DiamondZ

And get the list ready for trimming in the event the economy continues to suffer after the new leadership takes office...

Popeye

You are still thinking way too small. The company just trimmed about 20% from every pilot's paycheck on the seniority list. Nugget and 727 s/o pay is nothing.

Here is a thought for you to consider. The 777 Bid gets Canceled. This feeds the fire of doom and gloom around here. The DC10 guys have to go someplace else, versus sitting at home on pay only status waiting for a class date in November 2009. Now we are really fat, just in case some arbitrator asks.

"Hey PC, can you pass me another one of those Romeo y Juliettas."

"Sure FWS, here you go."

Daniel Larusso

Unless there is some sort of intervening LOA that causes a reevaluation of the landscape, a big excess bid is coming out imo. To not do so, would not only officially let the crew force know that their 4.A.2.B moves were just a grab, they have to do it to show the arbitrator that their exercise of 4.A.2.B was to prevent a furlough. Also, if they do go through with an excess we better watch how they set the training letter up, lest they try and pull some machination of the 07-03 shamrocks and shenanigans. Common sense left the building long ago, this now appears to be a game of lawyers on both sides and the will of those behind them.

Deuce130

What's with the arbitrator talk? Didn't DW say we were gearing up a lawsuit? As in a court with a judge?

olly

The bottom line is if there are x f/o's in ANC then crew costs are X times the payrate. If all the nuggets are excessed (i'm one of 'em) and the base is still manned at x f/o's, the ANC f/o crew cost will increase.

All nuggets are on yr-3 pay (4 in the late summer), those that replace the nuggets would be collecting year 5 (or graeater) pay at a minimum. Even if all the replacementsare on year 5 pay it's about $200k more per annum. The only reason to bump & flush is if they want to furlough.

A realignment bid just shuffles the deck with no value added. In fact it maximizes crew costs by placing the most senior in the highest paying slots.

There are only two reasons to excess-1) too many pilots for the sked, 2) to realign so they can furlough iaw seniority.

Of course there is the non-logic of the 8-02 excess of 1 on the 727 s/o to give all the 60+ a venue to go back to the window seats-increasing costs & training, but I guess those costs don't matter to Flt Ops mngment.

Popeye

Deuce,

At DW meeting last Monday night that question came up. He indicated that the RLA rules were designed to keep these wranglings out of the courts and get rectified in other venues.

I think we are a long way from a court room. We all need to realize the company just stole a lot of money from our wallets. They did it under completely disingenuous pretenses. The union has taken a rather reasonable and measured approach in opposing the company's actions. The real pain is how long will we need to wait for some arbitrator to rule on this issue.

I like the idea of keeping track of the total dollar value being stolen from us. This way we'll know what needs to be returned to us before we engage in Section 6 Openers. This will be the job action issue for us. If this one gets away from us, we'll never recoup our losses. We'll all be working to 65 just to pay our creditors.

Gunter

Olly,

I didn't say all the nuggets would get moved if the rumor is true. I think the idea is to avoid replacing anyone, just flush a few off the bottom.

MX727

Here's what some are missing. We aren't anything but a cost center. We're labor. It's always been that way. If the freight is there, they'll work us to death. They don't give a **** one way or the other.

My original response was to a post that said they were going to try to use us with less than 68 hour BLG from here on. That this would be a new paradigm. That doesn't even make sense. The preferred paradigm is and always will be to move all of the freight with the fewest number of pilots. Problem is, they can't arbitrarily reduce (furlough) pilots to make that happen. We were smart to get that protection in the contract. It's unfortunate that that the language is so vague.

DLax85

OK, who wants to guessestimate the date of the next vacancy bid?

Most likely in the 757, unless the March excess bid forces guys into that jet in both seats....and thus the current training letter gets plenty of new names added.

...I'm thinking spring/summer 2010, at the earliest...??

...any takers?

FedExBusBoy

One of those glass half full guys huh?? Add 2 years to that at least........