Frontier. Sounds a lot like CAL
05-04-2012, 05:25 AM
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Frontier. Sounds a lot like CAL
RAH Contract NOW! | Teamsters Local 357
The purpose of this website is to inform potential applicants seeking employment at Republic Airways Holdings. We the pilots, represented by the Teamsters Local 357, wish to explain the realities and demonstrate examples working under the amendable contract between our Union and Management before you apply or interview. It may seem counterintuitive for us to deter you from working with us, but it is surprisingly to your advantage to learn the quality of life differences between our airline and others. You the applicant may have a choice to which airline you pursue employment with, and we wish you the best decision possible. If you choose to come work as a pilot here, you will be welcomed by the existing pilot group, but the Union will have a much harder time if you do not have a good grasp of the way things really are. The following are the "facts of life" with working as a pilot at Republic Airways Holdings. Management has enjoyed dragging out the term of this contract, while giving mere lip service to the stunning lack of competitiveness of the compensation package they offer. The frequent double talk from our Management continues the baffle even the most open mind:
The "we are one" phase is often expressed by Management to link and share corporate strategies with different wholly owned entities, but when it comes to instances that might benefit the employees "we are separate".
Management often speaks of the internal corporate value and success of Frontier Airlines, however every opportunity to pitch the sale and removal of Frontier is publicly advertised. Clearly there is a significant disconnect between the vision of success from Management and it's Employees.
Management frequently assures your efforts working at this airline are greatly appreciated and one of their founding principals is to "hire the best", however be certain that it is their goal to compensate you far below fellow airline peer groups. It is unfortunate that appreciation does not pay mortgages, college funds, retirements, and family securities, but they do not.
Besides the big picture issues mentioned above, the following are the examples of the day to day issues you will be treated to once employed here:
The pilot Union has voted to authorize a strike should the NMB release us. If you are hired at RAH, you will be placed on a probationary period for one year. If the pilots should strike while you are on probation, you will face a very difficult choice: strike with us and be fired by the company, or cross a picket line and earn the black mark of a scab.
On March 8th 2012, Management announced publicly that they intend to increase First Officer pay to be more in line with their version of industry averages effective April 1st 2012. While engaged in contract negotiations, the company voluntarily agreed to pay newhire first officers more, instead of coming to a negotiated agreement with the pilots. This as an open admission that the compensation package is simply not good enough to attract qualified applicants. Unfortunately, this "voluntary pay raise" isn't the same as a pay raise. Will a bank give you a loan based on your contractual pay rates, or the ones the company is using to fill a few classes during the summer?
Incredibly long upgrade time. Currently 5 years. For a pilots hired today, they need the fleet to double, or for roughly 800 current First Officers to upgrade before they could upgrade. Can you survive if your pay never rises above $32K until you retire? Without an upgrade, how quickly will a legacy airline call you for an interview?
It is not uncommon to have a few flights of your schedule canceled. Flights cancel, that's life. But at RAH, you don't get paid for them unless the company finds something else for you to do. For many of our pilots, this could constitute a 20% pay cut any given month. Cancellations strike without regard to seniority, paycheck, or previous cancellations.
On reserve you will get 11 days a month off. Your reserve will always start at 4AM, so you will have to commute to your base the day before your reserve stretch begins. Your reserve assignment is not prevented from ending at 11:59PM on your last day of reserve. It is more common than not to also commute home on your first day off. This means you may be home about 7 full days a month if you have an easy commute.
The reserve rules can be summarized as: "the company can do what they want to, with whomever they want to, when they want to." If you are senior on the reserve list, and want to fly—you don't necessarily get to fly. If you live in base on reserve and would prefer not to get used—you will likely fly a LOT.
If you are based in certain domiciles, you will not have travel benefits for other code-share partners—including code-share partners that you will be flying for on reserve. For instance DEN pilots have company (Frontier) benefits only, yet DEN reserves tend to be quite familiar with the US Airways flying. When asked about this situation recently, the company's senior leadership's response was "this is the third Union leadership that has asked us this question." The Union has pushed for a better, logical travel benefits policy for YEARS, yet the poor package remains in place.
