Ahh, APC......

 

So is CRS still a joke after all the bickering?

 

This is the attitude that bothers me the most. We got a 3% annual raise.

It reminds me of old military leadership. Take away stuff, then give it back to them later and the troops think they had a huge win.

We already had a pension and we already didn't have PBS. Thanks for letting us keep them! We win!

We may get to sell back sick leave at half price (with restrictions) instead of taking it at full price. Big win!

 

I am not a lawyer but after reading this contract and contract 2011 I conclude the best way to get paid for your sick leave is to call in sick. I'll call CE and see if I am correct in my legal interpretation. Those who like to hoard it now have an option, where as before they didn't.

P.S. The best way to get the company to be willing to pay us for hoarding sick leave is to call in sick.

 

Let's say your house caught on fire.

The fire department came and saved your house.

Would you say, "Thanks for nothing. I just have what I already had."

The new corporate head of legal was going to make his bones by ushering in PBS. It was going to save the company 10-15% in staffing costs. It is industry standard. Our union fought it off to the point where it never even got to a TA to be voted down.

The house didn't burn. But all we got now is the same house. If you don't like an attitude of gratitude for that then I don't know what to tell you.

 

Yep, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Sure, the company wanted PBS. They'd like to pay us pennies on the dollar and they'd like to take our retirement.

I don't think we won by keeping what we already had. That's absolutely ridiculous. It was probably the best opportunity to IMPROVE our contract that we will ever have in our careers. They are hundreds of pilots short. They are hiring like mad but still offering AVA in almost every seat. Sure, there will always some of us flying draft during negotiations. But they are so short, it would still put pressure on the company to negotiate.

I think we left a lot on the table. I think we made a big mistake not drawing our line in the sand and improving our retirement. Honestly, I could live with rest of this unspectacular contract, but not addressing retirement was a deal killer for me. I have about 10 years left. The B fund improvement will increase my account by about 40k over those 10 years. That's really not much.

People make a huge deal over PBS. I worked at a legacy carrier that had it. Sorry, but it wasn't a big deal. Seniority ruled, and many times you had better lines than you have now. Instead of someone else building lines, you built them yourselves. I hear guys saying that they can't get a full month off on vacation months and that sort of thing, then they sell back their vacations and work 20 days that month anyway. I'd much rather have our current system, but it has it's price too.

 

Just looking at the last 24 months of two typical pilot's career under CBA 2011.
One flies all his normal lines, no heroics/draft/etc, and retires. The other is regularly sick (since he's old ) and depletes his sick bank( bidding the same types of lines as pilot 1 and retires. At the end of 24 month, they both ended up with the same amount of money (absent some per diem and maybe over-8 international) in their pockets. Obviously, pilot 2 got that money along with a significant amount of time away from work. But, I think we would agree that he received dollar for dollar payout of his sick bank. There really was no downside for pilot 2.

Under CBA 2015, if the same thing happens, pilot 2 is no longer technically getting a 1 for 1 return on his sick time. He would have to account for the $110,000 dollars he gave up to use his sick leave. Maybe he doesn't care or have any choice but it's still money left on the table. It might still be worth it for some people depending on their situation - but, it's going to give some others a little pause.

Also, remember - when you do the math on the lesser of the three bonus options: Any sick time used does not count toward the over $520K earned in the last 24 months column.

 

I agree with you to some degree. If you want to leave with the most, sell back your sick leave. But, if you want to maximize your quality of life (and possibly your long term health), use your sick leave.
To really max your pay: If you have makeup left, you are probably leaving money on the table by selling back sick leave. Call in sick and use your general make up to fly trips on your off days. I realize not everyone has make up left, so this option isn't available for everyone.

 

I understand and agree with your point from an intangible QOL standpoint. There are other guys who approach this decision from a simple dollars and cents perspective. Prior to CBA 2015, this was not a difficult calculation.

Now, it's going to take a little more thought depending on one's situation, priorities and goals.

Just a scenario to consider: The decision to sell back sick leave will not always be a simple choice to accept a 50% buyback and think that's what you'll end up with in your pocket. Say a pilot plans to sell his sick leave back but isn't stressing on getting the max. He uses some when appropriate but leaves most of it alone. Maybe he decides to skate his last two years, bids min BLG lines and even drops a few trip now and then for QOL. He ends up with 280K of eligible earnings per year for the last 24 months (so $560K).

No matter what he leaves in his sick bank, all he is getting is $20,000 since that is the lesser of the three bonus options. That is half of $40K (the amount of eligible earnings over $520K last 24 months). Just food for thought.

 

Agreed. While there is no best plan for everyone, I still think getting 100% of my sick pay works best for me.

What I hope we don't see are people flying sick (instead of using sick time like it was designed) to get a check when they retire. Sadly, I think we'll see this a lot...