More questions for Skywest Dispatchers

[dxchick]

1. What is the max salary percentage that Skywest matches (ASA matches up to 75% of first 8% after 10 years of service) in the 401k program?

2. What is the maximum amount of vacation a dispatcher can earn and what is the accrual schedule?

 

[Andy Neill]

I presume you are talking 401k match. SkyWest matches 100% of the first 2% after 1 year, 100% of the first 4% after 5 years, and 100% of the first 6% after 10 years service. In other words, ASA and SkyWest will kick in a max of 6% but the SKyWesters only have to put in 6% instead of 8% to get it.

 

[onewithwings]

We are eligible for 401K after 6 months of full time employment. The company matches 100% up to 10% and you are vested after 5 years. (Meaning after five years the company's contribution is yours to keep.)

I'm curious about schedules. We bid every ten weeks for a schedule. As it turns out, the top 10% of seniority are awarded weekends off...the rest of us bottom feeders scavenge over what remains. (We have had no growth and no movement in our department in over 5 years.)

Do any regional carriers have rotating schedules? i.e. 4 on 4 off, 5 on 3 off, 6 on 3 off, etc.?

If so, how were you able to negotiate them for your CBA?

 

[10nCLR]

2. What is the maximum amount of vacation a dispatcher can earn and what is the accrual schedule?

VACATION ACCRUAL
After 6 mo= .0385/hr
" 5 yrs= .0462/hr
" 10 yrs= .0577/hr
" 15 yrs= .0615/hr
" 16 yrs= .0654/hr
" 17 yrs= .0692/hr
" 18 yrs= .0731/hr
" 19 yrs= .0769/hr

No more than 320 hrs of vacation may be accrued at any time.

PERSONAL USE DAYS-

Personal use time is to be used for sick days or other personal needs.
User hour accrual is based on all pay base hours worked.
Full Time
After 90 days= .0193/hr
After 2 yrs= .0272/hr
After 5 yrs= .0385/hr​

An employee will have the option of receiving pay in lieu of earned or

accrued personal use days at the end of each calendar year. This will be
paid in the last half of November of each year.​

You do the math.
Schedule? 4 on 3 off, bid every 3 months. Only after 2 yrs, I would have at least one weekend day off if I was still on the dispatch seniority list. Lots of OT to be had too.

 

[dxchick]

Do any regional carriers have rotating schedules? i.e. 4 on 4 off, 5 on 3 off, 6 on 3 off, etc.?

If so, how were you able to negotiate them for your CBA?

ASA does not have a rotating shedule. We work 4 on 3 off, with fixed days off. We currently bid once a year per our contract, but management reserves the right to hold additional bids as needed (which occurs every year.)

 

[onewithwings]

Schedule? 4 on 3 off, bid every 3 months. Only after 2 yrs, I would have at least one weekend day off if I was still on the dispatch seniority list. Lots of OT to be had too.

ONLY 2 years? Eight years here...still no weekends in sight! :crying:

I feel sorry for the person who is the most junior in our department WITH weekends off because he never sees his days off! He is always "junior assigned" to work. The more junior people will call in sick to get the weekends off and he ends up working them! While the reserve dispatchers are covering vacations. (Gotta love our CBA!)

 

[shooter]

VACATION ACCRUAL
After 6 mo= .0385/hr
" 5 yrs= .0462/hr
" 10 yrs= .0577/hr
" 15 yrs= .0615/hr
" 16 yrs= .0654/hr
" 17 yrs= .0692/hr
" 18 yrs= .0731/hr
" 19 yrs= .0769/hr

No more than 320 hrs of vacation may be accrued at any time.

PERSONAL USE DAYS-

Personal use time is to be used for sick days or other personal needs.
User hour accrual is based on all pay base hours worked.
Full Time
After 90 days= .0193/hr
After 2 yrs= .0272/hr
After 5 yrs= .0385/hr​

An employee will have the option of receiving pay in lieu of earned or

accrued personal use days at the end of each calendar year. This will be
paid in the last half of November of each year.​

You do the math.
Schedule? 4 on 3 off, bid every 3 months. Only after 2 yrs, I would have at least one weekend day off if I was still on the dispatch seniority list. Lots of OT to be had too.

10 years before you see 3 weeks vac.? That sucks right there it does I tell ya'.

 

[10nCLR]

10 years before you see 3 weeks vac.? That sucks right there it does I tell ya'.

No, not really. Add in the user hours too and 4 day work weeks and a few shift trades and you can get alot more time off than you think. Even after only 2-3 yrs. You are not doing your math correctly.
80hrs x 26 paychecks= 2080 total hrs.
Then 2080hrs x .0385(after 6 mo less than 5 yrs)=80.
Now add in the user hrs:
2080 x .0272 (< 5 yrs) = 56.576.
So the the total time off could be:
56.576 + 80 = 136.6 hrs. which divided by a 4 day work week, 136.6/40hrs = almost 3 1/2 weeks. Now do a few shift trades before the time off and one could have up to a month off. Does that make sense to YA' shooter?

 

[cksport]

So the personal use days are separate from vacation accrual and cannot be carried over from year to year, right?

 

[10nCLR]

So the personal use days are separate from vacation accrual and cannot be carried over from year to year, right?

They can be carried over up to 240 hrs.

 

[WalterSobchak]

No, not really. Add in the user hours too and 4 day work weeks and a few shift trades and you can get alot more time off than you think.

We have a few guys that regularly take 2-3 weeks off at a time to travel. Very well-traveled group in this office.

 

[10nCLR]

We have a few guys that regularly take 2-3 weeks off at a time to travel. Very well-traveled group in this office.

I heard it's not just once or twice throughout the year either, it sounds like it's every 2 months or something, right? I heard about that one guy who travels more than he works, damn.

