ASA Mgmt cannot staff properly; wants new hire pay raises

[Blucher]

Also, it's the week before July 4th, I would expect most in the GO are on a much deserved vacation!

Surely you jest. I don't doubt they're on vacation, but 'much deserved?' Have you ever tried to get anyone over there to call you back (no one is EVER near their phone)? Heck, even the dispatchers 'step away from their desk' approx 70-80% of the time! And that's when they are at work! Payroll has been so bad at their job lately that they send whole teams over to the airport to help sort out the mess. It looked like registration at any college pre-internet! "Last names 'A-K' line up here, 'L-R' line up here,......."

-Blucher

 

[wms]

The can't be that desperate. I have 2350 TT 260 ME ATP CFI-I-MEI 135 experience etc. Current part time instructor. I faxed my resume on Friday no call.

You're a little impatient. The GO goes home at noon on Fri, they don't work on weekends, monday was spent recovering from the weekend and hanging around the coffee pot complaining about how many pilots called in Sat and Sun. Tues was the day before the fourth so no new projects were started. The fourth is a much needed day off and thurs will be spent recovering from the holiday. Fri will be a 1/2 day to get ready for the weekend and next monday will be spent recovering and catching up again around the coffee pot. So by next wed scheduling will be calling to draft you.:laugh:

 

[wms]

Five to ten year captains moving on to the majors would be considered normal attrition. But ten-plus year captains going to Airtran, JB and World; 15-20 year pilots who were never going to leave now leaving for SWA and other airlines; many pilots getting out of the industry and so many mid-level FOs making lateral moves is beyond normal. What we're experiencing here is not the attitude of a few pilots, but a commentary on how mgmt's view of it's most valuable employee group has affected morale. Band-aids won't fix this problem.

The shortage of FOs we're seeing now will become a captain shortage in the not-to-distant future when there aren't enough qualified FOs to move up. And new-hire pay won't fix that problem.

 

[Airboss]

I believe alpa is correct in this situation.
ALPA represents the current 1700 pilots, not the prospective pilots. It is unfortunate that the newhires get shafted a little, but they have to 'take one for the team'. They will be taken care of once we get a new contract. I wouldn't be surprised to see them paid $23-26 per hour in the future.

 

[Smacktard]

Surely you jest. I don't doubt they're on vacation, but 'much deserved?'

Apparently the sarcasm didn't ooze from my post. I wondered how long it was going to take someone to respond to that!

 

[shamrock]

It is unfortunate that the newhires get shafted a little, but they have to 'take one for the team'.

They aren't getting shafted any more now than they were before, every newhire has taken one for the team in their first year. And before anyone accuses me of the "I did it so you have to too" attitude, I am all for a 1st year raise, just not as a band aid remedy for (mis)management screwups.

Again, treat the illness, not the symptoms.

 

[~~~^~~~]

This has anything to do with pay?

I'm leaving because management decided to play a little game with our firm orders, transferring my job, my seniority and my upgrade to SkyWest pilots. I'm leaving because we are told that if we are a cintilla more expensive than SkyWest (which we can't control), then we will lose more airplanes, get downgraded and junior guys will hit the street. I'm leaving because SkyWest took 34 of our airplanes.

I am leaving for the same reason I came here - opportunity. When I hired in ASA was growing and management was proclaiming we were a career airline with industry leading pay and working conditions. As soon as Charlie Tutt wrote us a memo containing threats, followed by getting displaced, I sent out my resume and got hired at three places - all of which have better pay and working conditions, but more importantly, a bright future.

ASA's staffing problem is not pay. ASA's staffing problem is SkyWest. Right now I could quit, go to SkyWest and hold a Captain line on the CRJ900 in my domicile before I could hold CRJ700 Captain at ASA.

Until ASA has a future, there are not many intelligent pilots willing to invest their future at ASA.

This is not only a contract problem. The problem is SkyWest's management of the ASA purchase. I don't think $2 an hour has anything do do with ASA's staffing problem.

As evidence I submit the 80% of the seniority list that would go to Continental tommorrow to make $30 an hour with no insurance and no hotel during training. Or, the IP's who took a $90,000+ pay cut to go to Delta, again with having to pay for their own hotel duing training at <$3,000 a month.

Pilots will invest in their future. But most pilots are smart enough to not chase an investment of seniority and time at ASA when they see "their" upgrades going across the street for arbitrary reasons like choice of representative, or choice of religion.

It has been made clear that if you have more than five years of longevity ASA wants you gone. Well, glad I could help, I guess.

 

[wms]

It's not only a mgmt issue, but also a result of the current state of our industry. There just aren't enough people becoming pilots so airlines are having to get more competitive to get ones there are. It's likely that good ole capitalism will do more for our cause than five years of negotiating.

 

[wms]

This has anything to do with pay?

I'm leaving because management decided to play a little game with our firm orders, transferring my job, my seniority and my upgrade to SkyWest pilots. I'm leaving because we are told that if we are a cintilla more expensive than SkyWest (which we can't control), then we will lose more airplanes, get downgraded and junior guys will hit the street. I'm leaving because SkyWest took 34 of our airplanes.

I am leaving for the same reason I came here - opportunity. When I hired in ASA was growing and management was proclaiming we were a career airline with industry leading pay and working conditions. As soon as Charlie Tutt wrote us a memo containing threats, followed by getting displaced, I sent out my resume and got hired at three places - all of which have better pay and working conditions, but more importantly, a bright future.

ASA's staffing problem is not pay. ASA's staffing problem is SkyWest. Right now I could quit, go to SkyWest and hold a Captain line on the CRJ900 in my domicile before I could hold CRJ700 Captain at ASA.

Until ASA has a future, there are not many intelligent pilots willing to invest their future at ASA.

This is not only a contract problem. The problem is SkyWest's management of the ASA purchase. I don't think $2 an hour has anything do do with ASA's staffing problem.

As evidence I submit the 80% of the seniority list that would go to Continental tommorrow to make $30 an hour with no insurance and no hotel during training. Or, the IP's who took a $90,000+ pay cut to go to Delta, again with having to pay for their own hotel duing training at <$3,000 a month.

Pilots will invest in their future. But most pilots are smart enough to not chase an investment of seniority and time at ASA when they see "their" upgrades going across the street for arbitrary reasons like choice of representative, or choice of religion.

Well put.

 

[~~~^~~~]

The can't be that desperate. I have 2350 TT 260 ME ATP CFI-I-MEI 135 experience etc. Current part time instructor. I faxed my resume on Friday no call.

Don't take it personally - heck, they probably have not been at work since Friday due to the holiday and someone probably has not put toner in the fax machine in a month. Re-send it, e-mail it, they surely want to hear from you.

But, why not go to Republic, or even SkyWest? At SkyWest you will make Captain on ASA's airplanes before our second year First Officers upgrade.