Listen, man... I'm not jumping to any side to not be on yours. I'm not against you. I'm sorry if it came off that way.

I don't agree with your view that one set of the pilot group should be any more influential or is any more important than another. That will hold regardless of which demographic of the group I fit, either now or down the road. I think it's a dangerous approach, because it's a hard habit to break once it starts.

I'm hoping that GT is a uniter, not a divider, and I'm seeing good things so far, so I'm going to watch it unfold while keeping the same faith as you in the next TA.

 

I appreciate the post.
I'm not "against" anyone either. But I guess that I do believe that there will always be one side that is dominate, and another side that is the minority. Yes, there are times when we are/need to be unified to achieve certain goals. But the underlying question will always be- what goals?

We ALL want an ILC23. I have no doubt about that! But what that means to everyone is probably different to everyone. Should we restore (or pay back) those who lost their pensions? Should we transition to the Delta model of Sick Leave yet those with 300, 400 or even more hours of SL lose them?
[For the record- never had a Pension from Continental nor United, but it is a valid discussion. And don't have over 400hrs of SL either~]
That's what I mean when I talk about different groups, or senior/Legacy pilots. Not that they should be more influential, just that we ALL need to acknowledge what they had and what they had stolen from them.

It seems that a focus has been on Reserve Rules and I get that, especially since I AM on reserve currently.. by choice. I (and others) have just been trying to voice an opinion that there are 20+ other sections of the contract that need addressing also, and that the Reserve rules are directly related to the unfilled Capt vacancies. And is it all, partially or none of our responsibility to fix that.

That will always be a question!

Hope we meet up for a bier one day.. I'll let you buy the first round (lol).. (I got the rest!). Have no doubt that if we listed our top 10 items need fixing, in order.. that our list would be different. Same with Sections of the Contract. And the reason will always be, based on our individual experiences. Which is a result of our individual past.

Till TA23~
Always
Motch

 

The key part that everyone must realize is that- we do and did it to ourselves. We signed a contract (for better or worse, but at the time- it was to move the merger ahead) that had the term
At the company's discretion
And as you stated- they have started using some of that with wide latitude.

I smile whenever someone says (or said, with TumiTA) "They won't use that" with regards to items in the UPA.
It is there for a reason.

All WE can do as pilots is-
Fly safe, Fly Professionally and Fly the Contract.

Like everything in life, this too shall pass. We will fix many of these items that need fixing, with ILC23~

Always
Motch

 

As for the sick leave, transitioning to a DL style could be relatively easy. It all depends on how the contract is written. One could transition the majority of the group to the DL style and should or when the guys with more than 250 hours (or whatever the number is at DL) go below that number they go from the old method to the new one. I also think the company should do some type of buy out on sick leave when a guy / gal retires. I've heard of folks "planning" sick leave usage through to retirement to finish with or about zero.

Also realize that you keep saying "what are we going to give up to get this or that". My answer is DALs new AIP is worth some X billion over the life of the contract, so it would appear that nothing was given up over there and we should expect the same here.

Just an opinion. YMMV.

 

There are positives and negatives of the Delta style system. It’s a positive in a sense that you can burn more time each year and have it restored annually. It can be a negative during an extended leave. Having just enough to get you to LTD is a great narrative until you actually find yourself on LTD. Having sufficient time in your sick bank to burn 80 hours per month for 6+ months while you recover from an illness or injury is better than LTD since while out on LTD you are on reduced income, not accruing more sick leave or vacation, no B-fund contributions, income is through an insurance policy rather than pay and not eligible for profit sharing, and paying out of pocket for your portion of your insurance. I wouldn’t want to be without LTD if something happened, but maintaining just enough bank to get you to LTD isn’t a great plan either. I’d rather keep what we have, but accrue sick time faster.

 

THIS!
What is interesting, if you look out side the box- we already do something where we have different rules for something similar.
Reserve!!
We have Flexible Days OFF under the Global Reserve Rules, but not for the "other" Reserve Rules.

Could we offer a Delta Type Sick Leave program to everyone but at the same time, transition every new hire into that program? Of course.
But herein lies the old problem- Will the company agree/offer something like that?
(I love that idea of switching programs once you fall down to the limit of the Delta Program)

I have been told that we have pilots who retire with many hours of SL in their bank. That is up to them.. but it is a negotiated benefit and I will NEVER believe that those pilots didn't feel well at some point, and didn't call in sick but flew instead. It's a mindset.
I'm told that the FedEx Pilots are able to sell their SL bank back to the company. Interesting.

Important to keep these discussions going and get the message out to the LEC. Pretty sure they probably know already- but again, how important is it to the group, where does it fall on the list and who is more concerned about it?

Motch

 

Motch,

Flexible Days Off (FDOs) are included in both Global and Basic schedules. Are you thinking about the Regular Days Off (RDO)? Those are only available in Global fleets.

 

see? Even our own pilots can’t keep track of all these moveable days. Our reserve rules need a major overhaul.

 

I don’t think unfilled captain slots are pay related, there are people on second year pay that would get $120 a hour raise to make the jump and yet the vast majority aren’t. I believe we all need a raise but I don’t think giving captains a higher raise than the FOs will move the needle much

 

Most of the people that I have flown with who don’t want to upgrade have said that pay or reserve rules isn’t the issue. They wanted to gain relative seniority and gain more control of their schedule. It’s better to be a senior first picking your vacation and when and where you want to fly. “Being a captain” doesn’t mean very much to many people and more money isn’t the motivator that it once was, especially the younger pilots that we hire. Don’t know how to fix the captain shortage, but it isn’t just reserve improvements or throwing money at the problem. It should be interesting to see what they come up with.