Polar Furlough and Parking of A/C

[mercpc9]

It is with regret that one of my earlier forecast's that you should dust off your resume if you work at Polar has come to be true.

According to an anouncement by Jeff Erickson today, Polar will be parking all of it's classic fleet (8 A/C) in the desert (June or July?) and they will not be sold to the competition. There will be a furlough of all of the flight engineers and equivalent pilots per A/C manning requirements. I believe about 150 will be furloughed. One Atlas 747-400 will be moved over to Polar since they will have a surplus of pilots.

There is more under the "Who's the buyer for Polar?" thread

I regret how this will affect the families of those furloughed.

[411A]

This is hardly surprising.

Having been in the airline industry for over forty years, I have watched with some amazement as group after group of pilots (and their unions) have tried to hold managements feet to the fire on numerous occasions.

Does it work?

Only for a short time, as most pilots, and their associated unions, seemingly fail to realise that...

The company not only gets mad, they get EVEN.
Eventually.
Every damn time.

I guess it's time for a new group to wake up and smell the coffee.
How sad.

[Po Boy]

All of us on the Atlas side of the fence, are watching closely how this story unfolds!

[MagentaLine]

Hi PoBoy, did you hear about the "wild cat" strike the Polar crews are planning? Apparently they didn't learn anything from their last failed strike. := I guess they don't have much to lose since they'll be unemployed soon anyway. I hope we have enough aircraft to pick up ALL the flying and maybe we won't have to furlough as deep on the Atlas side once all this mess is over with.

[freightdingo]

I have heard that too ( about the wildcat strike).......I think is an awsome way to to "go out with a bang"......there is nothing to loose so you migth as well tell Cato to go fly the planes himself:ok:

[mercpc9]

More power to you guys. Go on strike.

[BELOWMINS]

Merc
I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a wildcat anything.

[Ignition Override]

The Railway Labor Act, under which US airline unions operate, does not allow a wildcat strike, unless there is a loophole which nobody at my carrier has ever described. If they are in Chapter 11, then a judge in a different court can impose an injunction and prevent a strike. Even the White House can impose a PEB: Presidential Executive Board. This arbitration could be quite ugly.

On a side note: Don't forget that most of the GOP is an implacable enemy of organized labor-whether steelworkers, longshoremen, pilots, whoever. As allies of any corporate management, they can creatively find millions in financial losses and even spend huge sums on attorneys until a decision goes their way. Look at what US (I seriously doubt that they "outsource" this work to the lowest bidder, as with aircraft maintenance and ramp workers...). Perhaps paradoxically, many of these GOP gentlemen have motivated many former military pilots to turn, permanently, against the GOP in national elections. US pilots are also aware of attempts via the DOT to allow more foreign ownership of US carriers. The vast potential to 'cherry-pick' labor provisions in various lands has a very sweet aroma for the more ruthless entrepreuners. Don't assume that the US industry has reached the bottom. Pilots can always be found who will work for even less, in order to fly the impressive, larger aircraft. The ego can quickly compensate for a salary which can be below the market rates.

Under circumstances outside of Chapter 11, federally-supervised mediation (formerly by National Mediation Board members such as Maggie Jacobsen etc) can reach a point where both parties are then released for a 30-day 'cooling off' period.
I've never figured out who cools off during the 30 day period :ugh:. What a field day for the press.
Good luck Polar pilots.:)

[Intruder]

Just to clarify, Polar is NOT in Chapter 11, nor are they in the process of contract negotiations.