first time being part of a displacement. The way FedEx is handling this bid is pretty much industry standard when parking aircraft and/or closing bases.

Only slots for vacancies are 77FM & 75FM. So a very senior 75 FO only option is to move to 77FM (114 vacancies). But if 114 pilots senior to that pilot (regardless of subject to assignment) bid it then there are no vacancies.

The only pilots that can “bump” junior pilots are those in seats that are in excess of max staffing level. This prevents the bump and flush of 4.A.2.b days! There were pilots bumped out of Captain slots in seats that were not overmanned by pilots subject to assignment. The now bumped captain is suddenly subject to assignment and can bump a 75 Captain.

This occurred 684 times (includes both captain and FOs). That is how many pilots were subject to assignment. So only that number of pilots could “bump” a junior pilot.

....and not the first time for many others. Fedex parked aircraft and closed bases many times before. All before 2015.

If the company advertised "Max Staffing" is greater than "Min Staffing" AND "Max Staffing" is greater than "Current Staffing", then doesn't that constitute a vacancy in that seat?

I'm unsure how you determine that only 77FM & 75FM have vacancies. Thanks for any clarification you can provide.

Because those are the only two where the Dynamic Staffing Level is less than the Minimum Staffing Level. Those are the only two places people can go unless they are "Assigned" or a "Stand In".

Vacancy is any seat the current staffing is less than the MIN staffing.



A displaced pilot can be "assigned" into a category that has a MAX staffing greater than min staffing, but a non-displaced pilot can't necessarily bid into it


From the union Q&A email on the subject:

"

1. Crew positions the Company is willing to go “fat” (Max>Min) (e.g., 67FM); those will only be available to those pilots in crew positions that have pilots “subject to assignment” (e.g., 11CL)"

EXCEPT!!!! a senior pilot can go if that pilot takes the place of someone who would have been displaced from the same category, it's called a "stand in bid"

Example: 20 ANC MD11 FO's bid to A300FO, this puts the A300FO's 20 over the MAX staffing. so the bottom 20 A300FO's will get bumped. If a senior A300FO has a bid to say 767FO or anyplace he can hold, he could go and bump someone out of the 767FO spot and only 19 pilots in the A300 FO would get bumped.

Contract ref. 24.C.2.c

Clear as mud...

FlyingBoxes is correct. When I made my statement, I was going by your statement that there were vacancies in the 75CM seat without checking for myself. That is my fault.

The clarification is in Section 24. You get a seat based on seniority if the dynamic staffing level is less than the minimum staffing level. That is a vacancy. The actual number of people in the seat is less than the required amount. The only seats that meet that requirement are the 77FM and 75FM. The rest of the seats are seats being made available for excess. The dynamic staffing level starts at the current staffing level listed in the bid, and then changes as the bid starts to fill out. In previous vacancy bids, the minimum and maximum staffing levels were the same, just like the 77FM on this bid. The company could have made the minimum and maximum levels in the other seats the same if they wanted. If they had decided to move the maximum level down to meet the minimum level, then there would have been a lot more pilots sent to the 75FM seat. If they had moved the minimum number up to the maximum, then everyone would have been able to bid as a vacancy, including those in the closed bases. Hope this makes it a little more clear.