FRED BUTTRELL Letter to CMR Pilots

[Kugelblitz]

D'Angelo

Your life is a train wreck because you haven't figured out yet that it isn't all about money. Seriously, if you continue to think along the lines you presently are, and this is not just about Comair, things will implode around you.

I experienced a pay cut from 110K in '02 to 15K in '03 and learned this lesson from experience. I have learned that 4 of my former TWA collegues put a gun to their head because when the paycheck stopped, they had nothing left in their lives. I am not getting Jesus-ey here, I am an aetheist. But the sort of nihilistic thinking you participate in will permeate every facet of your life and eventually catch up to you. No amount of 'premium' pay or open time will cover that.

On that issue, you don't pick up open time to treat your wife to a vacation, that would be thinking of someone else. You do it because your are hateful and like hurting other people. You know very well that picking up open time affects staffing levels, just like pref bidding.

Okay, I am done. Go ahead call me a pompous a$$ or naive and get in the last word.

 

[D'Angelo]

Hey my friend I never said it was all about money. If I ever do find myself furloughed then I will find a way to move on. Until that day comes however I will do whatever it takes to keep my job. Ive worked too long and too hard to just "hold the line" so I can get trampled over by all the other airlines out there. Sorry I still fail to see the logic in "holding the line" when we all know no one will give a DAMMN about it. If people actually gave a crap you wouldnt see the constant RJ shell game thats going on. Also how does starting OVER at LOW pay again prove anything? Again the logic here is very strange. Its speaking out of anger and passion. It absolutely sucks what is going on in this industry right now. There are many tragic tales. It is very unfortunate what happened to the TWA people and all the other people out there on the street. PBS does effect staffing levels and you know what if it saves money im all for it. Maybe the staffing equation needs to be re-looked at by alpa and management. You don't want to have more pilots than you need otherwise its just costly. Picking up open time does not have any effect whatsoever. First of all if ALPA didn't want us picking up open time then they wouldnt have the 150% credit in the contract for picking it up. Second of all it will be going to reserves or possible JR assignments anyway. One way or another the flight will go. Unless anyone has an actual analysis or equation PROVING the effect of open time I don't buy it. I am thinking of the lady when im picking up open time. I am saving extra money in case of bad times and gonna use some extra money to take her on a well deserved vacation this year. God knows shes earned it.

 

[commuterpuke]

Like all of us I wanted the uniform, to fly a cool jet as quick as possible, to feel equal to my friends, have hot chicks look at you during boarding while you flip switches and look cool, and all that other stuff

 

[Birddog]

I still say picking up open time makes no difference to the furloughs. They will be there one way or the other. It sucks but thats how things happen.

You can say it all you want, that doesn't make it true. The fact is, if every pilot flew to guarantee, the open time would fall to the reserves. These folks tend to be the most junior and could use the money. Once the reserves are used up, the company has to face the fact that they (1) need more pilots to cover the flying (2) need to build trips more productively or (3) some combination of the above. If there is as much open time as you claim, it would only take a month or two for the above to come to pass.

Now I am not the biggest union guy, but this sort of thing tends to go beyond union politics. It goes to looking out for each other, which is a necessity because I cannot think of a single other group that would do it. This is in the same catagory as expending the extra effort to get a commuter on so he or she can get home or to work. Its just like putting the other guy's flight case away so he can make that last flight home at the end of a trip. You help these folks out because its the right thing to do.

Hide behind your wife by claiming to be doing it for her. Most of us have wives too. A few have several. Many of us also have kids too. You won't find most folks using them as excuses for selfish behavior. Your shallow attempt at justification doesn't fool anyone. If you are so concerned about saving up for hard times, don't take that vacation, learn to live with a little less, and tell your wife to get a job too. Welcome to the world most of us live in.

If you are who you claim to be, then most of your co-workers probably know who and what you are. Some day you'll need a favor, or a letter of rec, or a jumpstart in the parking lot. Thats when looking out for #1 gets expensive.

 

[Kugelblitz]

D'Angelo

The 150% pay credit is not an endorsement by ALPA to pick up open time while people are on furlough. There isn't one single ALPA rep who would endorse your actions and you know that. You talk about the "RJ shellgame" going on, friend, your the player. You are why there are multiple ALPA carriers with different pay rates for the same equipment. You don't care, just give me mine and too bad for you.

Voting for your concession is starting over at low pay. As was already pointed out by an AWAC pilot, your plan to compensate for this by picking up open time is flawed. Scheduling hardly posts it as it is now.

Again, this line of thinking is very poor judgement on your part. I know N. Kentucky is a bastion of culture and progressive thinking and home of the Creationist Museum. Despite this, you may want to consider the 5000 years of collected wisdom from the written record of peoples from all over the globe. Whether you are an airline pilot, a poet, artist, head of state.... nihilistic thinking will be the source of your undoing. It isn't just how you think about your job, it is how you look at everything.

As they say, you heard it here first.

 

[prodigal]

... The fact is we are very well compensated for what we do. You have to pay your dues as an FO making ok money after the first year. Then when you upgrade you make good $$. Im ready to let go of the past, and look forward to keeping my job. I just need a bit of open time and ill be A OK.

Son, apparently you don't have much life experience or work experience.
Unfortunately it's this attitude in too many hungry pilots that accounts for a lot of this mess. Congratulations on your great job.

 

[MACHTRANSDUCER]

Cant Say I Aint Smiling

Hope That Pos, Err, Director Of Whatever Piper, Next Statement Is 'would You Like To Supersize That>"

 

[atlcrashpad]

Hang in there COMAIR Pilots. Tell Freddie Butt rell to kiss your A$$ and vote NO.

 

[Reebo]

Theres plenty of open time right now so I will continue to pick it up. When the open time option runs out I will try to pick up extra trips.

Sounds like you're the one who needs a financial planner. Why the need to pick up all those extra trips? Can't live on your base pay? I'm not telling you how to vote, but it seems like somone in your position needs every dime he can get.

 

[goodpilotithink]

Well first of all, you are lucky that the Delta pilots negotiated at least 25% of all DCI flying will be flown by CMR, despite the fact that the CMR pilots,

quote]

ACTUALLY, THAT WAS ASA AND COMAIR. AND THE FACT OF THE MATTER IS 25% WAS LESS THAN WE WERE DOING AT THE TIME. SO THE DELTA MEC HAD MGT. PUT IN THEIR CONTRACT THAT THEY HAD NO PROBLEM WITH THEM DOWN SIZING US.
THATS RIGHT. PUT IN THEIR CONTRACT. NOT OURS. IS THAT SCREWED UP OR WHAT?