Alaska Arbitration

[mach none]

i didn't read all of the 7 pages...but did Alaska have "Interest based bargaining?"

?????

 

[AKMD80GUY]

I have been reading this board for a long time but only now singed up. Does anyone have any idea what's going to happen when the rampers lose their jobs in a couple of days and you know flight attendant CHAOS is coming. This is going to be ugly for a long time.

As for hiring, I heard Ayer and the rest of the Anglers said no this year and next year is uncertain. I think they might hold on to the money they got from us incase the flight attendants have a lenghthy work action. NO VSA!!!

 

[mach none]

I doubt Ayer said no hiring. Several pilots have attended the recent employee meetings and have asked that very question...they did not answer the question. They skated around it. What does that mean? Who knows. Are we buying someone...who knows? They reduced the block hours this month and the remainder of the summer. They say to get us on track operationally. We all know the real reason is the pilots are pi$$ed off this month and they are concerned about job actions over the summer. We also know we do not have the pilots to operate a full summer schedule. I agree no VSA, but that is a small part of the puzzle.

It is going to be ugly. Be professional, don't do anything stupid, fly the contract and FOM and do only your job.

I do know that Ayer and Bagley have both stated that they pilots have a short memory and we will fall back into line after a few weeks. They know pilots co the extra stuff to keep the airline on track and running properly... NOT THIS KID.

Never forget. We got kicked in the ball$...Be professional, don't do anything stupid, fly the contract and FOM and do only your job.

 

[coolyokeluke]

Revenge is a dish best eaten cold, good luck to the Alaska pilots.

 

[ILStoMinimums]

Is a strike at all possible?

 

[Getter]

I nearly wasted 2 minutes of my time responding to this one before realizing that it would be akin to hunting dairy cattle with a high powered rifle and scope.

Ha haha. That's pretty funny, but I think we all know the real joke is in your pants.

 

[akairman702]

Ha haha. That's pretty funny, but I think we all know the real joke is in your pants.

Your Mom didn't think so, short stack.

 

[av8instyle]

Your Mom didn't think so, short stack.

Again, the cattle/rifle analogy is appropriate.

 

[Rotate140]

737-driver pay comparison chart.http://www.airlinepilotcentral.com/content/view/132/56/

 

[QCappy]

Form 8-K for ALASKA AIR GROUP INC



9-May-2005

Other Events


ITEM 8.01. Other Events

Pilot Arbitration Decision

On April 30, 2005, Alaska received a decision from an arbitrator regarding changes to its pilot pay rates and work rules that completed a process which began 22 months ago.

In May and June of 2003, Alaska met with its union leaders to discuss the need to make cost adjustments in every area of the company in order to be competitive in a changing airline industry. A cost reduction target of $307 million was established, which was based on the company's size at that time. Of that overall target, $112 million, or 36%, was identified for wage and benefit reductions and, of that amount, $82 million was sought from pilots. The original $82 million was based on the company's assessment of the market at that time - $71 million for wages ($54 million for wage rates and $17 million for work rules/productivity) and $11 million for fringe benefits. Since that target was established, Alaska's pilot costs have increased due to an across-the-board wage increase of 4% (or approximately $8 million) and the growth of the company, and the market has continued to decline.

Alaska and its pilot union initiated mid-term negotiations in October 2003. Failing to reach agreement, the company and the union then began normal
Section 6 negotiations in April 2004. The existing agreement provided that if a new agreement was not reached by December 15, 2004, wages plus 10 other issues would be submitted to an arbitrator for binding interest arbitration. On April 30, 2005, the arbitrator made his decision, the majority of which was effective May 1.

The company estimates the savings from the decision are approximately $80 - $90 million per year. Of that amount, approximately $60 million is due to lower wage rates, approximately $10 million is due to improved work rules; and approximately $4 million is due to changes in medical benefits and lower payroll taxes. Additionally, the lower wage rates will reduce pension costs by $5.5 - $14.0 million per year, depending on the measure used.

On an annual basis these changes amount to approximately .35 to .40 cents per available seat mile. The majority of the changes will be realized immediately; however, the company does not expect to fully realize work rule changes until it grows.

