Ditto what was said above. Vague language that the company exploits.

I want the company I work for to be successful and profitable. When the shoe is on the other foot however you are expected to do the "right thing" (which in and of itself is debatable...the meaning of "right thing" that is...) So you read the contract and you think "I think I'm covered for this" and you think "yea I work for a good company they'll do the right thing.." fuhgettaboutit

I would give you a personal story on this but it would out who I am immediately to anyone with access to stuff. I was assigned something - the contract clearly stated I was not to be assigned that. Called CP he agreed. After some back and forth with the CP the company decided I was ineligible because they decided to count ineligible people in front of me in the seniority list. In other words I would have held a line in this instance because of who was out on MIL leave or otherwise ineligible to bid but assigned reserve instead. I sent all this info to the Union and crickets.

So far in my two 1/2 years I've tried to contact the Union 3 times with an issue and 3 times I got no response at all. One of these is with the new regime. The few times I've actually engaged with the Union you'll hear "fly it and grieve it" or "the company has the right to interpret the contract how they want just as you do". Well... that's the effin point of a Union is your supposed to fight for my point of view as long as I'm not off the chain bat crap crazy.

All in you can absolutely do worse than here. TSA, BlowJet and MESA come to mind... just know that the contract is written on swiss cheese.

If you take a step back and look at the big picture it kind of makes sense. Envoy was super ****ed at PSA back in the day for signing a concessionary contract when they were on the verge of a huge victory. This contract that was signed is good until 2023(?). So now who does AA start throwing airframes at? The company with a cheap long term contract. While almost every other regional is making pay and contract gains we are stagnant or in some viewpoints even retrogressing. For example as mentioned above we signed an agreement allowing the company to rout out senior FOs and force them to upgrade instead of following the provisions in the contract and force them to upgrade. The company saves a ton of money by now not having to pay retention bonuses. As well as destroy long standing tradition of seniority. They agreed to this under the guise of fear of "junior forced upgrades" having imaginary incidents with absolutely no precedent or proof to back their fear mongering. In return we were supposed to have new reserve rules in place by March of LAST YEAR... aaaaaand.... we STILL don't have them.

Those rules are finally supposedly coming soon™ and the new regime in charge of the MEC is really open with communication so there is some glimmer of hope. I don't know WTF the prior MEC chair was thinking because he never communicated with us. As far as I'm concerned he's a lying piece of crap that sold us down the river.

So I know you want specifics but reposting the contract is illegal if I remember right. You can safely bet however that any part of the contract that could possibly benefit the employee will have vague language, exclusions and gotchas. Not that other contracts don't mind you but I think we have the market cornered in that regards.

 

Agree with what’s said above. Tons of gray areas in the contract without ONE being interpreted in the pilot’s favor. The sad part is a lot of this is the union’s doing. Our contract is good till 2023. We don’t have to negotiate jack squat, but the last 2 years the union has been giving away stuff to bail out the company without anything in return. Some say we got flow increase for the forced upgrades. I think that was coming regardless. This company just doesn’t give one inch without seeing a need. They knew they to need attract new hires so we would have gotten a flow increase anyway. As big as we are now, the flow increase is still minuscule unless you’re in the top 20%.

As much as I blame the company, I blame the union just as much for giving up stuff when we don’t have to. I’ve heard some not so positive rumors about what the company wants to do with SAP and PBS. This is the chance for the MEC to win back the pilot group.

 

I mean it's honestly hard to blame the company, they're doing exactly what I'd expect them to do. If you ask someone for $100 and they just give it to you no strings attached is it your fault for taking it? I don't think so.

It takes two to tango, and it's the Union that keeps signing these letters of agreement without any input from the pilot group. In my two years here at PSA I'd be better off if the Union had sat on its hands the whole time. Instead I'm getting screwed around on reserve because the Union traded my seniority and forced me to upgrade.

I had always planned on hanging out and waiting for the flow, but if we don't see some actual improvements pretty quick in 2019 I'll probably start looking to jump ship.

 

Good point.

 

I only blame the company in instances of "doing the right thing" - which again is highly debatable what exactly the "right thing" is... I'm not a betting man but I'd be willing to wager that throwing a bone every once in a while on a "grey area" matter would buy infinitely more morale than they could quantify. I know my personal situation aside there were also debates between the Union and the Company on how they "count" things - in that case it was for flow purposes. So it isn't just me. I can guarantee for every 1 person that does vocalize their discontent there are 10 more that are discontent that don't because they feel like their Union doesn't care and ultimately they feel like the Company doesn't care. There will probably be some company shill along shortly though to dismiss us as the "vocal minority". Truth is we're fed up to the point that we really don't fear retribution for speaking out anymore as starting over somewhere else is something we're already considering.

Also, calling changes to bring us out of the dark ages and up to industry standard "industry leading" just makes them look effin stupid. I'm not saying to not be positive about good changes but take off the blinders already.

 

Amen. All this “most respected” crap is getting ridiculous. It’s almost infuriating now. I don’t think I’ve flown with anyone that’s been off IOE more than 6 months that doesn’t share the sentiment as mentioned above.

I know management reads these threads. I hope I don’t have to fly during the next town hall because I will be asking them to explain this motto of “most respected regional airline”. So far... being one of the lowest paid regionals, some of worst premium pay, Captains barely making more than FOs, manipulating the reserve grid, forcing people to upgrade into 2 leg commute bases and taking away a bonus that was promised because we “volunteered” to upgrade, and never siding with the pilots on gray areas in the contract (heck, some sections straight deliberately doing opposite of what the contract says) ain’t anywhere near being respected or showing integrity.

 

Ask Dion those questions directly during the next town hall meeting, I double dog dare ya!

I share your same sentiment. About the union, about the company, about the flow. And honestly, the company isnt far off from being a top tier regional. Maintenance does a good job, crews are professional and friendly (mostly). But the pay, work rules and scheduling need a complete overhaul. I have friends get into the regional game and I steer them clear of PSA. I'm not a selfish guy so the bonus isn't worth putting a friend into this circus. Sure I've worked at worse places, but i don't believe in settling, we should always strive for better. This place could be so much better.

 

I referred a friend here earlier in 2018, but I feel guilty about it now. At the time I thought we were about to get pay raises. Here we are almost a year later and we’re taking pay cuts instead. Until we actually see positive change... $5,000 isn’t worth selling my soul to refer someone.

As much complaining as I put out on here I still wouldn’t call us the absolute bottom. With that said though, we’re nowhere near being able to claim we’re the most respected regional. I understand management doesn’t care about the employees and that they’re mostly trying to market themselves to passengers and customers, but still.... 90% of our passengers haven’t even heard of PSA Airlines.

 

Terrible is an understatement the guys who signed this where smoking crack! The company took all they could and more the pilots got nothing in fact gave them everything they could. The worst contract I’ve ever seen.

 

It’s been 2.5 years in for me... and at the time I went with what I thought was the best choice. Upon reflection, Republic would have been a better choice, especially with the hiring wave that ensued circa that time period.

Hell the only new hires that I fly with are guys that are from the RTP program that want Norfolk