BobDDuck
Island Bus Driver
The ALPA Union at the company I fly for did something pretty good today. A little background... (and I am being sort of vague on this)
We are a wholly owned airline of one of the US Majors. We are one of two WOs the company has. We are a CRJ200 and CRJ700 operator while the other company operates Props. There are also several contract carriers that fly for this major. This major airline just got out of Chapter 11 and is experiencing considerable profits right now. They approached my company with an offer to fly 20 CRJ900s with the option for 20 more. In order to accept these jets we would have to freeze our current pay levels until out contract comes due in 3 years.
Because we are paid the same regardless of which aircraft we fly (200/700) we get a blended rate of the two depending on how many of each type we have compared to the total number. So, adding 20 900s should bring our pay up, but due to the nature of this proposal these new planes wouldn't recognized as far as our blended rate went. We were told that the Mainline needed a decision by August 1st. If we passed on this deal the planes would go to the other WO or one of the contract carriers.
My company has been the number one in on time departures and arrivals among all the express carriers for this Mainline company for the past 5 months. We have been profitable since we were purchased by them and provide the mainline carrier with a stable and positive brand. But still, they decided to insult us and not follow the CBA that has been established (blended rate) and offer the planes at as a concessionary deal.
After getting a lot of input from the members, the union's negotiating committee met with the company to try to get something out of the deal. There were two days of meetings. Rumor has it that the Union walked out the first day as the company wouldn't say anything other then "no" and the company walked out the second day when the union cornered them into some lies that had apparently told. In the end however, the company wouldn't deal so the MEC declined the offer with out ever putting it out to vote. Some people here feel that the union should have let the pilots vote on it, but the majority seem ok with how things happened.
So, what happens now? The logical thing (and the best outcome for us) is that the company comes back with another offer, this time with something that actually benefits the pilot group. The other options, such as spending several million dollars to start up a jet program at a prop operator and providing the airplanes to a certain contract carrier that Mainline has been slowly trying to remove, just don't seem likely. If either of these things were to happen it is possible that the mainline company could start to remove the planes we already have, potentially leading to the end of this company. However, that is unlikely and I think that is a risk we are willing to take to prevent ourselves from being whipsawed against the other carriers.
Time will tell what the end result will be, but for now I am proud of my union actually making a stand and not rolling over for a BS management proposal.
We are a wholly owned airline of one of the US Majors. We are one of two WOs the company has. We are a CRJ200 and CRJ700 operator while the other company operates Props. There are also several contract carriers that fly for this major. This major airline just got out of Chapter 11 and is experiencing considerable profits right now. They approached my company with an offer to fly 20 CRJ900s with the option for 20 more. In order to accept these jets we would have to freeze our current pay levels until out contract comes due in 3 years.
Because we are paid the same regardless of which aircraft we fly (200/700) we get a blended rate of the two depending on how many of each type we have compared to the total number. So, adding 20 900s should bring our pay up, but due to the nature of this proposal these new planes wouldn't recognized as far as our blended rate went. We were told that the Mainline needed a decision by August 1st. If we passed on this deal the planes would go to the other WO or one of the contract carriers.
My company has been the number one in on time departures and arrivals among all the express carriers for this Mainline company for the past 5 months. We have been profitable since we were purchased by them and provide the mainline carrier with a stable and positive brand. But still, they decided to insult us and not follow the CBA that has been established (blended rate) and offer the planes at as a concessionary deal.
After getting a lot of input from the members, the union's negotiating committee met with the company to try to get something out of the deal. There were two days of meetings. Rumor has it that the Union walked out the first day as the company wouldn't say anything other then "no" and the company walked out the second day when the union cornered them into some lies that had apparently told. In the end however, the company wouldn't deal so the MEC declined the offer with out ever putting it out to vote. Some people here feel that the union should have let the pilots vote on it, but the majority seem ok with how things happened.
So, what happens now? The logical thing (and the best outcome for us) is that the company comes back with another offer, this time with something that actually benefits the pilot group. The other options, such as spending several million dollars to start up a jet program at a prop operator and providing the airplanes to a certain contract carrier that Mainline has been slowly trying to remove, just don't seem likely. If either of these things were to happen it is possible that the mainline company could start to remove the planes we already have, potentially leading to the end of this company. However, that is unlikely and I think that is a risk we are willing to take to prevent ourselves from being whipsawed against the other carriers.
Time will tell what the end result will be, but for now I am proud of my union actually making a stand and not rolling over for a BS management proposal.
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tag, so I can't tell. 