Apejackson

I have a CJO with Sun Country. I know the current contract is up and is possibly being negotiated but I was hoping I could be directed to a copy of the current contract so I could start getting my head around what to expect.

Also, any insight of the progress of a new contract?

Ps-I’m excited about starting on this new adventure. Everybody I met during the interview process was excellent!

SunshineOrange

They want to start negotiations soon. Like within a month or two. Don’t know how long it will take for a vote but.. Hopefully it’s short.

beech1980

To my knowledge there is not an electronic copy available for distribution. Expect the lowest of expectations. Lowest pay, min days off, no flexibility if you commute, the contract needs a lot of help on the work rules side, and the pay and retirement aspect. The only thing in the contract that is industry leading or average is the per diem, and I’m not joking. You were furloughed. That’s who will come here. You had no other option. Good luck.

DC9123456

They sent something out today about May 4th, starting the process or filing something for official negotiations. Probably will happen quick

nibake

Do you have specific contract questions in mind? Reserve, commuting, pay?

Apejackson

I think I’m most interested in reserve and commuting. Haven’t really heard much except that it could use some improvement. Probably not much different than I’m used to at my current regional but I’d like to know the specifics.

nibake

When it comes to commuting, I think it's fair to say you are on your own. If you have a trip with a deadhead home, you can call and ask to be released early in order to jumpseat to your destination. However, you will be on your own for everything, up to and include transportation to the airport. Beyond the actual rules for commuting (there really aren't any), the big problem with commuting stems from the schedules themselves. Some are relatively "commutable" but there is always difficulty in the scarcity of days off. Many of the lines have long, inefficient trips on a trip rig way below that of competitors. You will get 10/11 days off per month on reserve and 12-14 while holding any lines until you get quite a bit of seniority. Also, the company can put training events on your schedule in a way that forces additional commutes.

As far as the reserve rules, they have been discussed at length in several threads here. A couple of important things of note are that there is no preferencing of fly/no fly, the contract states when reserve periods can begin, but the company has decided that compliance with said language is not really necessary. A good example is if you are going to have Saturday and Sunday off, but you get called out on Thursday. You fly into the evening which means you can't start AM reserve on schedule the following day. Friday your reserve period starts later (prohibited by the contract), then you get assigned a trip which keeps you out later still because of your late start, and you miss your Friday evening commute home, now you are stuck commuting home on Saturday morning and returning on Sunday afternoon. Reservists cannot pick up any flying, even if days off allow it. There is only one type of reserve: short call (2 hours). Start times are 300, 1100, 1700. Typically an entire month will consist of the same type of reserve.

Obviously there are a lot of positive things to say about the company, but since you asked about contractual work rules, I am highlighting some of the things you want to watch out for. It's a good company to work for in many ways, being held back by a poor pilot contract. I think most would agree that the previous statement is more fact than opinion.

maverickchill

Rumor is negotiations will be short, hopefully we see significant gains rather than just a quick sign to meager increases. Many of our peers have contracts that are expired or able to start negotiating soon. Don't want to see us the bottom again in just a few years.

United Jan 2019
Delta Dec 2019
American Jan 2020
Southwest Aug 2020
Sun country Nov 2020
Allegiant Jun 2021
Alaska Dec 2021
ATI Mar 2022
Jet Blue Jul 2022
Hawaiian Jul 2022
Spirit Feb 2023
Frontier Jan 2024

zyzz

Was there a new hire class today?

SunshineOrange

Not as short as we think. Apparently the company wants PBS pretty bad and getting that in is gonna require months of back and forth as the whole scheduling section is going need to be changed and the addition of pairing language for the software.