Operation Orange

[CanadianEh]

http://www.operationorange.org/

Mission Statement: Protecting the Flying Public; Restoring the Profession

[Colonel Sanders]

Dumb question: why does anyone want to work for an airline?

There seem to be endless reasons not to - ok, you've convinced me!

[CanadianEh]

Dumb question: why does anyone want to work for an airline?

There seem to be endless reasons not to - ok, you've convinced me!

Initiatives like Operation Orange seek to change exactly that... make a career in aviation as viable and rewarding as possible while not letting management continually lower the bar on safety just to save a buck.

[Adam Oke]

Dumb question: why does anyone want to work for an airline?

There seem to be endless reasons not to - ok, you've convinced me!

+1

[Colonel Sanders]

I keep telling people: stay in school. Get a good education and
become a doctor or a dentist - they always have the nicest airplanes
at the airport, because they earn oodles of dough. Don't believe me?

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/02 ... 0k-a-year/

Treating impoverished First Nations patients is a surprisingly lucrative enterprise for the country’s dentists, with the six highest-billing practitioners receiving more than $1-million a year from Health Canada, according to government figures the National Post obtained.

Fix some teeth and buy yourself a King Air to fly around in. Or
maybe a Learjet.

[CanadianEh]

From the website:

OPERATION ORANGE is not an illegal job action under the RLA. It is a peaceful protest and petition for redress of the current government regulations, under the protection of the FIRST AMENDMENT. Our goal is to pressure lawmakers into changing the existing regulatory paradigm, by having enough pilots who are willing to peacefully ground the air transportation system, to bring about that leverage.
We don’t have the money to fight the ATA; we must use our labor as leverage, while we still can.
- We seek to change the "perpetual contract" mechanism of the RLA to prevent managerial abuse.
- We seek to change the bankruptcy laws to limit the areas of pilot contracts judges can unilaterally change during bankruptcy proceedings.
- We seek to institute realistic and sane fatigue abatement measures, not the codified pilot pushing and legal eyewash currently being pushed by the ATA and FAA.
- We seek to give authorized collective bargaining agents the authority to properly deal with scab labor subsequent to a lawful labor dispute.
- We seek minimum duty rig and pay paradigms to prevent the wholesale outsourcing of safety and experience to shadow flight schools. These duty rig and pay paradigms would provide strong disincentive for management and government to engage in pilot pushing.
- We seek meaningful labor protective provisions that were not delivered, as promised, during the airline deregulation of the 1970s. Pilots who lose their job from reputable carriers, due to liquidation, furlough, or strike replacements would be given priority hiring by other reputable carriers.
- We seek to outlaw pilot pushing and retribution for contractual and regulatory compliance by requiring pilots so harmed to be paid triple actual damages, plus customary legal recovery costs.
- We seek to protect everyone involved in OPERATION ORANGE through legislated legal immunity and the outright prevention of harassment by management.
- We do not need everyone to participate. We only need enough pilots to ground the system. Management has put themselves at an enormous tactical disadvantage by staffing the airlines for perfection. They have no ability to absorb any significant staffing shortfall.
- Our proposed legislation will make the air transportation system more economically viable and safer. All business need some form of barrier to entry, and pilot labor will be a major barrier in the new paradigm. Gone will be the days of the $18,000 per year pilot with 300 hours of experience, who is willing to work up to, and exceed the FARs.
- Now is the time. A very strong anti-labor government will be installed in January 2013. If not now, when?
- Traditional tactics yield traditional results. Judging by the past 30 years, we believe it is time for something unconventional. OPERATION ORANGE is exactly that. If this isn't the way, what is?
- We need pilot unity across the industry, not just at a single airline. If a Delta pilot is trying to undercut a United pilot, and the United pilot is doing likewise, all that we know is both of their jobs will be destroyed as well as the industry as a whole. We have to take care of each other. Many of us were brothers in the military and that has not changed, just because we fly airplanes with different paint schemes. This will force airlines to compete on customer service, rather than to the degree pilots must subsidize the operation.
Conventional tactics will bring conventional results. It is time for something unconventional. Now is the time for us to join hands to save our careers and our industry.

[Tiny Tyke]

Our industry is in a very sad state right now. With AC talking about outsourcing pilots overseas (even if it is just a rumour/negotiation tactic) I'm thinking more and more that becoming a pilot was a mistake.

I can not in good conscience recommend this profession to my kids/nephews/nieces.

I love flying, but it's getting harder to deal with all the uncertainty in this industry.

[flyincanuck]

It is an honest way to earn a dollar. The people I work with up front and in the back are second to none. Some perks aren't outlined in a contract. You know, such as bringing home fresh halibut fillets from the coast, Garrett's popcorn from Chicago, or cheese and spreads from Italy. I don't have to waste my life away watching a clock and leveraging my weekends to fulfill my to-do lists. Comments regarding "staying in school" are insulting and of an elitist nature. Pilots being hired by Canadian airlines are well educated by post secondary institutions, and experienced in their skilled trade.

I won't ever persuade my children in their selection of career. But you can be damn sure I'll be fighting today in order to sustain and improve our profession's benefits and working conditions for tomorrow.