Accessions will probably never be a problem. TBH, the endless supply actually makes costs HIGHER for the company because you can't grow w/o retention.

Sim training is expensive...

 

several of the new hires have less than 200 hours for the year. Having been paid for the whole year 100,000$. 500 dollars a block hour is not great especially since the company also paid for trainers, the sims, and for lodgings during training.

 

The light bulb that has been going off in my head is "WTF is wrong with this Union" And that Light bulb has been lit the entire time I have been here. The concept that our Union (MEC and NC) has been constantly underpreforming does not need a genius to figure out. I am sure you are Familure with the MANY holes in the current CBA. Like me you remember the Union telling you "Don't worry we will fix it next time" and "well if you don't vote for this then it's going to take another two years to drew up another contract" At first I just bit my toung and took a lets see how this plays out. Now I have watched long enough. I have a good idea of how it will play out.

The reality is that our Union had real trouble getting basic safety equipment (Saftey vests in ATL) to the point that had to use our Union Dues to buy them. That is the low bar that this union just can't seem to get over. At some point we have to ask "what is going on with our side of the table?" Like I said, The guys and gals in the Union are good people. It's nothing Personal It's just business. I am not advocation to turn them over now, but if some progress is not made when the elections roll around. I am voting for change.

 

Cool dude. Run for a position.

 

Thats how it works. None of the reps in my domicile were in any union position last round. Over half of committee members involved directly or indirectly are no longer in union positions. The turnover has pretty much already happened.

To have nobody involved last time would be a mistake because now your wasting time fighting some of the same battles. Here’s an example. I remember a document company put out years ago that could help our argument preparing for arbitration. New union pilot wasn’t even on property when that doc was first published so they have no idea it exists somewhere.

 

What do you expect? We are one contract under ALPA. Do you expect us to get everything other properties have spent decades chipping away at to get where they are? Not all language will be addressed; not all loopholes will be closed. Realistically, this contract will continue to close the gap as the last one did.

 

You are not wrong. However...

Everything is a process. Our union, learning how to better negotiate, is a process. This is just the 2nd iteration and I, for one, think that MANY involved in the process have now seen the glaring holes that many others saw (and some no one saw). For instance, average duty day vs. min day. IIRC, there was a pretty lengthy discussion within the NC and MEC/LEC about this and which was better. The thought process ended w/ it all being taken care of by the trip rig. We now see how wrong this was. Same with training pay. I don't think it was anyone's intention in the union to allow for DH pay only on travel days and 4:30 pay for sims (resulting in 16-17 hour 5 day training pairings). I'm sure this will be addressed. There are MANY others to include LTD, greivance reconcilliation, reserve rules, vacation weeks, etc. I could go on (as I'm sure we all could). In fact, I kinda chuckled to myself when I got the online survey that asked for the top 3 issues. Top 3? How about top 8?

Anyway, the one FAILSAFE in all this is that WE have to vote on it.

 

You're exactly right with what I bolded above. The one thing though that I’m afraid of is the guys almost out the door because they are getting ready to hit the expiration date in there career looking to get paid before they leave and the new people who are voting yes to also get paid before they disappear to a legacy. The union should be blasting out logic here 1. Don’t screw your fellow pilots because you’re looking for a bump in pay while the company offers a mediocre increase with QOL hits and 2. Don’t just vote yes because you have your sights on a legacy player but also want to get paid before you get the call.

We all need to stick together and be unified. We all have ideas some similar to others and others some things are more important. We have to try to address all things. This is not a time to give up on some sub par nonsense. If that means we vote no the first time that is EXACTLY what we need to do.

 

I'm on record (here and in the flightdeck) as believing a strike is necessary. The first offer will be a low ball and the union may just put on the "best we can get" song and dance. I'm not buying either one. We need a no-vote turnout like the UA Tumi TA. No to the 1st offer - WHATEVER it is. There WILL be a better offer.

 

This… About a year ago had a new guy next to me telling me he would vote yes on anything put in front of him to get a bump as he was headed to a legacy. My advice was to vote yes on a contract that you could work under for the rest of your career. You may find out that your phone never rings with that golden opportunity.

Unity is what we need now more than ever. communicate with your reps, do your job, and when you get frustrated vent to your pilots to your left or right. When the Kings have the peasants fighting amongst themselves the target is not on them. The issue is the Company’s unwillingness to negotiate. We are all eager to hear how the next few rounds of negotiations play out with the new mediator.