pony172

In the spirit of exercising my God given right as a pilot to ***** about our first world problems; I say why are we as a group chastising ourselves over the size of this system bid?
Do I think it is a little small, probably. But, we as a union have little/nothing to say in the company's planning. The main thing is we have upgrade opportunity. As of today, the IPA website says we have 560 people bypassing upgrade. That is over 1/3 of the 1599 FO's on property. If upgrades are so important, then why are so many not taking the opportunity? We have a major first world problem here in that we aren't required to upgrade. You can choose lifestyle over money. I hear plenty of people complaining that picking up JA's is preventing us from hiring and upgrading. JA that is picked up contractually in this environment it is a great thing. Yeah, I know there is some abuse of the 208 cap by the company and some individuals. Once again I can't control either of them and I have to trust the EB and the fraternal leanings of others. You make hay while the sun is shining and it seems to be shining for most, if not all of us. JA/OT is important to us because it benefits the junior folks, if not all of us, in the following ways-
1.The amount of JA/OT absolutely shows we are not properly staffed. It makes furloughing that much harder. Anyone remember the 500 furloughs the company wanted? That got whittled to 109. Why hire more to make us more vulnerable.
2. To ability to improve our schedules and trade requires OT. And junior schedules require this because they really suck. A lot of OT means more choice. Yeah, I know, we need better scheduling rules. I'm sure the company will be getting those to us soon.(sarcasm should be noted here)
3. The ability to make up for sick time depends on OT. You don't have to do it, but it is nice to have the choice. Also, you are only one sick call away from a better schedule
4. JA is a great way to put money away for retirement or divorce, lifestyle dependent. If I retire before 65, anyone junior reaps the benefit. Yes, I know a lot of people aren't putting their JAs toward retirement and a lot of people aren't retiring before 65. We are lucky enough to have these choices. Even more so due to the average age of 52 in the pilot group. We don't hire a lot of young folks.
5. JA starts at the bottom of the list. Senior Capt's were sitting right seat this year because the junior folks, which I am one, took those opportunities. All the FO's were unavailable or passed. Yes we probably need more contractual language restricting Cpt's in the right seat, it's scary over there 4 ft to the right. JA is a nice equalizer for the junior folks that doesn't happen at other airlines.
6. Most, not all, of the JA's are sitting in OT for several days. People had time to pick up straight OT if they want it. We are getting paid more as a JA than straight OT and that is good for us.

In conclusion, yes the System bid is small. Put in what you want and roll the dice or wait. We have the choices and either can be good. A wise old Capt told me to never pass up a good upgrade. You never know what could happen in the future.
100% IPA

tnkrdrvr

well said^^^^^

SaltyDog

Until Fred completely out of picture and FedEx goes UPS on their Scope and they lose alot of overseas flying......
They will wish they had negotiated a much better Scope clause. The newer FedEx pilots will wonder why they didn't (Hint; Fred liked his pilots in his jets around the world so never a priority). Now see FedEx painted 73's in Europe with no FedEx pilots flying them, even with Fred in the picture. UPS screeching growth for focus on highest yields, but our future is stable IMO

Tango Uniform

My understanding FDX Ground is already hauling Express in certain markets like UPS sleeper Teams. one would expect that to grow when Fred leaves. That will take away from FDX domestic network in order to boost company profits.

C2078

That is absolutely already happening. Fedex sees the benefits of an integrated network, and more each day Express is feeding packages to ground if transit times don’t suffer. I never understood the Fedex trucks making multiple trips to the same address. I don’t think they will get rid of their independent contractor model for ground, just expand it at the expense of Express. The sky is definitely not falling, but Fedex is going through a transition like UPS did where they optimized the network to move more packages via ground to lower cost, in turn reducing air service.

UPSFO4LIFE

Mock bid 1 came out today and looks as though upgrades went fairly senior. Not sure much will change with the final bid, but for now say goodbye to the 4-5 year upgrade.

navigatro

How are they awarding A300 Capt if there are no vacancies?

hammer pants

replacing CAs that bid other equipment.

UPSFO4LIFE

vacancies can be created by A300 Captains bidding other aircraft, probably 747.

USMCFDX

Not quite an accurate post - those 737s are a direct result of the TNT purchase and we have already captured some of the TNT flying, South Africa and a few Dubai sequences. We also have painted 757s flying in Canada with Canadian pilots. To say that either of these is a result of our scope clause is inaccurate. FedEx also owned at lest one 747 from the TNT deal and that plane was not flown by FedEx pilots, not sure if we still own it or not.

Who flies your freight intra Canada?

Can you really say that your flying is stable with the big chunk of low yield Amazon freight you continue to carry? That Amazon business is the direct opposite of your 'highest yields' statement.

Sorry for the thread drift - but wanted to provide accurate information.