CAL Update II
 

Since the old thread was locked due to forum rules regarding how we treat each other on here, I'll start a new one in the hopes we can avoid low blows for a while. There's a lot of info. and rumors floating around on the line and calforums but here's what ALPA says this week, as I have been told many guys got phone calls regarding class dates and interviews being canceled or delayed.

The CAL MEC would like to address the rumors concerning new hire classes for the rest of the year and speculation regarding the potential for furloughs occurring this fall. Fuel costs in excess of those anticipated in Continental’s business plan and a general downturn in the overall economy has resulted in some uncertainty as to our ability to continue to expand and grow as anticipated. First addressing new hire classes, we have been advised by Flight Operations that there are currently two classes remaining for the calendar year, one scheduled for April and the second for May, with four new hires in each. Management has advised us that all prospective pilots are being fully informed of the status of hiring at Continental and are being offered the ability to bypass these classes if they so choose. Further, all pilots who have been accepted but do not have a class date have been told that they will be offered a future class date when hiring resumes. We feel, and have proactively advised management that giving these prospective Continental Pilots as much accurate information as is available is the only fair thing to do.

As for furloughs, we have been told that management is not anticipating or in favor of furloughing pilots at this time or in the future. The current plan calls for a strategic approach involving reevaluating aircraft utilization along with other revenue generation and cost savings steps to actively avoid the need for furloughs. The Union strongly advises against initiating long term, extreme measures to what may be a short term economic trough. Inevitably furloughs create a host of issues that, in the long term, may be more problematic than the issues they initially are designed to correct. The value of pilots to the continued success of the Company is vital and we strongly believe being properly and fully staffed will better protect our operation and therefore our revenue as we enter the peak flying months of summer. We will continue to provide additional information on these topics as warranted or when new information becomes available. If you have questions concerning these issues, we encourage you to contact your elected representatives for accurate, factual answers.

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On a side note, my personal opinion of the month is more of us should be discouraging our peers from picking up open time. This is a lean operation already but it would be nice to preserve some of the junior guys jobs for a greater period of time if it comes down to it. This will send a very clear message, especially going into the summer season.

Secondly, I continue to be amazed that despite communication from the union and the uniform police from the CPO - I keep seeing guys walking around with bad shoes, the wrong color belt, unbuttoned jackets, dragging their hat, and generally looking like we get paid horribly (which we do). Please guys, dress for the job you want. I do believe looking unified makes a difference. Take a look at the photo from the rally and tell me I'm wrong.

Anyway, brief rant over. Time for the highlight of my day: my bowl of Lucky Charms. My thoughts are with the families from Aloha and Champion. Reminds me of my Indy Air days. :(

you sound like you're the uniform police.

looking unified or dressing unified? if it's dressing, what does it really matter if you have your jacket buttoned or unbuttoned, wear your hat or don't? during the summer when you don't have to wear your hat or jacket do the wheels come off the bus as well...

Yet another useless post from you. If you don't comprehend why it's important for people to look the same in uniform see if someone else will spell it out for you. I'm willing to wager most people in any line of work that requires one will agree with me on their significance. I hope you don't work here.

maybe they are more concerned about losing there job then the appearance of their shoes..............

You cannot expect to be treated professionally if you do not act it.

And maybe you should concern yourself more with the regional forum THAN the major forum. :p I guess my point falls on deaf ears. But if only you and Stratton have beef with it, I can certainly live with that.

true, but don't think the industry got to where it is today becuase of sloppy uniforms.........

good one................


And if you educated yourself a little more, you would know that it is illegal for the Union to "discourage your peers" to pick up open time......

Finally. Someone gets it. Though every airline has their unique corporate culture and strengths - I usually do get the impression the DAL guys give a rat's ass on how they are perceived. The PERCEPTION of a unified group goes a long way. Thanks for backing me up.

I'm quite sure you're not in any position to teach me about ALPA. And I'm 100% certain I didn't say anywhere or ever that ALPA or CAL MEC needed to advise cessation of open time pickup. I clearly stated that pilots needed to educate each other on the matter so that doing more with less discontinues asap. Of all people, someone in your shoes should support that notion, or would you prefer for no new jobs to be created at the major level?

I see, becuase you are at a "REAL" airline you know all there is to know about UNIONS/Labor law, how the hell can a regional F/O who happens to be a Rep teach you anything. Seems like you need to be educated becuase you can't have a grassroots campaign to stop picking up open time. Do I think its a great idea???? yeah I do. I am on your side believe me, I'm just beyond tired of Labor not having any authority to do anything, such as not picking up open time. As far as the uniform, I agree you can't get respect if you look like a slob but unfortunately that won't do a thing.


