Fine, but remember, the union will have a dollar amount on the bid sheet, probably pretty high, and if Mr. Finn wants the bid sheet gone, he is going to have to give a lot in pay/ work rules to get it. From my communications with them, I believe the JNC is not interested in concessions whatsoever, and will not give up a cent if we are not receiving something in return.
If the JNC fails us, we still have a 'NO' vote.
IMO, "if" the company wants the bid sheet, they will pay. Dearly.
EXACTLY. Which is why I stated "the bidsheet isn't going anywhere".
Sometimes, as hard as it is, change DOESN'T arrive. After 19 years, I quit waiting for it. Sometimes it's incremental. Hell, the biggest thing to ever happen to East FAs was the ETB, and people complain about it all of the time.
Mr. Finn can want it until Doomsday, but unless he brings a specfic acceptable system to replace it, (and I mean SPECIFIC, no one trusts these people to pick anything decent, how are you enjoying Pref Bid?) that offers seniority, automaticity and flexibility (tall order) why would we give up a known system?
To the West Fa who asked what is it: here's my explanation, predicated on the fact that I rarely use it, and when I do I usually just screw myself up.
Flight attendants Bid a line.
SAP opens (scheduling adjustment period) Flight attendants attempt to swap/ move/ eliminate selected trips from that line.
SAP closes: your line is your line.
Leftover trips are built into Secodary lines. Would-be reserves get these and then aren't on reserve.
Month begins: Bidsheet operates from 8am-12am East coast time the day before the trip. You look at what scheduling has: Option 11, or you hope somebody drops the lovely two day that you want. Upshot, you either give scheduling parameters ie. "Two day in by 1700" or a specific trip (s) Pairings 1, 22, 33 etc. At 12, scheduling starts covering all available trips by seniority. When they finish, you either get your lovely two day or you're left with your original dog three day. Whatever is left, goes to reserves in least time order.
The reason some reserves believe that the bidsheet keeps them on reserve is that if FAs didn't have the bidsheet, they think the open trips would be made into lines, thus turning more reserves into blockholders. The reality is, US no longer has ANY obligation to keep open time available, ie. ALL of the open time left after original bidding could be made into Secdondary blocks any time US wanted to, but they choose not to. Why? Hell if I know. A previous poster cited the anomaly of having one trip starting in May while having a trip flying out of April, and it sits there in her block until she takes out the April trip, that's probably one reason.
The thing is, US could fix it yesterday, but they have never had anyone bright enough to schedule the airline. Bottom line, FAs should not pay for their ineptness with our flexibility.
The ETB operates in a parallel universe at FCFS, and it can be a month or day before. If you made the ETB by seniority having each available trip tagged with an expiration date: ie. Rome on board for 5 days by seniority then goes FCFS, I would accept that as a replacement to the bidsheet as long as it came with money, sick time, vacation, an established vacation matrix, crew meals, specific, negotiated requirements for hotels, a higher reserve value, pay for sick time at the end of my career, better staffing. . .
You get the idea. It's a big ticket item and no one is giving it away, hence, it'll probably be here long after we're gone.
How it will affect the West, frankly it depends on you guys. As I said, I hardly ever use the silly thing, I prefer to SAP wisely, (a monumental effort), as I am never lucky with the Bidsheet. If you're number one in your base, odds are that day the best thing on there will be a wretched one day to Dubuque. It all depends on luck. If you're lucky, the best thing on there will be some lush trip to Hawaii, but what different people view as lush varies.
At any rate, don't think of giving anything away, even if it isn't yours. The company has to pay for it. You guys had your right to a new contract stolen by an arbitrator. Don't let them get ANYTHING else from you.
Hope this helps.