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Halo_RJdriver
HERE IS THE LATEST SLAP IN THE FACE AT SKYWEST
"For those who have not recieved the email:
September 19, 2005
Fellow SkyWest Pilots,
The first draft of this letter was completed on Labor Day 2005, an appropriate day to conclude our pay negotiations. Feedback received since then led to a number of corrections and clarifications. The major provisions of the proposed agreement are as follows:
• Reclassification of Pay Scales
In response to feedback from our pilots indicating that pay scales should not be defined by seating ranges, SAPA proposed a reclassification of pay scales. The company has agreed to eliminate the 50-99 seat scale and replace it with a CL-65 scale; to eliminate the Turboprop scale and replace it with an EMB-120 scale; and to eliminate the 100-149 seat scale.
• Adoption of Schedule Enhancement Period (SEP)
An additional feature of bidding in a PBS environment is the ability to drop and pick up trips using a real-time computer interface (without having to call crew support) after lines have been built. The technology that will allow us to do this is currently in development. SEP will be made available to us as soon as the new software has been tested and is working.
• Extension of Reserve Callout Times in Certain Hubs
In domiciles where showing within 90 minutes has placed an undue strain on pilots, the company has agreed to increase the callout time to 2:00 hours. These domiciles are DEN, LAX and ORD.
• An Increase in Base Pay Rates
The predominant feature of this year’s pay negotiations has been SkyWest’s new performance and margin based incentive plans. In development for over two years, the company’s incentive plans now involve all employees, including pilots. The plans represent SkyWest’s philosophy of providing competitive base rates, plus opportunities for bonus compensation, to its employees. Many of you have indicated that you prefer a larger increase in base rates, as opposed to participation in the incentive plans. In response, we extended the pay talks to explore every feasible way to increase base rates. After considering several proposals from us, management has agreed to an across-the-board increase of 1.2% for all pilots, in addition to our continued participation in the incentive plans. While some may feel that 1.2% isn’t much, and we’d love to have been able to say it’s more, this percentage is consistent with the increase given to other employee groups who were already participating in the company bonus plan. This means that SkyWest pilots received the greatest increase in compensation of all SkyWest employee groups in the past year, consisting of the combined effect of the 1.2% increase in our base rates, in addition to gaining 100% participation in the new, company-wide incentive plans. Attached are tables that show the new rates including, for comparison purposes, the approximate effect that an $800 performance incentive and 6% margin has on our hourly rates. There is no arbitrary end-date. SAPA and management will periodically review these rates, and will negotiate appropriate rate tables when a new equipment type is introduced.
I wish to acknowledge and thank the members of our Pay Committee for their service and dedication to our pilot group during these extended negotiations. You will shortly receive information announcing the pay vote. In the meantime, I and other representatives will be available on the forums and via email to answer your questions. Upon the conclusion of our work with pay, our emphasis will shift to scheduling and reserve issues, and creation of a separate pilot policy manual.
Thank you all for your interest, feedback and patience while we worked through multiple scenarios to reach this agreement with our company’s management, which we now submit to you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
SkyWest Airlines Pilot Association
"For those who have not recieved the email:
September 19, 2005
Fellow SkyWest Pilots,
The first draft of this letter was completed on Labor Day 2005, an appropriate day to conclude our pay negotiations. Feedback received since then led to a number of corrections and clarifications. The major provisions of the proposed agreement are as follows:
• Reclassification of Pay Scales
In response to feedback from our pilots indicating that pay scales should not be defined by seating ranges, SAPA proposed a reclassification of pay scales. The company has agreed to eliminate the 50-99 seat scale and replace it with a CL-65 scale; to eliminate the Turboprop scale and replace it with an EMB-120 scale; and to eliminate the 100-149 seat scale.
• Adoption of Schedule Enhancement Period (SEP)
An additional feature of bidding in a PBS environment is the ability to drop and pick up trips using a real-time computer interface (without having to call crew support) after lines have been built. The technology that will allow us to do this is currently in development. SEP will be made available to us as soon as the new software has been tested and is working.
• Extension of Reserve Callout Times in Certain Hubs
In domiciles where showing within 90 minutes has placed an undue strain on pilots, the company has agreed to increase the callout time to 2:00 hours. These domiciles are DEN, LAX and ORD.
• An Increase in Base Pay Rates
The predominant feature of this year’s pay negotiations has been SkyWest’s new performance and margin based incentive plans. In development for over two years, the company’s incentive plans now involve all employees, including pilots. The plans represent SkyWest’s philosophy of providing competitive base rates, plus opportunities for bonus compensation, to its employees. Many of you have indicated that you prefer a larger increase in base rates, as opposed to participation in the incentive plans. In response, we extended the pay talks to explore every feasible way to increase base rates. After considering several proposals from us, management has agreed to an across-the-board increase of 1.2% for all pilots, in addition to our continued participation in the incentive plans. While some may feel that 1.2% isn’t much, and we’d love to have been able to say it’s more, this percentage is consistent with the increase given to other employee groups who were already participating in the company bonus plan. This means that SkyWest pilots received the greatest increase in compensation of all SkyWest employee groups in the past year, consisting of the combined effect of the 1.2% increase in our base rates, in addition to gaining 100% participation in the new, company-wide incentive plans. Attached are tables that show the new rates including, for comparison purposes, the approximate effect that an $800 performance incentive and 6% margin has on our hourly rates. There is no arbitrary end-date. SAPA and management will periodically review these rates, and will negotiate appropriate rate tables when a new equipment type is introduced.
I wish to acknowledge and thank the members of our Pay Committee for their service and dedication to our pilot group during these extended negotiations. You will shortly receive information announcing the pay vote. In the meantime, I and other representatives will be available on the forums and via email to answer your questions. Upon the conclusion of our work with pay, our emphasis will shift to scheduling and reserve issues, and creation of a separate pilot policy manual.
Thank you all for your interest, feedback and patience while we worked through multiple scenarios to reach this agreement with our company’s management, which we now submit to you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
SkyWest Airlines Pilot Association
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