Hey guys, hate to change the subject, but I am here on a mission.

My father is the vice president of a major two-way radio contactor for service/sales/etc of Motorola radios. Beginning in January or February of 2009, the entire southwestern ohio digital radio network will start being rebanded to accomodate cellular channels. This will require the reprogramming of all digital two-way radios in police/fire/ambulance/etc (over 10,000 radios). This project is expected to take 12-18 months. My father's company is looking to hire 5-15 full time, well educated folks to complete this task. He suggested that there will be many pilots hitting the street for approximately this time frame.

If you are interested in more details, PM me with your name, phone, and email address and I'll start a list.

 

The MEC of today is trying to vindicate what they perceived as wrongs committed by the company during the era of the strike. They were not the acting MEC but they were on property at that time and they are still using the narrow minded way of thinking that created the strike in 2001. Everyone admired the new contract out of the strike, giving Comair some of the highest pay rates in the industry. However, times have changed, big time! Soon after the new contract was signed, 9/11 occurred. Then a few years later bankruptcy and then oil was $140 per barrel. Our MEC seems to be stuck in the pre-9/11 days, riding the high of the 'good ole days' with a new contract and cant seem to get why the company is in the position it's in now. And with the wave of pilots hired here post-9/11 and post bankruptcy, it's incredibly disappointing that the current MEC has lost sight of these facts and continues to try the tactics that caused the strike in the first place in an environment that is 100% different than in 2001.

 

I wasn't comparing our current MEC to the MEC during the strike. I was comparing the actions of the pilot group then to what it is now. We are not near as unified and much of our pilot group never experienced what it was like to be in a cohesive group and the benefit that had for us. No matter what the current MEC does, we don't have to agree with it, but we should still stand together for now and vote in the next election for change. (how many times have we heard that in the last year)

As far as the way the union is handling the furloughs, our anger should be directed at management for hiring 200+ pilots they didn't need based on the fact that they wanted to be in a position to cover any flying that came their way without any definite plans for more aircraft. We have 206 pilots on the street right now as a direct result of that and 120 more in January, but all I hear is now our union is mishandling the situation. They are not perfect, but I'll stand by them as this situation is not our fault. I applaud the furloughed pilots on this board that stand behind the union even though they are furloughed. They get it.

 

You could remind management that they testified in bankruptcy court that Comair would be competitive and win Delta flying if they could change the pilot contract. Guess what... the judge (Adlai Hardin) agreed, threw out the contract making Comair pay second lowest to Mesa so Comair could grow, and here we are...

Mesa, Pinnacle, and Chaupublic are negotiating for higher pay.

ASA has a new higher-paying contract.

SkyWest has a new... well, no contract, but their benevolent dictator has granted them increased pay.

Mesaba has snap-back provisions and is getting increased pay.

Compass? I don't have a clue what they're doing, but they're the only one in DCI not awarded Comair aircraft.

Where's Comair? Shrunk 34% from before BK. Because of crummy management, not pilot pay.

Tell management that and see what they say.

 

What do you think our tactics should be?

 

There is no I in ALPA, but there is a ME and a U in resume.

 

The way I see it we have 3 distinct groups with in the pilot group here: the top 350 who are ****ed off at management for not doing things their way; the bottom 300 that are ****ed off they are loosing their jobs; and the rest that are apathetic to the entire union/management struggle. What we need to do is get the bottom 300 and the apathetic pilots motivated to take a stand and voice their concerns over what direction the union is taking this pilot group. A major problem is us just sitting back and being a Monday morning quarterback on these web boards and not taking real action. Why do you guys think Obama had such a landslide victory? He and his team demonstrated superior organization and energized the party to actually get something done. We need to do the same to get our issues worked out. We need to get the flex line value issue worked out, we need to get the extended COLAs, early retirements, and voluntary furloughs issues worked out. People want these options! We just currently lack the organization and motivation as a pilot group to put the pressure on the people that make the decisions that effect us ALL. The filer that was in the crew room the other day is just the beginning. A revolution is coming and you will have to make a decision if you want to see the continued struggle of wills between the MEC and management or take control of your career and create the changes that will bring everyone together.

I can tell that everyone on this board has varying opinions on what to do and varying ideologies of who you support. But we can all agree that we want to keep our jobs, have a decent quality of life, a living wage and a sense that the company you work for is not on the brink of disaster.

When the time comes, I hope we can call come together....stay tuned.

 

I agree with some of your points, but how do we start?

 

We are furloughing pilots but no FO COLAS in January. What the *****k

 

This makes me excited to be a very junior reserveist. I can just see it now. A 100hr credit hr line on short call. This crap is outragous.