Aloha pilots flying for free?

[Midnight Flyer]

Any Aloha pilots on here that are able to explain all of this working for free business.

 

[PA31Driver]

So, whatever happened to "Taking it Back" or something to that effect? Is this Capt. Prater's way of taking it back? Working for free and hoping the company will honor their word?

 

[av8tor4239]

First off, ALPA is a Joke..

The pilots that are flying for the "promise" of pay from a defunct non-existent airline are IDIOTS

And finaly... I am so glad I am not a member of ALPA anymore.. I will never ever work for a company that has alpa representation.

 

[r0dman]

Flying for Free

They are just trying to keep the cargo airplanes going so others could maybe get a job, when the new company Saltchuk buys them.

 

[Freight Dog]

I'm still at a loss for words about this...

I flew my last trip on March 29, and I haven't looked back since.

Hawaii has different dynamics. Aloha moves 85% of cargo going interisland. For example, bread goes from Oahu to neighboring islands by Aloha at night. Newspaper, mail, flowers, produce, you name it... it goes on Aloha. When I flew cargo when I was on probation, we even flew a car for some big shot.
Without Aloha cargo, the state's economy starts to feel the pinch. So in order to looks good, pilots said they'd fly and deal with pay later in hopes of getting paid.

As for seniority issues, well... initially the company wanted to keep pilots who flew on cargo bid only regardless of seniority and terminate the rest. Yes, terminate. We're not considered furloughed - we're TERMINATED. If we were furloughed, we'd have recall rights, they'd owe us furlough pay, vacation pay, etc. ALPA dropped the ball on that.

The company finally agreed to use the seniority system and train former passenger pilots, even those who flew trans-Pacific to fly cargo in -200's. However, GMAC upped the bid price for cargo to 20 mil. The pilots then wanted to revert the status of others from terminated to furloughed. When Saltchuk (the top bidder) walked, GMAC pulled the funding and Aloha filed for Chapter 7. Now the People's Republic of Hawaii found itself without air cargo service, the pilots said they'd come fly the planes and "rescue" the state even though the state sold us out to begin with. How that was possible is beyond me... but they're doing it.

What's worse is that ALPA is condoning working for free... What other union would allow this, let alone advertise this??! Someone PLEASE explain this.

BTW... UALDriver, thanks for the kind words. It's never personal.

 

[JohnDoe]

What's worse is that ALPA is condoning working for free... What other union would allow this, let alone advertise this??! Someone PLEASE explain this.

I don't think any other union would. Just one more step ALPA is making towards becoming irrelevant.

Seems to me, if the entity operating Aloha cargo can afford to pay for gas and any other item that has to be paid (even in bankruptcy) then they can afford to pay the pilots something. But then again, why would they honor the contract at all if people are willing to work for no pay!?!?

"The check is in the mail."

I also have to say the "It's the mec, not alpa national" excuse is getting real old. Quit giving these over-paid suits in Herndon an out. "Takin' it back".......Riiiiight. Working for no pay....that'll show them.

 

[Lear70]

First of all, does it make sense that ALPA National would tell a bunch of guys to go fly airplanes for free if there was little to no likelihood that they weren't going to be paid? Yeah, yeah. ALPA sucks, blah, blah, blah. But if you can put the emotion aside, ALPA doesn't gain anything by telling these guys to fly for free. Like I said before, there's probably more to it than any of us know.

Or maybe not... Do YOU know for certain, either way? Obviously not. So why, then, do you rush to defend ALPA not knowing the full story?

Second of all, the Aloha pilots and MEC are big boys and girls. ALPA National can "advise" all they want. It's the Aloha MEC and ultimately their pilots to decide whether they fly or not. If you want to direct your anger at someone, I suggest you direct in the correct direction.

Why not? I'm not happy that ALPA signed off on this, either. They've dropped the ball again and again and again in the last decade. Aloha is just another in the long line of bad decisions from Herndon - can't say as I'm surprised.

Third, you think the deck being stacked against labor in bankruptcy is some sort of excuse? So you're arguing that labor isn't at serious disadvantage during a bankrutcy proceeding? Have you been following along during the past few airline Chapter 11 cases? Did you notice how many times our bankruptcy judge gave management carte blanche to execute their plans? Again, your emotions get in the way of logic.

She never said that. You let your emotion get in the way of interpreting what she said and it biased your interpretation.

What she did say is that "it was a little late for that excuse", meaning that pilots using the fact that the pilots will likely get screwed in bankruptcy, so why bother trying to fight and just beg for scraps after the fact is a cop-out to actually growing a spine and letting the cargo ops fall on its face.

I think you said you are going to law school. Great. When are you leaving?

And, when you can no longer argue effectively, you go for the personal slam and mud-slinging, as always. Reduces everything you say to complete rubbish by not staying within the confines of logical debate and resorting to off-topic-bashing.

ALPA is completely ineffective. While not completely ALPA's fault (the RLA has no teeth), I certainly don't have ANY support for ALPA actually CONDONING the "fly for free and hope that you'll get paid sometime soon".

That's NOT how a professional pilot accepts a flying position, ESPECIALLY in an organized labor group.

 

[flygirlqt]

Thanks Lear..your words are my thoughts with Mr. UAL on the subject.

I said before something smelled about this whole situation. I have a feeling ALPA is pandering to Senator Inouye (the future Appropriations Chairman) as he is knee deep pushing this situation with Aloha.

 

[regionaltard]

Now the People's Republic of Hawaii found itself without air cargo service...

In some circles, that's called leverage.

 

[Turtlesfly]

wasn't there a talk of a strike beginning today?