ASA Merger Committee

[crj567]

Every time...and I mean EVERY TIME there is some criticism of the union guys, the standard response is "well, what have YOU done for the union?" or "YOU are the union" "why don't YOU run for office"

Every time I have asked to participate I was told they didn't need any help.

I don't think our reps sit around and eat lobster while sunning at the beach everyday, but I have seen a fundamental change since I have been here. We seem to be in an era of acquiescence and "cooperation" with the company.

When I found PBS was sold to us by reps who were bribed by the company with a pay raise, I was pissed. Face it guys.... that does not look good. That looks very, very bad. Did you really think you could sneak that in unnoticed? Do you REALIZE how bad that looks?

All I want is a rep that does what he says he will do. I am not a First officer, but I want a rep who will look out for THEM. I am not a senior lifer but I want a rep who will look out for THEM. I AM a reserve Captain. I also want a rep who will look out for ME.
What I don't want is a rep who tells me reserve sucks and just deal with it. After 3.5 years, it is wearing THIN. We should be improving QOL for EVERYBODY, from top to bottom.

Does anyone remember the campaign posters plastered everywhere? Remember what every one of them said?

"I will listen to all our pilots and look out for everyone's interests"

Well, In MY opinion that is not being done.

Don't run for office if you don't want to do the work

BTW, sorry about the thread creep. I think the merger committee will do a fine job and I respect these guys. I am just tired of the elected reps.

EXCELLENT POST!

-I feel the same way about all these issues. I have been around long enough to see our union go thru several cycles, and by far we are in the most limp-wristed, mamby-pamby one I have ever see! Our current reps are so far up the company's ass, it really makes me wonder what the hell is going on.

Why the hell do we pay dues to hear the same lines of B.S. (verbatim) from our elected reps which we hear from the senior mgmt. guys in recurrent? I could save my freaking money and just listen each load of garbage only once-from people I would expect to hear it from.

I am still not happy about the raise, nor am I happy about the fact that I heard nothing about this little tidbit at the roadshow, nor did I read about it in any memo. The biggest thing that made me angry was the silly-ass response (at the roadshow) whenever anyone had anything negative to say about the agreement. The subject was quickly shifted, and pilot after pilot at the show was pretty much told they had no idea what they were talking about.

It is a shame that all the pitfalls and all the negative aspects of this agreement were right there in black-and-white, but our pilot group was so uncaring and non-participatory that almost everyone missed them. I guess that is the root cause of why the heck we are so screwed with these guys now.

-Simply Insulting!

 

[JumpersAway]

CRJ- Why not step out into the lime light and take a more proactive response? Bitching on a web board with complete anonymity isn't accomplishing much, if anything. Your gripes are prominent with every single discussion in regard to PBS, and the reps. If you are truly upset, then change it. Introduce yourself here, form a platform, and run on it.........

 

[COOPERVANE]

CRJ- Why not step out into the lime light and take a more proactive response? Bitching on a web board with complete anonymity isn't accomplishing much, if anything. Your gripes are prominent with every single discussion in regard to PBS, and the reps. If you are truly upset, then change it. Introduce yourself here, form a platform, and run on it.........

Jumpers...You are right and I mostly agree with you. I don't just bitch on this board and my reps know how I feel. They just don't care.

CRJ and I should not HAVE to run for office achieve honest trustworthy representation. I just want to be a regular line pilot. I have no political aspirations. Those that DO..... the ones WE elected, have a responsibility to represent the interests of the whole pilot group, not just themselves. In my opinion, they are not doing that.

If you are saying that the only way to achieve fairness across the entire seniority list, is for me to do it myself, I don't know what to say. Other than replace them ALL.

 

[crj567]

Jumpers...You are right and I mostly agree with you. I don't just bitch on this board and my reps know how I feel. They just don't care.

CRJ and I should not HAVE to run for office achieve honest trustworthy representation. I just want to be a regular line pilot. I have no political aspirations. Those that DO..... the ones WE elected, have a responsibility to represent the interests of the whole pilot group, not just themselves. In my opinion, they are not doing that.

If you are saying that the only way to achieve fairness across the entire seniority list, is for me to do it myself, I don't know what to say. Other than replace them ALL.

I, too am tired hearing this "what have you done to change things" load.... There are a few people who have been involved with the union for a long time who have been forced to resign lately. I am not up for what is going on over there. Some people seem to think that our union welcomes all, and that everyone will be taken in as an equal and given an ear even though they may disagree with some things. Maybe jumpers should pay more attention-if people don't tow the line 100%, their help is not needed.

-I am not interested in wasting my time trying to unseat the current monarchy. They are well entrenched and have shown that they will lay to waste all who show dissent. Hopefully XJET people will see this and fix it.

 

[JumpersAway]

CRJ- I've got a front row wiindow seat just like everyone else. And yes, I am, and have been, paying attention. The system is not perfect, neither is the representation 100% of the time. However, I think you are missing the point- channel your frustrations through the effective sources, and if they aren't effective, then affect change on your own.

Don't get me wrong- I think new blood would be a good thing within our MEC. However, I will say that I'm not at all up for completely replacing every ASA MEC member with an ExpressJet ALPA member. I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic here. Time will tell.

 

[crj567]

CRJ- I've got a front row wiindow seat just like everyone else. And yes, I am, and have been, paying attention. The system is not perfect, neither is the representation 100% of the time. However, I think you are missing the point- channel your frustrations through the effective sources, and if they aren't effective, then affect change on your own.

