Whats going on at Airtran?
 

Sorry if this is old news but I heard Airtran threatened to fire all New-Hires if the Union were to require the company to honor part of the contract. Specifically, if furloughees were to be trained as instructors the company would bring out the axe? Is this accurate? Old news? Ongoing?

Thanks Scoop

The company said they would fire vs furlough 169 pilots. This was to circumvent the contract. The contract required that prior to any line pilot being furloughed the company would have to furlough the retired pilots working in the training center. Since the 169 were on probation the company could fire without cause. The union signed a letter of agreement that gave the company relief. The 169 got furloughed and the training center remained.

Did the company and the NPA have contract talks on Wed?

I still can't believe that's what they are doing, what a crappy union to sign off on that. Besides the traing dept is not going to be doing nearly as much with no new hires. Huge slap in the face from management to every pilot.

The union has to represent ALL of the pilots. It's tough to put the axe to 169 pilots just to get some old Eastern guys furloughed (any scabs in this group by chance?).

It's easy to shoot from the easy chair here and say NPA caved - why put that provision in your contract if you'll just give relief on it once the rubber hits to road? Tough call, and what leaders have to do sometimes. Also shows the true colors of Air Tran management though. Stephen Kolski is part of that team - "he oversees . . . labor contract negotiations", "co-founded New York Air", and honed his craft under Frank Lorenzo. I think that resume speaks for itself.

IMHO (which isn't worth much against the EURO), the fact of that matter is there is, or was, a section in the contract that says before furloughs happen the training guys had to be axed first. That was the agreement between the union and the company. It should abide by it. Instead they change the rules after both sides agree to them. Hmm, sounds similar to some seniority intergration thing I heard about.

I do see where this could pose a problem though. 169 guys fired vs. furloughed with a chance to come back. Hold the probation guys hostage. Down right sucks.

If they were furloughed it would be okay, fired unacceptable.

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Amen, Amen, Amen. I am part of the 169, and I couldn't figure out why they were doing this until I did some research on who we had running the place. We have Kolski, another guy from Mesa and the Dir. of Planning is Ex-NWA. It is the perfect storm of a-hole management. I won't speak for the rest of 168, but for myself and the guys I spoke with, we were not happy about the union signing the agreement to provide a furlough. This is a pilot group with a bunch of great guys/gals and have been negotiating a contract for 5 years. On top of that, the contract the pilots have now, according to a fleet manager, "is merely a suggestion":mad:. The company knowingly and willingly violates the contract and not one thing should have been given back to them. If it meant us getting fired..as far as I'm concerned...it would have been fine.

Anyway, its all water under the bridge now and its all done. I will say that everybody I flew with there was a class act and really wants the place and culture there to change, its just a huge battle to take on.

Do you plan to return when you are recalled (whenever that is)?

I am asking because I am in the "pool" at AT ... trying to decide what I will do whenever they start up new-hire training again.

You can respond here or via PM ... your call. Thanks! :)

Right now, the 169 are being told 2-3 years for recall. We have deferred all our new a/c deliveries until October of 2010.

I find it hard to believe they would keep a 'pool' for the duration of the furlough.

Industry average for furloughed pilots returning after one year or more is about 12% (APA stats).

Most of the guys I have spoken too will not be coming back (myself included).