Regularguy

Please feel free to distribute the following. I cannot seem to attach it as a PDF so some formatting will not be present. if you'd like a PDF version (complete with some very nice graphics) please email me at [email protected]. Garry ----------- Captain Garry Kravit January 5, 2012 Brother and Sisters, The response from the United pilots, both L-UAL and L-CAL, to the letter I sent to ALPA National President Lee Moak has been overwhelming. The concerns about the failures of Captain Pierce abound, and it is clear that the pilots want more information. It is true that where there is smoke, lots of smoke, there is fire. I received a communication that appears to contain the talking points from Captain Jay Pierce to the CALMEC version of the United P2P (Pilot to Pilot) program. This information is finding its way to both United and Continental pilots, exactly as a P2P machine would intend. Because the United and Continental pilots need facts, I reached out to former Master Chairman, Captain Morse, and asked her how all of this went down. I have posted Captain Pierce’s letter below, and then the facts after the letter. I have chosen to utilize the POLITIFACT style of presentation. In a few cases they did not have an icon appropriate and I chose the best symbol I could think of. As you read through this please realize that while a couple of Captain Morse’s rebuttals may seem like points that are insignificant, when looking at the picture that Captain Pierce tries to paint, nothing is insignificant. Over the course of the last eighteen or so months Captain Pierce has solidified the perception held of him by the UALMEC which holds a virtual consensus on the matter. Considering the UALMEC, this is truly a remarkable achievement. LETTER FROM CAPTAIN PIERCE From our MEC Chairman... (CAL-MEC Chairman, Jay Pierce) A couple of final thoughts before I go to bed-- It is important that you all know that we bent over backwards to work with the UAL MEC leadership in getting a full extension of the TPA. On December 9th, having not heard a peep from the UAL folks about the terminable provisions of the TPA I reached out to them to set up a meeting, I flew to ORD to meet with their MEC, I set up the meetings with management. This was the right thing to do and we made some good headway with management on the TPA issues. They agreed to extend the furlough protection provision and the ratio protection provision-- both very valuable to the UAL side of the house. They also were agreeable to our participation in the PS plan for 2011. Valuable to us. To make a long story short these discussion failed because the UAL Leadership inserted demands that were not TPA related into the mix. This killed the deal before we could even get to an end game. First they insisted on wage rate parity with CAL for all UAL pilots. Management rejected that proposal. In response, UAL then approached management unilaterally (without agreement from us) with a proposal that insisted that the UAL pilots receive a bonus of an equivalent amount to our Profit Sharing. Management rejected thier offer, ended the TPA extension discussions and only then approached us with a different way to participate in profit sharing. It is never a good poker strategy to bluff when the other side knows what cards you are holding. In short, Wendy went all in with a pair of twos and was shocked that management called her bluff. Then to top it all off she wanted us to cover her for a few more hands with our Profit sharing. Being blunt, they messed up these talks and now are looking for someone to blame. Now, as to the concept that because of all this we will suffer a loss of unity severe enough that our future joint efforts will be negatively affected, let me say this; I have spoken to Jay Heppner throughout the last few weeks and kept him apprised of what we were doing - much more so than his prior leadership. I spoke to him today, his first official day in office, and we agreed to a joint project designed to protect both CAL and UAL pilots Scope interests when UCH goes to a single code. This is remarkably important work that we need to do jointly. Negotiations for a JCBA will go forward jointly without missing a beat. Our goals have not changed nor the desire to get it done. Yes, there will some individual UAL pilots who will be angry that we were able to produce value for our pilots with this and that their leadership failed to do so. Yes, their MEC may look for ways to save face and cast blame on me or our MEC. I have pretty thick skin. I think that in the long run there will be recognition that on the important issues, such as negotiating our JCBA or protecting our Scope sections, we have to work together. And just like the minor rift between the MEC's a year ago over pay banding was healed by our common interests so too will this be healed. After all, when all is said and done, what happened was that both pilot groups ended up participating in exactly the same Profit Sharing plan. Jay REBUTTAL TO CAPTAIN PIERCE: Captain Morse clarified what actually happened. Captain