Midwest suspends plans to hire back flight crews

[inflightboi175]

Midwest Airlines Inc. has suspended plans to hire back laid-off flight crews to operate regional jets the carrier began using last fall.
In September, Midwest hired Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (RJET) to operate Midwest Connect flights previously flown under the Midwest Airlines name. The move came after Republic agreed to provide up to $25 million in financing to Midwest, which helped prevent a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
In hiring Republic, Oak Creek-based Midwest laid off over 200 employees, including union pilots and flight attendants. Midwest said it would rehire the flight crews after they're trained to staff the Republic jets, but only if they accepted substantial pay cuts.
The unions have balked at that demand, so Midwest has suspended plans to train the pilots on flying the Embraer 170 jets, company spokesman Michael Brophy said. Those wage cuts are needed for Midwest to compete effectively, he said.
"Given the state of the economy, and the fact that we have not been able to secure a market-competitive cost structure, we have elected to stop the process," said a company memo to employees.
The pilots union doesn't agree with that decision, said Brian Jandorf, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association's Midwest chapter. He declined to comment further.
An official from the Association of Flight Attendants couldn't be reached for comment.
The unions have requested mediation in their contract talks with Midwest. No further contract talks have been scheduled yet, Jandorf said.
Arbitrators ruled in January that Midwest's hiring of Republic did not violate the company's labor agreements with the pilots and flight attendants unions.
Republic flies a dozen Embraer 170 jets, each with 76 seats, under the Midwest Connect name. Midwest Airlines also contracts with St. George, Utah-based SkyWest Inc. (SKYW) to operate a dozen Bombardier CRJ200 50-seat regional jets under the Midwest Connect name.
Midwest Airlines operates nine 99-seat Boeing 717 jets, which use union pilots and flight attendants.

 

[Bako Cap]

Big surprise!

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Sucks. You guys should not have to play this game.

 

[crj567]

This is just classic NWA mgmt. behavior...... They bought controlling interest in Midwest-right before they took over DAL.

-Be prepared for more of this crap.

 

[BUDDHA145]

Is all part of a mater pice!!! we took their flying with a false promise of their management!!! and ours!!!(we will train you on E-170 equip...and bla bla bla bla!!!) now the back stabing from management starts!!! sorry for all the guys and gals that got F-UP by our management!!! B....

uke: management

 

[PeanuckleCRJ]

NWA has been trying to kill MidEx for years. They tried many times building up MKE to try to run them out.... then they finally just bought them and will drain them out. Brutal.

 

[relief tube]

burn the place down.

 

[Moustache]

Midwest Airlines Inc. has suspended plans to hire back laid-off flight crews to operate regional jets the carrier began using last fall.
In September, Midwest hired Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings Inc. (RJET) to operate Midwest Connect flights previously flown under the Midwest Airlines name. The move came after Republic agreed to provide up to $25 million in financing to Midwest, which helped prevent a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.
In hiring Republic, Oak Creek-based Midwest laid off over 200 employees, including union pilots and flight attendants. Midwest said it would rehire the flight crews after they're trained to staff the Republic jets, but only if they accepted substantial pay cuts.
The unions have balked at that demand, so Midwest has suspended plans to train the pilots on flying the Embraer 170 jets, company spokesman Michael Brophy said. Those wage cuts are needed for Midwest to compete effectively, he said.
"Given the state of the economy, and the fact that we have not been able to secure a market-competitive cost structure, we have elected to stop the process," said a company memo to employees.
The pilots union doesn't agree with that decision, said Brian Jandorf, spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association's Midwest chapter. He declined to comment further.
An official from the Association of Flight Attendants couldn't be reached for comment.
The unions have requested mediation in their contract talks with Midwest. No further contract talks have been scheduled yet, Jandorf said.
Arbitrators ruled in January that Midwest's hiring of Republic did not violate the company's labor agreements with the pilots and flight attendants unions.
Republic flies a dozen Embraer 170 jets, each with 76 seats, under the Midwest Connect name. Midwest Airlines also contracts with St. George, Utah-based SkyWest Inc. (SKYW) to operate a dozen Bombardier CRJ200 50-seat regional jets under the Midwest Connect name.
Midwest Airlines operates nine 99-seat Boeing 717 jets, which use union pilots and flight attendants.

