Mesaba Pilots’ Tentative Agreement
Summary of Improvements
The Mesaba pilots were most concerned in gaining improvements in four key areas of their contract: job security, compensation, retirement, and work rules. The tentative agreement that was accepted by the Mesaba Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association, International, has improvements in all of these primary areas.
Below is a quick, bullet-point summary of these improvements.
Job Security
Q Mesaba Pilots will be the only pilots used to do flying for Mesaba Aviation, Inc. (Mesaba), MAIR Holdings, Inc. (MAIR) or any future subsidiary of MAIR. (MAIR is the parent company for Mesaba.)
Q Big Sky Airlines, the only other subsidiary held by MAIR outside of Mesaba, will be permanently limited to flying aircraft with 19 or fewer seats. Pilots at Big Sky Airlines will continue to operate under their own contract and represented by the United Transportation Union (UTU).
Q The new language in the Mesaba contract (commonly referred to as “Scope” language) prevents the outsourcing of Mesaba flying jobs. It also guarantees that any new flying obtained by MAIR, Mesaba Aviation, or any other MAIR subsidiary aside from Big Sky will be performed by Mesaba pilots.
Compensation
Q First Officer pay increases range from 26.7% to 13.4%. The highest increase of 26.7% is for new-hire F/O’s, and the majority of first officers will receive 13.4% increases. Some more senior F/O’s will also receive a higher increase as the old payscale topped out at 5 years. For example, F/O’s with 8 years or more of seniority will have a 23.9% raise, 7 year F/O’s will receive a 20.3% raise, and F/O’s of 6 years will receive a 16.8% raise. The new payscale tops out at 8 years, and all F/O’s will be paid the same regardless of aircraft type flown.
Q Captain pay increases are 5.1% across the board. The Captain payscale tops out at 18 years and pay rates differ by the aircraft type, as delineated by seat ranges.
Q All pilot payscales will increase by 2% for the first two years after signing, and 4% over the last two years.
Q Pilots will still be guaranteed 75 hours of pay, regardless of the amount of flying a pilot does. If a pilot flies more than 75 hours, they will be paid for the total amount. (e.g. a pilot actually flies 55 hours in a month, they are paid for 75; a pilot actually flies 85 hours in a month, they are paid for 85)
Q For every duty day, a pilot will be guaranteed 4 hours of pay. For example, if a pilot operates two MSP-STC round trip flights over one day, the actual flight credit for the entire day (four flights) is only worth 2:40. If the first round trip operates between 9 am and noon, and the second operates from 5pm to 8pm, the pilot is on-duty for 11 hours. Mesaba will pay 4 hours as a minimum day guarantee.
Q Retroactive Pay: All pilots will receive a retroactive paycheck within 30 days of the date of signing of the new contract. The amount of the paychecks will vary from $450 to $6300 depending on the amount of flight pay earnings for 2003. First Officers will receive a retro payment of 10% of their pay from 2003, and Captains will receive a retro payment of 5% of their pay from 2003.
Retirement
The improvements in retirement greatly increase the amounts of matched contributions made by the Company. Under the new matching and vesting schedule agreed to, a pilot with a 30 year career at Mesaba, deferring 15% of income in addition to the full employer match will retire with 55% of his final average earnings, using common actuarial assumptions.
Other improvements include more oversight of retirement benefits by employees through an advisory committee, significantly tighter timeframes for contributions, and guidelines for matching.
Work Rules
Mesaba pilots will now have a minimum of 11 days off on their monthly schedules, up from 10. It should be noted that although pilots have more days off per month than most other professions, their schedules include (on average) 13 days away from home, and duty days of 10-13 hours.
Other improvements throughout the contract that touch on work rules and schedule improvements were attained in earlier stages of bargaining.
