When Mesaba furloughed its pilots was there longevity held at the date of furlough or do they continue to gain longevity in the company?

 

Section 23 Paragraph C of our CBA says:

"A furloughed pilot will retain longevity accrued to the time of furlough and will retain and continue to accrue seniority while on furlough."

Longevity stops, seniority contiues. Why do you ask?

 

I have been arguing back and forth with a friend who worked for Mesaba. He told me that you gain longevity while being furloughed. I said that you didnt gain any and when you got called back you who go back to your pay at the time you were furloughed. He is telling me to get my application in. I have read your posts and do you think that upgrade time will be fairly quick.

 

By the way I am currently at Air Wisconsin

 

I think it will be quick for the people on the seniority list today and maybe the first few new hire classes. I think it will return to a norm of 3-4 years for the Saab and 5-6 years for the jet. We are scheduled to have all of our airplanes by Dec 2008. If there is no more growth after that, things are going to stagnate.

We have roughly 720 on the seniority list right now, including the 220 furloughs. I suspect about half of the furloughs will return, giving us effectively 630 pilots on the list. We will need about 950 total by the end of 2008, so hiring about 300 or so. In a world of 49 Saabs and 36 Jets, junior captains will be in the 600 range, senior fo's in the 350 range. What I am getting at is that the bottom 300-350 will be fo's. So without growth beyond Dec 08, the list will stagnate and upgrades will only cover attrition. Attrition is high right now, but I suspect it will slow as we get the jets back.

If you have been at Air Wisconsin for a while, you should not consider Mesaba as a quick upgrade opportunity.