HA hiring

[Pull To Guns]

The actual starting pay is 74% of of about $38,000, iirc. The 74% of dispatcher pay is pretty standard for TWU assistant dispatcher.
I tried to talk them in to full pay, since they are hiring people to be dispatchers not assistant dispatchers, but no dice.
The surprise to me is you would think the ex-Aloha dispatchers or existing island air dispatchers would jump on it.

Those guys probably hired on with Gate Gourmet to earn a living wage.

I would think that the number of active dispatchers willing to leave a job where they have seniority and start over again at another airline would be really small. When you figure that there are probably around 2-3000 active dispatchers in the U.S. at any one time, that makes us a very small community. Now when you add to that how DX'ers are REQUIRED in a Part 121 environment and the dispatch schools aren't pumping out grads in great numbers, you would think that the law of supply and demand would rule here and wages would go up.

That doesn't seem the case here. The dispatch profession seems to defy this law. It's like mgt. can find a dispatcher under every rock willing to work for $12-$14/hr. Are there that many dispatchers out there looking for work? In my experience, mgt. would rather take a beating from a PO'd Chuck Norris than to raise wages where it would be attractive to experienced people especially when without these people the business would rapidly grind to a halt. What am I missing here?

Continuing my rant, I have never seen such disrespect toward hard working people like us (that are only interested in the safety and well-being of the airline) from mgt. and other employee groups, including flight crew. In my last airline-a regional, for some reason were even scorned by a lot of the admin assistants! My new airline is not much different.

I know that this profession draws it's share of "eccentrics", and personally I find that part of the draw. However, that doesn't explain the almost universal level of disdain we suffer from mgt. and other employee groups. I just don't get it!

 

[bgaviator]

heh...anyone know about railroad dispatching? At least they seam to pay decently from what I can tell.

 

[eelb53]

heh...anyone know about railroad dispatching? At least they seam to pay decently from what I can tell.

Railroad dispatching is more aligned with ATC than airline DX as far as skills and aptitude are concerned. I've done all three, and airline DX doesn't compare to the other two in difficulty.

 

[bgaviator]

who were you a train dispatcher for? I see Norfolk Southern always seems to have a lot of posts for various locations....I've applied before just to see if I'd get a call, but got rejections for all of them. I have heard it's hard work, and that you're pretty much on call for years before you end up holding a steady schedule.

 

[clr4theapch]

Those guys probably hired on with Gate Gourmet to earn a living wage.

I would think that the number of active dispatchers willing to leave a job where they have seniority and start over again at another airline would be really small. When you figure that there are probably around 2-3000 active dispatchers in the U.S. at any one time, that makes us a very small community. Now when you add to that how DX'ers are REQUIRED in a Part 121 environment and the dispatch schools aren't pumping out grads in great numbers, you would think that the law of supply and demand would rule here and wages would go up.

That doesn't seem the case here. The dispatch profession seems to defy this law. It's like mgt. can find a dispatcher under every rock willing to work for $12-$14/hr. Are there that many dispatchers out there looking for work? In my experience, mgt. would rather take a beating from a PO'd Chuck Norris than to raise wages where it would be attractive to experienced people especially when without these people the business would rapidly grind to a halt. What am I missing here?

Continuing my rant, I have never seen such disrespect toward hard working people like us (that are only interested in the safety and well-being of the airline) from mgt. and other employee groups, including flight crew. In my last airline-a regional, for some reason were even scorned by a lot of the admin assistants! My new airline is not much different.

I know that this profession draws it's share of "eccentrics", and personally I find that part of the draw. However, that doesn't explain the almost universal level of disdain we suffer from mgt. and other employee groups. I just don't get it!

Well I have been saying this for years and is why I have not returned after a layoff...

We are THE smallest group of professional employees at ANY airline... right next to the janitors...

The way I see it is 2 things can happen..

1) we keep eating crap like we have been doing..
2) we could consider forming a national organization whereby we all can speak as one to this issue and gain the respect for the work we do, not like the bunch of meaningless spineless unions that exist today..(not unlike like ALPA)...
It would mean an organization that ALL the current dispatch unions would support, in addition to the current contracts they have on the books... this could be strengthened in the future as contracts came up for renewal..

(I want to say, I am not a big union person.. but the way things are now sure is not working now is it.. )

Of course if we forced this hand by we might see the airlines call on the FAA to do away with our requirement.. (doubtful) but possible..

Just wondering.. (blue sky) if we were all united together, could we all walk out of work in support, or would be restricted from doing so under the Railway labor act, like the pilots and ATC??

JMHO...

 

[69beers]

Yes we would be restricted from taking labor action under the Railway Labor Act until certain steps have been met. FAA ATC and the rest of the government workers are restricted under the Taft-Hartley Act from ever taking labor action.

When was the last time a dispatch union/local/section filed for a cooling-off period? Strike? How many on here are active participating members of the ADF? How many have run for, or held, office in the ADF? This profession carries a mighty big sword, but so many in it are too weak and scared to even think of touching it, let alone using it. The root cause and solution to these problems might very well be staring back at you in the mirror.

 

[eelb53]

who were you a train dispatcher for? I see Norfolk Southern always seems to have a lot of posts for various locations....I've applied before just to see if I'd get a call, but got rejections for all of them. I have heard it's hard work, and that you're pretty much on call for years before you end up holding a steady schedule.

I worked for the Illinois Central, which is now part of the Canadien National. I retired in '96. Prior to that DXed for the old Ozark Airlines for 15 years, after being medically disqualified from flying at age 38. Moved to railroading when TWA bought Ozark and moved DX to JFK.

Did ATC in the Air Force many years ago.

Don't really know about the current job market. Just stating that there's major differences in the required skill set between airline and RR DX.

 

[flyjumpseat]

deet=detail
deets=details

Both singular and plural. Yo.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide, abbreviated DEET, is the most common active ingredient in insect repellents.

From me:
If somone wants details, let them ask for "details" or the singular, "detail".

Relaxed, casual, whatever you want to call it, have at it. But come on man, "deets" isn't even a word.