Re: Expressjet offering COLAs (voluntary furloughs) to pilot
This is making me hope that Republic gets into CLE soon for a hub.
I hope the best for your commute Maurus, but not at the expense of my company. Regardless... this doesn't mean there will be growth for the other COEX carrier... just take a look at your line value's and block hours. Overall... the only block hours that seem to be increaseing for the "regional" feeds for CAL this year are Colgan's.
The COLA's will typically end up going senior, and they are being offered to anyone on any side of the business (XJT, CAL, DAL). They are being offered for 1-3 months at this time. With a COLA... the following is true:
1. You keep your seniority.
2. You keep your longevity.
3. You keep you base.
4. You only have to pay the exact same amount for insurance... than you are currently.
5. You keep your travel bennies.
6. You don't accumulate sick time or vacation time.
Man... if you are young... and love to travel, or have always wanted to "try" something new for a temporary period of time... then this would be a nice little thing to have right now. Those who took COLA's after 9/11 had nothing but good things to say about the time they took off.
Not trying to paint too rosey of a picture... but... it's obviously better than the dreaded "F" word. Also better than XJT grovelling back to CAL to renegotiate lower rates that would downgrade the industry as a whole and possibly lead to pilot concessions.
To me... it's Manangement taking the next logical step they need to... with the decrease in block hours for this year... without taking any drastic steps and still being able to keep all pilots on a relatively "short call".
Bob