Morse initiated contact by calling Captain Pierce, not the other way around, to inform him that she had called a Special MEC Meeting of the UAL MEC for the purposes of discussing the T&PA termination provisions. This meeting was made necessary due to Captain Pierce’s broadcast in the CALMEC “Position Report” that he was achieving progress on profit sharing. This go-it-independent communication served only to incite the concerns of the United pilots. Further, it had the potential to undermine the collective and unified position that most Continental and United pilots seek in achieving a JCBA. <I flew to ORD to meet with their MEC,> Technically, reports Captain Morse this is a true statement. Captain Pierce did fly to Chicago to meet with the UAL MEC. But it was not because he was initiating contact as a leader. It was in response to the crisis developing and brought about by his actions. The fact is that on December 10th (the day after Captain Morse called Captain Pierce to express significant concern over Captain Pierce’s communication) Captain Pierce emailed Chairman Morse suggesting that he address the UAL MEC at the Special MEC meeting on the 14th and 15th. Captain Morse told Captain Pierce that she would make the timeslot around 2PM available on the 14th should the UALMEC wish to hear from him. Captain Pierce advised Captain Morse that he would be arriving in Chicago on the morning of the 14th. Captain Pierce actually planned to fly to Chicago on the night of the 13th but did not advise Captain Morse of this fact. Upon learning this information Captain Morse asked Captain Pierce to call her as soon as he landed in Chicago and when he did she asked him to meet her in the UALMEC office. A meeting ensued which included Captains Morse, Pierce, Heppner, Perry, and First Officer Hamilton. Collectively they laid out a plan to provide impetus toward achieving a JCBA which would include T&PA extension provisions. Captain Pierce indicated that he wanted to consider the plan and to reach out to some portion of the CALMEC about this matter. Captain Morse asked him to let her know before the UALMEC meeting began in the morning if he and the CALMEC would be on board with the collective strategy. Before the UALMEC meeting began, Captain Pierce indicated to Captain Morse that he and the CALMEC were onboard with the plan. <I set up the meetings with management. > With regard to these discussions with management, Captain Morse indicates that she called Senior Vice President of Human Resources, Mike Bonds, on December 16th, the day after the Special MEC Meeting, as agreed to by Captains Morse, Pierce, and Heppner, to see if Bonds would be available at a specific time. Captain Morse left a message with Bonds’ secretary who indicated that he would be available as requested. Captain Morse then brought Captains Pierce and Heppner onto a line and conferenced Mike Bonds. A meeting was then set up for Monday evening, December 19th. On December 19th, at 1830, Captain Morse met with Captains Pierce, Heppner, Perry, Randy Hodge, CAL-MEC Secretary Treasurer, and Mike Bonds and Doug McKeen. The joint proposal agreed to by Captain Pierce and presumably the CALMEC, was passed to the company. In discussing this with Captain Morse, “Half True” might not be exactly the right descriptor. Maybe, “YEAH, SORTA, KINDA,” would be more appropriate. The fact is that $40million dollars is concrete and quantifiable. That is what the CAL pilots will receive. There was no “headway” made as there was no change from what the company had previously indicated in passing conversation that they were willing to offer. Furlough protection and ratio protections are only valuable IF there is likely to be, either a furlough, or the company deciding to reduce flying on one side or the other. Captain Pierce takes quite a liberty in expressing for the United pilots what is important to the United pilots. It is also critical to consider that these provisions will only last twelve (12) months for the United pilots, while the profit sharing that a Continental pilot receives, if put into a 401K plan will last a lifetime and beyond. While nobody can predict with certainty all eventualities, current situations, events, and realities can give us a pretty good view of things. For the next twelve months it is HIGHLY unlikely that the airline will furlough anybody. It is also highly unlikely due to certain CBA provisions that the “ratios” could be impacted. Consider that shrinking UAL would means shrinking UAX. Consider that CAL has provisions that do not allow 70-seaters, and consider that the 50-seat product is for all intent and purpose, dying. Consider that United is requiring pilots on LOAs to return upon those leaves expiring with no extensions because they are short of pilots, consider that the airline should be hiring, especially because in less than twelve months significant retirements will begin. Consider that United is understaffed for 2012 summer, a period in which they offered us, according to Captain Pierce, “valuable furlough protection.” One must