tomgoodman

You are correct, but there may be a legal hazard. If you're under the Railway Labor Act, both sides are required to observe the "status quo" when a contract becomes amendable. Even though no individual pilot is obliged to fly overtime, a substantial reduction by many pilots in what has been a "normal" amount of overtime could be interpreted by a court as a "concerted action" in violation of this provision. Unfair? Perhaps, but that's approximately what happened at Delta a few years ago. The matter was finally dropped, but only after DALPA virtually pleaded with members to cease all "no-overtime" campaigns, formal or informal.

I recognize, however, that the situation at your airline may be different. Good luck.

MD11HOG

I remember the Delta case and I'm sure the Fed Ex lawyers would act likewise. In an even more unnerving case, a judge issued a searcht warrant for a flight attendant's home computer in an illegal sick out. So in no way am I advicating an organized effort. I'm just saying every pilot should think about it.

RedeyeAV8r

MD11HOG
I think what your trying to say (if I may be so bold) is that the past 2 years of negotiating has been a strain on all of us, both physically and mentally.

MGT has seen fit to continue to optimize our schedules. They have continued to up our monthly BLG's which has equated to 1 1/2 days more work per month for many of us...........you know that little xtra trip added on the line by itself that causes one extra commute to MEM.

Trip trades and trip drops are routinely denied because of "Insufficent Reserves"

Recurrent training requests are ignored.

Secondary Line requests ignore seniority.

Vacation cancellations occur every month and have since 2000 in practically every seat.

ACP's call our homes when we call in sick for trips.......not to check on our health but to question our choice to call in sick.

Trips are routinely revised and often go from a very Senior trip to a Junior trip at the drop of a HAT.

The Head of flight safety is quoted as saying FedEx pilots are an unprofessional and undisciplined bunch. (I wish I had him on my jumpseat flying into MEM last week during those Big T-Storms.!)

Lets not mention the MGT's proposal to do away with Retiree Healthcare and up active Pilots Health premiums by 400%........offsetting the 3% pay raise they offered.

I, like most others here, am a Team player . I am Glad FedEx is a profitable company. I want them to continue to be profitable. As pilots, we play a very active role in that profitability. Boxes continue to arrive on time at their destinations through and around thunderstorms, typhoons, and a host of other hazards. I want to keep that spirit........FedEx Pilots Deliver......Period

But alas, I find myself tired lately. I have gone above and beyond for this company, but I can no longer keep up that pace. I find myself needing extra time to recover after long trips. I find myself needing to use all my vacation for that "re-charge". I find myself having to say no to Draft trips because I need the extra time to get more sleep and not miss any more Birthdays, Holidays, Anniversaries or Piano recitals.

There is no concerted effort here............FedEx pilots are simply worn out.
We are ready for better schedules.
We are ready to know we will have healthcare beneifts for us and our families when we retire.
We are ready to know our Retirement will be protected and will pay as agreed.
We are ready to know the JOB we worked so hard to be successful will not be outsourced to non FedEx Pilots.
We are ready to see a meaningful increase in our W-2's without working extra or selling back vacation.

When that happens I am sure it will be a load off all our backs and we will all feel less stress and our job performance will reflect that. Until then, I need the rest.

Overnitefr8

Actually, what I was talking about is that some trips are picked up for perfectly legitimate reasons. For example, next month I'm going to have to pick up a trip because I turned down substitution on Friday. If I don't, I will lose 7+40 CH in pay. However, in my June line it will look like I picked up the trip just to get more pay because I didn't trade off another trip. I also mentioned dropping R days and then picking up trips afterwards. This probably isn't happening much since we are short in every seat. But if I was sitting reserve, I would try to drop as many R days as possible and pick up as many trips.

fedupbusdriver

not to mention picking up for mil leave drops

R1200RT

Different forum just trying to class the place up. Please don't put you club bike on here and lower the bar.

R1200RT

So if you drop pay at FedEx and get mil pay then come back and make up your time at FedEx isn't that double dipping and working overtime.

Also, if you drop Rdays then pick up trips (which I have done) isn't that still helping since you are taking yourself off reserve when they are over staffed then picking up on days they are short. Not sure if that thinking is right but I'm thinking I need to stop that too. Just asking

Ranger

My personal policy is to not even look at open time. Ever. I have to admit that I didn't give the "don't fly draft/volunteer, make-up, etc." too much thought until that idea started popping up here. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was working tired way too much. It comes down to safety of flight. I need those days off to recover from the trips that our beloved management is building for us.

fecav8r

This whole "no extra flying' thing is a slippery slope. Not only are there the issues you have already brought up about the legalities of it, but there are just so many unknowns that it makes a very inequitable system. if you decide you are not going to do anything but 100%, I respect your decision. Why then is it that if I decide to pick up a trip out of open time for something extra, like tuition for a college bound child, I get beat up in all the blogs and am treated like a leper.
What about the Senior capt that sells back his vacation and then flies his line. Isn't that doing extra? He's got 11 days of pay in his pocket and now can boe uot his chest and say "I'm supporting my Union, I'm not taking any draft, volunteer, or make up. Yeah it happened!
They have LCA's in Subic picking up all the extra flying that should be going to the Subic pilots. Do you see any affect of them not flying extra, except for their bank accounts getting smaller. And no, they will not get a pay raise to cover what they have lost in the last 3 or 4 months.
I just don't see how this is going to get me a new contract. Are they losing enough trips out there to make a difference. Evidently not.

R1200RT

When they start sending Memphis guys to Subic they are feeling it. They can't do that forever. You are right Subic isn't that big. But, if Memphis would do the same for a month/week we'd have a deal. I don't think they have enough Mgmt and instructors to cover the Memphis base. Even if they did then training would not be able to handle the students. My point is that you shouldn't justify flying extra because you see a few guys doing it. They are wrong and hurting the collective group. Why should we have to suffer because some guy can't make it on 9 or 10K per month. I'm sure they have reasons, but then so do the nonmembers ($$$$$)