Mesa Pulls PBS
 

Just heard that PBS has been pulled by the company. Apparently they served 45 days notice today of their intent to pull PBS.

Now the pilots lose PBS (which is FINE by me! Heck yeah!) but we also lose:
1. Scheduled or Actual
2. Line Guarantee
3. 100% Cancellation Pay

I thought the company might pull this stunt, but I had just decided they would want to keep it.

The only problem now, is how are we going back to the paper bids? I believe we do not have the old software that created the lines before PBS. I'm pretty sure what's going to happen is the company is going to use PBS to create lines, and then the pilots bid for said lines. So everyone will pretty much have unstacked schedules. I am not sure - I guess we'll have to wait to hear from the union to find out.

You guys really voted for a POS contract.

I know. It really frustrates me. I voted no, and I kept my voting receipt because I KNEW this would happen one day. :mad:


and we voted for a POS MEC just as well as we voted for that POS contract.

Does this have to do with the possible upcoming bankruptcy filing? It would seem like the opposite thing to do as PBS is supposed to be a more efficient way of "taming" your labor.

You know, I absolutely have NO idea. I've just given up completely when it comes to trying to figure out the company. They make absolutely no sense.

Well, if they're changing contracts it could only mean they're in desperation mode.

Blame shifting 101:

Scenario 1: The pilot group pulls PBS and the company blames the pilots for the impending bankruptcy.

Scenario 2: The company has to show the shareholders they are doing everything they can to save money. Company pulls PBS.

Just one more step towards their demises.

Best of luck finding employment, start now.

No more furniture left to burn, so time to tear down the curtains and rip out the baseboards. If you could audit Johnny's bank accounts and note when they stop rising and begin to level off, then you'd know liquidation is at hand.

I did not see this coming. There is no way this will save them $ in the long run.
so we wanted this anyway.
the only place i think its gona hurt is CVG since we are still Fat on people.
we Keep SAP, 11days off for reserves, calendar month bids, anything else good?

I think that's about it. I mean, it doesn't really matter. The company wasn't paying B or B out properly anyways, and cancellation pay never really effected me anyways. What I did like (I guess WHEN I was a line holder) was line guarantee.

But, I guess none of that matters now. I mean, heck, half of us are out of a job anyways.

No Sap anymore, bidding for trng is over so look for it to be placed on your days off, inability to decline a standing bid award, and now we have to electronically check in.

Well it was a crap contract and the pilots that voted for it deserve what they are getting. loose ambiguous language and a management the will exploit that to abuse the pilot group to no end. In my opinion the only way that contract should have been put to a vote at a minimum would have PBS not tied to the gains, but the yes voters where greedy, misinformed, or stupid. and no I did not vote I was only at the company for 10 months at the time of the vote. Rant over

WOW! 11 days off for reserves!!!!! Amazing!!!


It just goes to show you how sub-mesa our TA was at pinnacle. Our new TA that we "shot down" was only 10 days off for reserves. Unbelievable.


What's more unbelievable is that we had an alarming number of pilots who voted YES to having 10 days off a month on reserves.

I'm guessing most were not reserves (and were lineholder captains that never expect to be reserve there again) and took the opinion of screw the junior guys, I got what I want.

Look at Mesaba - same hubs, most same cities, etc. It's our sister company with good work rules, pay, etc. There's a popular belief here amongst some pilots that were "hopeless" so we call this group the "Defeatist's".

There was a mix of senior pilots screwing the junior pilots who voted yes. Second, a mix of "defeatists" who also voted yes. Third, a group of instructors who wanted to financially benefit off of constant training at a bottom feeder company that has a super-high turnover rate (125% pay for IOE).

These three groups totalled to 43% of our votes.

It's a big sob story.

57% percent said "Nope, we are professionals and deserve a fair and respectable compensation package."

What do you expect when you are willing to work for less than
20K a year? Your soul has already been sold once.

Good luck in this industry!

Just start watching out for managers jumping ship, that's a major sign of impending doom, i.e. "Our V.P. of operations has decided to pursue his dream of Cactus farming.".

To add salt in the wound XJ is on a concessionary deal. The vodka for the wound is it's not a high end contract (it's not the worst but far from the top end).

The 400 at Mesa have a good deal of respect from me, the rest... I blame apathy.

All we will ONLY lose is the Scheduled or actual, Line Gar., and CX Pay. Thats it!! Read your contract!! And the problem with our pilot group is that no one reads their contract.

Now that the chips are down!! What are we going to to do??? During Section 6 Negotiations the MEC put out a hot-line stating that the company had walked away from the bargaining table with no further negotiating date. You know what happened the next day?? On both the Mesa and Freedom Certificate we produced 95%+ Completion factor and On-time performance. I think the Freedom side even broke a new record for On-time performance. WE GOING TO TAKE THIS LYING DOWN OR FIGHT?? Now is the time to quit B*tching and take matters into our own hands.

To be fair to Mesa pilots, they were told the company was going to shut down if they didn't accept the contract. And with a 5 cent stock, it seemed like it. Mesa is not exactly Fedex, I don't think the industry expected much out of them. This stuff is just the tip of the iceberg and they are in serious trouble and look for more of this stuff from management. But if the rats start to abandon ship as posted by Skibum, it's over.

