Illinois
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2005
- Posts
- 65
Integrate by Years of Service and Track Protection
Years of Service Date-of-hire minus periods of furlough and leaves of absence. Mil leave and FMLA would probably have to be counted as active time, but strict limits should be set to minimize abuses. This suggestion would primarily protect long-time employees, but also reward junior pilots for continued service.
Track Protection Each pilot would have the option to bid a career "track" at their current carrier based on a snapshot taken at the time of the merger proposal. The track would be for seat, equipment, and base for any duration and/or combination the pilot chooses up to his/her retirement date. For example, an original ABC pilot would have seniority protection over original XYZ pilots as long as he/she remains on their original company pre-merger selected track. This would replace the need for negotiating career expectations as pilots would replace negotiators in betting on their own career direction. If the track is interrupted by base closure, equipment retirement, etc. the ABC pilot's seniority protection will hit a ceiling once reaching the point of interuption. All pilots may depart their track at any point and enter the combined carrier's systems bid(s), but must do so at their ABCXYZ year of service seniority date.
I admit Y.O.S. and Track integration is not groundbreaking. I don't expect anyone to raise a statue or write a song in my honor. Some may even view it as short-sighted or naive. This idea was conceived after watching the US Airways/America West debacle for several months, reading about the NW and DL pilot's endless (and at many times classless) arguments over who needs who more, but most recently after learning of Aloha and ATA's demise. While I prefaced this prose as a merger proposal, I believe it could also be used as a pragmatic labor blueprint for buyouts and asset sales.
The industry is, as it always has been, in a state of change. Unfortunately, it is in vogue to berate one another with clarion calls of what we expected from our careers while the industry attempts to find its footing. Well...our career expectations were summarily dismissed by bankruptcy judges, a frugal public, and managers mandated to turn profits on volatile, shoe-string budgets. The once great career has for the majority become simply a fun job floating on rough sea's.
It ain't our boat, but how can we aid in righting the ship from the helm?
We must change. We have to look at our fellow aviators as family and close friends. We need to give before we take. We need to use humility during good times and exercise restraint when wronged.
We must revive. We cannot renew our sense of professionalism by continuing to marginalize our passengers and fellow employees. It subconsiously shapes our performance, and the paying public is rightfully disgusted by our unwillingness to go the extra mile. But who's at fault?
Tilton? Steenland? Parker or some other from their swath? They are simply doing what they were brought into to do with the resources available to them. I find many of their actions and inactions deplorable and misguided, but do not blame them for my slips in performance. Why did the departure of the great aviation pioneers who shepherded us well into the jet age rob us of our sense of duty and pride?
WE LET THEM! In general, we have not been good teachers or students. We do not act like an educated labor force working in conjuction with one another. We act like a sad mix of spoiled kids with a sense of entitlement and grizzled veterans who are grabbing everything they can having been through tumultuous times. Perhaps this is too general and pointed, but what is undeniable is that we are so blinded and angry by the industry's pitfalls that we are spiralling into the dark night.
We must take the controls back. This is not a call to arms against management per se, but rather a plea to brethren to control what we can. I understand contract negotiations at individual carriers affect us all, and my fear is some may be bloodied in the near future. But these negotiations rarely occur at multiple carriers simultaneously. Seniority integration due to mergers/bankruptcies/liquidation will most likely affect us all simultaneously at some point in our careers. Many believe we are now at the precipice of such change, and it will undoubtably shape the industry for decades.
Our actions now and the manner in which we go about them will determine our fate. We must NEVER lose sight of those we carry and the professionals we work with. We are the labor leaders in our industry, and should start acting like it again. I believe amicably solving merger related problems is chief among them.
My apologies for the digression.
Years of Service Date-of-hire minus periods of furlough and leaves of absence. Mil leave and FMLA would probably have to be counted as active time, but strict limits should be set to minimize abuses. This suggestion would primarily protect long-time employees, but also reward junior pilots for continued service.
Track Protection Each pilot would have the option to bid a career "track" at their current carrier based on a snapshot taken at the time of the merger proposal. The track would be for seat, equipment, and base for any duration and/or combination the pilot chooses up to his/her retirement date. For example, an original ABC pilot would have seniority protection over original XYZ pilots as long as he/she remains on their original company pre-merger selected track. This would replace the need for negotiating career expectations as pilots would replace negotiators in betting on their own career direction. If the track is interrupted by base closure, equipment retirement, etc. the ABC pilot's seniority protection will hit a ceiling once reaching the point of interuption. All pilots may depart their track at any point and enter the combined carrier's systems bid(s), but must do so at their ABCXYZ year of service seniority date.
I admit Y.O.S. and Track integration is not groundbreaking. I don't expect anyone to raise a statue or write a song in my honor. Some may even view it as short-sighted or naive. This idea was conceived after watching the US Airways/America West debacle for several months, reading about the NW and DL pilot's endless (and at many times classless) arguments over who needs who more, but most recently after learning of Aloha and ATA's demise. While I prefaced this prose as a merger proposal, I believe it could also be used as a pragmatic labor blueprint for buyouts and asset sales.
The industry is, as it always has been, in a state of change. Unfortunately, it is in vogue to berate one another with clarion calls of what we expected from our careers while the industry attempts to find its footing. Well...our career expectations were summarily dismissed by bankruptcy judges, a frugal public, and managers mandated to turn profits on volatile, shoe-string budgets. The once great career has for the majority become simply a fun job floating on rough sea's.
It ain't our boat, but how can we aid in righting the ship from the helm?
We must change. We have to look at our fellow aviators as family and close friends. We need to give before we take. We need to use humility during good times and exercise restraint when wronged.
We must revive. We cannot renew our sense of professionalism by continuing to marginalize our passengers and fellow employees. It subconsiously shapes our performance, and the paying public is rightfully disgusted by our unwillingness to go the extra mile. But who's at fault?
Tilton? Steenland? Parker or some other from their swath? They are simply doing what they were brought into to do with the resources available to them. I find many of their actions and inactions deplorable and misguided, but do not blame them for my slips in performance. Why did the departure of the great aviation pioneers who shepherded us well into the jet age rob us of our sense of duty and pride?
WE LET THEM! In general, we have not been good teachers or students. We do not act like an educated labor force working in conjuction with one another. We act like a sad mix of spoiled kids with a sense of entitlement and grizzled veterans who are grabbing everything they can having been through tumultuous times. Perhaps this is too general and pointed, but what is undeniable is that we are so blinded and angry by the industry's pitfalls that we are spiralling into the dark night.
We must take the controls back. This is not a call to arms against management per se, but rather a plea to brethren to control what we can. I understand contract negotiations at individual carriers affect us all, and my fear is some may be bloodied in the near future. But these negotiations rarely occur at multiple carriers simultaneously. Seniority integration due to mergers/bankruptcies/liquidation will most likely affect us all simultaneously at some point in our careers. Many believe we are now at the precipice of such change, and it will undoubtably shape the industry for decades.
Our actions now and the manner in which we go about them will determine our fate. We must NEVER lose sight of those we carry and the professionals we work with. We are the labor leaders in our industry, and should start acting like it again. I believe amicably solving merger related problems is chief among them.
My apologies for the digression.
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