Where is this pasted from?

 

[erikgigem]

Sucks. You guys should not have to play this game.

It does suck - Midwest should have looked for better ways to get people to fly their airplanes. Pilots can't expect to keep their jobs flying empty jets. Had their management not "played this game", Midwest would have been liquidated last year. It was a desperate move to keep them afloat a little longer.

Its happening to all the airlines that are in a very precarious financial position due to not selling seats.

 

[SpauldingSmails]

What a shock! I think all the Midwest guys should call in sick, I know I would be physically ill if this happened to me.

 

[inflightboi175]

Where is this pasted from?

http://www.jsonline.com/business/41437037.html

 

[Nevets]

Not that it matters but I wonder if this would have turned out different if they would have let AirTran buy them out instead of NWA?

 

[Cat3C]

Timmay

I don't have a dog in this hunt but living in Wisconsin and having a bunch of homies that "used' to work there I guess I have an opinion.

I cannot believe how quickly the wheels came of this train. Outstanding product and for the most part it seemed like a decent place to work (interviewed and turned down the job). Now it's a sliver of what it once was. I am truly sick to my stomach how this all transpired and how many really great people are SOL.

Unreal. All the best to all the crews and staff who got the finger.

 

[Salukipilot4590]

This is just brutally sad...

 

[Scapegoat]

Find a new thread, Homie....

I don't have a dog in this hunt but living in Wisconsin and having a bunch of homies that "used' to work there I guess I have an opinion.

I cannot believe how quickly the wheels came of this train. Outstanding product and for the most part it seemed like a decent place to work (interviewed and turned down the job). Now it's a sliver of what it once was. I am truly sick to my stomach how this all transpired and how many really great people are SOL.

Unreal. All the best to all the crews and staff who got the finger.

Your a tool. STFU!

 

[Cat3C]

Your a tool. STFU!

How's that? Because I did not want to take the pay cut to go there and it was my decision to stay at my current employer? I meant absolutely nothing by the post only trying to mention that i knew something about the company.

Screw you

 

[Regul8r]

Midex guys/ladies, I'm very sorry. When Midex shuts down for good, how long do you think it will take the average RAH pilot to figure out that he/she/it just personally helped reduce their own future career options?

 

[AceCrackshot]

Midex guys/ladies, I'm very sorry. When Midex shuts down for good, how long do you think it will take the average RAH pilot to figure out that he/she/it just personally helped reduce their own future career options?

Since scope clauses went away, 65k in the left seat IS the "future career option..."

 

[Minimaniac]

Midex guys/ladies, I'm very sorry. When Midex shuts down for good, how long do you think it will take the average RAH pilot to figure out that he/she/it just personally helped reduce their own future career options?

So Boeing takes away the midwest aircraft, Midwest's management chooses to not take the opportunity to train its own pilots to fly the 170 and to operate the 170 on its own certificate, and yet it is still somehow the fault of the "average" RAH pilot who went to work one day and was told "fly this 170 that we own, but that is now painted in Midwest colors instead of Frontier colors." Got it. Like a true modern American, you always look to blame everyone except those truly at fault.

I don't blame Midex pilots for not wanting to work for regional wages. I don't blame RAH pilots for flying RAH aircraft.

I do blame every mainline captain and senior f/o who ever voted to relax scope in order to pad their paycheck. They are the reason regionals ever grew to fly such large aircraft, and to grow financially to a point where mainline and specialized carriers like Midwest depend on regionals like RAH for financial support. The tail is wagging the dog now. My career was ruined nearly 20 years ago by mainline pilots. Us regional pukes have been watching our mainline careers dissolve for years. Now the plague continues to spread and the mainline pilots are losing their careers too.

RAH pilots' wages go up every year, and at every contract as well. They have fought and won defending their scope. They have not taken concessions. In a post-9/11 world, RAH negotiated a pay scale that tops at $119/hr. At a regional!

We fly the airplanes that mainline pilots have VOTED TO GIVE UP. The 170 is bigger than the F-28, which used to be a mainline aircraft. in case you never slaved away at a regional, let me tell you that we never get to vote on what aircraft we fly. But our CEO does take advantage of every opportunity afforded to him to grow his airline. We fly 86 seat jets because mainline pilots gave them away, and let them be bought by COMPETITORS!

