Are you willing to go to jail, ruin your career, and still not have a contract by conducting or condoning illegal job actions? If we had unity this contract could and would be done, instead we have many with the "me me me" mentality that has hurt progress for everyone. It came to a head on the TA1 vote and a small difference between pass and fail... The view became "it's close" to mgmt's goal of 51%. Now we just have a split pilot group. If everyone comes together this will get done, if not- forget about it.

 

The books "Flying The Line vol 1 & 2" displayed this very mentality you speak of. Maybe the union needs to discontinue the propoganda they gave us. These books were given to us for free (or rather our dues money).

Maybe they should give out Mary Poppins instead for a more realistic expectation.....if that's what you suggest higney!






OR MAYBE THEY SHOULD READ THOSE BOOKS!!!

 

I am more than willing to put it on the line but your comments towards nick show that if you have read those books AND kept up with the legal system publicizing even the idea of illegal work slowdowns ends up with fines and jail time. Now if the whole pilot group is on board for the same goal (and unified towards it) the goal can be achieved. It still seems that the mindset on the boards by a vocal few are "nothing works, just complain".

 

This ignores the key hurdle that is Phil Trenary. Pilot unity won't do any good if he doesn't want to sign off on a TA.

 

I don't agree with this statement. Lorenzo was eventually overcome by a force of unity after years of splitting the group to try and concur. Once the entire pilot group came together lorenzo was out and forever banished. His right hand was buddy Casey. Sound familiar?


In case you are curious- the story is in "Flying the Line", I believe V.2. I know at least one of my esteemed colleagues gave both books rave reviews. 1200 9E pilots or 3,000 pinnacle Corp pilots can make things happen- but only if they are working towards a common goal. Some may say it sounds like a bunch of BS, but right now all we do is cancel each other out instead of joining forces. If you dont think it'll work review history. United we will stand and prevail, divided we will all fall. Pick your choice, each one of us has direct responsibility for the outcome.

 

You're a difficult guy to understand Nick. You fully acknowledge that Pinnacle management is impossible to deal with because they choose to behave that way and that you know this through your own personal experience. You then proceed to lay blame on your Union reps for not dealing with them. Sadly, this attitude has begun to permeate the rank and file members because of such loud and obnoxious proponents like you. That "staying 'not' current" stunt was about as sophomoric as I have ever witnessed, and that is saying a lot.

Like so many have said on here, your general attitude towards your Union reps is a big reason why they are not more effective. You denigrate your elected leaders with nothing more than personal attacks that lack any bearing on the issues currently in front of PCL pilots and then offer nothing as to what should be done other than juvenile suggestions of blatantly illegal work actions that would succeed in nothing more than digging a deeper hole for us. People like you create an atmosphere where your reps are so busy dodging bullets from our own pilots that they are distracted from focusing on what needs to be done....A NEW, RATIFIABLE CONTRACT.

You have some really good MEC reps in MEM that are very capable of improving a Pinnacle pilot's lot in life if you would just give them some support and let them make the difficult decisions that lie ahead. I understand that even though you are so vocal on message boards, you have not once reached out to any of your status reps to either get your questions answered or voice heard. This speaks volumes to your sincerity of actually accomplishing anything. Message board rhetoric does nothing except erode member confidence and unity. Don't be the catalyst that is the undoing of the PCL pilot group.

 

Nowhere in any of the "actionable items" I proposed (which I later took down due to the categorically defeatist response) implied that they had ANYTHING to do with us getting a contract. I never once said "we should do these things to get a contract." I said "we should do these things to restore faith in the MEC and restore Unity in this pilot group."

For those of you not on the 9E boards, I proposed a simple concept of "getting everyone on the same page" to restore Unity.

Using the same logic of standardization applied to operation of the airplane (something every pilot is receptive to), our union could foster a high level of unity on matters such as hotels, safety, and contract abuses by simply publishing one-page "quick reference" sheets for hotels, safety, the enforceability of sick and fatigue policies, and a "scheduling can and can't do this" sheet with on-call C3 reps similar to duty daddies (I pretty much already do this with my cellphone as a C3 rep).

There is nothing illegal about publishing a "commonly missed maintenance item" sheet reminding pilots that Pinnacle's #1 Guiding Principle is "Safety" and not "Performance." (it is "Safety," or am I wrong?).

There is nothing illegal about publishing a list of problem hotels, and a how-to guide for refusal when a hotel isn't up to your standards, or a simple response to the company's sick policy noting it is illegal to fire a pilot for complying with Federal Statute, and that firing an employee under an attendance policy not uniformly applied to all employee groups is in direct violation of Tennessee labor laws and numerous states in which the pilot might be resident as well...

None of the above has anything to do with a contract--they are merely attempts to get everyone on the same page so no individual can be singled out as a "problem child."

 

Wouldn't putting out those items suggest that are pilots don't currently operate as professionals? It would either be an illegal work campaign or telling mgmt and the flying public that before such "union policy" we didn't put safety first. Problems either way. Make sure the A/C is safe, make sure you are rested, and make sure you fly the contract. That has always been stated by the union.

 

That basically sums it up for the general feeling from everyone in the crew rooms.

What's wrong with the union providing ways to be safer? If the union is not sharing ways to be safer, then that should be illegal, if not illegal, then immoral. Help us be the safest pilots out there, simple as that. Are you not interested in striving for a safe airline???

Much like your action to sue the company for trying to give the first officers a raise??? Thanks dude!!! Deep hole you dug there!!!

 

Are you talking about Eastern?