Other Main Points
Q Duration: 5 years (amendable Spring 2009)
Q Per-Diem: 10 cent increase to $1.45/hr of duty, $.05 increase per year
Summary of Improvements
The Mesaba pilots were most concerned in gaining improvements in four key areas of their contract: job security, compensation, retirement, and work rules. The tentative agreement that was accepted by the Mesaba Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association, International, has improvements in all of these primary areas.
Below is a quick, bullet-point summary of these improvements.
Job Security
Q Mesaba Pilots will be the only pilots used to do flying for Mesaba Aviation, Inc. (Mesaba), MAIR Holdings, Inc. (MAIR) or any future subsidiary of MAIR. (MAIR is the parent company for Mesaba.)
Q Big Sky Airlines, the only other subsidiary held by MAIR outside of Mesaba, will be permanently limited to flying aircraft with 19 or fewer seats. Pilots at Big Sky Airlines will continue to operate under their own contract and represented by the United Transportation Union (UTU).
Q The new language in the Mesaba contract (commonly referred to as “Scope” language) prevents the outsourcing of Mesaba flying jobs. It also guarantees that any new flying obtained by MAIR, Mesaba Aviation, or any other MAIR subsidiary aside from Big Sky will be performed by Mesaba pilots.
Compensation
Q First Officer pay increases range from 26.7% to 13.4%. The highest increase of 26.7% is for new-hire F/O’s, and the majority of first officers will receive 13.4% increases. Some more senior F/O’s will also receive a higher increase as the old payscale topped out at 5 years. For example, F/O’s with 8 years or more of seniority will have a 23.9% raise, 7 year F/O’s will receive a 20.3% raise, and F/O’s of 6 years will receive a 16.8% raise. The new payscale tops out at 8 years, and all F/O’s will be paid the same regardless of aircraft type flown.
Q Captain pay increases are 5.1% across the board. The Captain payscale tops out at 18 years and pay rates differ by the aircraft type, as delineated by seat ranges.
Q All pilot payscales will increase by 2% for the first two years after signing, and 4% over the last two years.
Q Pilots will still be guaranteed 75 hours of pay, regardless of the amount of flying a pilot does. If a pilot flies more than 75 hours, they will be paid for the total amount. (e.g. a pilot actually flies 55 hours in a month, they are paid for 75; a pilot actually flies 85 hours in a month, they are paid for 85)
Q For every duty day, a pilot will be guaranteed 4 hours of pay. For example, if a pilot operates two MSP-STC round trip flights over one day, the actual flight credit for the entire day (four flights) is only worth 2:40. If the first round trip operates between 9 am and noon, and the second operates from 5pm to 8pm, the pilot is on-duty for 11 hours. Mesaba will pay 4 hours as a minimum day guarantee.
Q Retroactive Pay: All pilots will receive a retroactive paycheck within 30 days of the date of signing of the new contract. The amount of the paychecks will vary from $450 to $6300 depending on the amount of flight pay earnings for 2003. First Officers will receive a retro payment of 10% of their pay from 2003, and Captains will receive a retro payment of 5% of their pay from 2003.
Retirement
The improvements in retirement greatly increase the amounts of matched contributions made by the Company. Under the new matching and vesting schedule agreed to, a pilot with a 30 year career at Mesaba, deferring 15% of income in addition to the full employer match will retire with 55% of his final average earnings, using common actuarial assumptions.
Other improvements include more oversight of retirement benefits by employees through an advisory committee, significantly tighter timeframes for contributions, and guidelines for matching.
Work Rules
Mesaba pilots will now have a minimum of 11 days off on their monthly schedules, up from 10. It should be noted that although pilots have more days off per month than most other professions, their schedules include (on average) 13 days away from home, and duty days of 10-13 hours.
Other improvements throughout the contract that touch on work rules and schedule improvements were attained in earlier stages of bargaining.
Other Main Points
Q Duration: 5 years (amendable Spring 2009)
Q Per-Diem: 10 cent increase to $1.45/hr of duty, $.05 increase per year
