Agreed....

 

isn't that what we are doing? all the snap backs to your contract are going to be back in December right? I dont see your negotiators doing worse than that. Remember you guys have people on the negotiating committee too.

 

Like I said in a previous post that everyone came down on me for we need to get this contract done or mesaba will be hurting real bad very soon. What will end up happening is mesaba will continue to shrink, furlough, and become new hires here at pinnacle or colgan. I have no doubt that management would love to see that happen. We need to get the best contract we can get so we can merge and grow or we can all stay single carriers and someone gets to go away.

 

I hear what you are saying- the stop loss for this is a limit on open time to ever hit the system after bids. Take a look at what happens to lines when we aren't staffed correctly. Trips become inefficient, days off go down, and line credits hit 90+ hours. Are you wanting to give up days off in your bid to NOT have pilots be able to pick up flying? What you are mentioning about safety I fully agree with, but you are taking it to an extreme. If a pilot needs more money and can't do it flying that pilot is now going to look for another part time job. What would you prefer- an FO who worked at starbucks and came to fly his regualrly scheduled trip, or the FO who picked up a 2-day prior to his 3 day and showed up rested?

 

I would rather not have to pick up anything or work a part time job... but then reality sets back in and as a former Walmart lube technician (where I made more in a years time than flying) I would rather be flying than dealing with hot oil, brilliant and cultured coworkers, and oppressive 100+ TX heat.
I think having a min day credit is important as well as some sort of credit for working into your min days off voluntary or involuntary. It falls on the employee to ensure that they are rested prior to arriving at work.

 

Nobody is advocating any ability of the company to force below your original scheduled days off, a min day credit is a requirement, the entire concern really has nothing to do with the company- it's the idea that the union can limit a pilot from picking up trips on original days off. Obviously it appears that pinnacle wants no restrictions from the union, mesaba thinks they are good.

 

You keep the flying going into opentime, not allowing pilots to take themselves down to 4 days off would force the company to staff. correctly. I do not see how limiting picking up flying would create inefficent pairings. It would force the opposite. It would force more efficient pairings to get more flying covered with less people. The same amount of flying will go into opentime.

So you are asking me if a person living outside their means should take a second job and be unsafe, or work more and be unsafe. How about they stop liviing beyond their means. No one forced them to make their current wage. Most FOs at 9E have been hired after 1999 so they haven't taken a pay cut. The should have know the current wage when they were hired, and if they didn't, that is again their own fault. In addition, you all are getting work rule gains and pay raises so the need to work so much more should be greatly reduced.

Like before, the reason we restrict ourselves is to protect ourselves from the people who make poor decisions. If you made a poor decision to take a job that does not pay your bills, you shouldn't make another poor decision to work down to four days off a month either.

 

I'll bite on the healthcare, but commuter policy and vacation slide are not that big of a deal. Maybe nice, but I wouldn't put much weight into it. I don't make money off of that and an enhanced commuter policy helps the minority not the majority.

 

I think we may have a misunderstanding... I wasn't saying anyone is advocating anything... I was just stating some thoughts of my own. That being said I would not support the union being able to control/limit an employees ability to pick up trips. I think that if someone wants to work more let them... just to reiterate... I wasn't saying anyone is right or wrong... I just wanted to contribute my thoughts to the conversation...

 

It's all good.