Furlough Protection

[Wiggums]

Is furlough protection something worth bargaining for in the future? In the worst case scenario management will use the unusual circumstances to get around that clause in the contract, such as the current situation at United. In the future pilots may be better off trading no furlough clauses for something for more useful.

 

[Andy Neill]

May I suggest that the very best furlough protection is working as a team to offer a quality product at a competitive price?

 

[AWACoff]

We have a no furlough clause in our contract. Huh...I wonder why I am furloughed then. Blame it on the "act of God, act of war, etc". I know of no god that would cause Sept. 11th and I know of no country that declared war on us. "No furlough" clauses are essentially fluff...

 

[goldentrout]

Yea but...at my regional, we laid off about 20% of our guys. Our guarantee is 72hr/month. After the furloughs, most of the FO lines still had an average of 80hr/month, with some as high as 87-90 hours. Additionally, they've been using recent Captain upgrades as FOs, and junior manning everyday.

So...maybe it would be a good idea to have a contract that says all lines will be reduced to the min guarantee before management can furlough. The main reason we got furloughed was so management could save the bucks on our health benefits, unemployment insurance, etc. They've been sucking dry the guys/gals who remained, junior manning some pilots for both FO and Captain duty depending on the day. That's the kind of crap that really pisses off a pilot group.

Yes, an event like 9/11 pretty much gives free reign to management "force majeure," but at least we could force their hand somewhat with language as I described above.