Alaska Arbitration

['72Gremlin]

Wow, completely opposite from what I expected. I wonder what will happen in two years? When do negotiations start for the next contract? May 2?

 

[SirFlyALot]

Wow Gremlin, what did you expect? Better or worse?

 

['72Gremlin]

Just from talking with friends, I expected more like a 15% pay cut and pilot concessions in pensions. I dunno. I'm an outsider looking in, though.

 

[lumax]

I wish you were right sirflyalot, but the way I am interpreting the cuts, 26% might be the average cut.
On average captains get about a 28% cut, and f/o' about a 32% cut.

Don't forget, we are #6!

 

[Herculeus]

Is Alaska doing that bad?And if you look at there current pay before tonight thats a big hit.Almost a 14,000 dollar difference between 1st year pay.

 

[ivauir]

BAD news - sorry guys. When is this amenable? This could turn ugly in a few years ...

 

[ferlo]

lllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

 

[ferlo]

llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

 

[Singlecoil]

At this point I'm bothered by several things.

First, flightinfo.com doesn't let me swear. I need to swear right now.

Second, I'm bothered by the fact that because United management ran their company right into the ground several years ago, ran it right into bankruptcy in fact, I and the pilots of many other airlines have to take paycuts as a result. In my case a 34% paycut. My company isn't in bankruptcy court and in fact will make over $100 million dollars this year as a result of this travesty. If anyone is ever offered a great contract that has binding arbitration in it instead of the right to strike, the lesson is clear. This is what you could end up with. At least we are free of that now. We now have a 2 year deal that the company can easily turn into 5 or 6 under the provisions of the Railway Labor Act. However, the side letter that said we couldn't honor picket lines went away 6 minutes ago. Our rampers may strike next week. Whether we will honor that will be very interesting. This company is about to get the union they deserve.

Third, first year pay is now 35.16/ hour. I don't know why anyone would come to work at Alaska when you could go to work at FedEx or UPS. In fact, I'm thinking seriously about jumping ship right now.

Fourth, the company has said all along that they needed these paycuts to grow the airline. Somehow I don't expect that to happen. I fully expect them to go back on their word and waste the money they have taken from us by buying Alaska stock back to drive the price up and hence the bonuses of senior management, United style. Morale was obliterated today. The only good news is that the defined benefit plan (A plan) is untouched. I hope new-hires realize that a lot was sacrificed today for them. Management wanted a B scale in the form of a different retirement plan for new hires. That didn't happen. Every pilot with an Alaska ID on their chest in five years will be unified when it comes time to vote. That is what will carry us through.

Lastly, my hangover tomorrow is not going to be pretty, tell me where you're drinkin' ferlo and I'll cab it over.

 

[English]

I'm really sorry. The first thing I thought of when I saw the new payscale was, oh no, Aloha wages. It looks exactly like what those guys recently VOLUNTARILY accepted in bankruptcy. I never thought I'd see this happen to Alaska, a profitable carrier. Keep your chins up, something good has to come out of this somewhere. Hopefully it won't be soley for your management's pockets.

 

[LivingToFly]

I am trying to understand this industry and pilot labor....

The pilots are the highly trained, educated, and hard working professionals who safely fly millions of perfect (in terms of safety) hours per year....the record speaks for itself. Additionally, pilots spend their entire career with the same airline whenever possible.

Management makes countless mistakes, each one costing millions if not billions of dollars. Furthermore, many don't even spend their entire career with one airline, or even one industry, they come and go with the wind. If our performance as pilots matched the performance of airline management, how safe would flying be?

And who is taking the pay cuts??? That's what pilots get for 2 of the safest years in the history of commercial air travel? Aren't we doing our part? Am I missing something?

 

[mach none]

I am in shock. I would not fly on Alaska for a while...atleast if you need to be someplace by a specific time. This place will melt down in the coming months. Pilots, rampers, MX and Chaos.

We will become a stepping stone to Southwest and Jetblue now. I am now making less than I was on the B scale. Atleast I get my pension for a few more years. YIPEE!

