Day in the life of Commutair Pilot

[BeechSlapped]

As for your first statement you are dead wrong. The owner of Calforums happens to be a good friend of mine. Only those pilots that are on the CURRENT CAL or CALEX senority list are allowed into Calforums. So, it seems that you are commiting fraud and I am sure Larry would love to find out who you are. I will be sure to tell him we have a lurker

No, sir you are wrong. Many, many CommutAir pilots have been monitoring that board since even before the CLE flying started. I'm not sure how this is fraud since we are required to use our real names with our real ID number. If we weren't welcome there, our names could have easily been cross-checked against the current seniority list and it would have been discovered that we weren't CAL or CALEX pilots.

As I said in a another post, your anger at the furloughed pilots who didn't vote ALPA is a result of a post that was made on Calforums shortly after the vote. This post claimed that a majority of furloughed pilots didn't vote, which sparked severe rage amongst the CALEX pilots. I am telling you now, you need to ignore this person. He took no poll, he did no research. In fact, nobody else in the company would talk to him long enough for him to get any information. Everyone at CommutAir knows who I am talking about and could back this up. Were there furloughed pilots who didn't vote? Yes, there were. Did it cause us to lose the vote? Who knows. But the anger from CALEX is based on one person's opinion. We had MANY senior pilots at CommutAir who were against ALPA. Were THEY the reason we lost? Who knows! But don't go blaming one group unless the NMB magically decides to release the names of the non-voters.

 

[Company Man]

As for all the furloughed pilots at CA that voted against ALPA, you might want to stay there. There is a very good chance that when you return to Express you WILL be declared a member in bad standing and all the privliges that it enjoys

Capt Caucasion.....


I'll bet that only two-three people actually go back to Coex....

Some of the FO's I've flown with have stated "why would I want to go back to a company that treated me like S#$t and be an FO for 5 years when I can stay here where they actually know how to treat their pilot!"

 

[skootertrash]

Ok there boss man. Have fun flying light twins around.

You think the stagnation will be there forever. What will happen when 2000 CAL pilot retire in the next 10 years. And I bet they will make a hell of a lot more here than there.

You know what, keep the ungratefull pricks. These are the children that got furloughed after 3-6 months of their airline careers and have done nothing except WHINE that its not fair. SH!T HAPPENS deal with it. The world stinks BOO HOO and they think that THEY got SCREWED.


Those little pricks at CA that are all PI$$ED off can stay. Maybe they will learn what its like to pay their dues.

The more I read about this the more I wanna BEOTCH slap these spoiled brats.

 

[Anais Nin]

Those little pricks at CA that are all PI$$ED off can stay. Maybe they will learn what its like to pay their dues.

No, they will upgrade and make much more than I'm making after almost 3 and a half years at Coex. They were smart in going over to Commutair.
Face it, trash....you've been handed your lunch. Deal with it!
None of the guys I've talked to over at Commutair are upset with their situation at all! They're happy!
That is what made me start to realize the plight we're in!
I used to say to myself "But, hey.....at least we're in the ERJ! At least we have a flow-through!"
But it friggin' doesn't matter! PIC turbine time is all that matters! Period! It doesn't even matter if it's in a Caravan.
We'll be at XJet forever, skooter! And that really sucks! How did CAL ALPA do anything in our best interest?
I would give anything to have been furloughed and upgrading in the Beech over at CA!

 

[Anais Nin]

Maybe they will learn what its like to pay their dues.

And skooter, what dues are you talking about??? Being an fo for 5 years??

 

[CaptainCrunch]

Ok there boss man. Have fun flying light twins around.

Only until CAL gives us your jets when you decide to strike. HAha!

 

[mesaba2425]

6am: wake up

7am: complain to whoever listens that you have a 3 day

7am alternate: if on reserve, complain because you're on reserve

8am: complain about Mesa's contract

9am: still complaing about Mesa's contract

10am: complain about management for a while

11am: show up to airport for trip and complain to CA, FO, FA, etc about pretty much everything

11am alternate: call crew scheduling and complain that you haven't flown in 8 days

12noon: grab a bite to eat before trip but unfortunately you can only eat half of what you bought because you were complaining too much

12noon alternate: crew scheduling calls with a trip. complain that you had something else to do today and ask if someone else can take the trip

1pm: fly trip while complaining about management, crew scheduling, dispatch, maintenance control, your flight attendant, etc

9pm: arrive at crew hotel, grab a bite to eat and complain about the legs that were just completed

10pm: go to bed and set alarm for 5am wakeup


next day: repeat previous day

 

[skootertrash]

