pjirish317 said:
blue,
Our CBA does not contradict itself. It states we get the same priveleges as established for ALL company personnel. That means that one group can't get more than another. For example, the company can't say that Customer Service agents can get 4 Space Positive passes a year, leaving us not getting them. That is what that section is for. So you are saying it is ok for people to side with the company as long as it benefits them, while being a represented employee? That is the issue. What about the folks that do not want FCFS shoved down their throats? In essence, you are saying it is ok for them to side with the company because they don't agree with it. When you bid your shifts/days off, or vacations, how do you do it? By seniority? What happens if the company wants to do that by a FCFS basis? And a majority of people agree but in your CBA it states they can't? Are you just supposed to accept that because the majority want it? And who should be more understanding here, us or them?
Your post demonstrates why it was beyond stupid for your employer, US, to ever sign a CBA with that language in it. NRSA flight privileges are granted by the employer and can be taken away by the employer, even with your CBA language. Of course, the employer would have to terminate ALL NRSA flight privileges to avoid running afoul of the language in your agreement.
Whether or not DOH or FCFS is more "fair" (that's not the primary issue here), the language in your CBA hamstrings the company and all other workgroups, and that results in a minor version of "tyranny by the minority." AA has about twice as many employees as US, and it doesn't seem like anybody at AA is mad or upset at the FCFS rule. Apparently, it's worked out ok for them. Sometimes you get on your first choice of flights and sometimes you don't. Not a whole hell of a lot different from the DOH priority at US.
NRSA flight privileges are used only when you're off-the-clock. As in, not working. Being able to push your weight around and push your way to the front of the line is accepted by most employees when you're talking about bidding or vacation preferences or who gets offered OT before the others, and so on. Those are all things that have to do with work, not "free" travel on empty seats on your own time (I realize it's not completely free travel). More importantly, your seniority date in all those other areas doesn't spill over to other workgroups. If you're a mechanic, then your seniority date doesn't put you ahead of fleet service or pilots or agents or flight attendants - it really only matters within your workgroup.
I don't think anyone "hates" those who grieve the issue, but understand that if you "lose" the grievance, it doesn't mean you'll actually lose anything. You won't lose any money or anything that can be quantified into a dollar amount. You'll check in at the 24 hour mark or as close to it as you can and then takes your chances.
Isn't it enough that people hired after you were hired generally get paid less per hour, get less vacation and get less-desirable shifts than those with more seniority? On top of all that, your inability to throw your weight around (when you're off the clock) and bump a less-senior fellow employee off a flight constitutes impermissible harm? The only people I could see being in favor of such a system are those who are so old and so senior that they've never been bumped by anyone more senior than they are. That's gotta be a small group. If you're in the middle of the pack in seniority, then you probably get bumped from flights when more senior employees show up, and thus FCFS probably won't place you any worse off.
