Dear Mesa Pilots,
The following statements are not endorsed by ALPA, Mesa, Alan Greenspan, or the crazy stock market guy on TV. When was the last time you walked into a car dealership, and bought a car for the price on the sticker? I hope your answer is never. By accepting this TA, the Mesa pilots are basically paying sticker price. Let's break this bullet point TA down:

• Short-term contract with a mandated early opener - Hurry up, the company needs financing for bankruptcy. Better get this contract signed. Part of the negotiating game.

• PBS with significant ALPA input - PBS optimizes schedules. Better have a staffing requirement here.

• Line guarantee - Better be the greater of line guarantee or what is assigned. Mesa pilots, you know how your company operates. A pilot is awarded a line with 85 hours, then in your "footprint" during integration that pilot gets an additional 5 hours added to his schedule. "Line guarantee means you get paid for 85 hours. That's how we read the contract."

• Scheduled or actual - Is this per leg, per day, or per month? Per leg is good, per day, not so good, and per month is nearly useless.

• Reassignment restrictions - Hopefully saying no to scheduling doesn't require doctor's notes, notarized letters from the president of Libya, etc.

• 200% premium pay for junior available flights - OK

• 200% premium for improper reassignments - So you're saying I can be reassigned regardless of the restrictions. Nice.

• Modest pay increases - Remember, PBS now provides for 12 bid periods per year. Gurantee must increase, hourly pay must be increased, and that's just to keep the same annual minimum guarantee salary.

• Hold back provisions-industry leading - How about just following the dang contract like everyone else does.

• Ability to bid for training - OK

• Increased days off - This one is awesome. Minimum days off per bid for line holders and reserves are 11. Line holders, you get an additional 2 days off per YEAR. Pretty nice for the reserves though. Mesa pilots, shoot a little higher than crotch level on this. Line holders, get at least 12. Remember PBS changes the current bidding system from 13 bids per year to a monthly cycle (12 bids per year).

• Scheduling enhancement provisions modeled after Southwest - If it's after WN, it must be OK

• Fully automated ability to drop to a zero time line - OK

• Fully automated ability to swap trips - Must be specific language on this

• Fully automated ability to trade trips - Must be specific language on this

• Schedule enhancement period (SAP) of three days after line awards to “massage” your schedule - OK

The percentages for and against a contract let management know how many more scraps to throw on the floor for the pilots to pick up. Tell management you want a piece of the pie, not the leftovers.

-My name is Pokey, and I approve this message

 

Be careful guys, if you sign this, and mesa declares bankruptcy, they're going to toss it out just like every other airline has done to all of our contracts.

Is Mesa's contract full expired? Or did they start the negotiations early (as is typical). When does it expire?

 

It was ammendable September of 2008. True, if bankruptcy is declared, it does get tossed out. A judge will then create an "industry standard" contract to abide by. Mesa pilots need to raise the industry standard.

 

Would someone who acutally knows what they are talking about compare these provisions with, say, Sky West, Eagle, and Express Jet? Or pick your airline.

 

That's September of 2007.

 

Pokey - I agree with the comments you have made regarding the TA bullet points. I think most pilots will be a little disappointed when they see the final language, but I'm personally happy to get ANYTHING right now due to the state of the industry. If we signed the contract on schedule next month, and the company goes into bankruptcy right afterward, more than likely the Judge will not allow the company to throw out the contract. The company has to reasonably show that the contract caused them to file for bankruptcy, and that wouldn't be the case here. I personally think it's a good thing for all of us, it brings us up fairly close to the regional standard, and made a lot of headway for us. When we negotiate on the next contract in 2 years, we'll get even more and hopefully stay with the other regionals or surpass them. Lets try to keep our pilots positive here.

 

Duty Rig?????

Then I vote NO. I've had to deal with this POS contract and being the laughing stock of the industry for the last 6 years.

Unless this is an above industry average contract, NO!!!!

The company wants this more then we do.

NO NO NO NO NO

 

No, no duty or trip rigs. We'll get that on the next go around in 2 years. I learned a little bit more about our schedules and realized not everything is in the companies control. They could do better, but they are limited on what they can do. I'm not trying to stick up for them either. I know both sides of this story fairly well, and I'm very positive about this. It's a big step for us. I'm amazed we did not get concessions. Other carriers such as expressjet had their own union asking them for 20% cuts and the company wanted 30% or something like that. I just want all our guys and girls to be open minded about this. It's a pretty big step for us. Yes, I know we still need (and are owed) a lot more, but we can't get it all this time around. It won't happen, and I'd rather have this new one, than the current one.

 

hmmm, DublinFlyer,

October 08 registration on this board and nothing but Mesa TA posts

I gotta say. me thinks you're a Mesa management plant. Say hello to JO for us!

 

Nothing could be farther from the truth, and if there are any Mesa pilots that believe you, they are more than welcome to contact me privately to confirm my identity. I'm not on the management side...