ask, whose case is Captain Pierce making; managements, or ours? Regardless of the realities and truth, it is up the United pilots to decide what is valuable, and what is not, for the United pilots. Captain Pierce may be the decider of all things for the CALMEC and Continental pilots, but he would be well advised to not attempt such Fergish behavior on the United pilots. Oh, wait. Too late. According to Captain Morse, what Captain Pierce is attempting to do is redirect, rationalize, justify, and lay blame for his failure at the notion of TRUE JOINT COLLECTIVE bargaining, as a team, rather than as in individual. What UAL Leadership (Captains Morse and Heppner) presented was a negotiation position. They were told by Captain Pierce that he and the CALMEC were onboard with this strategy. Within the proposal were incentives and penalties, like the piece calling for parity equivalence with what the CAL pilots were receiving but only if the JCBA was NOT reached by a date certain. Under Captain Pierce’s original plan the CAL pilots were getting $40 million dollars extra contractually and the United pilots were to get ZIP, ZIPPO, NADA – not a singe red cent. The company wanted to include the PS (profit sharing) for CAL pilots for their own public relations purposes, to mollify the CAL pilots, and to reward Captain Pierce for distancing the CAL pilots from their UAL brothers and sisters during the SOC training/safety struggle, as well as other matters such as Captain Pierce’s failed promises to join the United pilots and the rest of the industry in ensuring that all checking events are conducted in full motion simulators (more on these matters later). Captain Morse reports, to the contrary, that she and Captain Heppner delayed sending our contract proposal to the company until Captain Pierce agreed on the proposal and plan. She said, “We did not send the counter until Thursday, December 29th, because we did not want to send it without Pierce’s agreement.” She further added that the counter proposal was based on the Company’s response to our proposal and meeting with the company on December 19th. The Company’s counter to our December 19th proposal came on Thursday December 22nd. Most importantly and relevant is that what Captain Pierce refers to as a “proposal” is actually the following: On Friday December 23rd Captain Morse had a conversation with Doug McKeen and asked him whether the T&PA agreement needed to be concluded by the end of the year due to the inclusion of CALs profit sharing. She told McKeen that reasonable people could get to a reasonable place, but that it would take time, which was running out if there was indeed a deadline of December 31st. She further advised McKeen of the status quo implications should the UAL pilots not receive equivalent remuneration. That was a statement of the facts, not a “unilateral approach with a proposal,” as Captain Pierce suggested. As Captain Morse has stated, neither she nor any other UALMEC representatives sent any kind of proposal until Captain Pierce agreed it to on the 29th of December. His statement is simply not factual. Further, Captain Morse states that on the day prior to sending the proposal agreed to by Captain Pierce, and presumably the CALMEC, Captain Pierce and she participated in a call with Mike Bonds and Doug McKeen. On this call they stated that they were unwilling to provide remuneration to the United pilots, and reiterated that they were willing to provide profit sharing to the CAL pilots in return for settling their 767 disagreement. Captain Morse reports that before the meeting with management began, she and Captain Pierce mutually agreed that they would ONLY LISTEN to the company and not engage in any debate or negotiating. This matter had been discussed on a conference call between Captains Heppner, Pierce, and Morse, and it was agreed that neither side would provide a position because at that time Captain Pierce was opposed to sending the proposal because he wanted to separate the CAL pilot issues (profit sharing) from the UAL pilot issues (remuneration for the United pilots), as he was hoping that the UAL pilot issues would fall off the table and he would be successful in achieving profit sharing, even if it was necessary to sacrifice those he’s committed to standing together, and working collectively with. Some of us believe that there is a word for that kind of behavior. Interestingly, during the conference call with managers Bonds and McKeen, on the 28th, after hearing the company’s position, Jay Pierce spoke up. He asked the managers if the company would allow one side to agree to management’s proposal (meaning CALMEC) while the other side rejected it (meaning UALMEC). According to Captain Morse, Bonds replied, “No, the extension required all three parties.” Bonds meant that the company, the CALMEC and the UALMEC would all have to agree for the extension provisions, which included the profit sharing extension for CAL pilots in order for the extensions to be in place. The call was concluded and prior to hanging up Captain Pierce asked