 

[shooter]

No, not really. Add in the user hours too and 4 day work weeks and a few shift trades and you can get alot more time off than you think. Even after only 2-3 yrs. You are not doing your math correctly.
80hrs x 26 paychecks= 2080 total hrs.
Then 2080hrs x .0385(after 6 mo less than 5 yrs)=80.
Now add in the user hrs:
2080 x .0272 (< 5 yrs) = 56.576.
So the the total time off could be:
56.576 + 80 = 136.6 hrs. which divided by a 4 day work week, 136.6/40hrs = almost 3 1/2 weeks. Now do a few shift trades before the time off and one could have up to a month off. Does that make sense to YA' shooter?

No it does not make sense to me and I will explain why. You seem to be describing this as management would to the employee to make it sound better than it really is. These "user hours" you speak of, these are flex time hours I assume. Which is what you get in lieu of having a sick time program so it can't be included as vacation time. Sure, you can use the flex time as you wish but to call it vacation is wrong because you don't count vacation into your sick time.

When you take 2080 x .0462 = 96.096/40 = 2.4024 weeks vacation after year 5.

When you take 2080 x .0577 = 120.016/40 = 3.004 weeks vacation after year 10.

Your sick time which is flex time is not vacation time.

After year 5 my company gives 3 weeks vacation and you have 9 sick days/year after year 1. To say I have almost 5 weeks vacation time after year 5 is wrong. I don't know who sold you on that program, but they are trying to sell something it is not by making it sound better than it really is. I guess that is way the airlines are being steered however. Thanks for the reply.

 

[10nCLR]

No it does not make sense to me and I will explain why. You seem to be describing this as management would to the employee to make it sound better than it really is. These "user hours" you speak of, these are flex time hours I assume. Which is what you get in lieu of having a sick time program so it can't be included as vacation time. Sure, you can use the flex time as you wish but to call it vacation is wrong because you don't count vacation into your sick time.

When you take 2080 x .0462 = 96.096/40 = 2.4024 weeks vacation after year 5.

When you take 2080 x .0577 = 120.016/40 = 3.004 weeks vacation after year 10.

Your sick time which is flex time is not vacation time.

After year 5 my company gives 3 weeks vacation and you have 9 sick days/year after year 1. To say I have almost 5 weeks vacation time after year 5 is wrong. I don't know who sold you on that program, but they are trying to sell something it is not by making it sound better than it really is. I guess that is way the airlines are being steered however. Thanks for the reply.

BLAH BLAH BLAH. I'm sorry, but you don't work for this company so please try not to act like you know how the system works. First of all, I rarely get sick. Second, the last time I checked, I combined my user and vacation to go on an extended vacation. Sometimes I take user hours to shorten my work week, thus allowing me to have an extended weekend to fly somewhere. I still get paid the same; user or vacation. It really doesn't matter how you look at it, any day away from work plus getting paid for it would be considered a vacation to me. Either way, you can cash them in at the end of the year, keep accumulating the hours or use them when your sick or when you just want to get away for an extended weekend when all your vacation hours are used up. You still get paid while not at work.
Enough explaining on this topic, next.

 

[shooter]

BLAH BLAH BLAH. I'm sorry, but you don't work for this company so please try not to act like you know how the system works. First of all, I rarely get sick. Second, the last time I checked, I combined my user and vacation to go on an extended vacation. Sometimes I take user hours to shorten my work week, thus allowing me to have an extended weekend to fly somewhere. I still get paid the same; user or vacation. It really doesn't matter how you look at it, any day away from work plus getting paid for it would be considered a vacation to me. Either way, you can cash them in at the end of the year, keep accumulating the hours or use them when your sick or when you just want to get away for an extended weekend when all your vacation hours are used up. You still get paid while not at work.
Enough explaining on this topic, next.

Jeez dude, you need medication? I never said I worked for your company or that I knew how the "system" works. You are the one putting lipstick on a pig, whatever floats your boat.

 

[10nCLR]

Jeez dude, you need medication? I never said I worked for your company or that I knew how the "system" works. You are the one putting lipstick on a pig, whatever floats your boat.

Nevermind, sorry about making you feel like I was putting words in your mouth, but I think I explained fairly clearly on how my user hours and vacation hours accumulate and how I can utilize them to extend my overall vacation time(time away from work with pay).
"Sure, you can use the flex time as you wish but to call it vacation is wrong because you don't count vacation into your sick time." Maybe you don't but I sure do. Like I said, anytime I'm away from work and getting paid for it, either by being sick in bed watching a movie(rare)/sleeping or catching a flight somewhere for a few days, I consider it a vacation from work. Peace out.

 

[shooter]

Nevermind, sorry about making you feel like I was putting words in your mouth, but I think I explained fairly clearly on how my user hours and vacation hours accumulate and how I can utilize them to extend my overall vacation time(time away from work with pay).
"Sure, you can use the flex time as you wish but to call it vacation is wrong because you don't count vacation into your sick time." Maybe you don't but I sure do. Like I said, anytime I'm away from work and getting paid for it, either by being sick in bed watching a movie(rare)/sleeping or catching a flight somewhere for a few days, I consider it a vacation from work. Peace out.

I agree with you 100%, we work for our time away from our 40. What we do the rest of the time is our life. (Although there are those that feel work is their life. They have not yet seen the light.)
:beer:

 

[fltdspx]

my question would be then if someone was going to interview for a job where you work what would the answer be when the dispatcher asked what his/orher vacation accrual is per year.

I understand that however you can get time off with pay then by all means take it. If you use your personel / sick time to add time for vacation what happens when that person gets sick and no time in the kitty. would that be time off with out pay ?

We work a 4 on 3 off and we are able to swap shifts to give more time off. I guess it's all in how you look at what the company gives you