AirTran Road show Pairings

[Citrusflyer]

Unless he has medical insurance through his spouse, that's pretty stupid.

The signing bonus maxes out at $7,937. divided by 48 (the number of months you would have no co-premiums paid by the company under the new T.A. before being eligible for Medicaire), gives you $165.34.

I guarantee you that COBRA rates are higher than $165 bucks a month for a 60+ year old guy, even in decent shape.

Maybe he didn't understand the medical insurance concessions,,,?

Don't overlook one important fact, all bonuses are taxable at 47% under IRS rules unless there is a provision - set up by the company - to put it into our retirement. Last I heard the company is not going to provide that option, so take 47% from your bonus check before you count on it!

$7937 equates to about $4206. (I guess it's true that everyone has his price, I would have hoped this guys' was not so low - oh well).

 

[AFcitrus]

Gentlemen and Ladies,

I just returned from the roadshow and here are a few things I picked up:

1)NPA is saying that Company asked no less that 6 times to start a 30 cooling off period and the arbitrator said no. Went on to claim the company wanted to get 30 days over with and then impose work rules because they think the pilots won't strike.

2) They are also claiming that if we don't vote yes and the MEH deal goes through company will shift assets to more profitable side of house - MKE and we won't see any growth in ATL.

3) They were caught off guard with several of our questions and did a lot of tap dancing without giving any substantial information in the way of answers.

I did get the impression the MS doesn't like this anymore than the rest of us but voted for it to get people riled up. He is P.Oed that our pilots have been sitting on their hands up to now. He said he couldn't get more than 150 volunteers to do informational picketing. Since the TA came out the list of volunteers has grown to over 300.

Only about 7 people showed up from 9 AM - 1PM. Not a great turnout.

Overall, not much was said that wasn't covered in the bullet points. A bit of a waste of time. It turned into a gripefest. I don't think anyone's minds were changed from a "no" vote by the information given today.

 

[USARET]

Gentlemen and Ladies,

I just returned from the roadshow and here are a few things I picked up:

1)NPA is saying that Company asked no less that 6 times to start a 30 cooling off period and the arbitrator said no. Went on to claim the company wanted to get 30 days over with and then impose work rules because they think the pilots won't strike.

2) They are also claiming that if we don't vote yes and the MEH deal goes through company will shift assets to more profitable side of house - MKE and we won't see any growth in ATL.

3) They were caught off guard with several of our questions and did a lot of tap dancing without giving any substantial information in the way of answers.

I did get the impression the MS doesn't like this anymore than the rest of us but voted for it to get people riled up. He is P.Oed that our pilots have been sitting on their hands up to now. He said he couldn't get more than 150 volunteers to do informational picketing. Since the TA came out the list of volunteers has grown to over 300.

Only about 7 people showed up from 9 AM - 1PM. Not a great turnout.

Overall, not much was said that wasn't covered in the bullet points. A bit of a waste of time. It turned into a gripefest. I don't think anyone's minds were changed from a "no" vote by the information given today.

Very, Very, Very unlikely that the mediator,at this point in negotiations would declare an impasse and call for a thirty day cooling off. Additionally, I don't believe that they would be able to operate MEH as a separate company on the same certificate. This has been discussed before by people with more knowledge than me on this subject. What concerns me though is that our union leadership doesn't seem to know any of this and are executing a "hasty retreat".

 

[RIDETHELIGHTING]

Are union doesnt seem to have a clue to what can take place. The fact that they are trying to scare the pilot group into voting for this is amazing. This is same crap that went on at brand X airline. I just hope these guys are not getting some huge signing bonus for this crap TA. They seemed to have done a complete 180.

 

[Lear70]

Citrus, thanks for all your help and work going and representing the "other side" of the equation with our pilots. This information needs to get out there to the pilot group.

I can't say as I'm surprised the company asked for release into self-help. I also can't say I'm surprised the company believes this pilot group would roll over. For the record, I disagree with them 100%. Also, for the record, a work stoppage is the LAST thing that I want, but if it has to happen to get the company to understand they can't push this piece of garbage over on us, then so be it. They make that decision, they reap what they sow.

The NPA needs to be putting that information out to the pilot group to get the pilots good and angry that the company thinks so little of us. Respect is a two-way street and is absolutely REQUIRED between employer and employee; it's a shame they're taking this stance. I really and truly thought I was past all that when I hired on here.

 

[Murphy]

Statements I'm hearing from the "yes" side:

"I'd like the raise now so the money can start compounding. You know how that works."

"You'll get 12 days off on reserve."

"With the Golden Days Off on Reserve, there really aren't that many days that they can call you up and move your days on."

"The core block is to help the Company with its DOT on time rate to attract the business customer."

"The cut inpay due to work rule changes is offset by the
2% contribution to the 401K."

"The more I listened to the roadshow, the more I started to like the TA."

"The supplemental allowance covers the lack of per diem increase."

Yikes!

I know there's a minority out there that will vote for this TA but I have to give credit to a lot of people who've been here 10+ years who see this is not a good deal for the pilot group as a whole and also know we can do better for ourselves .

 

[RIDETHELIGHTING]

what good is any of it without scope, and not binding the Holding Co.

 

[Ace McCoy]

"The core block is to help the Company with its DOT on time rate to attract the business customer."

How is that supposed to work? If the company wants a better DOT on time all they need to do is increase the block time. So I'm curious how they are trying to spin this one.

 

[Murphy]

How is that supposed to work? If the company wants a better DOT on time all they need to do is increase the block time. So I'm curious how they are trying to spin this one.

If you have to give a John Kerry answer to a question, it's most definitely not something you want to live uner.

 

[Pimpin']

So any word on when we get to vote this POS down?