The company also sought changes to the structure of its defined benefit retirement plan and certain work rules, neither of which were achieved. In the aggregate, we believe the cost savings from the arbitrator's decision are generally in line with the company's cost savings objective.

 

[tico]

Trips touching vacation and trips touching training pay credit. No real surprise since we were one of the few that had those provisions left. The company cannot assign trips to bring the pilot up to min. credit like they wanted.

Just spent some quality time going through recurrent training. The whispered word from the fleet captains to the rank and file instructors is hiring to resume in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2006. Crew planning is expecting open time and open time lines to vanish starting in June. We shall see........

 

[LAXSaabdude]

hiring to resume in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2006......

'06?! Holy crap!

LAXSaabdude.

 

[mach none]

Just spent some quality time going through recurrent training. The whispered word from the fleet captains to the rank and file instructors is hiring to resume in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2006. Crew planning is expecting open time and open time lines to vanish starting in June. We shall see........

How can open time and open fly lines disappear? That part of the contract did not get modified. We still have step trading and a certain % of trips remaining (90%) in open time have to built into open fly lines. Or did I miss something?

We lost the trips touching credit for training and vacation. Those trips still get dropped and still need to be flown...right?

 

[skid]

hiring to resume in the 3rd or 4th quarter of 2006.

Is this in an effort to cancel flights like last summer for not having enough flight crews to fly them?

I mean isn' t the rampers slow down/possible lock out and pilot contract bad enough.

 

[Yank McCobb]

Is this in an effort to cancel flights like last summer for not having enough flight crews to fly them?

They could hire 500 tomorrow and not a one of them would be on the line in time to do any good for a summer schedule.

 

[Mach 80]

How are things running at AK now that a week or so has passed from the arbitration? Is there a difference now in the cancellation rate and on-time? I need to non-rev on them next week!

 

[tico]

How are things running at AK now that a week or so has passed from the arbitration? Is there a difference now in the cancellation rate and on-time? I need to non-rev on them next week!

Hard to say...on time percentage is about 53% avg of ten to 12 cancellations a day...That is just from ops summary..have not bothered to go to work since april 30th so I can't say for sure.....Oh word from the ops agents is don't check a bag because it won"t get there....we went from 1st to worst in that category...probably will smooth out and be back to normal in a couple weeks...we always have had short memories...Dont now where you are coming from but don't forget that we have ORD, LAS, LAX and PDX all nonstop to ANC....good luck

 

[Mach 80]

Thanks for the information. Alaska has always been a class act...hope things settle down for everyone there.

 

[FlyBoeingJets]

.....Oh word from the ops agents is don't check a bag because it won"t get there....we went from 1st to worst in that category...probably will smooth out and be back to normal in a couple weeks...we always have had short memories...Dont now where you are coming from but don't forget that we have ORD, LAS, LAX and PDX all nonstop to ANC....good luck

Alaska Outsources Nearly 500 Ramp Jobs
Posted on Tue, 05/17/05 00:00

Alaska has fired 472 ramp service workers and given their jobs to an outside contractor in a move that will the save the airline $13 million annually. Alaska contracts with outside companies to provide ramp services in 41 of the 56 cities it serves. "A decision of this kind, impacting people who have served this company well, is extremely difficult," said Alaska CEO Bill Ayer. "But the ongoing turmoil in the airline industry, coupled with high fuel prices and pressure from low-cost carriers, puts us in a position where we must continue to find ways to reduce the cost of running our airline."


Looks like more love coming from the front office.

 

[Rhino]

This could go on forever...

AP Newswire:

The Air Line Pilots Association, the union for Alaska Airlines' pilots, sued the airline yesterday (Friday) in U.S. District Court in Seattle, hoping to overturn an arbitrator's decision that cut pilot pay by an average of 26 percent. The union charges that Richard Kasher, the arbitrator, and the arbitration board failed to follow rules that the airline and the union had agreed upon.
ALPA wants the April 30th decision overturned. The company has 20 days to respond.