PSA/Piedmont "Hiring Preference" to USAirways
11-03-2007, 07:09 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
Joined APC: Jul 2005
Position: E190 FO
Posts: 66
PSA/Piedmont "Hiring Preference" to USAirways
If there is anyone who is considering this as a factor in your next career move, I think it is important that you understand how the program is actually implimented.
This fall USAirways will start hiring several hundred pilots, and the WO pilots' "hiring preference" actually is just a gaurantee that the WO pilots (At least PSA) will be junior to every one of the pilots hired from other companies between now and then!.
Keep in mind that even though you may have a mainline job waiting for you after working hard at the WO regional, you may have to wait quite a while for it. In fact, you may have to wait several years. Hopefully that sounds like forever to anyone who is less than 30 years old, because in this context, it practically is.
Also keep in mind that if for some reason the mainline stops hiring, the WO "preference" candidates who were waiting for release from the regional will cease to be candidates.
So, my point is to be sure that you take this program at face value. I consider this not to be a positive recruiting tool, but rather an indicator of how the LCC does business.
If you want to work for USAirways, (which is probably something you really need to think about carefully) don't expect a job at PSA or Piedmont to do anything other than put you in a position junior to pilots from everywhere else in the industry.
Here are the letters for those of you who will just dismiss this as a disgruntled rant.
September 12, 2007
Dear PSA Pilot:
By the end of 2008, US Airways mainline anticipates hiring more than 350 pilots to replace retiring pilots and fill vacancies resulting from the delivery of 19 additional Embraer 190 aircraft. In addition to these new positions, the mainline also expects to return all 140 former US Airways pilots, working at regional carriers under the Jets for Jobs program, including the 64 J4J pilots here at PSA, by April 2008. With those returns, US Airways will have offered recall to all 1,700 pilots who were furloughed during pre-merger US Airways' bankruptcies. After returning J4J pilots to vacant positions, primarily on the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft, the remaining new first officer positions will be on the Embraer 190, Boeing 737, and Airbus A320 aircraft. US Airways' strong preference is to offer as many of these new positions on a preferential hire, in seniority order to pilots currently employed at PSA.
Flow-through meetings with the companies and ALPA groups are being scheduled tentatively for early October. If an agreement is reached then those flow-up provisions will be applied to any eligible Express pilot under the negotiated terms. [Note- this is highly unlikely for several reasons, including that PSA refused to give MEC members the association leave to attend that meeting]
If those discussions don't produce a flow-up agreement by the time US Airways is ready to begin accepting new hires, US Airways will still proceed and offer preferential hiring to any PSA or Piedmont pilot. Should that occur, any flow-up agreement reached after new hires are brought on board will apply to any PSA or Piedmont pilot accepted under preferential hiring provisions.
In discussing this possibility with mainline, we have agreed to build a program that would provide an opportunity for up to nine pilots a month to be hired by mainline after the last J4J pilots are released in April (meaning 72 PSA pilots will have the opportunity to transition to the mainline in 2008). Obviously, the final number will be subject to the actual attrition we experience and other operational constraints that are not totally within our control.
However, by any account, this is an aggressive plan that would allow 136 active PSA pilots (34 percent of all active pilots) to transition to mainline by the end of 2008. This will obviously tax our recruiting, training and financial
resources but we're committed to doing it because both US Airways and PSA management believe that it's the right thing to do. To show our commitment to this plan, we are modi tying our 2008 budget to account for purchase of an
additional 4600 hours of simulator time from outside vendors and have reduced our in-service fleet plan for 2008.
We believe that there are a number of professional PSA pilots that will continue their careers at PSA. However, we also realize that others are seeking different career paths. If you are one of the latter and are interested in applying for employment at US Airways, please complete an on-line application via the Careers link on the US Airways Website: www.usairways.com. We understand the value many of you place on a potential career path to mainline employment, and are committed to doing our best to assist you.
Letter number 2:
TO: All PSA Pilots
FR: Keith D. Houk
DT: October 26, 2007
RE: Preferential Hiring
As you know, US Airways has announced a program of preferential hiring for pilots at PSA. Interested pilots should file an on-line application as soon as possible, as applicants from PSA will be interviewed in seniority order within each round of scheduled interviews....
...For the next round of interviews, beginning November 12, 2007, pilots need to apply by November 2, 2007 to be placed on the interview schedule in seniority order. After each day of interviews, PSA pilots offered mainline employment will be placed in a pool for the first training class available following the date PSA is able to begin releasing pilots. Pilots accepted and placed in the hiring pool will be slotted for available training in the order they were accepted.
We currently expect to begin releasing PSA pilots for classes in May 2008, after the release of all the J4J pilots. Our goal is to place up to 72 PSA pilots at US Airways in 2008.
[note- what are the chances that when May comes the company will still be understaffed? My magic 8 ball says "Outlook good." Does that mean that they will not be ready to release pilots in May? Let me just ask the 8 ball one more time. Answer- "It is decidedly so."]
This fall USAirways will start hiring several hundred pilots, and the WO pilots' "hiring preference" actually is just a gaurantee that the WO pilots (At least PSA) will be junior to every one of the pilots hired from other companies between now and then!.
