For those on Reserve, I've had to notify CRS twice now of not assigning Open Time trips in accordance with the CBA. (The trips have been less than 50 hours TAFB). Just a quick reminder to check the leveling list and assure you are being assigned a trip in the correct order. Noting the highlighted points below and looking at the Reserve Leveling list(s) for the end of February and beginning of March, it appears other pilots are still being assigned trips out of leveling order. Please advise contract enforcement if you feel CRS has been/is assigning trips incorrectly.

25.M.5.e - Reserve assignments shall be made in order of reserve leveling except as provided otherwise in Section 25.K., (advance reserve assignment), and 25.M.6., (reserve open time assignments).

25.M.6.a-b - Reserve Assignment Options
Reserve assignments shall be made as follows:
a. Trips in excess of 50 hours TAFB may be assigned based upon the maximum utilization of available R-days. "First fly" elections shall be given priority consideration in the assignment of those trips.
b. Other reserve assignments shall be made in leveling order as follows:
i. The reserve pilot with the lowest leveling position within the RP (and sufficient R-days to perform the assignment) shall be assigned first (i.e., a pilot will not be skipped to optimize the use of another pilot’s reserve days remaining, except as provided in Section 25.M.6.a).
ii. If two or more pilots have the same leveling position, assignments shall be made in reverse seniority order.
iii. A reserve pilot shall be given the reserve assignment with the highest credit hour value for which he is legal at the time of assignment.
c. Notwithstanding Section 25.M.6.b., (leveling order):
i. Reserves who elected the "first fly" option as provided in Section 25.M.4. (above), shall be assigned in seniority order, prior to pilots who have not elected that option, until they have accrued 75% of RLG. A "first fly" reserve pilot who has met or exceeded 75% of RLG shall thereafter be assigned without regard to "first fly." The 75% limitation shall not apply to R-days that are part of a mini-RLG.

On a related note, while on Reserve and in sick status, CRS can only level you for trips that are legal per the CBA. For example, back to back trips. Day 1 trip A, Day 2 trip B. Trips A and B together must abide by the parameters of the CBA (Duty/Flight time restrictions, critical/day/night.) If you can't fly it per the parameters the CBA, they can't level it. Please call "Shenanigans" on CRS if you notice any irregularities.

You can see now why transparency is so difficult to achieve at FEd Ex when it comes to scheduling.

How could they keep assigning trips out of leveling order if we had transparency? No wonder we cant get that in the TA/CBA.

It just doesnt work

Document the information, send it to the SIG and to contract enforcement.

Telling the company and scheduling about it is like the fox guarding the hen house.

They can't fix it if they don't know about it. They only time stuff changes is when they are presented with facts they are abusing it, or not in compliance, or have been shown a liability.

.........................

If you call enforcement to report out of order leveling, expect a British accented voice to ask you why you are bringing up leveling when you are on reserve and expected to work anyway. Because that would never happen (Insert personal experience here).

When is the union going to catch a clue about that British dude? I've heard it many, many times that guys won't call because they know they're going to be dismissed by "the British dude". He needs to go. They may as well just let the phone ring indefinitely. It'll be better because you won't get anywhere, and rarely does an endless ringing phone make you feel like a dumb a$$ for calling.

Had a trip last fall where the F/O got called out of the leveling order. He printed out the leveling and the trip, and called them on it. They dropped his r days and paid him draft for the trip. This was after they first denied it, and he informed them he had it all saved.

I hear a lot of people complain about enforcement, and sometimes, it is because they don't get an answer they like.

Our contract is full of un-enforceable language. DT tells people what he knows to be contractual policy, past policy, or what unfortunately is the current accepted practice. I have found him to be nothing but professional. He has also showed me on dozens of occasions why the company did what they did to me...(on reserve, and yep, getting the BOHICA on a regular basis by them...)

I recommend that you spend some time on the phone with your reps, if it is as bad as you say.

Again, document it, send it in and go from there. Every once in a while, we might actually get them to change something. I know they have had success on some of VTO stuff that they are pulling on a regular basis...

My 2.5 shekels worth...

I'll second this opinion.

While you may not always like what he tells you, I've found the information from DT to be the most accurate.

Others in that office...not so much. In fact, I actually prefer to get a call back from DT later, rather than have my question answered immediately by someone else.

If it's remotely difficult, they will typically wait to ask DT anyway....and I rather talk to the source directly.

Also, when trips are assign, the reserve leveling list are not updated in real time. I guest they didn't like the transparency. It takes a couple of hours now.