No, they will upgrade and make much more than I'm making after almost 3 and a half years at Coex. They were smart in going over to Commutair.
Face it, trash....you've been handed your lunch. Deal with it!
None of the guys I've talked to over at Commutair are upset with their situation at all! They're happy!
That is what made me start to realize the plight we're in!
I used to say to myself "But, hey.....at least we're in the ERJ! At least we have a flow-through!"
But it friggin' doesn't matter! PIC turbine time is all that matters! Period! It doesn't even matter if it's in a Caravan.
We'll be at XJet forever, skooter! And that really sucks! How did CAL ALPA do anything in our best interest?
I would give anything to have been furloughed and upgrading in the Beech over at CA!

THATS MY POINT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! CAL ALPA got these guys their jobs over there and this is how they repay us. By pi$$ing and moaning that CAL ALPA is worthless. We know things suck here right now but they WILL get better. And when they do, I bet these ingrates will be back for a handout......that they think they've deserved all along.

And for the comment about flying our jets when we strike.......do not play. You wanna find out where Hoffa is? That was one of the reasons to go ALPA in the first place. So now what happens when your bosses go to you after we strike. Who will protect you if you "TRY" to say no? Ah hell you will probably jump at the chance to further your own careers at the expense of ours. Go ahead then your finally fit the true definition.

 

[Company Man]

If you think that the current administration will allow a strike you better back away from the "crack pipe"

 

[George Jetson]

No, they will upgrade and make much more than I'm making after almost 3 and a half years at Coex. They were smart in going over to Commutair

.....

I would give anything to have been furloughed and upgrading in the Beech over at CA!

On the first point, 4th year pay Express today is $31.61/hour. My guess is that you are a line holder and will probably credit around 900-1000 hours this year. Thus, you'll make around $31k this year. That doesn't count per diem obviously. At CA, their per diem is less and their Captains make 1st year Captain pay when they upgrade, which is around $30-33k. Nonetheless, only a couple of our furloughees have upgraded.

On the second point, you didn't need to be furloughed to go somewhere else. You can always leave. Commutair is currently hiring. So are other places. But if you go, you won't have the luxury of keeping your seniority number...which is fine by me. It seems like you are the one with the attitude.

When this contract is completed, we will have made significant gains that you won't find at PSA, Mesa, or CA. But please feel free to go over there....My guess is that you will be unhappy there too. The grass is always greener my friend.

An FO at Comair will make significantly more than a Captain at CA....maybe you should apply there.

GJ

 

[CaptainCrunch]

And for the comment about flying our jets when we strike.......do not play. You wanna find out where Hoffa is? That was one of the reasons to go ALPA in the first place. So now what happens when your bosses go to you after we strike. Who will protect you if you "TRY" to say no? Ah hell you will probably jump at the chance to further your own careers at the expense of ours. Go ahead then your finally fit the true definition.

We don't want your jets. I just said that to see how you would respond. Most of us are happy flying the equipment we have. Even if you do strike our management is not the type to ask us to fly struck work. Our management however is the type that announced the company was having trouble in summer of 2001 and they would need to furlough half the pilots and then held a job fair to get all the displaced pilots jobs at other carriers. The Captains that were bumped back to FO didn't go back to FO pay but got paid in the middle of Capt and FO. That says a lot about the people in charge. The only reason COEX wants CommutAir to be ALPA is so they can have some control over what we do. You should probably focus your effort on SkyWest. They will probably be the ones who get your jet flying when you strike.

 

[Capt. Caucasian]

Anais Nin,

Apparently you are fantastically uninformed about the state of the industry, the current contract, contract 02, the company, and ALPA. I highly suggest that you call either (1) the NC, (2) the EA, (3) P2P chair, (4) anyone else at HQ, (5) Me. You can find my cell phone number on the Union board in the IAH crew room. Or listen to my voice mail message at VM#9577. Also, maybe you could talk to your own Rep. He happens to be a very good friend of mine.

Frats,
One of the Seven Dwarfs

 

[AVI1900D]

As I said in a another post, your anger at the furloughed pilots who didn't vote ALPA is a result of a post that was made on Calforums shortly after the vote. This post claimed that a majority of furloughed pilots didn't vote, which sparked severe rage amongst the CALEX pilots. I am telling you now, you need to ignore this person. He took no poll, he did no research. In fact, nobody else in the company would talk to him long enough for him to get any information. Everyone at CommutAir knows who I am talking about and could back this up.

