CAL EWR

JUNIOR MANNING August 1, 2007


Getting Junior Manned may sound like a good idea to put a few extra bucks in your pocket, but the company doesn’t always use the same calculator that you do. Time and half—what could go wrong, right? Well, how about this?

You’re sitting at home and because you are having such a fun day with your family, you forget to check your caller ID. “Hello First Officer …” Uh-oh! Unless you’re sick, scuba diving or in another situation that makes you unavailable, you are stuck! If you live in base, great. Just show up like any other trip. If you are one of our many commuters, you may have additional problems.

You need to protect yourself and check your loads before you accept the JM event. A full airplane, to a commuter, makes you unavailable. You need to let scheduling know your situation. The usual outcome is to get a PS0 to your domicile.

Here is the part that they may leave out. PS0 from your home to your base of record doesn’t get you Dead Head Pay. You would think the PS0 would be at time and a half or at LEAST straight time because they need YOU! The current answer to that is NO.

A Junior Manning event can cost you more in time away from your family than you first considered. Even more important to think about is that once you’re done, you still have to get home. You are on your own for that and it might even cost you another day to get home. If you think what happened above is fiction, think again! If you travel on a day off to a JM event, you will not be paid for that lost day off or receive a compensatory day off.

The Association believes that the Company failed to staff at sufficient levels for known summer flying.

Now let’s have a little education for the pilots who are still on probation or have only been here a few years and can still be intimidated by scheduling. This week, the Company has once again put out a bulletin asking for VJM. The language in the contract is below. Please know it and follow it. If you feel the Company is not following the contract, please point it out to them and then contact the UDO for help and guidance if needed at 1-888-990-4227.

Section 25 – Scheduling Part 13. B.

6. Junior assigned to a Lineholder in reverse order of seniority (Junior Manning).
Junior Manning will be implemented for open Trip coverage only when
priorities 1 through 5 have been exhausted, or within three (3) hours of
scheduled departure time. A Lineholder who will be required to drop a Trip
Pairing which would generate an additional Junior Manning requirement will
be bypassed in the first attempt at coverage. Crew Scheduling, when notifying
a pilot of such an assignment will clearly state that he is being Junior Manned.
All assignments made under the provisions of this Paragraph will be fully
documented by Crew Scheduling and forwarded to the System Chief Pilot
within twenty-four (24) hours, with an information copy to the affected pilot,
the Association, and his Base Chief Pilot within forty-eight (48) hours.

7. After the above steps have been exhausted, a pilot may be used in a lower
Status.

We have had a line holdingpilot call the UDO line and tell the UDO that they have received a message notifying them that they have been junior manned. If you are new, that can be disturbing, because you are going to run the full gamut of emotions and wonder what to do, especially since you may be on probation. If scheduling does not personally speak to you, YOU ARE NOT JUNIOR MANNED. If they choose to put it on your line and check you in, then that’s their choice but you have no liability for it. Don’t call back to argue about; just ignore it.

Remember, if you answer the phone and you are not available to do the trip, you don’t have to do it. What does available mean? Are you home with your kids and no one is available to baby sit if you leave? Is your wife sick? Are you too tired to do it because you have flown too much this month already? There are a number of reasons that you are not available - more than we can write here. If you happen to get caught or you want to go and fly, it is your responsibility to make sure you are rested and able to do the pairing thatthey are asking you to do. If you want to go fly and afterwards realize that you madean error in judgment, it is your responsibility to tell them you are not rested. The union has no grounds to tell you what to do. We are here to make sure the contract is followed. If you feel you should be paid more for your trip because you DEADHEADED from the west coast, you’ll have a battle to fight since the contract language to support your case may be difficult to find. If you are too fatigued to fly, then we will back you 100%. You may get a call from your chief pilot, but you have the ultimate responsibility to be safe and in the right frame of mind to do the trip assigned to you.

The bottom line is Junior Manning is a pilot intelligence test. You can only be junior manned if you are available. If you feel you are not rested or safe to fly, then you have a responsibility to the Company, the flying public and to your license to do what is expected of you. Remember, safety is our number one goal.

Your MEC is working hard for you. Get involved. Know your contract. Be responsible for your crew. Protect the new hires; they may feel intimidated.

Remember to wear you ALPA pin. If you have not updated your info or have not yet received or signed up to get your on-time tie pin, please do so as soon as you can.

IronWalt

Move into base if you are junior and avoid the problems. Commuting on reserve WHILE ON PROBATION is asking for trouble. And possible termination. Only a moron would do this.

CAL EWR

I don't commute only did so for four of my twenty years at CAL and hated every minute of it. With that being said why would you move your family to relocate to a job with extremely low pay, no insurance for six months to one of the most expensive areas to live (NY/NJ). The majority of our new hires commute for various reasons but many because of what is said above.

This business is such a roller coaster and has eroded so much I can certainly understand why so many commute.

HercDriver130

Thats not even what he is talking about Walt.

WEACLRS

Thanks CAL EWR. Very timely.

I was a reserve pilot as of yesterday (end of July) and a line pilot as of today (for those interested, I'm based in IAH - 4 months, 3 weeks, to hold a line). Sure enough, Crew Scheduling called this afternoon. I answered, probably foolishly, but I'm on probation and just finished my last reserve pairing this morning. I wasn't really sure if I wasn't still on call today. They were very nice and very polite. They wanted to know if I'd volunteer in trade for days off or premium pay. It was not forced on me. I declined. The company will only change it's pilot staffing levels if they feel enough pain. To do that you can't volunteer in situations like this. The best thing that can happen is for the scheduler to say to his manager who says to his director who says to the Ops VP who says to Larry, "no one's available. We're out of pilots. We had to cancel the flight."

Now that I realize I really do have line status, I'll be out Sunday to fly my scheduled line. Until then, I'll shut the damn phone off.

CALPilotToo

RU serious? Do you even have a clue what you are commenting about?

captchris

Good one....especially with CLE/EWR/Houston/Guam.... at my airline 90%+ of the people on reserve commute.... CA's/FO's. Most places have a commuter clause, and termination probably would be a last resort.

Safe skies weekend warrior.

A320fumes

deleted.......................................

luv757

I am also on probation but I never, ever answer the phone on a day off. Also, if you want to pick up extra flying, pick up something that somebody has advertised. Stay away from open time. If everyone would stop doing the job of an extra pilot maybe, just maybe we could get them to staff the airline properly. Until they let me personal drop one trip, I refuse to cover the manning mistakes.