Health insurance, particularly in the MEM base, for 9E guys was a HUGE thing. It was a strike worthy item. That should tell you how much the "typical regional pilot" uses his health insurance. I use mine every damn month because my wife is on meds. Sure was nice to have it when my kid broke his leg....then his arm later on in the year. If I get sick, I go to the doctor and I don't pay full cost. Health insurance isn't something you PLAN on using. It's something you're glad you have when you need it. If the "typical regional pilot" thinks it's not really all that, then we're all short sighted and deserve to be broke when we get in a car accident and can't pay the hospital bill.
Now, that being said, I knew our health care at 9E was gonna go up. How could it not? We've been living on the health care gravy train for a decade. I like that they added an employee + 1 category. I'm not too keen on how much the premiums went up, and I REALLY don't like the $50 co-pay for name brand (lots of stuff doesn't HAVE a generic brand). However, when all is said and done, even with the health care increase, I'm still looking at an extra $500/month take home based off 75 hour guarantee. That's WITHOUT soft money like the 4 hour min day. If they keep utilizing reserves the way they are now, I'd break guarantee every month just off the min day. However, there are provisions that limit open time. Reserves at 9E cover a LOT of open time rather than sick calls, out of position crews, missed commutes, etc. That's gonna force more hard lines and keep the reserves doing what they are SUPPOSED to do.
I don't really have much of a dog in the Saab pay rate fight, but it's worth noting again that once those XJ guys bid out of (or are DISPLACED out of) their current seats, they lose their grandfathered rate. How many of those MSP guys do you think will stay on the Saab when Delta phases it out of their base? Think they'll bid LGA or BOS just to keep the pay rate? Doubtful. The Saab FOs that are being grandfathered in will likely bid to the jet or upgrade when they can as well. I'd bet that within 2-3 years at the MOST, those grandfathered rates won't even be a factor since no one would be getting them. That's just how I see it, though. If it's that much of a deal breaker, I'd suggest talking to your reps about it. If you're still not satisfied, that's why you get a "no" vote.
Reserve rules are a LOT better. One thing that's huge for over here is that you can't go over 14 hours of duty INCLUDING reserve duty. Scheduling's favorite mantra right now is "Reserve isn't duty." Well, this changes that. Long call reserve is nice, but my future base (JFK) won't have it since they don't have enough reserves to trigger it (for now).
JMs and extensions are specifically defined.....and they're defined as a "rescheduling" rather than just "additional flying," so it makes it harder for DW to creatively interpret the contract in a way to get around it. 1-3 hours past your original release = extension. 3+ = junior man. No one else has mentioned it, but ALL RESERVES IN ALL BASES in that seat have to be used in order for them to JM someone. Now, the question is how transparent is that gonna be. I know it says that they have to maintain a log that the grievance chair has access to, but I'd like something a little more "real time." Otherwise, we fall into the "fly it now, grieve it later" trap where they just pay out to get the flying covered. We'll see, though. Some of the 9E guys are NOT gonna like going from 1 extension refusal a month to 3 in a year, but the restrictions make it a lot harder for them to extend you. Most of the time, any out and backs they add on to you are gonna take you past 3 hours anyway, turning it into a JM. Re-assignment is handled in a different way, but I like it.
It's pretty clear what happens to a ready reserve after they complete an assignment, but I'm gonna have to ask on the road shows what happens to a short call guy. It's a little vague on that. Right now, we can be released into 10 hours of rest, assigned more flying, held at the airport for an hour or released until our next contact period. It doesn't really say if we have to finish up our existing short call reserve period or not under the new rules. I DOES say you would have to do that on ready reserve, though.
All in all, I think it's a good deal. There's a good bit of give and take, but I think we got a LOT more than we gave. As for not being better than XJT, I'm fine with that. I'd rather have a contract that's fair, gives the pilots a good amount of what they want and doesn't put us in a position where bargaining is gonna be going backwards. XJT's deal is good, but I don't envy their NC when it comes amendable. We didn't get Comair's contract, either, but you curiously don't see anyone mention that.
IND overnight off of RRP. Credit under current agreement... 2+16. With 4-hour min day that easily becomes 8 hours of credit.
