Management’s new vacation policy
Fellow Pilots,
Once again, I want to keep you informed about our activities in response to management’s new vacation policy. On Thursday, August 30th, I participated in a conference call with members of senior management along with a member of your Union’s team of advisors. During this conference call I asked numerous questions (provided in many cases by our pilots) designed to get to the bottom of management’s intentions regarding their new policy. I had intended to detail all the questions we asked and the answers we were given, but frankly, I do not wish to take ownership of their policy by way of explaining it to you. That is management’s obligation. By now you have seen management’s Q&A pieces with their explanations of the policies and bidding procedures—some of which do not square with what we were told during the conference call.
Of course, some of the more obvious questions your representatives asked management centered on “why?” Why now? Why didn’t you propose this system in formal negotiations last month? Why this type of system? Why are vacations and annual schedule bidding linked in this fashion? Why are vacations linked with sick leave through the workings of the PTO bank? There were many other “whys?” as well. Management was able to answer some of our questions, was less than generous with some of their other explanations, or they simply took the position, “That is the way it is and we have no intention of changing it at this time. We fully expect you (the Union) will want to discuss it further as we proceed along in contract negotiations.”
I do, however, want you to know about two of the specific questions we raised. We asked why they were not waiting to implement their system until January so those pilots who have achieved a schedule that gives them the holidays off will finally be able to be with their families at this precious time. Their answer was, “Sorry. We know some pilots will be disadvantaged, but we have to start some time and now is the time.”
We made it clear that, while we recognized certain elements of their new policy resembled standard vacation bidding and assignment practices in the airline industry, much of what they had crafted was out in left field. For example, the fact that vacation time is deducted from a PTO bank is totally unacceptable to the Union. Most, if not all, established air carriers have a vacation bank AND a sick leave bank. Using time that is credited to one bank does not deplete the time credited to the other. Management acknowledged that was a problem for the pilots at this company, but were unprepared to change it.
The second specific question I want to discuss here seemed to get their attention. I asked, “Given the fact we have pilots who have been forced on numerous occasions to take vacation during the past year, thereby substantially depleting their PTO bank, how can you now propose to force them to take an additional 12 days of vacation in the upcoming year, knowing this will leave them with a negative PTO balance and thus no available paid sick time?” We very strongly advocated that these pilots be allowed to opt out of the entire 12 days of assigned vacation to preserve enough time in the PTO bank to cover an entire rotation, should such pilot become ill. At the end of the conference call management agreed to take this aspect of their policy under advisement and get back to us.
On Friday, August 31st, we received their response. After some back and forth discussion during two additional conference calls, management stated they would implement a revised version of their initial policy. They will now identify pilots who will have less than 64 hours of PTO remaining in their account on the November 1st implementation date. These pilots will be given the option of forgoing their primary 8-day vacation assignment. However, management is still intent on forcing these pilots to take an assigned 4-day vacation period. This is the modified policy described in management’s latest email on this topic.
This modification will allow any of these designated pilots who opt out of their assigned 8-day vacation period to end up with some PTO time available to accommodate for the possibility of illness. It also presents less of a likelihood that any of these pilots will fall into a negative PTO bank balance. I do recognize that a pilot with a PTO balance just above the minimum, for example a pilot with 65 hours, may now end up in negative territory at some time in the year. Management is of the view that this pilot will be accruing PTO time during the year that should alleviate this possibility or bring the PTO bank back above zero—assuming, of course, that pilot doesn’t get sick. What is sick is this kind of logic and this kind of system.
While I feel this partial modification of this one particularly onerous aspect was a positive move on management’s part, I have several problems with a great many other provisions of their new vacation policy and I know many of you do, as well. I have looked at the various screens on the Aircrew Portal that the company has published to implement the bidding process. These processes are far afield from what I had been led to believe would be the case.
For example, let’s take the Beechjet fleet that is currently staffed with approximately 190 Captains. I expected to see around 190 lines of flying for the entire year, completely filled out with days on rotation and days off, month by month. Then, in each line I expected to see just where management had inserted the mandatory 8-day and 4-day vacation periods. That would have allowed those 190 pilots to more easily see laid out for the entire year when they were scheduled to be on duty, when they were to be home on days off and when they were to be on vacation, depending on their seniority and which line they were eventually awarded.
