Problem is that with our last pay package, we gave the company the option to raise first year pay to any amount without a pilot vote. All they have to do is get SAPA to sign off on it. And we all know how hard it is for the company to get SAPA on board with something....

The good news is that once you get to $40 you are getting pretty close to second year pay and those rates would need to increase slightly. If it wasn't obvious with the last pay package, all the company cares about is getting new hires. They don't care about anyone with longevity. Which is probably why you see some many higher seniority people pulling the chute.

 

Mainline pilot groups learned a few things over the last 15 years...

Current mainline scope clauses generally have a MGTOW limit as well as a seat limit for RJ's. Seat count is not a precise indicator of economic potential since a higher MGTOW allows for more cargo, which is now a lucrative aspect of the pax airline business.

IIRC the MRJ exceeds MGTOW for most scope clauses. The designers incorrectly assumed (and stated publicly) that scope clauses could be adjusted as necessary, but the pilot group have had enough of that.

Bombardier made the same mistake with with C-series...too small for most mainline ops, to big for regional scope, "assumed" scope would be adjusted.

 

They can only raise out first year to $36.50. That can't raise it any higher than that.

 

Problem? With higher first year pay? I say good! Keep on going. The industry needs people, and the tide is rising. Its what the industry needs... its what we all need, if and when the next slow-down hits and pilots are on the street. I wouldn't wish starvation wages on anyone, new hires to the industry or otherwise.

 

I read an update from SAPA somewhere where the company is close to implementing the 36.50.

 

I remember during the pay vote that they were saying that the company and SAPA would meet yearly and could raise year 1 pay without modifying the rest of the contract.

If you read section 8, at first it seems to give the company and SAPA carte blanche for first year pay, but then later it seems to limit it to $36.50 and it has to be done prior to mid 2018. Just like the rest of our "contract" Full of vague language that is open to interpretation that always seems to fall in favor of the company.

On a side note, it is pretty hard to read the pay proposal now and see how they have manipulated the loose language regarding MRS. There were some of us who could see that it wasn't going to do anything, but pretty disheartening to look back now and see how there was nothing in there that would help reserve levels. But it was sold to us that the company would have this big financial penalty if they didn't staff each domicile properly.

 

Until the lifers stop apologizing for the company and get ****ed off when it starts effecting them nothing will change. I flew with a guy last night and had to listen to all the reasons our PBS is ok but it does the job. That's total crap. I found another loophole and he was just trying to cover for the company and I don't get why. They would not help him out. We all know about the intimidation tactics for sick calls now

 

Are there any financial penalties if they don't meet MRS?

 

I'm not saying that higher first year wages are a problem. I don't think that new pilots should have to make $22 for their first year just because I did. I think it is great that you can finally make more than a guy working at McDonalds on your first year pay.

The problem I am referring to is that the company has no need to negotiate any QOL items for it's existing pilot group. Everyone acts like as long as we are putting butts in the classroom, that everything is awesome. But for those of us that see we are losing 25-30 FO's each month (along with the 20-25 CA), we understand that we are just putting a band-aid on an arterial wound. It doesn't matter that we hire 70 people when we have 50% reserve coverage on the 175 but zero reserves (yes not 1 reserve line in 4 of our domiciles) and we lose 50 pilots to attrition per month.

It's a sad fact, but apparently to get any gains here we need to give up something. Even if it is a win/win. So when I see us give up the ability to see some gains, when the company knows it will need to raise pay to be competitive, it feels like those of us that have put some years in here should see a little something as well. But it seems like I am in the minority that feels we should be treated and compensated like professionals. And that since our seniority is really all we have in this industry, it should be respected above all else.

 

An update from SAPA.... That is funny!!! Maybe it was on one of the conference calls since that is the only communication we get from SAPA anymore. BH is pretty good about scheduling stuff but his updates always just make me mad. "Yeah sorry that the schedules suck, but we had a bunch of flying added last minute that made us increase deadheads and 3+ hour sits in our domiciles."

If they are below MRS, then all Open Time will be with the extra 15% and 30% within the time windows. So basically, the company can save money with less reserve staff, post open time trips 2 weeks out and reliability goes up because we now staffed that flying for an extra 15% instead of paying time and a half. RP tried to warn everyone on the forums that it wouldn't help reserve staffing. Again, when you have your EB that hasn't had to bid a line using PBS for 6 + years or dealt with reserve shenanigans, you get things like this sold to you as a win.