XJT Peeps??

MusketeerMan

Well-Known Member
I thought around the 15th the bids were supposed to come out, along with any possible furloughs. Has there been any news on this? If it hasn't come out yet, hopefully that will be a good thing...possibly less furloughs than expected. Regardless, good luck to all.
 
Sometime today it should be out. We will see...
:yeahthat:

Here's the deal...

The union has been negotiating several furlough mitigating ideas with the company. Including COLA's, Early outs, standard LOA's, and 40 hour lines. The company has been awesome in their reception of the ideas.

However, we got a less than expected response from the pilot group for them. One of the reasons was due to the initial 40 hour line requirements. The company wanted them to be a 1 year commitment and for every 2 pilots who took a 40 hour line... that meant 1 less pilot on furlough. But again... folks were not as interested in a full 1 year commitment with today's economy being the way it is. In addition... the original deadline for the 40 hour lines was before the displacement results were to be released. So, folks didn't want to commit to a 40 hour line if they were going to be seat displaced to FO. The the way it was set up, they had no idea of knowing. Imagine accepting a 12 month part-time commitment and then finding out your pay is being slashed in half too... not a good thing.

A last minute meeting of our negotiating committee and the company on the day the displacement results were to be released offered up a great suggestion that still allows 40 hour lines, but as a result of the new rules and tremendous response from the pilot group, it could save up to 10 percent or more of the furloughs/downgrades.

The new 40 hour lines will be bid on month to month. If you want one, then you are to put in a request for one about a week before the initial bid packets are released. You are then removed from the initial bid and a 40 hour line will be built for you with your personal request preferences taken into heavy consideration.

In other words, the 40 hour line holders will get pretty close to a custom schedule, designed to fit their needs. This is in exchange for their sacrifice of working less and helping mitigate furloughs. Another positive to the 40 hour lines... is that a super junior Reserve guy will be a "line holder" under this system if they choose and are awarded a 40 hour line.

One of the cons is that you will not be able to pick up open time or trade trips for more than @ 42 hours total time for the month. However, you can still pick up advertised trips in base. Also, sick time accrual goes from 5 hours/month to 2.5 hours. But vacation, seniority, pay, etc... all stay the same.

Now... as a result of the aforementioned union/company meeting at the last minute last week, the company asked the unions permission to delay the bid results until today (18th), so they can re-work the overall numbers with the union proposed furlough mitigating numbers.

It's been a frustrating week for some who would've liked to know their fate last week... but overall, it's a good thing for the pilot group as a whole.

Needless to say... I'm pretty darn proud of my union right about now. Kudos to the company too for working with some "out of the box" furlough mitigating thinking too. I'm also looking forward to working part-time throughout the holidays! ;)

Bob
 
We've got numbers, check general topics.


Sorry to hear the news, jtrain. I've never talked to you, but by reading your posts you are clearly one of the good guys. Thanks for talking to all of your colgan crashpad people about the importance of Alpa. Hopefully things will turn around soon and you'll be back in the EWR.
 
Bob, that 40 hour line deal sounds like a dream come true for guys that only want to fly part time and have a side job. I know a TON of guys over here at Pinnacle would jump on that (esp since the seniority/longevity keeps going) if we offered it. It's also great to see a union and management group working together to solve an issue.
 
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