I bet that management are kicking themselves over the last EBA when they agreed to pay per hour for RDO callouts?!
Because I am not married and live close to the airport the option to work on days off was always available and as a result I vary rarely said no to casual days. In all honesty the amount of the money I was recieving per week was frequently over $3500 per fornight after tax and my record was $6000 but I did work hard for it. It made me wonder... based on this, has the company done the sums and realised that its cheaper for to keep paying for RDO callouts than to simply employ more pilots / retain pilots? Has anyone done any sums on this?
I loved my time at REX but another big point of frustration was the charters that were conducted on behalf of PEL AIR. Whilst every charter I did in recent times was all on RDO callout money the sheer disorganised mess that we called an 'air service' really made one think "has anyone thought this through". For me another big point of frustration was the lack of support and the attitude of "we know the situation is stuffed but the crew will sort it out somehow so we won't bother fixing it!". The crew at REX very often bend over backwards to ensure that oversights, stuff up's and mistakes are resolved even if it had nothing to do with their job description eg, checking passengers in, weighing bags and refueling the SAAB's during charters when the info pack said that was supposed to have been taken care of for us... VERY GA! yet thats what my fellow crew were always willing to do... step up and help out. The very lack of even a "thanks guys/girls" from anyone up top really drove the pin straight through the hearts and minds of every REX pilot. Oh... and working 6 days straight, having 1 RDO then doing another 5 days straight only to be told "Oh, buts it legal so whats the problem?!" after calling in fatigued... didnt help either!!
Wish all you guys direct tracking, CAVOK and happy landings!