Comair MEC burning bridges with Delta?

[DAL737FO]

This is exactly how this stuff balloons up. I'm going to use Caveman as an example and I may be way off base but here goes. I notice from your profile, Caveman, that you are a retired Marine grunt. (Thank you for your service by the way) This would lead me to believe that you are older compared to some of the guys/gals your seniority level at Comair. (Join Marines at 18 + 20 years service + 3 years at Comair to date = 41) Now lets add on about 5-6 years before any possiblility of hiring at Delta mainline. So you are looking at 46-47 before possibly moving to a major seat at the Big D. So what my point, and again this is opinion, the more senior/older members of the regional jet faction are the ones speaking the loudest (most of the time) about not wanting to move on to mainline. Now if I was a younger guy/gal at Comair I might be thinking of supporting the hiring of furloughed pilots, again opinion only. I have a lot of friends at Comair that went there recently. Most are retired Army pilots. They originally went there with the intentions of building fixed wing time and moving on. Here again they are older due to spending 20+ years in the military. Almost to a man they have all decided that they will never make it mainline now and support getting whatever they can will they are at Comair. Hey it's natural, looking out for number one right? This is a subject that will never be won on this board.

Again good luck to all,

GII/GIII FO

 

[NYRANGERS]

NYRANGERS wrote:

"It IS the comair pilots fault that they "Don't support the hiring of furloughed Delta pilots"."

Nice try at the spin, but we in fact do support the preferential hiring of any furloughed ALPA pilot. If you have a problem with the seniority resignation, take it up with Delta and Comair management. It's their policy, not ours.

Your MEC told our MEC to succomb to their demands or he would tell the world that we were against hiring furloughed Delta pilots. Sorry, pal, but we will not be blackmailed or intimidated by BS spin and half truths.

Gee whiz, I guess I'll never be able to work for DAL mainline. I'll try to go on with life.........

Wasn't it only around a year ago you just hired on with comair. Now you are ready to throw away your fellow comair pilots chance to come to Delta.

Look, if you want to finish your career at comair I applaud you. Some of your friends may want the chance to move on. It is not only the Delta pilots who are pissed off at your mec's actions. ALPA itself may find fauld with your group. I hope all the ALPA pilot reps in the interviews remember the comair mec's descisions.

 

[Kingairrick]

How come no one has mentioned the side letter proposed by the Delta MEC, without the consent of the Comair MEC, that Comair could hire furloghed Delta pilots, train them, give them preferential hiring consideration, and then let them go when its over. Or, that the Comair MEC only found out about this letter by accident. Maybe this meeting didn't go well because of the already present animosity between the two MECs.

To me it looks like another case of the MECs (near retirement...what's their priority?) screwing around with the future that they will not even be a part of. The pilots that will be affected have no say in the matter. When the time comes, I hope that most reasonable pilots in the hiring comitee will recognize this fact and not hold it against an individiual candidate.

At the end of the day, most pilots are reasonable, intelligent, people.

By the way, the RJDC does not ask for the elimination of scope in its lawsuit. It asks to be included in the negotiations concerning scope, when it effects Comair pilots. This is verifyable by reading the lawsuit's full text, available on the RJDC's website.

 

[PCL_128]

By the way, the RJDC does not ask for the elimination of scope in its lawsuit. It asks to be included in the negotiations concerning scope, when it effects Comair pilots. This is verifyable by reading the lawsuit's full text, available on the RJDC's website.

The lawsuit asks for reperations in the form of billions of dollars. That will destroy ALPA which will in turn eliminate scope.

 

[Kingairrick]

It does not ask for $1.

Read the complaint (as filed with the court) on the RJDC website.
Get your facts straight.

 

[trainerjet]

It does not ask for $1.

Read the complaint (as filed with the court) on the RJDC website.
Get your facts straight.

Mr. KingAir

You're right. It does not ask for $1. It asks for millions of them. (But of course, you'll have more "facts" .....RJDC style.....why they aren't really seeking this relief.)