You will likely be displaced out of your base at some point. You can move to your base in order to avoid commuting, but RAH has a long history of opening and closing bases and displacing the pilots not to other bases their seniority would hold, but to where the company would like the pilots to go to. In May 2012, RAH is closing the MKE EMB-135 and EMB-190 domiciles. The EMB-135 pilots are being displaced to ORD, SDF, LGA and CMH. The EMB-190 pilots are being displaced to DEN, MCI, PHL and DCA. There are some very senior EMB-190 FOs in MKE who might like to bid for either the EMB-135 ORD base, or EMB- 170 base (MKE to ORD is a two hour or less drive), but cannot. Likewise, there are ORD pilots who are senior enough, live in Denver, and cannot bid to the DEN base. If you expect any form of stability, reliability, or predictability you are looking at the wrong company.
RAH displaced an entire base of pilots from HNL (yes, Honolulu) to LGA (yes, New York City). How much time were the pilots given to make the move, you ask? 3 weeks. 3 weeks to cancel their leases and relocate their lives 5,000 miles away.
RAH management has argued that the definition of "base" is the city in which your domicile is located (to avoid paying for hotels for pilots doing training in their IND and STL). RAH management has ALSO argued that the definition of "base" is the airport itself only (to try and require pilots to remain at the airport at the end of a reserve assignment). It simply depends on what is cheapest for them at that particular moment. This may seem a bit schizophrenic to the normal person, but it is everyday practice in the offices of RAH.
Republic pilots on the Republic Airlines, Shuttle America Airlines, or Chautauqua Airlines certificates have no access to ZED fares. ZED fares are the only affordable option for travel on other airlines, and are the only real system for international non-revenue travel. Working for an airline to get "travel benefits" used to be a common thing, but the RAH travel benefits are so bad as to be useless.
RAH management has argued over the definition of "seat" to avoid negotiating pay rates for a new aircraft type. This is the type of management team you will be working for.
We the pilots have been attempting to work with Management to improve the working conditions at this airline so no new hires have to subject themselves to this substandard and amendable contract (negotiations began in April, 2007). We may never convince Management of the advantages of pursuing a happy pilot group, but at least a new contract will dull the blows of the RAH corporate culture. Until Management agrees the best future of this airline involves viewing and acknowledging the pilots are assets to the success of this airline, this company is probably not in your best interest to contribute your professional skills and talents. There are plenty of other opportunities for pilots that have similarly poor pay packages—but an entirely different quality of work and life.
The purpose of this website is to inform potential applicants seeking employment at Republic Airways Holdings. We the pilots, represented by the Teamsters Local 357, wish to explain the realities and demonstrate examples working under the amendable contract between our Union and Management before you apply or interview. It may seem counterintuitive for us to deter you from working with us, but it is surprisingly to your advantage to learn the quality of life differences between our airline and others. You the applicant may have a choice to which airline you pursue employment with, and we wish you the best decision possible. If you choose to come work as a pilot here, you will be welcomed by the existing pilot group, but the Union will have a much harder time if you do not have a good grasp of the way things really are. The following are the "facts of life" with working as a pilot at Republic Airways Holdings. Management has enjoyed dragging out the term of this contract, while giving mere lip service to the stunning lack of competitiveness of the compensation package they offer. The frequent double talk from our Management continues the baffle even the most open mind:
The "we are one" phase is often expressed by Management to link and share corporate strategies with different wholly owned entities, but when it comes to instances that might benefit the employees "we are separate".
Management often speaks of the internal corporate value and success of Frontier Airlines, however every opportunity to pitch the sale and removal of Frontier is publicly advertised. Clearly there is a significant disconnect between the vision of success from Management and it's Employees.
Management frequently assures your efforts working at this airline are greatly appreciated and one of their founding principals is to "hire the best", however be certain that it is their goal to compensate you far below fellow airline peer groups. It is unfortunate that appreciation does not pay mortgages, college funds, retirements, and family securities, but they do not.
Besides the big picture issues mentioned above, the following are the examples of the day to day issues you will be treated to once employed here:
The pilot Union has voted to authorize a strike should the NMB release us. If you are hired at RAH, you will be placed on a probationary period for one year. If the pilots should strike while you are on probation, you will face a very difficult choice: strike with us and be fired by the company, or cross a picket line and earn the black mark of a scab.