Keep in mind that even though you may have a mainline job waiting for you after working hard at the WO regional, you may have to wait quite a while for it. In fact, you may have to wait several years. Hopefully that sounds like forever to anyone who is less than 30 years old, because in this context, it practically is.
Also keep in mind that if for some reason the mainline stops hiring, the WO "preference" candidates who were waiting for release from the regional will cease to be candidates.
So, my point is to be sure that you take this program at face value. I consider this not to be a positive recruiting tool, but rather an indicator of how the LCC does business.
If you want to work for USAirways, (which is probably something you really need to think about carefully) don't expect a job at PSA or Piedmont to do anything other than put you in a position junior to pilots from everywhere else in the industry.
Here are the letters for those of you who will just dismiss this as a disgruntled rant.
September 12, 2007
Dear PSA Pilot:
By the end of 2008, US Airways mainline anticipates hiring more than 350 pilots to replace retiring pilots and fill vacancies resulting from the delivery of 19 additional Embraer 190 aircraft. In addition to these new positions, the mainline also expects to return all 140 former US Airways pilots, working at regional carriers under the Jets for Jobs program, including the 64 J4J pilots here at PSA, by April 2008. With those returns, US Airways will have offered recall to all 1,700 pilots who were furloughed during pre-merger US Airways' bankruptcies. After returning J4J pilots to vacant positions, primarily on the Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 aircraft, the remaining new first officer positions will be on the Embraer 190, Boeing 737, and Airbus A320 aircraft. US Airways' strong preference is to offer as many of these new positions on a preferential hire, in seniority order to pilots currently employed at PSA.
Flow-through meetings with the companies and ALPA groups are being scheduled tentatively for early October. If an agreement is reached then those flow-up provisions will be applied to any eligible Express pilot under the negotiated terms. [Note- this is highly unlikely for several reasons, including that PSA refused to give MEC members the association leave to attend that meeting]
If those discussions don't produce a flow-up agreement by the time US Airways is ready to begin accepting new hires, US Airways will still proceed and offer preferential hiring to any PSA or Piedmont pilot. Should that occur, any flow-up agreement reached after new hires are brought on board will apply to any PSA or Piedmont pilot accepted under preferential hiring provisions.
In discussing this possibility with mainline, we have agreed to build a program that would provide an opportunity for up to nine pilots a month to be hired by mainline after the last J4J pilots are released in April (meaning 72 PSA pilots will have the opportunity to transition to the mainline in 2008). Obviously, the final number will be subject to the actual attrition we experience and other operational constraints that are not totally within our control.
However, by any account, this is an aggressive plan that would allow 136 active PSA pilots (34 percent of all active pilots) to transition to mainline by the end of 2008. This will obviously tax our recruiting, training and financial
resources but we're committed to doing it because both US Airways and PSA management believe that it's the right thing to do. To show our commitment to this plan, we are modi tying our 2008 budget to account for purchase of an
additional 4600 hours of simulator time from outside vendors and have reduced our in-service fleet plan for 2008.
We believe that there are a number of professional PSA pilots that will continue their careers at PSA. However, we also realize that others are seeking different career paths. If you are one of the latter and are interested in applying for employment at US Airways, please complete an on-line application via the Careers link on the US Airways Website: www.usairways.com. We understand the value many of you place on a potential career path to mainline employment, and are committed to doing our best to assist you.
Letter number 2:
TO: All PSA Pilots
FR: Keith D. Houk
DT: October 26, 2007
RE: Preferential Hiring
As you know, US Airways has announced a program of preferential hiring for pilots at PSA. Interested pilots should file an on-line application as soon as possible, as applicants from PSA will be interviewed in seniority order within each round of scheduled interviews....
...For the next round of interviews, beginning November 12, 2007, pilots need to apply by November 2, 2007 to be placed on the interview schedule in seniority order. After each day of interviews, PSA pilots offered mainline employment will be placed in a pool for the first training class available following the date PSA is able to begin releasing pilots. Pilots accepted and placed in the hiring pool will be slotted for available training in the order they were accepted.
We currently expect to begin releasing PSA pilots for classes in May 2008, after the release of all the J4J pilots. Our goal is to place up to 72 PSA pilots at US Airways in 2008.
[note- what are the chances that when May comes the company will still be understaffed? My magic 8 ball says "Outlook good." Does that mean that they will not be ready to release pilots in May? Let me just ask the 8 ball one more time. Answer- "It is decidedly so."]
11-03-2007, 07:49 AM
#2
Line Holder
Joined APC: Apr 2007
Position: Captain
Posts: 90
and you'd be surprized, but there are still some of us WO'd guys who dont recognize that the flowthru is dead, some still think it is a possibility...
unfortunately, fo's that have been at the WO's less than a year or two would have a much better shot of getting on with usairways by going somewhere else, upgrading there, and applying naturally. we obviously can't do much about them not honoring the flowthru, and they know it.
unfortunately, fo's that have been at the WO's less than a year or two would have a much better shot of getting on with usairways by going somewhere else, upgrading there, and applying naturally. we obviously can't do much about them not honoring the flowthru, and they know it.
