I am most definitely not going to claim that we have made significant progress because of the picket, but I will say that all of the doom-and-gloomers out there who thought that picketing would blow up the process were dead wrong. Maybe the picketing was a kick in the pants for the company, maybe it was a slight nudge, or maybe they completely ignored it. No matter what though it didn't harm the negotiation process. Now how it affected feelings between the pilot groups is another matter though...

What is a vacation slide, and why do I want one?

In PBS, XJ puts in vacation first and training events, then build trips around them. This is awful because it maximizes the companies ability to work you to the fullest it can possibly schedule you to, unless you are senior of course. At XJ a vacation week is only worth 4 days max, so you can get a schedule built to only 15 days off with a week vacation. Whereas, 9E puts in vacation after the bid by allowing you to slide it back and forth with certain limitations to cover a trip. If done right, it can get you way more days off. In reality at XJ if you have 2 weeks of vacation it's really worth only 8 days. At 9E however, 2 weeks of vacation can easily be turned into 4. We had this ability with line biding before, it was called biding into conflict. Our vacation at XJ is a huge savings to the company. XJ's vacation system is probably the worst in the industry.

From a few pages ago
You want one because it allows for a little flexibility in the days you are taking for vacation. I was hired in May so in my first year, I was only eligible for 3 days of vacation. With the vacation slide, that 3 days got me 10 days off.

At PNCL for a while, we had "buffer" days. Basically, 2 days on either side of your vacation that you could move around...ie, all 4 to the front and none at the end, 2 and 2, etc. The bennefit to the company is that they can still sched. around your vacation. For commuters, you are able to utilize your full vacation week. Not the windfall that the slide is, but I think it'd be a happy medium.
Also, we are gonna have to give some on our Ins. I fully expect to see a 30-40% increase in our cost sharing. 30% increase would mean roughly $200/mo for you entire family to have some of the best coverage around.
If we can get these 2 into the agreement, I think it sounds fair so far. I expect compensation to be +4-5% over what XJ currently has.
Is Friday the last day of scheduled talks?

does anyone know in the newly TA'ed scheduling section if Call in Honest was covered?...as a commuter, this has me concerned

Not exactly...:rolleyes:

But your JNC did. http://www.airlinepilotforums.com/im...ons/icon14.gif

Okay, so I threw a little gas on the fire. We will never know how much it helped, but we can all agree that it certainly didn't hurt.

Might not have hurt the negotiations but it sure drove the pilot groups a part.

Any reps on here, or anyone in the know care to chime in on the "call in honest" program. Please tell me we'll get unlimited. This two in a rolling twelve has to go. I refuse to commute in an entire day before a trip. If its not a call in honest, what commuter poilicies are being talked about?