No Pdub, u need to read the contract yourself, SAP is gone (it is a product of PBS and is located in it's entirety under that section). Also bidding for training is gone. Now you tell me besides reservists getting more days off tell me specifically what gains (at this point) we made from the last contract? The only changes I see are we can't decline a standing bid and now we electronically check in! Both concessionary.

We were all set to fight for concrete gains last time around and you fought us, we told you this would happened and you refused to listen because at that point you were off probation and you thought you knew best. It is A.M. and the MEC at that time that failed us. Look at A.M.'s latest (and thankfully last) agreement with the company, the reserve LOA. See how that is working out!?

PBS being pulled by the company along with all the gains was entirely predictable and we tried to warn you that this was a hollow contract a year ago! And yet you still defend it by saying "All we will lose is the Scheduled or actual, Line Gar., and CX Pay. Thats it!!" That was the only gain!

First off, its not fair that you know who I am but don't know who you are. Second, I am no fan of A.M and his work at the Negotiating committee. After a comment made about sacrificing the Block or Better grievence for a commuter clause, I lost all faith. Third, no use in crying over spilled milk now. Its time for action, My question to the MAG pilot group, what are you going to do now? Cry or fight? Fourth, SAP is a product of FLICA, not PBS.

The time to fight was when you had a viable company.

Mesa is in the final stages of its death roll. Johnny knows he's milked this cow almost as long as he can and it's ready to flop over. His and Mesa's name is mud in this industry and no major carrier or LLC wants anything to do with this albatross of a corporation. He's already considering what his next cow will be.

As a Mesa pilot, my advice is to plan like your next trip is your last trip and get agressive about rebuilding your career as soon and fast as possible.

When the cow does flop, do you want to be standing next to it, screaming "FIGHT.......FIGHT" ?

Admit it..........it's over, Johnny snookered you and that's that.

The biggest deal breaker for me on the new contract was tieing Block or Better and Line Gurantee to PBS. Had the contract been set up to keep the B and B and Line Gurantee incase either side wanted out-that would have been different. Now it's back to the old system, and things are really going to get ugly. :eek:

I've always wondered if the "majors" would have more respect for Mesa/The MAG if we were rid of the management team.

Sometimes a complete management change can do wonders for a company. That may be the case here. Who knows? The current team sure hasn't done wonders taking the stock from dollars to 12¢ in just a few short years. It would be interesting to know what made that happen... and how much is related to the Go! and China operations.

Well, you can figure Hawai'i alone cost MAG over $100 million between lawsuits and having never turned a profit.

I think Mr. Pdub needs to have a one on one conversation with Mr. Angelo or be met in the parking lot to get a good explanation of what this contract was really about and justify his 'yes' vote. Still got the voting number?

Happy New Year from Mesa management... treating the employee's right.

We had Flica a year or two before PBS, how come SAP didn't come around until PBS if it is indeed not tied to it? Furthermore why is SAP only explained under the PBS section of the contract and nowhere else? It wont matter much anyways because with this rsv LOA they will attempt to run the operation on thinner reserve coverage than we have ever seen. PDub we all saw your posts on this and the Mesa forum (RIP) the other year and remember your views , however I did see something inappropriate to your anonimity on another thread and I must agree with u on one thing, let's try to maintain everyone's privacy.

Now if you want to do something, wipe out the MEC and get A.M. and P.P. out of anything to do with any committee. This was a predictable move by the company, the MEC and the NC allowed it to happen. And alot of us saw it coming before the signatures even dried on the contract.

Section 13 Letter B sentence 2 states : "If PBS is discontinued, scheduled vs. actual pay and line guarantee pay and bidding for training will be discontinued as well"

Thats word for word from CBA.

To my understanding AM and PP have nothing to do with the negotiations anymore. And as to my views from mesahub, if you've had any recent conversation with me, you would know that my views have changed A LOT.

The the ironic thing is that less than 7 days ago this pilot group was screaming to get rid of PBS. Im mad because under the terms in which PBS was cancelled. Trying to leverage PBS against us to settle outstanding grievances is a kick in the nutts.

and Strike: I have no problem talking to Angelou. Whats the count of the eligible those who DIDNT vote? 235 I believe. that's over half the pilots who did vote.

you still voted yes.
here goes 418 "I Told You So"'s

This may be truth. However...on the off chance that mesa pulls out of this inverted flat spin, or manages to enter and survive the Ch.11 without liquidation, you guys don't want to be left holding a bag of poo.

Since you probably can't get a different job right now, might as well spend some energy trying to patch up what you have, if that's possible.

PDub is proactive and vocal, those are good traits for someone involved in a labor dispute. He didn't always have the best ideas IMO, but at least he's pushing the issues.

Going forward, you will be a smaller, leaner, meaner pilot group...no starry-eyed Noobs left, so everyone will have been bent over the MAG barrel once or twice. Hopefully there will be enough folks who won't roll over every time OJ threatens to take their shiny jet away.