Colgan Air must be up to something
 

Colgan Air has just announced that it has made some changes in how they treat their pilots.

1) Commuter Policy. Pretty much a typical commuter policy as in the pilot must list on two flights prior and be able to show proof if asked.

2) Uniform allowance. $200 a year after their first year of service. You have the option of rolling it over to the next year if you do not use it.

3) Parking. Colgan has always paid for parking at the pilots base but now they offer to pay parking at another location outside of base if the pilot wishes, example would be parking off site or at the pilots commuter airport.

4) Report time. You now have 1.5 hour call out to show after being called if based at IAH, BWI, EWR, and LGA.

So I am wondering why the sudden kindness from Buddy and the gang? Seems fishy when the union drive will be kicking up again here soon?

Those are all provisions we have in our contract at RAH. I'm glad you guys are getting those. The commuter policy and report times are huge advantages.

yeah i heard rumors of this like a week ago, i'm happy it actually turned out to be true

To me, it's nothing more than a halfa$sed attempt at pacifying some of the pilots before the union drive. I know it will work on some of my coworkers, but I'm almost offended. OK, a uniform allowance is nice, but at the same time, they've created more substantial problems like with hot reserve and cancellation credit. Am I stupid? Is a $200 pittance supposed to make me happy while I'm getting jipped of regular pay? I don't know who came up with the idea of making these "improvements" while ripping off crewmembers on pay... their priorities are obviously out of order. If they expect me to think that they're serious about improving work rules or at the least, keeping ALPA at bay, they wouldn't be doing all that pay credit screwing.

Yeah...they're up to something alright.

I was recently in the Pilot Recruiter's office of another airline and overheard the conversation between the female recruiter from Colgan and the other guy's office I was in. I'm gonna leave it at that.

Now, I'm not trying to start any rumors, flaming or anything like that. I will keep my mouth shut until I hear it from you Colgan guys as posted on APC. I will say this...the next time a NH for Colgan is in SE Florida tell them to look me up. Drinks on me.:D


atp

I am confused on what this is supposed to mean...am I alone?

No. I'm not trying to confuse anyone. Let's just say that Colgan may be ; just may be, entering a training/hiring alliance with a training facility in SE Florida.

Nothing is concrete; I haven't seen any signed contracts or anything like that. All I'm saying is that I overheard the conversation. Hell, I was sitting across from him on the other side of his desk in his office when the call came in. Matter of fact, it was on Wednesday, the 27th.


atp

GIA is taking over Colgan???

I didn't say that. Look at my last post though.


atp

No, I'm with you. His post is complete gibberish! If his intent was to only be understood by Colgan pilots then obviously fell short.

What does all this cost?

1) not sure, but might mean a larger reserve pool

2) $80,000 total or 5 1/2 CENTS per flight hour per pilot

3) should cost no more than having everyone park at IAH, BWI, EWR, and LGA

4) little out of pocket, but may have some affect on what the mainline pays (revenue) assuming flights are delayed an additional 30 minutes

1, 3, and 4 are not concessions to pilots, they are concessions to the hub system. All they do is build in a little more wiggle room for crew scheduling and dispatch. They may be an attempted solution to recent poor on time performance.

As for 2....... that is roughly equal to 3 seconds of fuel burned during a single engine turn

At least someone gets it...............this is exactly whats up

Notice no change in the Payscale

Colgan is replacing all their turboprops with single engine piston aircraft?

I agree, it's just an attempt to stem attrition a bit and buy some time. It's a day late and several dollars short IMO. The good news is now it's policy, so when the drive succeeds, this will be our contract until a new one can be written. It's a small box for us to stand on when we get together and negotiate for more.

No JetJock16. This is not jibberish. Maybe I should have started a new thread about this as oppose to posting a comment under this thread.

My comment has to do with initial and remedial training, if there is such a thing. However, I know what I heard. If I jumped the gun in terms of posting this info under this thread....then I apologize.