On March 8th 2012, Management announced publicly that they intend to increase First Officer pay to be more in line with their version of industry averages effective April 1st 2012. While engaged in contract negotiations, the company voluntarily agreed to pay newhire first officers more, instead of coming to a negotiated agreement with the pilots. This as an open admission that the compensation package is simply not good enough to attract qualified applicants. Unfortunately, this "voluntary pay raise" isn't the same as a pay raise. Will a bank give you a loan based on your contractual pay rates, or the ones the company is using to fill a few classes during the summer?
Incredibly long upgrade time. Currently 5 years. For a pilots hired today, they need the fleet to double, or for roughly 800 current First Officers to upgrade before they could upgrade. Can you survive if your pay never rises above $32K until you retire? Without an upgrade, how quickly will a legacy airline call you for an interview?
It is not uncommon to have a few flights of your schedule canceled. Flights cancel, that's life. But at RAH, you don't get paid for them unless the company finds something else for you to do. For many of our pilots, this could constitute a 20% pay cut any given month. Cancellations strike without regard to seniority, paycheck, or previous cancellations.
On reserve you will get 11 days a month off. Your reserve will always start at 4AM, so you will have to commute to your base the day before your reserve stretch begins. Your reserve assignment is not prevented from ending at 11:59PM on your last day of reserve. It is more common than not to also commute home on your first day off. This means you may be home about 7 full days a month if you have an easy commute.
The reserve rules can be summarized as: "the company can do what they want to, with whomever they want to, when they want to." If you are senior on the reserve list, and want to fly—you don't necessarily get to fly. If you live in base on reserve and would prefer not to get used—you will likely fly a LOT.
If you are based in certain domiciles, you will not have travel benefits for other code-share partners—including code-share partners that you will be flying for on reserve. For instance DEN pilots have company (Frontier) benefits only, yet DEN reserves tend to be quite familiar with the US Airways flying. When asked about this situation recently, the company's senior leadership's response was "this is the third Union leadership that has asked us this question." The Union has pushed for a better, logical travel benefits policy for YEARS, yet the poor package remains in place.
You will likely be displaced out of your base at some point. You can move to your base in order to avoid commuting, but RAH has a long history of opening and closing bases and displacing the pilots not to other bases their seniority would hold, but to where the company would like the pilots to go to. In May 2012, RAH is closing the MKE EMB-135 and EMB-190 domiciles. The EMB-135 pilots are being displaced to ORD, SDF, LGA and CMH. The EMB-190 pilots are being displaced to DEN, MCI, PHL and DCA. There are some very senior EMB-190 FOs in MKE who might like to bid for either the EMB-135 ORD base, or EMB- 170 base (MKE to ORD is a two hour or less drive), but cannot. Likewise, there are ORD pilots who are senior enough, live in Denver, and cannot bid to the DEN base. If you expect any form of stability, reliability, or predictability you are looking at the wrong company.
RAH displaced an entire base of pilots from HNL (yes, Honolulu) to LGA (yes, New York City). How much time were the pilots given to make the move, you ask? 3 weeks. 3 weeks to cancel their leases and relocate their lives 5,000 miles away.
RAH management has argued that the definition of "base" is the city in which your domicile is located (to avoid paying for hotels for pilots doing training in their IND and STL). RAH management has ALSO argued that the definition of "base" is the airport itself only (to try and require pilots to remain at the airport at the end of a reserve assignment). It simply depends on what is cheapest for them at that particular moment. This may seem a bit schizophrenic to the normal person, but it is everyday practice in the offices of RAH.
Republic pilots on the Republic Airlines, Shuttle America Airlines, or Chautauqua Airlines certificates have no access to ZED fares. ZED fares are the only affordable option for travel on other airlines, and are the only real system for international non-revenue travel. Working for an airline to get "travel benefits" used to be a common thing, but the RAH travel benefits are so bad as to be useless.
RAH management has argued over the definition of "seat" to avoid negotiating pay rates for a new aircraft type. This is the type of management team you will be working for.
We the pilots have been attempting to work with Management to improve the working conditions at this airline so no new hires have to subject themselves to this substandard and amendable contract (negotiations began in April, 2007). We may never convince Management of the advantages of pursuing a happy pilot group, but at least a new contract will dull the blows of the RAH corporate culture. Until Management agrees the best future of this airline involves viewing and acknowledging the pilots are assets to the success of this airline, this company is probably not in your best interest to contribute your professional skills and talents. There are plenty of other opportunities for pilots that have similarly poor pay packages—but an entirely different quality of work and life.
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