From the RJDC website.....as you suggested:

h. as to the claims set forth in Count VIII, such sum as may be determined at trial, but in no event less than the sum of Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.00) each.

i. as to the claims set forth in Count IX,
such sum as may be determined at trial, but in no event less than Two Million ($2,000,000.00) Dollars each.

j. as to the claims set forth in Count X,
such sum as may be determined at trial, but in no event less than Two Million Dollars ($2,000,000.00) Dollars each, plus the cumulative sum of One Hundred Million ($100,000,000.00) as exemplary and punitive damages.

k. as to the claims set forth in Count XI, such sum as may be determined at trial, but in no event less than Two Million ($2,000,000.00) each.

l. as to the claims set forth in Count XII, such sum as may be determined at trial, but in no event less than Two Million ($2,000,000.00) Dollars each.

m. as to the claims set forth in Count XIII,
such sum as may be determined at trial, but in no event less than Two Million ($2,000,000.00) Dollars each.

 

[Caveman]

DAL737FO,

Pretty accurate appraisal of my particular situation with one minor correction. I hired on at Comair fully intending to stay here until retirement. I'm open to look at opportunities if they appear but I'm counting on retiring as a Comair 75' Captain. (Just kidding.....).

NYRANGERS,

I'm not throwing anything away. There is nothing to throw away. The DAL MEC wasn't offering anything specific. There was some talk about some yet to be determined preferential hiring plan if DAL ever starts hiring again. There was also a specific reference about us having to "deal with" the fact that squadron buddies would be taken care of first. This is all about symbolism. The DAL MEC knows that the CMR MEC can't dictate or change the hiring policy at Comair. Heck, the DAL MEC can't get Ma Delta to make it change this policy yet it is trying to condemn the Comair MEC for not doing it either.

Every Comair pilot I know fully supports preferential hiring for any furloughed ALPA pilot, including DAL furloughees. Most of us also think that having a voting member in our midst who's real allegiance is to another pilot group with conflicting interests isn't a real smart thing to do. In a nutshell, we don't have the power to change the policy and personally I wouldn't if we could. All DAL furloughees are welcome and I'll do whatever I can to further the process but I want to make sure that the guys we hire are going to put the collective interests of the Comair pilot group ahead of any other competing interests. One way for me to partially determine their loyalty is for them to burn their bridges back to mainline before we hire them.

Now, if you want to talk about one list then it's a different story. At that point we all have a common interest and I wouldn't have any problem with a DAL guy keeping their seniority for recall to mainline. There are proposals ad nauseum on how to implement that and I'm all ears to any reasonable and equitable solution and I'm not talking DOH or a ratio either. Just provide a mechanism that doesn't make me furlough fodder while a mainline pilot goes back to work and I'll listen with an open mind. The problem is that the DAL MEC didn't even want to discuss a real solution. He wanted a symbolic gesture that did nothing for anyone and if we didn't capitulate he would telll the world that we were against hiring mainline furloughees. That's a bunch of BS and our MEC called him on it.

 

[Kingairrick]

You are correct sir. I didn't read far enough. It still doesn't change the fact that PLC_128 is insane.

 

[FlyingSig]

I for one was turned away from a Delta jumpseat during the strike. I don't hold any animosity, it's just that I'm surprised the mainline doesnt empathize with those of us struggling at the regional level.

Were you denied the jumpseat because the pilot didn't empathize with your strike or were you denied the jumpseat because Delta management took Comair off the jumpseat list during the strike.

Would a United pilot been subject to discipline for giving you the jumpseat? American, NWA, CAL, etc..?

The way you write this makes it seem like the "right thing to do" for the DAL pilot that denied you was to ignore company rules (even though he may have disagreed with those rules) in support of the cause.

 

[skyslug]

Delta management NOT the pilots dictated our jumpseat privledges be revoked during the strike.