ASA Merger Committee

[FmrFreightDog]

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.

Deleted....

 

[rjacobs]

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!

It sounds like you all have the same gripes about some of your MEC and LEC reps as we do over here at XJT.

 

[crj567]

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.

-Yeah, right!

The guys who used to run this place were the cheapest bastards on the face of the earth (with the possible exception of J.O.) If there truly were a more "efficient" way to run things, they would have been doing this.

The whole deal is about pissing all over our contract. This is what "efficiency" really means. And our reps let this thing get pissed on any and every way the company can come up with. There are so many areas in which the company has wiped its butt with our pilot group's QOL, I have no idea where to begin...... And our reps just keep eating it... No fight, no nothing, just capitulation again and again. This is not this kind of effort I pay dues for.

 

[Freebrd]

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.

alright mr wishful-mgt dude (BW?), maybe if we had a 6 HOUR min day we'd see better schedules, but you have to be union business to get 6 hours huh

 

[COOPERVANE]

"We are adequately staffed" (three months later) "We are facing staffing .. challenges..... My bad"

"We aren't going to run 3 months of PBS bidding because the pilots might forget how to use the software"

Both the company and our union think we are stupid. So far, we have been pretty stupid, allowing this to continue for so long

I'm getting tired of the lies from both sides.

 

[outtahere]

So how do we start the recall process?

 

[ASA_Aviator]

-Yeah, right!

The guys who used to run this place were the cheapest bastards on the face of the earth (with the possible exception of J.O.) If there truly were a more "efficient" way to run things, they would have been doing this.

The whole deal is about pissing all over our contract. This is what "efficiency" really means. And our reps let this thing get pissed on any and every way the company can come up with. There are so many areas in which the company has wiped its butt with our pilot group's QOL, I have no idea where to begin...... And our reps just keep eating it... No fight, no nothing, just capitulation again and again. This is not this kind of effort I pay dues for.

Until computers and computer modeling came around, it wasn't as easy to tell what is most efficient for the whole group.

 

[ASA_Aviator]

"We are adequately staffed" (three months later) "We are facing staffing .. challenges..... My bad"

"We aren't going to run 3 months of PBS bidding because the pilots might forget how to use the software"

Both the company and our union think we are stupid. So far, we have been pretty stupid, allowing this to continue for so long

I'm getting tired of the lies from both sides.

No question, we are understaffed...

 

[JumpersAway]

Just curious if anyone else has heard we are ramping up to hire the Express Jet furloughs into the ASA system? From what I've heard, we're getting an indoc program in place to train 170ish pilots. This is what my intel says, anyway. No interviewing, just training.

 

[COOPERVANE]

Just curious if anyone else has heard we are ramping up to hire the Express Jet furloughs into the ASA system? From what I've heard, we're getting an indoc program in place to train 170ish pilots. This is what my intel says, anyway. No interviewing, just training.

I heard this also..