Captain Morse to call him. She returned his call and suggested that Captain Heppner be brought back on the line. Captain Pierce agreed and it was decided that they would all redial in on a conference call number due to technical matters with their personal phones earlier in the day. They both hung up, she texted Captain Heppner and they joined the conference line. Captain Pierce never called in. Captain Morse texted Captain Pierce but he did not respond. She stated that at the time she supposed that he was talking to his confidant(s) on the CALMEC, but now, based on how things turned out and the timing, it is quite likely that he was in fact speaking directly to the company behind the UALMEC’s back. The following day, on December 29th, Captain Pierce called Captain Morse and asked how she wanted to respond to the company’s offer of the 28th. She stated that “we should send our counter that we had worked on earlier in the week.” Pierce agreed to send the counter proposal to the company, the one that included profit sharing for CAL, equivalent monies for the United pilots, and extension of the T&PA with certain modifications as previously decribed in a letter to the pilots by Captain Morse around December 30th. Yes, management rejected our offer. They ended the T&PA extension discussions. What is not known is what discussions Captain Pierce had with management on his own. Captain Morse states that there was no “bluff,” as Captain Pierce suggests. In her words, “This was simple negotiations, which we had hoped we could act on as a unified team, to count on each other and each other’s strengths as well as the cards in each other’s hands, as one combined hand the goal of which was to incentivize the company to negotiate a JCBA. What we learned, and if I was shocked at anything, was the speed and efficiency at which Jay Pierce harmed the overall objective.” What Politifact icon to place here? Perhaps this picture speaks a thousand more words… Captain Morse puts it a little differently, “This is an interesting statement from the man who has stood before thousands of United and Continental pilots, has stood before both MECs, has stood before Wall Street and the world and proclaimed that United Airlines is dealing with a formidable force of a unified pilot group 12,000 strong who cannot be divided by management’s tactics.” “Captain Pierce knows as well as I do,” says Captain Morse, “that Captain Heppner was on the calls with us, with the exception of the one call with Bonds and McKeen. He was not on that call because for some reason Doug McKeen called Heppner and asked him not to be on the call, with little explantation. Captain Heppner could not have been more appraised and involved, as he was completely included in the creating of the proposals and the discussions. Where does Captain Pierce come off making such accusations? <I spoke to him today, his first official day in office, and we agreed to a joint project designed to protect both CAL and UAL pilots scope interests when UCH goes to a single code. This is remarkably important work that we need to do jointly. Negotiations for a JCBA will go forward jointly without missing a beat. Our goals have not changed nor the desire to get it done. Yes, there will some individual UAL pilots who will be angry that we were able to produce value for our pilots with this and that their leadership failed to do so.> Captain Morse states that she’s not sure how to respond to such obvious and blatant propaganda. But the United pilots who have been reaching out have indicated disgust with the behavior of Captain Pierce in going it alone, in abandoning the principles of unionism and unity and in seeking to gain for a minority at the expense of the collective. The United pilots I have spoken with are furious over Captain Pierce’s never ending stream of failed promise after failed promise. In the words of one especially irate United pilot, “It’s time for him to own his s—t.” Captain Morse did say, “To summarize, the company was unwilling to give value to the United pilots because what they wanted was to rid themselves of a troubling matter, the 767 sales, and to be able to parade the CAL pilots around to the media and the world as happy employees holding bags of nickels on February 14th when profit sharing is paid. Captain Pierce, it is alleged, has violated the T&PA by unilaterally negotiating a deal contrary to his agreement with Captain Heppner and me. Although Captain Pierce told us that the CAL MEC were in agreement with the proposal, I am not sure that they even knew about it. In essence he violated his commitment and abandoned his only ally, the United pilots. Perhaps this should not come as a surprise to us, for despite the numerous times that Pierce has spoken the words of unity to our pilots and our MECs, he also said to the UAL MEC that “one way or another he was going to get profit sharing.” Pierce mortgaged the collective futures of 12,000 United pilots, and all for only 40 million pieces of silver on a combined contract that today is worth over 1.5 billion dollars.

