Gemini News

[monyetbesar]

The pay freeze lift under the existing scale.. fair enough, in particular, setting the bid on a monthy basis would bring about either a bit of $$ or maybe a few more days at home. Hey, setting the bid on a monthly basis, that is already the verbage in the contract. Man, look at the grievance results even prior to filing for bankrupcy? My opinion, ALPA grievance results from the past, making a decision, obtaining a result.. totally worthless. I have no faith in the grievance process at least not ALPA-GAC relationship..P.O.S. process (this may be just related to GAC-ALPA) We are better off playing "tough" as required on our own accord. ALPA seems to have encouraged a TA that was crap and actually would have harmed other groups as well.

 

[vindiesel]

very well put. its a shame the company would have even tried to force this TA upon us, worse that we had a video with our union negotiators morosely tell us that not accepting this TA would ultimately be the demise of our company as we know it. I am actually sad that we had such a poor voter turnout. the voice of the union is only as strong as its members. and as sad as all of this is, we are a pathetic bunch so far. we are at least in accord, on flightinfo, that the 'State of Things' here is bad, but honestly I know of no strong effort to push what we want across the table in Dulles. I think getting the payfreeze lifted at the current rates was in the cards all along, it was a bluff, a game to see if we would buckle like we did when we first accepted the initial payfreeze. It seems only logical to believe the company, with all of its hiring in 2004/05 the lucrative flying for purple and AMC, that we are sitting on a cash cow. If mismanagement is what is causing the airlines downfall, then I hope we all have the wits about us to be more proactive about where it is going. We have some very shrewd men here that are willing to push for us. It is time to send the 'FOLKS' a message. Hope we can get our point across before we go the way of other 'Craptastic' outfits before us have....

 

[monyetbesar]

Look, I think the world of a couple of our MEC members. Man, I swear that I think that ALPA national pushes fo rthis crap. I am not negative ALPA, thank god for some elements of the contract. I care about doing my job, and I still give a ******************** about this company. I have to say when they said "dry lease" and talk about ********************canning people who have been here 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.. years.. even longer if you consider our wonderful F.E.'s man.. I'll press on and am willing to take less of a bump for better quality of life. Other than more days off set.. I want month to month per the contract.. We do a great job for the company as always.. I had the chance to shut down a plane after 18 hours and 36 minutes, but noooooooo I give a ********************, safety first but I do care. The thought of laying off people I care about or rather the threat.. really makes everything taste soo bad. I will continue to do my job and work hard, but man, give a ******************** about us if you expect us to give a ******************** about the company.

Charlie Rudebaugh

 

[Freightflyer1]

I agree with most of what you said, but don't accept less of a pay bump. We negotiated with good faith on the first contract, but obviously the company didn't. We accepted less than we should have just to get a contract in place. The TA that got voted down was a total piece of crap, and a slap in the face of every Gemini crew member. Like I said above, don't accept less than was negotiated in the current contract, you've earned much more than that.

 

[porra]

Freightflyer1,
You are right, but the way the TA vote turned out, I'm afraid some of our crewmembers will be quick to accept the next TA ( even if its less then our current contract.)
we have to Stay united...

 

[metrodriver]

Who says the company wouldn't have furloughed if we had accepted the new TA? The new one gives 3rd year pay at now second year rates, and 6 year pay at current 3rd year rate, an increase in health insurance. That's not even a cost of living increase. Voting yes because of a furlough threat is stupid. The pay freeze should be lifted at the rates of the original contract. Slightly lower rates (but better than the TA) in my eyes would be acceptable if there would be a descent 401k match

We will never have a 100% vote if there are (management) pilots negotiating with the pilot group. I don't even see how these management pilots could put this TA on the table

 

[Citrus531]

The company has the furlough list already. I believe we will see some furloughs starting some time in August. The plan is to get rid of two 10s before the end of the year. Most likely, the two with the highest airframe cycles.That's been the plan all along.

Additionally, the remaining 10s are timing out on cycles within the next 36 months (120,000 cycles max). Hopefully it will be one for one....we'll see!

Wow...are DC-10's really certified for 120,000 cycles? Was it maybe flight hours? I read about one -30 that had 104,000 hrs....just can't remember the airline.

 

[GAC11Flyer]

Apparently, there is a new customer in Miami in need of some DC10's, two to be exact. Also, we may see an MD on the milan run real soon, now that A/C is going away at the end of August.

Stay United!

 

[metrodriver]

DAS Air guys told me they had a DC10 that had over 150.000 hrs. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. 12 hrs a day for 35 years

 

[dc10maniac]

The Latest

Folks, I am pleased to inform you that Gemini and ALPA
have reached a Revised Tentative Agreement on the
labor contract currently in force with the
crewmembers. Following the rejection of the previous
TA by the crewmembers, the company and ALPA
negotiating committees returned to the bargaining
table and made some adjustments to the original TA.

The RTA will be submitted to the crewmembers
for a vote beginning Thursday, 8/10, with the voting
closing Friday, 8/18. We are optimistic that with the
positive adjustments made, this RTA will be ratified
and we can all get on about the business of emerging
from Chapter 11 and making Gemini one of the true
success stories in our industry.