Captains take anywhere from a 22% to a 29% cut. FOs are lucky, we get anywhere from a 30% to a 34% cut. This puts our senior captains with approx. $35/hr of a Horizon RJ Captain flying 70 seats.

Bankrupcy rates for a company that is profitable after all the special write downs are eliminated. If I could, I would...

 

[TheTIC]

What a sad, sad, sad, day. Although I'm an outsider, I have been waiting for the hiring boom at Alaska. I figured that the pay cut would put top capts about the $165/hr range. Maybe give up some trip touching vacation rules or something.

The Alaska pilots I know are very proud of their airline (or were up to last night). I think management just F---ed up. If they try to grow, they will have people leaving to go with UPS, FED EX, Southwest and even Jet Blue, (or whoever else is hiring). Maybe even some of the new guys who have been yanked around in the pool for awhile might leave.

Alaska has great flying and great pilots. Most will probably stay because of the way this industry makes you start at the bottom. At least the new guys have an option. My prayers for anyone who has to stay at Alaska because they are too senior for it to be worth working up another senority list. Getting close to $50,000 cut in pay is not easy to bugdet for.

Good luck Alaska pilots... I feel bad for this lousy situation.

I hope your anti-strike clause is gone. (forced minipulation/arbitration, whatever it is called)

 

[AK737FO]

Sleepless in ANC

Last night was not very productive in the sleep department. Here I am on an overcast rain filled morning thinking about calling in fatigued due to my lack of sleep.
I took a 28.8% pay cut this morning. Will the landing I do on the Arctic today be only 71.2% of the one I did yesterday? Will Mr. Ayer get 100% of my abilities today , or 71.2% ? Will I be able to make it financially in the months and years to come, or do I sell the house? Do I send my wife back into the workforce?

I fear for this company. Our future is dark and there is indeed a storm on the horizon. I will be a professional. I will fly the Arctic today and my passengers will never know that their inexpensive and safe flight was paid for in blood.

 

[80drvr]

Last night was not very productive in the sleep department. Here I am on an overcast rain filled morning thinking about calling in fatigued due to my lack of sleep.
I took a 28.8% pay cut this morning. Will the landing I do on the Arctic today be only 71.2% of the one I did yesterday? Will Mr. Ayer get 100% of my abilities today , or 71.2% ? Will I be able to make it financially in the months and years to come, or do I sell the house? Do I send my wife back into the workforce?

I fear for this company. Our future is dark and there is indeed a storm on the horizon. I will be a professional. I will fly the Arctic today and my passengers will never know that their inexpensive and safe flight was paid for in blood.

Welcome to the not so exclusive concession club. I can tell you that I went through the same emotions after our deal at AA. I was so pissed that I dumped nearly my whole flying schedule for a month afteward.

Hopefully your deal won't be accompanied by the same level of contraction, displacements and furloughs (2890) that we experienced. That has proved to be more disruptive to most on the list than the pay cuts in and of themselves.

 

[ferlo]

call in sick, you are not safe to fly. I did. And I will continue to do so.

 

[ratherfish]

Whip it out

Can someone post the actual new skimmed pay scale please?

 

[Paul R. Smith]

Unbelievable.


These arbi-traitors are on the government payroll. Well one of XJT's LOAs is going to binding arbitration...I can't wait to see what the company is going to get for an item we achieved on our brand friggin new contract!!!

 

[Eagle-ista]

It just might be time for a pilot group to shut down an airline. The death spiral this industry is in has to end.

While it's true that an airline can't charge Greyhound fares and pay mainline wages, it's also true that the airlines can't support an operation with more Vice Presidents than aircraft. Pilots are taking a disproportional ammount of the responsibility for the difficulties in the current economy.

Its time to "share the lack of wealth". More CEOs need to take the path Don Carty blazed when his lack of ethics were held up the the spotlight by the APA. When the ouiji board makes the decisions anyway, why pay the executives $400/hr with a 160 hour/month guarantee.

Just my .02...

 

[catIIIc]

Well maybe AMR and AK are in talks right now to merge, the pay and retirement are about the same. Fleet commonality works as well plus a large west coast network. Oh wait they did that when they bought Reno, Air Cal etc.