Regularguy

Too bad the formatting didn't work.

For those who have never done any ALPA or even management work, if you can read through the long mess, this is an excellent narrative of what actually goes down.

While I haven't been involved with ALPA work in many many years I do know the players and I have to say Pierce is being classically played by UCH Management. If you only knew what Senior Management actually says about pilots...

We need to stop this kind of stuff, "I represent our side..."

As Red Green says, "Remember, I'm pulling for ya. We're all in this together!"

CALFO

Thanks for posting. It's good to hear both sides, although I would prefer to hear it directly from Capt Morse. One question I have is why, if furlogh protection and block hour protection have no value for l-ual pilots, were they pursuing it's extension? It seems that asking for an increase in payrates equivalent to Cal's, and nothing else, would be a slam dunk and hard to argue.

SoCalGuy

FROM THE CAL MEC CHAIRMAN
01-06-12(Friday)
I want to start by thanking the hundreds of pilots who have taken the time to call, email or text me with their favorable comments regarding our success in achieving profit sharing for the Continental pilots for FY2011. It is good to end the year on a positive note for the CAL pilots. My only regret is that we were unable to reach agreement on the terms of a Transition and Process Agreement (TPA) extension before the end of the year as well. How we ended the year without that being accomplished is one of the things I want to address in this blastmail. Another is our relationship with the UAL pilots.

In last week’s Position Report, we discussed that certain provisions of the TPA could be terminated at the Company’s discretion any time after Dec. 31, 2011. The CAL MEC’s goal was to extend the TPA in its entirety, if possible, and to further extend our contractual right to profit sharing. As you all know, profit sharing was obtained through Contract ’02 for the years 2005 through 2009. The TPA contained a provision to extend that through 2010. As you enter any discussion of this kind, it is important to evaluate and be cognizant of the strong components of your argument and also the weak. It is simply part of fundamental negotiating strategy. In that light, we were aware that management was forecasting domicile and base changes that would require that they terminate the domicile and base protection provisions of the TPA, in whole or in part. Management was also acutely aware that we desired to participate in 2011 profit sharing, just as the UAL pilots are. With all of this being considered, and understanding that this would be a tri-party discussion (with us, the UAL MEC and management participating), the negotiations were complicated. This was compounded further as we were advised that, according to the Profit Sharing Plan Document, if the CAL pilots were to be included in profit sharing for FY2011, the decision had to be made in 2011.

In an email sent on Dec. 9, I contacted the UAL MEC leadership (Capts. Morse and Heppner), suggesting that we work jointly towards an agreement to extend the TPA, along with our Contract ’02-negotiated profit sharing. The following Tuesday, I flew to ORD to meet with the UAL MEC the next day. Upon landing Tuesday evening, the UAL MEC leadership asked me to come to the UAL MEC offices to talk about strategies for the TPA extension discussions. In that meeting, we agreed to a basic plan that would extend the TPA, include the CAL pilots in profit sharing and hopefully provide a path to a more prompt resolution of the JCBA. It was an aggressive plan, but one that I thought would serve as a good starting point for these discussions.

The next day, I met with the UAL MEC as planned, albeit the topic I had expected to discuss (the plan formulated the night before) had shifted significantly. Instead of talking about a plan that would provide value to all 12,000 pilots, they appeared more concerned with whether CAL pilots were getting “more” through potential profit sharing than UAL pilots were getting through the extension of the TPA and about what to tell their pilots should we participate in profit sharing. They placed little or no value on the extension of furlough protection for UAL pilots or the block hour ratio protections for UAL flying. They did not appear to accept the reality that management had a right to terminate the domicile and base protections and that we should be prepared to jointly develop an alternate plan, should management refuse to extend those provisions. It was suggested that I was “defeatist” for entertaining such an idea. And while it was suggested by one representative that the UAL and the CAL pilot groups should both forgo profit sharing, to show unity towards getting a complete extension of the TPA, there were no takers. You could have a heard a pin drop in the room.

The meeting ended with me reaffirming our MEC’s intention to work with the UAL MEC leadership to extend the TPA, to the best of our ability, and restating the CAL MEC goal of achieving participation in 2011 profit sharing, either through the TPA extension process or other means, if necessary. The UAL MEC (not unanimously) asked (and I agreed) that I relay to the CAL MEC that they would like us to forgo profit sharing participation, in a show of unity with the UAL pilots, should we not be able to reach agreement on a TPA extension that included all the terminable provisions. The following day, I learned that the UAL MEC had added another caveat to the proposal after I left: As part of the TPA extension discussions, they insisted that the UAL pilots receive wage rate parity with CAL pilots.

I advised our MEC of the UAL MEC’s message and additions on an informal conference call the following Saturday. (Our policy manual restricts business from being conducted via conference call, so this was an informational call only.) At the end of the call, it was my understanding that the CAL MEC’s position had not changed; i.e., we would try to work with the UAL MEC and reach an extension of the TPA, in whole or in part. However, if that failed, I was instructed to seek other ways to achieve participation in the profit sharing plan for CAL pilots. I advised Capts. Morse and Heppner that we should move forward with the TPA extension talks, telling them that should their all-or-nothing approach be unsuccessful, we would explore other options. I was very clear with them on this point from the start.