 

[monyetbesar]

We'll have to wait and see. I do hope they treated the negotiations as if there were a 70-80% vote against the last one. I personally asked the MEC to approach with this stance. I also believe all approval has been completed to come out of bankruptcy, even without the TA, either being accepted. So not too sure about the tag line,

"We are optimistic that with the
positive adjustments made, this RTA will be ratified
and we can all get on about the business of emerging
from Chapter 11 and making Gemini one of the true
success stories in our industry

Anyhow, do not want to say too much too soon. Hope it is not even close to the rubbish that we had seen last time.

 

[Freightflyer1]

Well Guys, the TA is on the ALPA website. More crap for us to eat. It's definitely going to leave a sour taste in my stomach. Makes me wonder what they're serving for dezert.

 

[porra]

I haven't seen it yet, but I'm sure its more of the same BS.

 

[GAC11Flyer]

Guys, It's the same B.S. with a different color FONT. I believe that it is time to recall the MEC and get rid of the present Neg. Committee. I can not accept a 3 percent raise after a 4 year pay freeze. By the way, we are out of B.K!

 

[canadflyau]

it was a raise from your previously frozen rates?

 

[canadflyau]

duplicate post

 

[porra]

its the same pay scale as the first TA for the FO's
decrease for capt from year 1 to year 4 and then a increase in year 13 and 14.
FE decrease in year 1 and increase in year 13 and 14.

Same BS as before, I agree we should change the neg com.

 

[RoundMotor]

Where did you see we were out of Bankrupcy?

 

[vindiesel]

I Do Not Ever Remember Hearing Anything From Our Mec About What Was To Be Re-negotiated. Pay Freeze Will Still Be In Effect For All 04/05 New Hires For Effectively 5 Years Based On Payscales. Expectations Are As Low As Morale And We Dont Have Anything To Show For Our Hard Work. Vote No Again......................

 

[fogrunner]

Here is a break down of the previous balloting on the failed TA. All that is required for the latest TA to pass is for the MEC to convince 27 crewmembers to change their vote from the last time.




Result: FAILED.
Majority Required: 50% plus 1
For Votes Required: 83
For Votes Cast: 56 34.36% of Total Valid Votes Cast
Against Votes Cast: 107 65.64% of Total Valid Votes Cast
Total Valid Votes Cast: 163 86.24% of Total of Eligible Voters
Total of Eligible Voters: 189

 

[FreightNazi]

Just an FYI and NOT flamebait. The president of UPS Airlines told a recent company workshop that he's very interested in Gemini's MD-11 fleet.

 

[JohnnyCash]

heard the same thing.

 

[jercdevil]

Just an FYI and NOT flamebait. The president of UPS Airlines told a recent company workshop that he's very interested in Gemini's MD-11 fleet.

Let them have them so we can all move on. This Sh*ts getting old. Like the other guy said, same TA with different color font. This MEC shoud be ashamed of them selfs for even bringing this back a second time. I heard about this 2nd TA form the DO's email WTF.

It's better to die on your feet,then live on your knees

 

[porra]

vote NO......

 

[30West]

Just an FYI and NOT flamebait. The president of UPS Airlines told a recent company workshop that he's very interested in Gemini's MD-11 fleet.

:bomb: :bomb: :bomb: :bomb: :bomb: :bomb: :bomb:

Booooooooring!

 

[dc10maniac]

I'm going to the ALPA site to vote against it ... we have to vote NO ... again. I don't understand why ALPA is willing to sign this contract when it is against the pilots interest.:uzi:

 

[monyetbesar]

A post above stated that we are out of BK. Could you please post your source?
The statement from the company regarding this current TA. "we can all get on about the business of emerging from Chapter 11"
if we vote for this TA. I would like to know if we are already out of BK. The statement that the 3% is all that is authorized by the judge is in question if we are voting on this TA while out of BK. If we are out of BK, the statement regarding "emerging from BK" and the statement from our ALPA people regarding "3%" max available.. is nonsense to sway the vote.

The key is, Are we out of BK prior to the vote closing?

 

[Freightflyer1]

It is my understanding that we have been authorized by the judge to exit BK. Voting down the last TA didn't stop it. I'll just vote no again. This new TA is just smoke and mirrors. Same crap, different day. Why is the MEC in such a hurry to ratify this garbage?

 

[dc10maniac]

I just voted NO.

 

[fogrunner]

Why is the MEC in such a hurry to ratify this garbage?

This I don't understand at all. We rejected the first TA and after approx 2.5 weeks of negotiations we have this new TA brought back to us. You never get what you want, you get what you negotiate.
We were told the first time around that there would be dire consequences if the agreement was not ratified, that, this is the best deal we could get. Well after a little more than two weeks of so called negotiations we have a marginally better deal. This reminds me of the old sales tactic, what a great deal I have for you but you have to buy it today. Frankly this new TA is really just window dressing. Nothing of real substance.
I remember Netjets rejecting their first TA and taking over a year to hammer out an improved agreement, where straight wing Citation Captains can make over 6 figures by year 5.
This is not rocket science. Many of us do not have Military pensions or Military reserve duty to supplement our income. This is our primary source of income. Over 35% of crew members have been hired since 04. If you look at the DC10 FO list #10 and below have been here less than 2 years. These people are the future of Gemini. We will probably have close to 40% of the crew force retiring in the next 5 years. And what happens, the FO pay scale has been decimated. Yes the new TA improved year 13 -14 yr Captain pay by reducing 3-4 yr Captain pay.
I am sad to say the Negotiators do not seem to have our best interests at heart.
WHAT IS THE BIG RUSH. I am willing to wait for something fair and balanced.