We obviously do know since he did not post it here where names are withheld. I am one those furloughed calex guys at CA and I can tell you that it does not take a genious to put two and two together, lets do some simple math:
45 coex guys+
12 organizing members ( +/- 2 people)
= 57 votes
there where a total of 64 votes- 57 votes =7 other votes from regular CA guys. You and I both know that a lot more Commutair guys voted for ALPA than 7. I fly with them all the time.
CALALPA people where not born yesterday and I'm sure niether are you. I was there In the crewrooms and saw how the furloughees would scatter like buckshots as soon as anyone said the word ALPA. And the ALPA people saw how a starving FO would not walk into the meeting room even to grab some free food. The saw the negative response to their phone campaign. They where also aware of the few Coex pilots who were actively campaigning against ALPA. Few of my friends have even admitted not for voting. There were also the large group that were saying they did not recieve a ballot, but they did not try to call the number that was listed in the crew room. One pilot got so fedup with all the threats and BS that she quit. If you where one of the people who were on the committe in ALB, my hat is off to you bro, you guys worked hard. CLE was a different story though. Your organizing committe memebers did not even show up to the meetings and not once did I see them defend ALPA in the crew room when the ANTI-Union crowd was spreading their lies. I can gurantee that many of the comittee members did not vote for ALPA. Many were to scared to even admit that they where a member and the ones who did stated they did not give a $hit. Bottom line is that the company ran a better campaign and they are continueing it today with the Mutual Interest Committe.
They know they got lucky and they will not take another chance next year. So I hope we will use ALPA as a threat like SKYWEST and SWA do to get what we want. You can not blame this on one person. I also dont think that the way some angry Express pilots are venting here ( and rightfully so) is the official position of the union. To any Furloughed coex pilot reading this that did not vote, I would not lose sleep over this. You made a mistake fine , your friends are not going to turn you in. Just learn a lesson and Wear your **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** ALPA PIN like the rest of us to show that you are proud. To all my Commutair bros, lets leave the past in the past and work together to raise the bar. We can still fly as professionals even if we have a difference of opinion.

 

[BeechSlapped]

there where a total of 64 votes- 57 votes =7 other votes from regular CA guys. You and I both know that a lot more Commutair guys voted for ALPA than 7. I fly with them all the time.

This is very true. As I said previously, I know the names of a few COEX people who didn't vote. But you're holding the whole group responsible for the actions of a few.

I was there In the crewrooms and saw how the furloughees would scatter like buckshots as soon as anyone said the word ALPA. And the ALPA people saw how a starving FO would not walk into the meeting room even to grab some free food. The saw the negative response to their phone campaign.

Have you ever heard the old phrase "It's not what you say, it's how you say it"? Cornering someone in the trailer is not how you go about getting a positive response. I was on the organizing committee and I wanted ALPA as much as the next guy, however I refused to push and push until the person not only resented me, but ALPA as well. There is a limit to how much people can take before not wanting anything to do with the whole campaign.

CLE was a different story though. Your organizing committe memebers did not even show up to the meetings and not once did I see them defend ALPA in the crew room when the ANTI-Union crowd was spreading their lies. I can gurantee that many of the comittee members did not vote for ALPA.

You're entitled to your opinion, but please don't go spewing this garbage. So how can you "guarantee" that many of us didn't vote? You need to remember that this whole organizing effort was put into motion many months before you even knew what CommutAir was. So, please don't accuse us of not putting an effort into this just because you walked in at the tail end of the organizing effort. In regard to the meetings, the problem wasn't the lack of attendance from the committee, but from the pilots themselves. Many times, we would only see a handfull show up. Even then it was just for the free food.

My job was to disseminate information so the pilots could make an informed decision. But there is a fine line between giving information when it is requested and cramming down one's throat until they loathe your existance at the end of a 4-day. If this Mutual Interest Committee works, fine. If not, I hope we will try to organize again next year. And AVI1900D, I hope you will be on the committee so you can see what I am talking about. Good day sir.

 

[AVI1900D]

Beechslapped,
I do admit that you guys had your work cut out for you. You did not have to cram information down anyone’s throats, there are other means of communication i.e. rumor control news letters like calalpa has. Or something like the truth squad calalpa had. Blaming each other and using divide and conquer methods is what the company used very well against us. Lets not give them the satisfaction. As far as the association goes I hope some of the more senior people such as yourself step up and take charge otherwise some of these people who have been nominated will go up to PLB and give the house away. We need more than just scheduling and longevity pay. We need the whole &amn enchilada. Duty rigs, 7days of vacation (per year), deadhead pay, moving expenses etc…etc…Like I say its all water under the bridge. Can’t we all just get along.!!!!!!