A few thoughts...
Jazz is a good place to work. Generally the big sticking point with most of us is that it could be a GREAT place to work. However, as long as the most important thing in the eyes of senior management and the BOD is the bottom line, then it will never be any better than 'good', in my opinion. The folks that are 'running' the show are in it for absolutely nothing more than maximum dollars in the shareholders pockets (and thus bigger performance bonuses for themselves). In my opinion, they are in it for the short term. They don't give a rats a$$ about the thousands of employees who are in this for the long haul. Porter and Westjet are great places to work, because while their management wants to maximize profits, they tend not to do it at the expense of everyone/everything else. They actually 'get it'; that keeping the employee group interested, engaged, and heaven forbid, maybe even 'happy', will in the long run help the bottom line. That concept doesn't compute at the Ivory Tower in YHZ. I don't think it does for mainline management in YUL either.
As for a guaranteed interview at AC after 2 years... I'm not sure I've ever seen that in writing anywhere (unless it was one of the 2500 memos I was supposed to read when I got hired). It certainly isn't in the CBA, and while it generally has been the way of the past few years, I don't think anyone is getting interviewed at AC anytime soon. Translation: don't come to Jazz expecting it to be your free ticket to AC.
As far as I understand bringing seniority to AC from Jazz, you are credited with 1/2 of your time at Jazz for up to a maximum of 4 years for the purposes of pay and vacation (?). So if you worked at Jazz for three years, you get 18 months seniority at AC. If you worked 8 years at Jazz, you take 4 years to AC. I stand to be corrected on this one, but I'm pretty sure that's the deal.
Jazz vs. GGN... as a former GGN pilot, I know where this has come from. In the PAST, there was issues with AC giving flying to GGN that traditionally was done by the connectors/regionals. The east coast is a great example of a base that was decimated, and replaced with plenty of BE02's flying around instead of Dashes. On top of this was the replacement flying done by GGN during the CALPA/ALPA strikes of the past. Sure there were some hard feelings (say 5-10 years ago), but I don't think hardly anyone flying at GGN now was much past a PPL back then 
Is there flying currently being done by GGN that should be done by Jazz? You bet... but GGN pilots have nothing to do with it, and anyone getting the finger from a Jazz driver... must have done something else to him. Our issues are with Jazz and AC management, NOT Air Georgian.
There will likely be an 'uneasiness' between ALPA and ACPA for years. If you don't know the history, look it up. Generally though, it's a thing of the past for most (especially those of us who weren't involved back then). There is still the ongoing AON lawsuit, and that is likely the biggest issue with some ACPA/ALPA guys. From what I've seen, the pilot unions generally have a mutual respect for each other now. That's not to say it couldn't be better, but as I understand it, the leadership has abandoned the pursuit of a closer relationship so we can concentrate on our 2009 negotiations independently.
Finally, are we safe at Jazz? Absolutely not. Anyone who thinks we have secure jobs there is smokin' dope. NEWSFLASH: there are no safe jobs in the airline business. If you want job security, go into the military. Sure, as long as the CPA is in effect, we have some guarantees, but I need to fly well past 2015 to keep food on the table. To be honest, the CPA provides little comfort to me for the long run.
Am I alone here? |
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