Do we understand what happens when we're short-staffed? Absolutely, and I know it can be very stressful for schedulers, that's why I kept my accusations generalized and haven't lashed out at you specifically even though you bashed me... Like I said before, I don't believe we work at the same company and your company may not be as guilty as others of deliberately assigning contractually-illegal trips.
crewguru said:
NO SHI.T!! And while he may have been planning this to a certain extint, the fact that we are so short staffed has nothing to do with it. Not at all. Right!
Not sure what you're implying, but the crewmembers who do this every year are not doing it just to make things more short-staffed. These guys/gals didn't start out at the beginning of the year and say, "Gee, I want to make things even harder on my company so I'm going to fly 90+ hours a month so I can time out in November." It probably went something more to the tune of "I'm senior enough to hold 90+ hour lines and if I do this all year I'll time out in November and be able to spend the entire holidays with my family and get paid for it." Staffing doesn't enter our minds, and it shouldn't, that's not our job, so don't get p*ssed at us when mgmt can't plan for this simple exercise
THAT HAPPENS EVERY SINGLE YEAR!
You are not better than anyone else. It takes all of us to run an airline, not just you, god. No one's job is more important than anothers. Get off your high horse and come back to reality.
Yes, it does take all of us, never said it didn't. But
most crew schedulers, flight followers (dispatchers without the license), baggage handlers, fuelers, and others who are required for any airline to function
by your own admission do not have the training or experience that pilots or mechanics do. It's not about being "more intelligent" or "better" and certainly doesn't make me or any other pilot a god, it simply makes us experienced enough to
usually know better than the afore-mentioned groups when making a decision that affects the outcome of the flight, including scheduling matters. So you'll just have to excuse us when we often go
around or above the scheduler's heads to get something done that is either contractually compliant or just plain makes more sense. Come back to reality? The
REALITY is that we have to do
exactly that just about every week we come to work.
If you know your contract and the far's then what's the problem. No one can force a trip on you that is illegal.
Wrong again. A probationary pilot may be covered under the contract but has no disciplinary action recourse under that contract, meaning that if a probationary pilot
rightfully refuses an assignment and is terminated for it, the Association has very little recourse. Even if a non-probationary pilot refuses an assignment under contract provisions and is disciplined, it may take months or years to recover their lost earnings or their job and get the discipline removed from their record. This is why pressure tactics from CS often work and why, by the time these pilots are line holders, they have formed a permanently-lasting loathing for CS, hence the reason this thread started...
If this doesn't work then greive.
Sure, just
GRIEVE it. Then many months to
a year or more later, after it's gone through the initial hearing, system board of adjustments, and arbitration, you
MAY get your pay
OR YOUR JOB BACK for something
YOU WERE CONTRACTUALLY ENTITLED TO IN THE FIRST PLACE! Or you may simply get awarded a cease and desist order (which the company then violates again a month later), but while you're waiting for the grievance process to work, that disciplinary action stays on your record and when you go to interview at SWA, JB, AT, ATA, etc, that disciplinary action has to be explained which may not be the end of the interview, but certainly raises a red flag; all because CS
WILFULLY AND DELIBERATELY refused to abide by the contract.
Like I said before, you may not have ever been guilty of deliberately assigning a contractually-illegal trip, but
MOST crew schedulers (at least at the last two airlines I've worked at as well as the airline the original gentleman who started this thread works for)
HAVE; it's the rule, rather than the exception. Hopefully you understand the frustration a little better now from our point of view when we simply want our contract followed instead of
intentionally breached!
...imagine how much worse YOUR life will be if you constantly have NEW schedulers... You want THAT even less.
IP Freely (nice s/n
) - we DO deal with this regularly. Our CS turnover rate is about one every 90-120 days. We have about 3 people who have been there a year and they're all trying to get out. I have no illusions that it'd be a good job to have (I wouldn't do it), but it's hard to have respect for someone who doesn't respect you enough to abide by your legal agreement...
At this company the schedulers don't track spares and MX needs (MX control and dispatch do that then simply inform CS when and where they need pilots). Frustration comes when as a pilot you KNOW what the better solution is and they won't consider it.