Something as small as your "suggestion" to not pick up open time, on this website could be used by some scum lawyer, you know that as well as I, thats all I was saying

So you're agreeing with me on what are proving to be valid points, but would rather adopt an attitude of resignation or indifference to them? Because labor's hands are tied on so many issues, we have to spread the word amongst ourselves. I would rather take the chance that doing something DOES make a difference, rather than assume it will not and do nothing which obviously yields predictable results. I am glad to hear you are frustrated, and that you in fact care. Lead by example!

And please amigo, it's because, not becuase. On days I'm not acting as uniform cop, it's spelling nazi.:p

Now, let's leave this thread for what it is: CAL updates, not my personal soapbox.

P.S. I'll take my chances with the lawyers hunting me down on APC. I'm about to marry one. So yes, I do know a bit about labor law. And yes, I know you're related to one.

Excellent Idea! & thanks for suggesting it.

That's why I'm here. Information as it is presented to me, and suggestions to go along with it.

0 Infractions this year and last. :)

I think I am infraction free this year as well :).

But back to topic

You might want to get some info on the 49 individual DAL pilots who were sued, along with DALPA for doing exactly what you mentioned. It has happened before and cost a lot of time and money to defend. Just a head's up brah.

I'm with you on the uniform issue. If nothing else, we should take pride in our appearance as well as our profession no matter how bad things are in the industry. Chances are if you look like a dirtbag you probably aren't far from it.

So, aside from all the rest of the stuff on here, thanks for the update on the CAL hiring situation. I was in the 22 April class that was nixed. As of right now I haven't heard anything, and am still wondering what will happen. I assume I enter a pool, and hopefully hiring will pick up in the fall sometime. I still feel like I got kicked in the...

Anyone else in my shoes? I am very curious to see how many are in the pool and what anyone else knows. Please, keep the updates coming and again, thanks for the nice update LifeNtheFstlne.

Pilots should not pick up open time. Go home on your days off. It's not illeagal not to work on your days off or suggest it to others. Every trip you pick up means one less trip for a potential new hire. Take your vacation too. While I'm at it, if you're over 60- retire. I'd like to see us hire 300 former Aloha pilots than to have 300 scabs around for 5 more years.

If you don't want to wear the uniform properly, find another job. Jacket buttoned and hat on properly (not like a bus driver). We are professional pilots. I was embarassed by some of my peers on the Wallstreet picket line. I really enjoyed the "light gray" overcoats.:rolleyes: I realize 20-30 years will fade a black jacket to gray, so just replace it. We all took this job knowing that we wore uniforms, so there are no surprises. Just wear it and wear it correctly. I personally hate hats and ties, but I wear them (in view of the public). :D

Dannolars, sorry to hear about your misfortune. You will be hard pressed to find many others more vocal than me about our need for additional pilots at this time. Crew coordination is backed into a corner daily due to staffing issues. We will see what happens. I'm sure Otto will agree, some of this is not just economics but also Section 6 posturing as well. I've asked around to some pilots that have quite a bit more longevity than I do, and historically the company has been quite good at honoring job offers and class dates that have been moved. I'm sure that when classes and/or interviews resume your offer will stand. Of course by then you could be long gone and flying somewhere else. Then when I get furloughed and come there, you'll be senior to me. :eek: Don't you love this industry?!

Question for the tech savvy computer geeks out there: As you FMS users know, some software programs offer suggestions for optimum/recommended/max altitude. Naturally, we attempt to abide by those and save some coins on fuel and/or time. Of course it takes into account a few variables and is fairly dynamic. Would it be possible to write a software program that continually looks at ALL the variables and presents a lateral course representation on a map display of suggested routing? Obviously the software programming for the vertical axis works fine, so it would be great to know that asking for direct XYZ would make a difference laterally without trial and error. This is poorly worded, I know. But does anyone follow me? One would surmise that coupled with ADS-B (eventually) that type of graphical depiction would save.... I dunno...money --> our jobs. Lastly, I've been scouring the news lately for any word of more pressure being put on the FAA to improve the technology of the ATC system. I figured by now the airlines would be screaming for change with oil being what it is. I don't consider capping NYC area departures an all encompassing solution, but can't find info. on what progress is being made to upgrade the system. Ahhh the things you think of while sucking down fuel in holding trying to get into EWR. :confused:

Continental Airlines recently announced a multi-year marketing partnership with the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark, New Jersey, signing on as the organization's Official Airline. Elements of the partnership include cooperative advertising and joint marketing promotions through the 2010 season.

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Continental Airlines Inc. late Tuesday said March load factor fell slightly to 82.3% from 82.6% during the same month a year earlier.

Traffic at the Houston-based carrier increased 4.3% to 8.29 billion revenue passenger miles while capacity grew 4.6% to 10.1 billion available seat miles.