Management’s current “scavenger hunt” system of moving from link to link on the Aircrew Portal coupled with trying to make sense out of their instructions makes it an overly complicated, time consuming task for the bulk of these 190 pilots to determine what their schedules might be and what to bid. This is especially true the more junior a pilot might be. The poor soul at the bottom of the seniority heap has to work through this puzzle 190 times. At the very least, management could have spent some money on IT services to make the bidding process considerably more user friendly.
Finally, while your representatives understand management’s technical need to have a “seam” period as one year transitions to the next each November 1st under their new policy, in all the discussions we had with them there was never any hint they intended to withhold for an entire year the forced overtime pay that might be generated due to schedule realignments over the “seam.” That is totally unconscionable. At a minimum, such forced overtime should be paid out in the affected pilot’s next paycheck.
I am severely disappointed, but not surprised; management took it upon themselves to design this vacation policy without the input and agreement of your Union. It would have been very easy for management to pass their proposed policy across the bargaining table when the parties were meeting in mid-August. Perhaps we could have come to some agreement on a policy that pilots would find acceptable. Perhaps not. But at least they would have shown some measure of good faith by engaging your representatives early on. Instead, your Union leadership was informed of management’s policy in the same manner as every other pilot. We got the canned email announcing its impending arrival.
Upon receipt of this email, I immediately provided the information I had to the Union’s attorneys and asked them to initiate an investigation into the possibility of legally challenging management’s implementation of this unilateral change to our working conditions. In the upcoming days we will provide a report on their investigation and their recommendations concerning this situation.
I want each of you to know and understand that your MEC has been working hard to represent your interests relative to this new vacation policy. I think by now the majority of you understand that Solidarity = Bargaining Power for your Union’s leadership. You should be proud to know that, to the extent your growing Solidarity has been evident in recent weeks and months, we were able to move management to some small degree on their new vacation policy.
You must also know that a greater level of Solidarity will be needed to achieve our ultimate goal of reaching a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that will include provisions for vacations and sick leave much better suited to the needs and desires of our pilots and their families. Absent that Solidarity and CBA, management will undoubtedly continue to take further unilateral actions that affect our lives, both at work and with our families, such as their past changes to our health care benefits package, crew meals and, now, their new vacation policy. I am confident your Solidarity will continue to grow with each passing day.
NEXT LINK
Fellow Pilots,
Once again, I want to keep you informed about our activities in response to management’s new vacation policy. On Thursday, August 30th, I participated in a conference call with members of senior management along with a member of your Union’s team of advisors. During this conference call I asked numerous questions (provided in many cases by our pilots) designed to get to the bottom of management’s intentions regarding their new policy. I had intended to detail all the questions we asked and the answers we were given, but frankly, I do not wish to take ownership of their policy by way of explaining it to you. That is management’s obligation. By now you have seen management’s Q&A pieces with their explanations of the policies and bidding procedures—some of which do not square with what we were told during the conference call.
Of course, some of the more obvious questions your representatives asked management centered on “why?” Why now? Why didn’t you propose this system in formal negotiations last month? Why this type of system? Why are vacations and annual schedule bidding linked in this fashion? Why are vacations linked with sick leave through the workings of the PTO bank? There were many other “whys?” as well. Management was able to answer some of our questions, was less than generous with some of their other explanations, or they simply took the position, “That is the way it is and we have no intention of changing it at this time. We fully expect you (the Union) will want to discuss it further as we proceed along in contract negotiations.”
I do, however, want you to know about two of the specific questions we raised. We asked why they were not waiting to implement their system until January so those pilots who have achieved a schedule that gives them the holidays off will finally be able to be with their families at this precious time. Their answer was, “Sorry. We know some pilots will be disadvantaged, but we have to start some time and now is the time.”
We made it clear that, while we recognized certain elements of their new policy resembled standard vacation bidding and assignment practices in the airline industry, much of what they had crafted was out in left field. For example, the fact that vacation time is deducted from a PTO bank is totally unacceptable to the Union. Most, if not all, established air carriers have a vacation bank AND a sick leave bank. Using time that is credited to one bank does not deplete the time credited to the other. Management acknowledged that was a problem for the pilots at this company, but were unprepared to change it.
The second specific question I want to discuss here seemed to get their attention. I asked, “Given the fact we have pilots who have been forced on numerous occasions to take vacation during the past year, thereby substantially depleting their PTO bank, how can you now propose to force them to take an additional 12 days of vacation in the upcoming year, knowing this will leave them with a negative PTO balance and thus no available paid sick time?” We very strongly advocated that these pilots be allowed to opt out of the entire 12 days of assigned vacation to preserve enough time in the PTO bank to cover an entire rotation, should such pilot become ill. At the end of the conference call management agreed to take this aspect of their policy under advisement and get back to us.