However, you should know me by now. I have more important things to do with my time than to start rumors with complete strangers on an public internet forum.


atp

They arent complete strangers... some people spend so much time on here they can only recognize their best friends by multi letter code names and a little square picture.

I was only making the comment that I couldn't follow you're postings intended meaning. No offense and I know you're not one to flame.

LOL! Now that's funny! :p

I know. I don't want to come across as being pi$$ed or anything like that....b/c I'm not....but I know....you take no PRISONERS. LOL!!!:D

It's all good!:)

Gotta get back to work. Will talk L8R.


atp

I don't know why some people are trying to complain about things that are helps to them. Yes it could be better. Yes these are small things. But, would you rather not have them at all?

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Pocket your $200. Take a shower before you head to the airport when your reserve is activated. Feel a little bit better about commuting.

I don't see how any of this is a bad move. It's progress.

How can you call this progress when we get a memo the other day about them changing our pay rules when it comes to MX cancellations AND just throwing new hot reserve credit times out there?

Progress would be if we were negotiating a contract.

It is progress but we must not be naive to think they are doing this to be nicer to us pilots. Maybe I am cynical but I find it odd how they are giving when the union drive is getting close to get going again.

What we need is work rules with protection. They can give and take their rules away whenever they want and we are left with nothing. A contract will not allow them to change things when they dont like something.

An example of no rules is that happened to me recently. The changed my reserve period the day before from an AM reserve to a PM reserve so they could activate me for an evening show. I was amazed how they can just change a posted awarded schedule to whatever they need for whatever they want. What can I do? Nothing! Who am I going to call and complain to? the Chief Pilot...yeah like that is going to happen. We do not have a contract which says what they can and cant do and that is what we need most of all.

Just curious if organizing cards are out on the property at Colgan? If so, US Labor law requires employers to maintain "laboratory conditions" while organizing attempts are underway.

This is a pretty common ploy for an airline to attempt to rebuff organizing efforts at no cost or risk. It works like this: The airline promises improvements to work agreements only to rescind the improvement due to DOL requirements. The effect is that the airline paints the union as a problem - not a solution for the pilots. When faced with the prospects of unionization on the property, most managements will pull out all the stops to rebuff organization efforts.

Don't get me wrong, I will take whatever scrap is thrown my way. All I am saying is that these things ARE scraps: grand gestures which cost almost nothing. These scraps we eat, are not given out of the kindness of B's heart. They are measured responses to some problem HE has: on time performance, shortfalls in staffing, some of these silly pilots who want a union..... who knows?


No management (airline or otherwise) "gives" workers pay raises, better working conditions, etc. Management spends money to improve the bottom line (ie. higher pay attracts more applicants, more applicants means I can choose the cream of the crop, the cream of the crop produces a better product, I can sell a better product for a higher price, I make more money).

What does "laboratory conditions" mean? I don't quite follow

the 'status quo'

so for those of us slow on the uptake....

Workers: We want more money.
Management: There is no more money.
Workers: We want a union.
Management: okay. Oh, by the way we found more money and were going to give you a 20% increase, but since you are going union, we can't give the raise. See how bad unions are?


or am I completely lost

Has crew scheduling been pretty understanding if commuters have difficulty getting to work and occasionally end up getting there late? I only ask because a commuter policy is a double edged sword. If crew scheduling typically works with pilots, then the policy forces you to come in a couple flights early, just so you will be listed in case you don't make it. If crew scheduling typically tries to get you into trouble for a missed commute, then the policy will be a huge help.

NO!

[filling up space]

Colgan is definetly up to something. Yes the commuter policy is a necessity. Its about freaking time. And parking and uniforms don't really cost them anything to management. For once I agree with monkey boy. The pay scales have not changed!! Maybe I will give my free uniform to the homeless guy at the stop light in Manassas. So he will beg for more. Just my 2 cents.