Don't get me wrong- I think new blood would be a good thing within our MEC. However, I will say that I'm not at all up for completely replacing every ASA MEC member with an ExpressJet ALPA member. I'm trying to be cautiously optimistic here. Time will tell.

You are right-

It is just going to be very hard to do. There are some good people on our MEC, but there are some serious problems which are not being addressed-and some serious losers who are responsible.

Maybe a couple of problem guys will get jobs at ALPA national (which sure looks like a higher priority to them than representing our little ol' group) and move away. The problem could be solved with a couple of good replacements with their priorities in order.

 

[701EV]

Who pushed for the four person Merger Committee? When at the ALPA meeting they talked about three not four.

Why do we not have any alternates?

 

[No Delay]

Here's an idea: if being a union rep is such a wonderful, cushy job, why don't you run for office and take advantage of all these supposed perks? I mean, if it's such a great gig, guys should be tripping over themselves to get to the meeting to get nominated, right?

But of course, reality is a different story. Your reps are usually flying full schedules plus doing their union work on most of their days off, leaving little time for fun and family. They are usually working through lunch and hurrying through eating a Chick-Fil-A sandwich, not dining on lobster. They are usually working 16 hour days when they get trip drops, not lounging around relaxing.

Time for a reality check, folks. Being a union rep is a crappy job, not a cushy gig. That's why few people keep doing it long-term. Only a handful of really dedicated people can last longer than one or two terms before burning out. Show some respect for the people that are working hard to make your lives better. There are a lot of great people working for the ASA pilots.

Why don't I become a union rep??? Same reasons I don't fix my own car when its broken or cut my own grass! But I expect the person I am paying to do a good job and to give me my moneys worth of service.

Does it matter "why" I don't want to cut my own grass? My lawn service guy has never asked me that? He simply does the job I am paying him to do. My mechanic has never asked me why I don't become a mechanic and fix it myself. He, too, just does the work he is being paid to do.

If I ever crash a plane and kill someone...I am going to tell their spouse they should have became a pilot and flew the airplane themselves.


And I never forced him to cut grass for a living. He made that choice just as I decided to be a pilot. Some decide to be union reps and some don't. But that does not change the expectations that come with each job!


I know some of our reps work hard. I know there are long days on occasion. But I am not stupid either! 4 or 5 different months I have been paired with some of our union reps. Every time we would end up flying about half the month together because he was dropping trips for union stuff.


Now, I am all for our union reps getting paid and being able to drop trips to do union work. I understand the need for that. But when its my dues that are paying for it, I EXPECT to be represented. I am not paying for them to represent the company.

My dues are paying for it and they tell me their day is more valuable than mine? They can negotiate a 6 hr day for them but can only negotiate a 4 hr day for me?

Don't use the union to your advantage so you don't have to fly a 4-day across the weekend while I and da-mn near every other pilot is getting raped on the line and then give me some lame as-s reason why the company needs to do this. Or tell a reserve pilot to tough it out, he's on reserve.

How about our union at least calling bullsh-it when the company tries to explain how 14 hr 4-day (with several 3 hour sits in atlanta) is more efficient 20 hr 3-day? That would be a nice starting point!

 

[crj567]

Why don't I become a union rep??? Same reasons I don't fix my own car when its broken or cut my own grass! But I expect the person I am paying to do a good job and to give me my moneys worth of service.

Does it matter "why" I don't want to cut my own grass? My lawn service guy has never asked me that? He simply does the job I am paying him to do. My mechanic has never asked me why I don't become a mechanic and fix it myself. He, too, just does the work he is being paid to do.

If I ever crash a plane and kill someone...I am going to tell their spouse they should have became a pilot and flew the airplane themselves.


And I never forced him to cut grass for a living. He made that choice just as I decided to be a pilot. Some decide to be union reps and some don't. But that does not change the expectations that come with each job!


I know some of our reps work hard. I know there are long days on occasion. But I am not stupid either! 4 or 5 different months I have been paired with some of our union reps. Every time we would end up flying about half the month together because he was dropping trips for union stuff.


Now, I am all for our union reps getting paid and being able to drop trips to do union work. I understand the need for that. But when its my dues that are paying for it, I EXPECT to be represented. I am not paying for them to represent the company.

My dues are paying for it and they tell me their day is more valuable than mine? They can negotiate a 6 hr day for them but can only negotiate a 4 hr day for me?

Don't use the union to your advantage so you don't have to fly a 4-day across the weekend while I and da-mn near every other pilot is getting raped on the line and then give me some lame as-s reason why the company needs to do this. Or tell a reserve pilot to tough it out, he's on reserve.

How about our union at least calling bullsh-it when the company tries to explain how 14 hr 4-day (with several 3 hour sits in atlanta) is more efficient 20 hr 3-day? That would be a nice starting point!

Thanks for summing up so many of our frustrations..... I am sick and tired of all these issues. I have never seen anything around these parts get as out of hand as all this sort of stuff has during the past couple of years.

 

[ASA_Aviator]

How about our union at least calling bullsh-it when the company tries to explain how 14 hr 4-day (with several 3 hour sits in atlanta) is more efficient 20 hr 3-day? That would be a nice starting point!.

This has been explained about 1000 times, but here it goes again...

The reason you aren't getting this is you are confusing two different types of efficiency. What is most efficient for YOUR schedule is to fly the most amount possible in the fewest days. The company is more concerned with what requires fewer pilots, and 4 days require fewer pilots because the overnights are covered, in a nutshell.

That is a very simplistic explanation, but just remember, what is most efficient for YOU may not be what is most efficient for staffing on the grand scale. Start there, and you'll be well on your way to getting it. Good luck.