So go ahead and complain about me. I sleep well at night, though, knowing that I have not stabbed anyone in the back, or tried to steal food off of another man's plate. I know we are the most immediate target for your anger and loss, but you are quite frankly being irrational. Why don't you spew your hate at Skywest? Too good to fly a CRJ? Too ashamed to admit that you lost that fight as well?

I truly feel sorry for anyone who loses their job in these tough times. Heck, even in the best of times it is horrible to lose a career. I have lived through it all when my father lost his entire career and business and had to start all over again at age 55. But at least he had the sense to identify the causes of his loss. Hating RAH pilots and insulting them does nothing to solve the problem, and in the end won't make you happier. RAH pilots have done nothing wrong. They picked a job from all the jobs available at the time. NO RAH pilot was hired to fly the Midwest planes...we had already stopped hiring by then. Midwest flying was dropped in our laps. Refusal would mean termination, and it would be covering for the mistakes of Midwest management and faults in the negotiated Midwest CBA that was supposed to protect you. I am not falling on the sword to make up for the failures of someone else.

 

[n757st]

So Boeing takes away the midwest aircraft, Midwest's management chooses to not take the opportunity to train its own pilots to fly the 170 and to operate the 170 on its own certificate, and yet it is still somehow the fault of the "average" RAH pilot who went to work one day and was told "fly this 170 that we own, but that is now painted in Midwest colors instead of Frontier colors." Got it. Like a true modern American, you always look to blame everyone except those truly at fault.

I don't blame Midex pilots for not wanting to work for regional wages. I don't blame RAH pilots for flying RAH aircraft.

I do blame every mainline captain and senior f/o who ever voted to relax scope in order to pad their paycheck. They are the reason regionals ever grew to fly such large aircraft, and to grow financially to a point where mainline and specialized carriers like Midwest depend on regionals like RAH for financial support. The tail is wagging the dog now. My career was ruined nearly 20 years ago by mainline pilots. Us regional pukes have been watching our mainline careers dissolve for years. Now the plague continues to spread and the mainline pilots are losing their careers too.

RAH pilots' wages go up every year, and at every contract as well. They have fought and won defending their scope. They have not taken concessions. In a post-9/11 world, RAH negotiated a pay scale that tops at $119/hr. At a regional!

We fly the airplanes that mainline pilots have VOTED TO GIVE UP. The 170 is bigger than the F-28, which used to be a mainline aircraft. in case you never slaved away at a regional, let me tell you that we never get to vote on what aircraft we fly. But our CEO does take advantage of every opportunity afforded to him to grow his airline. We fly 86 seat jets because mainline pilots gave them away, and let them be bought by COMPETITORS!

So go ahead and complain about me. I sleep well at night, though, knowing that I have not stabbed anyone in the back, or tried to steal food off of another man's plate. I know we are the most immediate target for your anger and loss, but you are quite frankly being irrational. Why don't you spew your hate at Skywest? Too good to fly a CRJ? Too ashamed to admit that you lost that fight as well?

I truly feel sorry for anyone who loses their job in these tough times. Heck, even in the best of times it is horrible to lose a career. I have lived through it all when my father lost his entire career and business and had to start all over again at age 55. But at least he had the sense to identify the causes of his loss. Hating RAH pilots and insulting them does nothing to solve the problem, and in the end won't make you happier. RAH pilots have done nothing wrong. They picked a job from all the jobs available at the time. NO RAH pilot was hired to fly the Midwest planes...we had already stopped hiring by then. Midwest flying was dropped in our laps. Refusal would mean termination, and it would be covering for the mistakes of Midwest management and faults in the negotiated Midwest CBA that was supposed to protect you. I am not falling on the sword to make up for the failures of someone else.

While I agree in part it was not your decision to relax scope at the majors, it was your fault to negotiate CBA's that far undercut major airline contracts. You tout your payrates here stating 119hr for a 175!!!, while not also looking at the fact that AWAC 146 capts were making 120.00 per hour in 2001, and the FOs were making 50, let alone the rates on those 146's and F28s being flown by mainline years ago. So yes, blame mainline, but also blame yourself for flying the aircraft cheaper, and therefore not making it financially worthwile to fly the airplane at mainline.