Furloughs and open time

[SpiraMirabilis]

As you all know I work at Mesa and we currently have 49 pilots furloughed. This means in my opinion no more open time should be picked up, despite this the company posted over 3500 hours of open time this bid. Since open time is paid at double time it is very tempting for some pilots to pick it up. I however am curious what is the best course of action to educate these people that that kind of behavior is unacceptable. I'd like to stop short of throwing a brick through their windshields, so I came here for advice.

I have discussed it with fellow pilots and the reactions were mixed. Some did not realize we had people furloughed and I have heard tell of a worse reaction -- that they did not believe that these furloughees 'counted' since they were still in training.

What is the best way to curtail this activity? Can ALPA help without having Mesa say it is an illegal job action?

 

[v1valarob]

As you all know I work at Mesa and we currently have 49 pilots furloughed. This means in my opinion no more open time should be picked up, despite this the company posted over 3500 hours of open time this bid. Since open time is paid at double time it is very tempting for some pilots to pick it up. I however am curious what is the best course of action to educate these people that that kind of behavior is unacceptable. I'd like to stop short of throwing a brick through their windshields, so I came here for advice.

I have discussed it with fellow pilots and the reactions were mixed. Some did not realize we had people furloughed and I have heard tell of a worse reaction -- that they did not believe that these furloughees 'counted' since they were still in training.

What is the best way to curtail this activity? Can ALPA help without having Mesa say it is an illegal job action?

That 3500 hours is 46 pilots at 75 hours.

Is this open time for a single month? Thats a TON of time.

 

[SpiraMirabilis]

28 day bid period, not a month.

 

[meritflyer]

I've seen a couple schools of thought on this. One says no way should you pick up open time and the other says open time can't be avoided due to the ways lines, vacations, training, upgrades, PC's, sick calls, and block hours constantly change.

I dunno.

I leave it up to the resident union monger to clear this one up.

 

[surreal1221]

Simple.

You can only do what you can control.

Don't pick any of it up. Now, if you end up flying with someone who picked up some open time and they're all giddy like a school girl who is about to have her skirt lifted, tell him the deal.

 

[kellwolf]

Simple.

You can only do what you can control.

Don't pick any of it up. Now, if you end up flying with someone who picked up some open time and they're all giddy like a school girl who is about to have her skirt lifted, tell him the deal.

There ya go. If you're flying with someone that picked up open time, sorta remind them there's another guy that's getting no pay and no benefits, and likely won't be getting them for a while, because other people are padding their pay checks. I'm sure Mesa would love to pay out every hour of that at double time. Saves them having to pay insurance benefits, etc for another several pilots.

 

[Gonzo]

I hate to say it but the few Mesa guys I have talk to about this don't care(one of the guys is in my crashpad).

 

[fly8slep]

I hate to say it but the few Mesa guys I have talk to about this don't care(one of the guys is in my crashpad).

shocking. Although, a buddy of mine there is trying to get as much flying done as he thinks he's going to be out of a job real soon with all the cash problems mesa has.

 

[SpiraMirabilis]

You know, accepting a job at an alter ego airline of the same company while you have fellow brother and sister pilots furloughed (and more to come probably) is even worse than picking up open time.

 

[surreal1221]

Agreed. . .but no one cares to think about such.

We're greedy little bastards who are only thinking about ourselves.

 

[CamYZ125]

Open time (and JRA's) made my first year livable. I'd love to keep picking up open time, but I won't do it with those guys furloughed. It sucks, because I know that someone else will.. but the more people like us who won't pick it up, the better chance the furloughed guys have of coming back.

 

[SpiraMirabilis]

Open time (and JRA's) made my first year livable. I'd love to keep picking up open time, but I won't do it with those guys furloughed. It sucks, because I know that someone else will.. but the more people like us who won't pick it up, the better chance the furloughed guys have of coming back.

Well said Cam.

 

[fly8slep]

Open time (and JRA's) made my first year livable. I'd love to keep picking up open time, but I won't do it with those guys furloughed. It sucks, because I know that someone else will.. but the more people like us who won't pick it up, the better chance the furloughed guys have of coming back.

the probably won't be back, unless every erj driver is checked out on the CRJ and Johny o taps into his reserves stored offshore.

 

[SpiraMirabilis]

the probably won't be back, unless every erj driver is checked out on the CRJ and Johny o taps into his reserves stored offshore.

Nobody likes J. Ornstein, but its kind of funny considering you have Hulas Kanodia AKA J. Ornstein #2 as the CEO of your airline's (GoJet) holding company (Trans States Holdings, Inc) and I've never once heard you criticize him. Are the CRJ-700s that nice?

 

[fly8slep]

Nobody likes J. Ornstein, but its kind of funny considering you have Hulas Kanodia AKA J. Ornstein #2 as the CEO of your airline's (GoJet) holding company (Trans States Holdings, Inc) and I've never once heard you criticize him. Are the CRJ-700s that nice?

Criticizing the guy that signs your pay check isn't the way to go. It certainly hasn't gotten you anywhere has it, try not to go for 4 days off per month this time.

 

[SpiraMirabilis]

try not to go for 4 days off per month this time.

This is not English.

 

[surreal1221]

:banghead:

 

[mxflyer]

Simple.

You can only do what you can control.

Don't pick any of it up. Now, if you end up flying with someone who picked up some open time and they're all giddy like a school girl who is about to have her skirt lifted, tell him the deal.

That would work if people weren't selfish...but in reality people don't care.

 

[SlumTodd_Millionaire]

I hate to say it but the few Mesa guys I have talk to about this don't care(one of the guys is in my crashpad).

Perhaps someone in the crashpad should see to it that this little sack of #### wakes up in the morning to find his tires slashed and unable to get to work to fly his precious open time.

 

[SpiraMirabilis]

Perhaps someone in the crashpad should see to it that this little sack of #### wakes up in the morning to find his tires slashed and unable to get to work to fly his precious open time.

Wow, that's pretty harsh! Or is it?