As far as Premium goes - meh, maybe, maybe not. It depends. As far as the straight pay stuff, that's a tricky one, primarily because OT is almost always assigned to reserves and the existence of 125% over 82.

Some basic math (yes math in public is dangerous and I'm sure I'll screw this up...)

Pilot A is assigned a line (of 82 block and credit), does not pick up any straight OT and, of course, he/she is paid 82.
Pilot B is assigned a 82 credit line but picks up OT to accumulate 96.40 credit in the same month. For pay purposes, that'd be equivalent to 82+14.4*1.25 = 100.

Pilot A flew the contract and the company paid EXACTLY what it was expecting to pay. For pilot B, the difference of block (96.4) to credit (100) is 3.6 hours so it costs the company that much more than expected. Let's say in the same above case, Pilot A still doesn't pick up OT but does pick up a premium trip (block of 7.2 hours) equivalent to 200%. Pilot A now credits the same as above (82+14.4*1.25) but the difference in block to credit is now 10.8.

Of course, the Pilot A Premium scenario is the more helpful to the pilot group; but since premium isn't offered until the day prior to the trip, it's difficult to measure the impact OR if that strategy will ever happen at all. Whereas, on the 13th before every month, OT opens and those who want to be Pilot B are given the chance (which solidifies the subsequent cost to the company). We obviously have no idea how many Pilot Bs we end up with each month nor the amount of accumulated block to credit difference. The only thing we do know is that is has occurred every month since becoming an airline.

So, what is really better for the pilot community is obviously a philosophical question. To me, the most effective action would be for no one to pick up anything. Cancelled flights due to lack of manning have the most impact of course. But, this is HIGHLY ILLEGAL and further damaging to our cause (as not status quo). And, when you factor in asking over 2200 pilots to be Pilot A (line assignment only) for the duration of the negotiations which are often several years long, this is NOT A REALISTIC OR VIABLE strategy.

Whine all you want. B!tch all you want. For those 2 reasons, this isn't viable. Period. Suggesting denotes ignorance of status quo and is potentially damaging to our cause due to potential litigation from the company. With the precedent we have set w/ picking up Premium at almost 100% rate and in some instances in milliseconds to going to not picking it up at all - can you imagine the lawsuit? If there were ever a time to even mildly suggest foregoing picking up OT/Premium, it would've been months ago before we entered negotiations.

So, with that not being an option, we further our cause the most w/ Premium (that is preferred) - which we are certainly doing. Then, with LARGER amounts of credit > 82 (which makes the block to credit difference greater). I also think it's a good idea to encourage Aggressive Reserve pickup early in the month. ON THE AGGRESSIVE RESERVE NOTE - I've heard stories of people requesting it, being turned down (usually for a BS reason) then noticing that same pairing being assigned to a different reserve w/ less credit who didn't request it. If/when this happens, of course a grievance should be filed.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm open to any viable option. What we really need to make better decisions is more data (of course). Does anyone know our true percentage of cancellations due to crew availability for any given month or year? I sent a DART years ago asking about the percentage of OT trips that become premium but was told the union doesn't have access to that info - imagine that.

 

I'd imagine with these guys, it's the only way they manage to stay married.

 

More importaintly, anybody seen the Strike Bus lately? If its not going to be used, it could be leased out to members for camping trips or something. It would go good with the new sun shades.

 

I heard it had the catalytic converter cut out while parked near Woolleys… kinda like our negotiating committee meeting with the recent LOAs.

Seriously when attrition is our only leverage, how do we give up requiring a system bid per class (I.e 90 new hires on the last)

 

LOA’ing away negotiating leverage is hysterical. What’s next? handing the company another cost-saving LOA like AQP?

Some days I really wonder whose side MM is on(Is he getting kick backs from management?).

Given the current state of negotiations, morale, and lack of progress, it’s astonishing there hasn’t been a push to recall the union.

 

THERE WAS. Two of the 4 LEC’s chose to not show up to a meeting to avoid a roll call vote to get around doing just that. Which cost you and I $75,000.00. By the way it wasn’t MCO or DEN.

 

The ones that wanted to shrink the nc down to an even number and harrass volunteers about FPL? Greats ideas. Here’s another. Let’s require all volunteers to have den addresses. Maybe we can save a few grand annually on den hotels?

I was starting to buy into some of the reasons to consider replacing MM until you reminded me of some waiting in the wings.

 

As a dispatcher, I’m ignorant, intrigued, and willing to learn/help.

 

6.5 million flica refreshes in 30 days! The pic has the employee numbers clearly cropped. I hope they get you guys.

 

This was how I knew it was real. 6-12 months ago I saw a screen where it was being tracked and the top abuser had 100,000-200,000 refreshes per HOUR.