phalanxo

Ah.. didn't consider that. I'll be quite impressed if you manage to get a PBS system that somehow isn't concessionary.

Phteven

The pilots at Alaska are also researching PBS and will probably inevitably end up getting it. Though hopefully they are smarter than this pilot group and actually get something for switching over.

Thanks for your input about the problems with PBS. I am not staunchly opposed to it as I do see that it provides a lot of cost savings to the company and I can understand why they want so much to switch. However, I think trading the loss of scheduling control should be offset by other improvements.

The main items in this TA are 1.) PBS for line bidding, 2.) 20% of reserve being global 12-hr long call (currently we have only 2-hr short call), 3.) mandatory call to CS after a reserve trip which ends in base that starts a 30 minute timer in which they could give you an assignment (currently only contactable for 5-15 minutes, no mandatory call), 4.) loss of our 10% increased jet rate in exchange for a blended rate that bumps up all pay by 1.5%. This yields an aggregate pay decrease of around 3.2% based on a 30 jet, 32 prop fleet.

Some things that seem good about the PBS set up are six golden days a year and our vacation is in one-week allotments worth 19.5 credits with the ability to extend it up to three days on either end of that week. Though with what you mentioned about PBS logic for trip assignments around vacation...

This union and pilot group does not know much about PBS, so we're supposed to assume that the work rules we have are good (relatively speaking). Most of this new TA is copy/paste from Republic's new contract, including that garbage clause about the mandatory call to CS after a reserve trip.

Long story short - this is a concession and this pilot group looks likely to vote it in because they are scared of losing their jobs. Their justification is that it is okay because it isn't setting the bar lower because it isn't the industry's worst contract. I thought we strived for higher than that here, but I guess we don't when the heat gets turned up.

phalanxo

I can't believe in a time like this asking to share a little bit in the company's success isn't an option, that concessions seem more likely. $41 million on a stadium .. and I mean what happened to this? Horizon tops regional airlines in profit margin | North Bay Business Journal
I feel like Alaska wants to put the jets at QX anyway in order to be able to whipsaw two carriers... That's why the first ones went to OO. Their payrates on the E175 are just about the same... and they have work rules, too.
Long call sounds like a gain, but be careful with the rules with regards to the 12 hr long call reserve? Make sure there is a limit to how many times you can be converted from long call down to short call or ready... it's 6 for us. They get you on a trip and then they ACARs you for more flying every day... 30 mins after getting in is insane as well, ours is 15 w/ no mandatory call, I assumed that was pretty close to industry standard...

Phteven

^^^THIS^^^

I don't see how our contract is really significantly worse than Skywest right now anyway. Sure they have PBS and their medical doesn't seem quite as good. Similar 401k overall. But we pay for our own LTD (at 1.5% of our income) and our new hires buy their own uniforms. Frankly put it all together and the difference between our contracts right now all comes out in the wash.

I can't remember off-hand what the conversion limits are for long-call, but this a minor gain at best and well offset by the more significant loss of mandatory airport reserve after every reserve trip.

My prediction is the top 1/3 of senior guys will vote yes because they feel they have too much to lose to show any courage and don't care about the losses from reserve rules and PBS since it will not proportionately affect them. The middle 1/3 of the group will vote yes so they can keep their jobs until a major picks them up. The bottom 1/3 will vote no but it won't matter because it will pass anyway.

snackysmores

We can be converted to short call 8 times in a bid under this. The mandatory call + 30 min really ****es me off, we don't have ACARs.

snackysmores

Sounds about right.

lowflying

I read your contract last night and its pretty nice. OO and republic have some of the best payrates and work rules right now. We seem to have similar reserve contactable rules to Republic's new ones. If you can point to another regional with jet rates close to our current rates I'm sure the union would be greatfull; ours are 4,9,and 14 dollars an hour higher than republic, Skywest, and compass rates.

Taylor814ce

I don't recall seeing what the new pay rates are. Can someone post what the new pay proposal is?

Thanks

lowflying

Keep current dash rates. Our t-prop rates are currently 2nd best 76 jet rates we've gotten zero help from everyone except republic and Skywest who both recently got significant improvements in pay and/or rigs

Cruz5350

First off hourly rates are only part of the equation secondly QX runs 35 day bid windows IIRC. When I was there I did well but compared to how SKW does it even with a lower hourly rate I still make quite a bit more. Is PBS going to change the bid periods down to 30 days or remain the same? That's going to make a huge difference imo.