-Skidmark-

they actually arnt changing our pay rules if you look at the handbook for a MX cancelation you get the block you have completed for the day or 2 hrs whichever is better, i think scheduling has just been putting it in the past because people *****ed about it which is completely understandable. I really wish they would just rewrite the rules and make it fair

That is exactly what mgmt did last year. I read most of the memos they sent out. One of the things they kept saying was, "why do you need a union to speak for you when you can speak directly to us. They will take away your ability to communicate directly with us like you've been doing all along."
It sounds all so caring and genuine. But just the fact that the mgmt was so adamant and in-your-face about the union thing should be a sign that you should be questioning WHY.

Dude, you are not getting my point. YES, a uniform credit is nice, I'm not arguing that. But like Seggy said, this is happening at the same time as all the pay credit problems. It's like 10 steps backward, and one half a step forward, and I'm supposed to be happy about the half a step forward. How does this make sense to you?
It sounds like you haven't experienced the joy of being screwed recently, so let me describe an example. Did you know that crewmembers now need to be sitting for at least 4:45 in order to get hot reserve pay? Many people still don't know this, because the company hasn't disseminated any kind of memo on it. And the thing is, about half of our lines have sits of like 4:30 or so. (I'm at the largest base in the NE.) Some of those lines have like a 4:20 sit every single day. Guess WHAT.. you're not getting paid jack.
ALSO, the cancellation pay incidents. I had a bunch of cancellations, most of it for wx. Long story short, I had credit for all those cancellations disappear mysteriously (meaning it happened several weeks after the fact, without anyone mentioning that this was going to happen), then had to fight two weeks and eventually write to the Tom Brink to get them back (and I'm still missing some, despite promises that it will be fixed.) Apparently I wasn't the only one with this problem because during the conference call Brink said about 15 pilots wrote/called him about this issue. And that's just the people who actually bothered to write/call. I'd venture to say the actual number of people who got screwed is probably tenfold, since we have complainers who never say anything to mgmt.
I mean why does it have to be SO DAMN aggravating trying to get the proper credits back. WHY do we have to fight and fight for money we were supposed to get? How do they change the rules and then not tell anyone? I'm just so tired of arguing about pay credit. I just want to do my job and get paid properly for it.
So to answer your question, sure I would rather have a uniform allowance than not. That's not even an argument. But you are telling me this $200 allowance helps me, meanwhile I'm having to write to the chief pilot about getting ripped off on pay, and then losing out thousands in future earnings because of this hot reserve/cancellation pay issue. Considering this, the uniform allowance and parking pass reimbursement all don't mean jacksquat. They're making very minor "improvements" to placate pilots, while worsening/ignoring the big stuff.

The question is how can you NOT see this as belittling and patronizing. Progress? Why didn't they make these "improvements" last year after ALPA drive failed? Why did it take a full 7 months.. because coming up with a simple commuter clause takes so long, when it isn't even a contract?


AND, like Juice said, Mgmt can and will take these "improvements" away at any time. Just like they changed the hot reserve policy at their whim.

What a bunch of complainers got to express jet already.

My favorite is the new poilicy how crew schedulers are not alowed to adjust credit anymore. We curently need to go through a special new department who, suprise suprise, does not answer or return calls. I love spending my days trying to track down money owed day after day.

Right now I am trying to track down 3 hours credit for a day they totally messed up.

The Juice always gets his money!

Monkey Boy?

You know up until recently Colgan crews use to get paid block or better on a per-leg basis. Now it has changed to block or better for the day. When I call and asked Jackie about this he would only give me the standard i know nothing answer. Remeber the "YOUR CALL MAY BE RECORDED FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE" I gave him a call on his cell and was more aless told to watch your pay sheet closely. Management is doing some sneaky stuff these days

Personaly I think its the old bait and switch!

Did anyone else get the email asking what our view on the upcoming union drive was? I do not know who the email was from...maybe B.C. is trying to get a feel for the support...may be a trick he learned from Lorenzo.