Found on ..... Facebook?

[waveflyer]

Regional Pilots Plan Sick Out: September 1-5, 2014


Over 20,000 regional airline pilots might be calling in sick on their flights between September 1-5, 2014 to send a strong message to the airline and travel industry. With most major carriers using regional airlines to grow their networks and fly routes not suites for larges planes, if this movement is carried out successfully, airports will be a mess nationwide.

The website organizing the movement boasts a lot of information such as pay scale comparisons, numbers reporting the pilot shortage, the ?1500″ hour, and information on the Railway Labor Act and sends this message:

The purpose of this is not to bankrupt our employers, but to simply send a message. Some of our mainline partners have been posting record profits while we flounder in an endless sea of nothing. Uncertain futures are on the horizon and non-existent calls for a greener pasture. We need to send a message that we are unified and will do what it takes to keep moving forward.

We are in short supply and not easily replaceable. Pilots need to realize that. We are professional airline pilots and need to start earning a wage in line with a professional airline pilot.

They?re hoping regional pilots across the nation will stand together:

Many pilots will not call in sick mid-trip fear of disrupting their fellow crew members and a phone call from the chief pilot. But most of us have no qualms about calling in sick before the trip starts. That is EXACTLY what this effort is.

If your trip(s) start on September 1st through September 5th CALL OUT!

Evaluate your mental and/or physical well-being. Schedule your much needed dental checkup, get that nasty mole checked out or simply go to a walk-in. Inform your doctor of your symptoms and get a note. Turn that note in when you come back.

We need to stand together and show management, ALPA, the RAA and the flying public that if things do not change, we will make them change.

Will they fire one or two pilots for individually staging a job action? Yes.

Will they fire 20,000 Regional Airline Pilots that stood together in an unprecedented way and made U.S. airline history? Not a chance!

 

[Freebrd]

Don't see it happening anywhere near a big event. Handful maybe. Not that I don't agree with the reasons for the call though.

 

[J.Otto]

If your trip(s) start on September 1st through September 5th CALL OUT!

Are you effectively then a scab, if you don't?

http://download.cabledrum.net/wikileaks_archive/file/airline-pilot-scab-list.pdf

 

[Flash]

Are you effectively then a scab, if you don't?

Is this a strike?

 

[J.Otto]

Is this a strike?

Effectively, yes.

http://www.pilotstrike.com

 

[BUDDHA145]

I just hope that the regional pilots have the guts to do it. I mean look a the big cojones of the majors pilots! Nothin...
http://www.operationorange.org
"One for all... And that's all it is"

 

[27 driver]

I don't think they will get the participation they want. It will be interesting. I don't believe anyone who doesn't take part will be labeled a scab as this in not a legal strike.

 

[Shrek]

Effectively, yes.

http://www.pilotstrike.com

What was the result of the strike vote then?

Which elected union leaders are calling for the sickout?

If it is impossible to answer those questions this is NOT a strike.

 

[PCL_128]

Are you effectively then a scab, if you don't?

No. You're an idiot if you do participate, though. So goodbye to your job.

 

[Flash]

No. You're an idiot if you do participate, though. So goodbye to your job.

Just get a half ass doctors note, can't be fired for that

 

[PCL_128]

Just get a half ass doctors note, can't be fired for that

Keep telling yourself that.

 

[Flash]

Keep telling yourself that.

I'm sure ALPA would use it's top notch attorneys to fight a pilot unjustly fired.

 

[GogglesPisano]

And in the end, "I'm Spartacus!"

 

[PCL_128]

I'm sure ALPA would use it's top notch attorneys to fight a pilot unjustly fired.

A pilot who engages in an unlawful job action is not "unjustly" fired.

 

[SpauldingSmails]

And in the end, "I'm Spartacus!"

Ha. I was thinking more along the lines of, "I'm Brian!"

http://youtu.be/99DhQQ5DxO8

 

[SWA Bubba]

A pilot who engages in an unlawful job action is not "unjustly" fired.

Good God, people--stop making me agree with PCL. Even a little bit. It makes me feel dirty.

Bubba

 

[HowardBorden]

No. You're an idiot if you do participate, though. So goodbye to your job.

It seems that American pilots staged a massive sick out for over 10 days in 1999. How many of them were fired?

 

[msmb]

Please stop using the word "SCAB" the wrong way. A scab is someone who crosses an active picket line. Please don't use it any other way, thanks.

 

[Nindiri]

I'd love to see my Regional friends get a better deal, but I'm not sure taking a shotgun to your foot is the best way to get there.

 

[PCL_128]

It seems that American pilots staged a massive sick out for over 10 days in 1999. How many of them were fired?