True that....I was in JFK waiting at the podium for the inbound flight...uniform jacket, hat the works. My F/O is standing beside me, tie un-done, no jacket, no hat. I'm not the uniform police, that's a job for super chief pilot, but what happened next was funny. A passenger walked up to my F/O and asked if he was a wheel chair pusher:) My F/O looked at me as the pax waled away and said, can you believe him? I said if ya want to be identified a s a pilot, dress like one:cool:

Nice! I had a little kid ask me if I was a train conductor yesterday while I was exiting terminal C in EWR. I just laughed and took it as a compliment. Then I asked him if he rode the short bus to school and told him to tell his mom I wanted my socks back. No one laughed. (kidding) But the first part was true. I guess conductors must look pretty sharp, cause I gotta tell ya I am trying hard right now.

PBS dishes out all the trips. Whats the difference between the guy that bids a low value line (in order to get the trips he wants) and looks to pickup added time vs the guy that bids a high value line. Should everyone bid a low value line? Someone is going to be awarded the pairing regardless under PBS. I agree that if everyone flew 75 hrs.; trips would go uncovered but that is not realistic with PBS. Junior people will be forced into high line values.

There is open time and guys do pick it up.
I know guys who get a high line value and pick up open time.
Bid low and stay home. Don't answer your phone, unless you're on reserve.

They just called me to change my phone availability from 11am to 3am. :D

so during the summer months when your flying to europe and you're in your uniform (coat and hat) and your fellow employee (737 pilot going domestic) is not wearing his coat and hat make sure you tell him how unprofessional it is to not all look the same. maybe you should suggest that coat and hat are mandatory to everyone during the summer.

so are all the pilots at airlines where hats are optional slobs, unprofessional, ununified?

you can hope I don't work their but I never want to look like Gary Sinise...:rolleyes:

useless more like priceless...pilots thinking the uniform will help take it back. maybe you should have shown up in rags to show people that we don't all make $200,000 a year.

on a side note I heard that during the contract talks between delta and nwa the uniform allowance didn't cover the full delta uniform for the nwa pilots to buy. a response from the gallery said "don't worry the nwa guys won't buy the hat anyway" nwa just about fell out of their seats laughing while delta sat their silent. now that funny :D those silly nwa pilots just don't get it do they...

why can't someone pick up time if they want to make some more money? no one is furloughed. if they were then that's a different story...

advertised trips not open time
 

Pick up advertised trips, not open time. Help your fellow pilots, not the company which refuses to properly staff or pay!:mad:

Just, are you referring to the court decision in 2000? From my end (not DAL) the judge's ruling seemed unenforceable beyond having the union tell pilots to continue with the status quo (i.e. pick up open time). How did they go after individual pilots and what were the repercussions, if any?

LifeNtheFstLne I LOVE the industry and I am not even in it! Or maybe I am smoking crack again, who knows. Thanks again for the info. I think for now I am going to stay with my offer and let it ride for a while. I will keep my apps out and eyes open, but I am really hoping to stay with CAL.

SAAB,
Where in the RLA is it illegal?. No kidding, UPS spent enormous efforts to place similiar language in our CBA. They got it except when furloughs were announced. Please provide specific court cases,law etc. Because the Airborne Court case would suggest otherwise.

BTW, if you want compensation like a high powered wall street business exec, as we all desire, you do have to dress the part. Just like you did at your interview. But, no, that isn't the cause of our predicament, but walk and talk like a high school dropout does not engender credibility for our profession.

I interviewed on 18 Mar and was called the next day and offered a spot in the pool. When I interviewed I was told they were going to continue to interview until they had 50 in the pool. I think I saw somewhere on a forum that the 18th was the first day people started entering the pool. I imagine you and the others in your shoes that had their classes canx are first in the pool and then everyone interviewed on the 18th and beyond. As I am writing this I now wonder if the classes that were canx will count towards the 50 or if the pool will be 50+?

HEY!!! I like that point! If "looking professional doesn't matter", why show up at the interview in a suit? Just show up "business casual".
Weird but, when I "dress up" in full dress, I actually feel more professional, and proud...

So is that why military pilots are seen in bars drinking in their flight suits? I've never understood that.

Not wearing a uniform with pride says a lot about one's character. I wasn't a big fan of my time at Trans States, but I wore the uniform just as proudly as I do now at SkyWest.

Don't let anybody take away that dignity.

The military should be able to drink in uniform, as should we...Unfortunately, John Q Public just can't handle the thought of us actually being real people...

Now getting in a drunken-brawl, however...

What is the purpose of that?

Chicks dig it........

It's so when everybody gets drunk and the bar fight breaks out, you know who's on your team:)

That is what I am talking about! Go team...