ASA FAs about to sell out on PBS

[crjskipper]

money - i can name about 2 dozen pilots at continental and delta who use it daily. the co boys hate it for the most part, crappy and old system.

the delta guys like it, it changes bid paterns but they like it. no cool-aid, just realize that its the same thing in a different rapper. top guys love it, middle guys live with it and junior folks despise it. pretty much the same thing we have now, you just think you have control.

asa builds the lines, we bid on their creation, pbs lets us create the lines, more or less.

 

[Jmoney]

Agreed...

I agree in principle with what you say, but I have serious problems with thoughts of PBS at ASA.

The main issue I see is that it is near impossible to prove you got screwed. How are you supposed to show that your preferences were "more" or "less" complied with than anyone else's preferences? It is all so subjective.

I do agree that there are "better" and "worse" versions of PBS, but what I very much fear is that we will get stuck with a "worse" version because no one understands it well. ASA will no doubt try and shove something down our throats which trashes our QOL and benefits "efficiency." Consider how much is at stake here.

What are the two most important parts of airline flying to most folks? QOL and senority-right? It sure ain't the pay anymore.....Now with PBS we are potentially throwing both those things in the crapper-and for what benefit? We already cover the schedules just fine-and we even gave them a "ready reserve" system.... Why do we need PBS?

What really scares me is PD-the head of scheduling for ASA ALPA came up with our current scheduling section......

Not that it sucks from one end to the other, but it has some pretty big holes...... Remember "long-call" reserve? Well, we got it, and all it takes is a call from scheduling to convert all the rest of your days to short call reserve-lot of good that did. Great job on that one, PD!

Now, I am assuming PD will be working on PBS for us, and if the language for "long-call" reserve was this easy for him to screw up, just imagine what will happen with something as complex and all-encompassing as PBS! You can bet ol PD will commence amorous relations with the pooch on this one in grand fashion!

The thought of a PBS section negotiated by ol booger is almost as scary to me as the thought of ever having to share a cockpit with him again!

-YIKES!

 

[Capi_Cafre']

....no different than with hard lines....

....next.....

Actually it is a quite a bit different. If your group is considering PBS you should definitely have someone on your side of the table completely up to speed on how the scheduling parameters can be set-it's definitely not a one-size-fits-all thing. Without clearly codified constraints and enough transparency to see to it that they are honored it can be a QOL killer for a significant percentage of folks.

 

[Gr82Aviate]

SKYW is the cheeapest out there, they jammed an untried, untested PBS into the pilots butz. It still does not work that well, 2+ years later. The top 10% pretty much get what they want, everyone else gets left overs. Don't do it for any reason, no matter what is promised. SKYWs version has no transparency and you seniority is/will be chit.
PBR

I'm in top 10%...it still sucks! Hard line in our base used to give us 90 to 95 hours credit and 15, 16, or even 17 days off and with PBS(and bad pairings) I'm down to 11 and 12 days off with 75 to 80 credit hours!

 

[atlcrashpad]

Public Broadcasting System. The company is trying to get us to listen to more NPR so we can be more edumacated.

Aint day got reruns uf Soul Train on PBS........
Scrabble Board..... YYUBOYY.........

 

[spudskier]

One of my buds told me that even though he is in the top 50% of his list on his aircraft at his base, he has never held a weekend off-even though he would prefer that.

Not saying I disagree with what anyone is saying, but I'M in the top 50% on ASA's 200 list and have never had a weekend off (well I tried for a week on future open time and the trade board and finally got one last month) and that's with hard lines... tell me how my life changes? As for my perspective, it can't get much worse (p.s. not for lack of trying, I bid VERY carefully)

 

[ASADriver]

I have friends at Skywest and Comair who use PBS. They seem to like.

 

[sweptback]

Not that it sucks from one end to the other, but it has some pretty big holes...... Remember "long-call" reserve? Well, we got it, and all it takes is a call from scheduling to convert all the rest of your days to short call reserve-lot of good that did. Great job on that one, PD!

It's pretty standard for most long call reserve systems to have a mechanism for the company to convert you to short call in case of low coverage. As many reserves as we've had lately, I can't see them doing that and getting away with it (remember that we have access into all their files and computer systems to call them on their BS).

The devil is in the details. A few long call systems allow you to be converted a certain number of "times" -- but a "time" could be the remainder of reserve days in your bucket! Our system protects for that.

Is our scheduling section the best thing ever? Probably not. Does it kick the crap out of what we used to have? For sure. That being said, I'm not willing to throw it all away for PBS just because the FAs took the company's bait on this one.

 

[sweptback]

I have friends at Skywest and Comair who use PBS. They seem to like.

I haven't heard much from Comair folks on here, but why do the SkyWest folks get on here and say it sucks?

SkyWest uses a custom-made, most likely lowest bidder "solution" from an overseas company that probably doesn't know much about the needs of an airline. SkyWest wants to push this system on us because it's already developed and paid for. There are much better solutions out there, and that is why I'm confident our union will explore all of them and come up with the one that works the best for us, if we even choose to accept it. Remember, we don't have to do anything more than to talk to the company about PBS. If we don't like what they have to say... see ya in Contract 2010!

 

[buscap]

In all fairness to the FAs, I believe they are holding out for what is believed to be the best system in the industry. I could be wrong, but I think it's the system Alaska FAs have.

The lines suck so much as is, I'm willing to look at any option.

The Delta guys I get on my jumpseat seem to be fairly happy with their PBS, but every other pilot group I've talked to can't stand it.

In my opinion, just like line bidding, it's all about the Software and Contract language. And who knows, we may be able to get the kitchen sink in the deal.

But for me personally we would have to get the best software, tighter contract language than we have now, and a kitchen sink letter signing incentive.

Maybe the FAs getting it on property will give us a chance to see how it goes.

Let them be the lab mice!! (I'm not saying they need to eat more cheese)