On Friday, August 31st, we received their response. After some back and forth discussion during two additional conference calls, management stated they would implement a revised version of their initial policy. They will now identify pilots who will have less than 64 hours of PTO remaining in their account on the November 1st implementation date. These pilots will be given the option of forgoing their primary 8-day vacation assignment. However, management is still intent on forcing these pilots to take an assigned 4-day vacation period. This is the modified policy described in management’s latest email on this topic.
This modification will allow any of these designated pilots who opt out of their assigned 8-day vacation period to end up with some PTO time available to accommodate for the possibility of illness. It also presents less of a likelihood that any of these pilots will fall into a negative PTO bank balance. I do recognize that a pilot with a PTO balance just above the minimum, for example a pilot with 65 hours, may now end up in negative territory at some time in the year. Management is of the view that this pilot will be accruing PTO time during the year that should alleviate this possibility or bring the PTO bank back above zero—assuming, of course, that pilot doesn’t get sick. What is sick is this kind of logic and this kind of system.
While I feel this partial modification of this one particularly onerous aspect was a positive move on management’s part, I have several problems with a great many other provisions of their new vacation policy and I know many of you do, as well. I have looked at the various screens on the Aircrew Portal that the company has published to implement the bidding process. These processes are far afield from what I had been led to believe would be the case.
For example, let’s take the Beechjet fleet that is currently staffed with approximately 190 Captains. I expected to see around 190 lines of flying for the entire year, completely filled out with days on rotation and days off, month by month. Then, in each line I expected to see just where management had inserted the mandatory 8-day and 4-day vacation periods. That would have allowed those 190 pilots to more easily see laid out for the entire year when they were scheduled to be on duty, when they were to be home on days off and when they were to be on vacation, depending on their seniority and which line they were eventually awarded.
Management’s current “scavenger hunt” system of moving from link to link on the Aircrew Portal coupled with trying to make sense out of their instructions makes it an overly complicated, time consuming task for the bulk of these 190 pilots to determine what their schedules might be and what to bid. This is especially true the more junior a pilot might be. The poor soul at the bottom of the seniority heap has to work through this puzzle 190 times. At the very least, management could have spent some money on IT services to make the bidding process considerably more user friendly.
Finally, while your representatives understand management’s technical need to have a “seam” period as one year transitions to the next each November 1st under their new policy, in all the discussions we had with them there was never any hint they intended to withhold for an entire year the forced overtime pay that might be generated due to schedule realignments over the “seam.” That is totally unconscionable. At a minimum, such forced overtime should be paid out in the affected pilot’s next paycheck.
I am severely disappointed, but not surprised; management took it upon themselves to design this vacation policy without the input and agreement of your Union. It would have been very easy for management to pass their proposed policy across the bargaining table when the parties were meeting in mid-August. Perhaps we could have come to some agreement on a policy that pilots would find acceptable. Perhaps not. But at least they would have shown some measure of good faith by engaging your representatives early on. Instead, your Union leadership was informed of management’s policy in the same manner as every other pilot. We got the canned email announcing its impending arrival.
Upon receipt of this email, I immediately provided the information I had to the Union’s attorneys and asked them to initiate an investigation into the possibility of legally challenging management’s implementation of this unilateral change to our working conditions. In the upcoming days we will provide a report on their investigation and their recommendations concerning this situation.
I want each of you to know and understand that your MEC has been working hard to represent your interests relative to this new vacation policy. I think by now the majority of you understand that Solidarity = Bargaining Power for your Union’s leadership. You should be proud to know that, to the extent your growing Solidarity has been evident in recent weeks and months, we were able to move management to some small degree on their new vacation policy.
You must also know that a greater level of Solidarity will be needed to achieve our ultimate goal of reaching a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) that will include provisions for vacations and sick leave much better suited to the needs and desires of our pilots and their families. Absent that Solidarity and CBA, management will undoubtedly continue to take further unilateral actions that affect our lives, both at work and with our families, such as their past changes to our health care benefits package, crew meals and, now, their new vacation policy. I am confident your Solidarity will continue to grow with each passing day.
NEXT LINK
