Any new ABX info?

[LarryinTN]

With a fixed percentage raise we are taking the risk of high(er) inflation. With a COLA+X the company takes that risk. I prefer the COLA+X approach but agree with you that X=1% isn't going to gain us a lot of ground. It would be nice to have a bigger X for at least the 8/06 increase. The company's X=0.5% is completely unacceptable, IMO, as is their 3% cap.

 

[xspud]

1. Box-Hauler, you have a great and necessary idea: “once we have 10 767's or 20 crews or 36 months of straight service on an ANA Asian flight, all lines must conform to scheduling parameters (15 days off a month).” Recommend changing 36 to18 months and striking the word ‘straight’, they will cancel over a weekend to reset the clock.

We have a poor track record when it comes to looking into the future. We need a chance to fix the mistakes we inadvertently agree to now.

23 or even 18 day blocks are going to really suck. With the exception of the ILN locals and guys needing a block of off time or open time, how many are clamoring for the 16 day reserve blocks? At least you won’t fly ½ of it, how tired would you be if you had to fly it all? It’s okay to concede to 23 now, but we need an out if there is a lot of people screaming.

Forget that ANA pays for the tickets, ABX would like to keep people over there indefinitely so you can make them money instead of wasting their revenue days by commuting.

I agree with both of you, a firm option to rescind this provision is a smart and maybe essential provision. Of course, everything in the contract is subject to novel interpretations. I'm thinking of the whole of Article 13 or the fact that just because the contract says "the Company and Union will meet to determine the changes necessary in this Article to facilitate (a foreign domicile)" doesn't mean that the company thinks they have to do so.


A while back I tried to research what the other ANA (contract) pilot's schedules were like. I didn't get much response, but I believe most of them average about 17 days on per month, some do that in 2 blocks, commuting is mostly on their own time and partially at their own expense.


For comparison, my understanding of the union's proposal would involve an average of about 16 days on per month with commuting on work days. That's assuming the company will use every provision to build schedules to the max days on per cycle (a reasonable assumption).


I do agree with the concept that we should minimize the number of times we commute across the Pacific. I don't think I would want to do it twice per month, though some of the ANA contract pilots are doing that.


Given a provision to rescind/revise the agreement, if the operation ever involved longer flights or flights to the U.S. we could build schedules like UPS/FedEx/Lufthansa/legacies, as I understand them one 10-14 day block per month. Generally one or two long out-and-backs.


The ACMI's like Atlas have mostly atrocious schedules. We should research them only to know what to avoid.

It seems unlikely to me that the ANA operation will ever be huge, but we should definitely be looking for a contract that is prepared for that possibility. ANA is contracting ABX because they want to ramp up faster than is possible with their own aircraft. It takes ANA 6-8 months to bring a contract pilot on line plus they are waiting for conversions and Boeing delivery schedules. It doesn't appear to me that we can do the job cheaper than they could do it themselves (though we may be, any thoughts out there?). We can do it sooner, ie: short-term. But I'm sure ANA will be analyzing this operation and will be open to the possibility of using us further, so we need to be prepared.

 

[xspud]

2. A replacement for the DC-9 is coming in the next 5 years. We need to ensure its transition is smooth. Imagine the future problems with bidding, upgrades, scheduling and quality of life if a 73 and DC-9 were alternated every month in the nearby cities. It didn’t happen with the 76 because it didn’t make sense to. But inter-changeability will be a nightmare for us in the future. It can be fixed with one short paragraph in the CBA.

Another great point. We need to examine how the "weekends at home" paradigm has affected our thinking about scheduling rules. Weekend layovers in your home city are a fading dream for the majority. Many "junior" (7-12 year) crewmembers never got to join that party and I don't think it's much of a factor for 767 crews, either. The block of "weekend home" lineholders has had a lot of influence in past votes. But the introduction of a DC9 replacement plus DHL's constant change mentality should reduce that block of voters to a minority. I don't know what all the implications are, but we better be thinking about it because we are going to be living with it as GoABX said.

 

[penguin22]

We now have a real problem….your negotiators already told Joe we would sign for cheap.

Yea, We're taking note...

Ok, so tell us... How much of a pay raise is on the table with your negotiations?
No Concessionary Contracts!

 

[jdflyer51]

According to Joe Muckle the cola so far for this year is .93% One of my big worries about the ANA deal and the huge extra pay they are giving for that is that we do not see their future plans. Steve Jayson has often mentioned that they will do this 23 day thing until it is cheaper to do a domicile. Does that mean they will then plan on going back to the same pay as the rest of us 1.43% increase? I agree with the earlier statements that lots of guys in the 767 want the non standard lines. I managed to get one this month with vacation but am usually too junior to get one.

 

[LarryinTN]

Two things...

With a COLA+X% we DO NOT want high inflation to get bigger raises. Our raise is the +X%, not the COLA. The COLA is only keeping us up with inflation and 28%-33% of that is going to federal income tax anyway, not to mention state and medicare, so our buying power is better with a smaller COLA, not a bigger COLA. We want a bigger "X%", not a bigger COLA.

Second, If I haven't convinced you that a small CPI is better for us than a larger one, the 0.93% is for the first six months of the July '06-July '07 period and it includes last Fall where the price of oil, gasoline and most forms of energy fell dramatically. Fall is also the time of year where inflation is usually stagnant, if not negative. It is the Spring when the majority of a year's inflation takes place and that isn't in Muckle's figure. If you look at the most recent twelve months, so that it includes an entire year's inflation cycle, it is 2.8%--slightly over three times the 0.93% from the last six months.

That said, we gotta get past this idea that high inflation is a good thing with a COLA+X% contract.

 

[Box-Hauler]

I agree with the earlier statements that lots of guys in the 767 want the non standard lines. I managed to get one this month with vacation but am usually too junior to get one.

OK I get the idea that the 76 guys like the option of possibly getting more days off if they can hold a nonstandard line, if they are not too junior. That said we need to look at the big picture. How about the option of "local lines" or A/B schedules or whatever you want to call them.

How about a schedule that we can actualy create or build ourselves. ABX still builds lines by hand. Yeah I know a computer helps but it is a system that most airlines abandoned 10 or more years ago. We cannot even see our current line of flying online unless you are at a ILN computer. My old commuter 9+ years ago had our schedules on the internet.

If we are looking at schedules lets look at the way our company is moving. It is going away from the racetracked city with the weekends at your home. The open time that gets you home for the 4 day weekend is going fast. Now is the time to look forward to a system that is good for all regaurdless of what DHL does with city pairs or A/C swaps.

Our scheduling is a joke and a huge waste of time and manpower. The company talks about productivity for pilots, one computer program could save hundreds of scheduling man hours a month.

Just a though, what are the negatives that anyone can see with this idea, besides the obvious one of Joe saying it cost too much to invest in a system that will increase productivty. Think how much they could save on their watts line (800 number) without 600+ guys calling in to find out what they are doing every other day.

 

[goastar]

Ok, so tell us... How much of a pay raise is on the table with your negotiations?
No Concessionary Contracts!

More than some, less than others.

 

[LarryinTN]

Anybody see the new DHL TV ad which shows a row of DC9s being loaded with C-Containers? I would have expected them to show B757s or B767s.

Hey, at least three or four DC9s got washed!

 

[freighthound]

Anybody see the new DHL TV ad which shows a row of DC9s being loaded with C-Containers? I would have expected them to show B757s or B767s.

They showed a C-Container? Perish the thought. I thought DHL was going to cut ABX off because they loved the A-Container and hated the C's. Hmmm.