You're asking the wrong question. There are MANY possible negative outcomes to an illegal job action. Termination is only one. Fines that cripple your union is another. And bad case law that cripples your union is yet another. And that's the one that resulted from the APA case you reference. We've been severely restricted in what we've been able to do because of the case law that followed that stupid decision, and more and more bad case law has compounded as a result of it being referenced by many more judges.

Don't be an idiot. Breaking the law will not get you what you want.

 

[SpauldingSmails]

Don't be surprised if a phone call from a regional partner to its respective mainline with a list of names is passed along - unofficially of course. If you believe that cannot or will not happen, you're a fool. These guys talk.

 

[bafanguy]

It seems that American pilots staged a massive sick out for over 10 days in 1999. How many of them were fired?

FYI:

http://www.cnn.com/US/9904/15/american.airlines.02/

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...-pilots-association-sickout-lower-paid-pilots

Google has more including a PDF document from the BLS dealing with the event.

I didn't look long enough to see if individual pilots got fired. Seems more directed at the union although there was some mention of individual pax suing individual pilots...doubt that went anywhere.

"While the lawsuit in state court now names only the pilots union as a defendant, both Tekell and Catalano said the airline's pilots could become individually liable if the passenger suits are successful.The union "is organized as an association under Texas law and not as a protective corporation," Catalano said. " It could get to individual pilots."

 

[Nindiri]

Comair pilots staged a 2 or 3 day sickout back in 99, I think it was, and ended up with negotiations parked for awhile.

 

[mesaserf]

Just get a half ass doctors note, can't be fired for that

Yes, you can.

About 5+ years ago Mesa fired three captains for violating their attendance policy. Only one went to arbitration, the other two got thrown under the bus by their union. They all had doctors notes and one was even in a car accident.

From what I understand the two who did not go to arbitration were forced to sign conditional letters of employment in order to get their jobs back without full back pay.

 

[PCL_128]

Arbitrators aren't idiots. In fact, they got to be arbitrators and make $1,000+ a day because they're incredibly smart. They can see through BS, and they aren't handcuffed by rules of evidence and other things that judges deal with. So if they get the strong feeling that you're lying to them and giving them a BS doctor's note, then you aren't getting your job back. Don't be an idiot.

 

[olympus593]

Arbitrators aren't idiots. In fact, they got to be arbitrators and make $1,000+ a day because they're incredibly smart. They can see through BS, and they aren't handcuffed by rules of evidence and other things that judges deal with. So if they get the strong feeling that you're lying to them and giving them a BS doctor's note, then you aren't getting your job back. Don't be an idiot.

Do you seat down when you pee?

 

[PCL_128]

Do you seat down when you pee?

I've been fired, suspended, and had numerous letters put in my PRIA reportable file fighting for the rights of pilots. Have you? Brass balls are useless if you get them chopped off by being an idiot.

 

[HowardBorden]

You're asking the wrong question. There are MANY possible negative outcomes to an illegal job action. Termination is only one.

Actually, I was asking a question in direct response to you saying-"No. You're an idiot if you do participate, though. So goodbye to your job"

 

[PCL_128]

Actually, I was asking a question in direct response to you saying-"No. You're an idiot if you do participate, though. So goodbye to your job"

Which is the likely outcome if not many people participate. If a whole lot of people participate, then other very bad outcomes will come to pass. Either way, nothing but bad can come of it.

 

[SWA Bubba]

Arbitrators aren't idiots. In fact, they got to be arbitrators and make $1,000+ a day because they're incredibly smart. They can see through BS, and they aren't handcuffed by rules of evidence and other things that judges deal with. So if they get the strong feeling that you're lying to them and giving them a BS doctor's note, then you aren't getting your job back. Don't be an idiot.

Again I have to hold my nose for agreeing with PCL, but he's right in this case. Personally, I suspect that not that many will call out sick. And like he said, if it's just a few, they may very well get fired. If a whole lot call out, the companies may not be able to fire and replace that many pilots, so instead they'll take it out in the union. Just like what happened to the APA. Especially because, like the APA, they were stupid enough to actually memorialize their intention to conduct an illegal job action. That's what got the APA in trouble--some union officials left answering machine messages at pilots' homes telling them to call in sick, and those messages made it to the judge. I remember reading one article about it where the judge was so pissed when the pilots refused his back-to-work order, that his quote was, ..."by the time he was done with them, that the [APA's] assets would fit in a single overhead bin."

The airlines all know that pilots are publicly calling for this, and they're waiting. Anyone who does call in sick will probably be assumed to be a part of it, and will most probably face severe scrutiny. Nothing good will come for any pilot in this.

Bubba