Let's see, we started with Mastermechanic ranting and raving and looking for a fight. I tried to placate the situation and it apparently worked. This being a UAL board, that did not last long, and he came back with another bunch of "fighting talk" about pilots who have not flown for a while. Now, far be it from me, a lowly 300 Captain on reserve who HAS been flying quite a lot recently, to butt into this, BUT it is getting out of hand again!
Space waitrees,
You obviously have little knowledge of what did and continues to happen with the pilots, so I would kindly suggest checking your AFA charts and graphs on your website and coming back with better ammo.
Casual Rat,
Not sure how to help you!
For the rest of us, let's rehash this one more (last?) time, shall we?!
On September 11, many people died in a terrorist act that resulted in the company grounding two entire fleets of aircraft on the same day at the end of October. Pilots, just like F/As and Mechanics, work based on seniority. Apparently, some pilots on those two junior fleets were SENIOR enough NOT to get furloughed. One would expect that ALL the Captains and about half the First Officers fell into this category.
This led to a series of pilot bumps, whereby pilots on the bottom end of the seniority on each piece o equipment were SURPLUSSED to a different aircraft that their seniority could hold. For some pilots, this was a move UP, but the VAST majority of pilots moved DOWN, some by two airplane types. As many of you are aware, we get paid by seat and fleet, and thus MOST pilos surplussed lost LARGE dollar amounts (I know, your heart is bleeding!). As an example, many pilots were forced to move OUT of the LEFT seat of the 300 into the RIGHT seat of the 767. This is a pay CUT of about $38,772 for a 7th year pilot (about the seniority that had to do this). Some of those pilots WOULD HAVE BEEN PAY PROTECTED under Contract 2000, but the company's "force majeure" argument nullified this. ALPA filed a grievance over this, but it is part of the ERP we are conceding to the company!
As is ALWAYS the case when the company FORCES a major training event, the training center becomes quickly saturated, and training delays occur. Add to this the fact that the company realized that they cut too deeply and had to recall some pilots to their OLD positions AFTER they were bumped, and you have some people doing multiple training events within the same 8 month period! Conversely, some pilots were not scheduled for a LONG TIME (someone has to be the last one trained, right?!) During that time, they continued to get paid, even though, due to GOVERNMENT AND UAL RULES they could not LEGALLY FLY FOR UAL!
Now, far be it from me to congratulate the company for spnding thousands of dollars for pilots NOT to fly, but if you were a 12 year seniority pilot, would YOU expect the company to say "even though we arbitrarily decided to ground the fleet of aircraft you are qualified to fly , and we know you cannot legally fly any of our other airplanes right now, we are NOT going to pay you anything while you wait to be trained on OUR schedule." Would THAT be the solution? Let's bankrupt a family because UAL decided they wanted to remove this senior pilot's flying position?
If you consider that a contractual issue, then fine. It is a contractual issue that ALL the unions agree on! The senior employee does NOT get screwed ahead of the junior employee! If a Flight Attendant was NOT qualified to fly internationally, but she was on reserve and an international trip opened up, do you think the F/A should be docked a suitable number of trip days because she is not trained by the company to perform that duty? Or maybe an aircaft blows an engine on takeoff and shreds some composites and it comes to the hangar, where the avionics guy is and the company says "Hey, you are paid to be a mechanic here, fix this composite material so we can fly this aircraft!" When he says that he is not certified for it, should the company dock his wages??
We have to get a little serious and realize that while it is ALWAYS in vogue to sh!t on pilots and complain they are overpaid and underworked, this is not the instance that proves your point (not that there IS any proof of it!) In this case, it is the pilot doing EXACTLY what the company asked him to do, through no fault of his own.
Now, whether a pilot should be mouthing off about it in the Credit Union (if it did indeed happen), is another story. Such idiots deserve ALL the flak they get and more besides! Apart from the insensitivity of the point, it is just plain crass to discuss ANYTHING related to your job and finances in front of other workers. While I certainly do NOT apologize for being a well-paid employee, I do NOT try to rub it in other people's noses.
Now, can we all just get along?
mancityfan
