pacman007 wrote: ↑Sat Sep 07, 2019 7:46 am
Isn’t there a mandatory flow percentage per class that Westjet has to follow? If there is,and Westjet just chooses not to follow it, there should be money paid to the pilots who should have gone over to mainline. But I’m sure your new union is all over this? I don’t understand what you guys are doing over there.
From the encore pilot perspective.
- fall mainline initial courses
All going to OTS. Not just for the fall, wording used , “foreseeable future”. Pilot morale was already at an all time low, don’t get me started on what’s being discussed in the last 24 hours here. Why? Captain shortage, mostly YYZ, but yes, we need YYC skippers too. Cause of shortage, hiring too many instructors and reeeealy low time FOs that are not going to upgrade until 2021, and no incentives whatsoever for an OTS qualified individual to come here direct entry captain, who would rather go straight to mainline or swoop and start the clock as an FO. Yes, better to go to swoop these days than encore, can’t believe those words came out of my mouth.
- incentives to be at encore
As of right now, nothing, nada, 0.
In discussions, retention plan and protocol from the company to attract more people. Is anything legitimate going to come out of it, PROB 40 - nope. We have been getting screwed royally from all parties involved (company and mainline pilots, who I used to call siblings) for the last 12 months.
The real retention plan and LITERALLY the ONLY thing any of us cared about, was the one list. The latest and greatest version that’s going to a vote for the mainline pilots, is anyone who was at Encore BEFORE MAY 14 2019 keeps their seniority on the one list. Anyone who started after that day will get NO seniority. They have to wait to flow to swoop or mainline (which is currently non-existent) and then start their clock for seniority.
- Current wages and working conditions
Newest CBA brought very little improvements, and not in areas that actually matter. Best thing, duty rigs, that only start in June of 2020. We need it now because as skippers we are being worked to the bone. Extensions on duty day are more common than getting flow into Vancouver.
Are things going to improve with the latest email about conversations with the union? Small chance. Very very small.
So you work at mainline, what can you do?
Don’t vote yes for the latest one list propaganda. We should NOT screw over any encore pilot, even if they started after May 14, irrespective of experience. This is the airline seniority game. Everyone comes here for that one sole reason. If you want to screw our future pilots over, pro-date it for a future date like Jan 1, 2020. That way, anyone who is doing the interview process fully understands what they are signing up for. That way you don’t piss off our pilots on property even more.
Keep in mind, we all did the same interview process years ago, and some chose encore, some chose mainline. Our peers who stayed at up north and overseas crap holes only decided to join us now, and shouldn’t have the right to bump in seniority just because we at the little regional have a prop in front of the jet.
You don’t work at westjet/swoop/encore but you’re thinking about it.
If you are low time and can’t get an interview with swoop or westjet, apply at encore.
We have lots of you’s Anyway. This way you can flow to swoop as soon as you have 1500TT and have spent a year on property and have your AAs. But you don’t have to do another interview, and you’ll know how to do things the westjet way when you flow. It’ll help you out lots, make you a fantastic 705 pilot and our training is phenomenal. I guess we have to be given the situation we are in. You’ll thank me later.
If you have more than 1500TT and still want westjet instead of AC, then apply directly to swoop or mainline depending on what city you live in. You fly a few more days at swoop and make a little less money, but you don’t really give a s&!t if you don’t have to commute to the six 4 times a month.
If you are comparing between jazz and encore, definitely jazz, and I’m not going to expand further for obvious reasons.
If you are comparing between westjet and AC and don’t know the current facts, AC is a ton better place to be at, AS OF RIGHT NOW. Will things get better here, especially considering new ownership, I think so yes, and that’s what we are all hoping for. Or else my 4 bars would be gold and not silver. Is there room for future growth, expansion and better wages and working conditions, yes, I think so. Not in the near future. If united parked a max in the desert already as of last week, don’t use the max returning to service as a growth plan in the near future. More 78s and increasing fleet at encore could definitely do that. If you don’t have encore, you don’t have widebodys. Please keep that in mind.
What it is like for a current encore pilot.
Uncertainty, bad paycheques, frustration. If you started before May 14 2019, you will be waiting an average (maybe more) of 4 years, before your seniority comes up for flow. If you are from YYC, Then you flow, ONLY TO YYZ, and then apply for a base transfer to YVR. That takes 2-3 years if things go smooth, right now it’s more. After you get YVR, you wait another 2 for YYC, if you are lucky enough. Then you spend 2-3 years enjoying not commuting before you are eligible to hold YYZ skip. 5-7 years later if the starts align, you can hold YYC skip. Or just play the long haul FO game and take any type in YYC and max out on the pay scale and chill out. A month before your retirement party, you can hold wide body skipper. (That last line was over the top exaggerated, sorry)
My last thoughts. John swallow was right. Sadly. I’m very disappointed to say that. What I really didn’t see coming is that the one list would be betrayed by our very own pilots. I always thought it would be the company that finds a way to do us over. Not you folks. Well done.
Ps. If this latest one list thing goes through, in 5 years encore will be a completely separate entity. We will have jets, (CRJ 705s and Embraer 175s) and turn into another jazz. (We are allowed to have jets upto 76 seats on our latest CBA). We will have a C scale for jet pilots. Swoop has the B scale, and if you think we won’t be offered lower, think again. We will then supply our pilots the hope to one day interview at westjet. Maybe a couple of CBAs later come up with a 30 year plan and force westjet to have 90% flow for all encore pilots to mainline every year. Not sure where I’m making all this crap up from, just sounds oddly familiar.
IMC and head winds.