To make a very long and complicated story short, we then set about a course that included meetings with management and conference calls, followed by more meetings and conference calls. Unfortunately, we were never really able to discuss most of the substantive issues of the TPA extension because the talks centered on the UAL pilots’ requirement that they receive monetary value equal to CAL pilots’ participation in profit sharing. Given that management characterized this later as United pilots receiving “… twice the profit sharing as all other employees, including fellow pilots at Continental…” it is not unsurprising that the talks were unproductive.

This lasted throughout the Christmas holiday and into the last week of the year. As late as Christmas Eve, I learned that Capt. Morse was active with calls to management, threatening to make status quo legal claims if the CAL pilots received profit sharing.

On Dec. 28, following a conference call with management, Capt. Morse and I received an email from management with a proposal and their insistence that we reply by close of business the next day. It was clearly evident that this was their last offer. Regardless (and despite me informing her that the CAL MEC could not support it), Capt. Morse sent another proposal on Dec. 29 that once again included a monetary amount for the UAL pilots that was equivalent to the amount the CAL pilots would achieve in profit sharing, along with a new provision dealing with base openings (one that our SMEs were not comfortable with). As I had suspected and had advised Capt. Morse would likely occur, management terminated the discussions approximately one hour following their receipt of her unilateral proposal.

Later that day, management reached out to me and suggested that we revisit talks related to settlement of the B-767-200 aircraft sale grievance that had broken down in late summer. Even back then, profit sharing was on our minds and was part of those initial settlement discussions. The next day, the last business day of 2011, we were able to reach agreement on the deal to secure profit sharing I outlined for you last week.

It is unfortunate that the UAL MEC and their leadership were left with nothing to show for their efforts, but I make no apologies for achieving profit sharing for the CAL pilots once it was clear that any extension of the TPA terminable provisions was unachievable by year-end 2011. It is easy to second guess strategies and hindsight is always 20-20, but the truth is that when you take an all-or-nothing stance, sometimes you end up with nothing. That is what the UAL leadership gambled with. They went all in with a pair of twos and seemed shocked that management called their bluff. Now they are left with the difficult position of having to explain to their pilots why they failed. Even more unfortunate, rather than taking responsibility for their decisions, strategies and actions, they instead cast blame in my direction and on our MEC. I cannot help but think back to Capt. Morse’s own words in her October video describing the UAL MEC to the UAL pilots, "The current MEC is renowned throughout the world for its vicious and self-destructive behavior."

There are those who think that our MECs’ ability to work together or our pilots’ unity has been compromised over our grievance settlement and resultant inclusion in the 2011 profit sharing plan. I do not think that our unity with the UAL pilot group is so fragile that the continued inclusion of CAL pilots in the very same profit sharing plan they participate in will fracture it. We continue to have common goals and common interests. We will continue to work together to provide benefit for all 12,000 pilots through the JCBA, as well as with joint committee efforts on a host of other issues that affect our pilots at both legacy carriers.

One of these most recent efforts involves scope. With Capt. Heppner’s consensus, our CAL and UAL MEC scope experts are working together to develop a plan of action for when the Company goes to single coding later this quarter. We have been working this project separately for some time now and have developed a good amount of data. I believe a joint effort will only serve to benefit all our pilots. Thus, our Alliance Committee and members of the UAL Scope Committee and Grievance Committee conducted their first joint meeting this week. In addition to this new joint effort, the JNC remains actively engaged in contract negotiations. The only disunity at that table is between the JNC and management. In other areas such as SPSC, R&I, CIRP, Safety, Professional Standards and others, our MEC committees remain focused on jointly improving the lives of all 12,000 pilots.

That is not to say that there are not members of the UAL MEC who are upset that we were not able to extend the TPA and were thus granted no option but to achieve our goal for profit sharing by settling the B-767-200 aircraft sale grievance. On the UAL side, I suspect that untruthful communications from their outgoing leadership and one or two of their local councils may have a lot to do with UAL pilots’ angst. My intent with today’s message is not to participate in an email or communications battle with those who revise history to suit their purposes, but to provide a different perspective and additional context for discussion. Rarely if ever is there only one side to any story. I am again reminded of Capt. Morse’s October message and her statement regarding the motivations of some of the UAL MEC, "Some of our councils act responsibly… others on the MEC have expressed outright contempt for the collective and have stated their objective is to destroy the Association." Please keep this in mind should you see some of the more heated and inflammatory communication that is going around.

I am hopeful that the new UAL MEC Chairman, Capt. Jay Heppner, will be able to put a stop to this destructive behavior and I stand ready to continue our efforts to build upon the unity between our two MECs and our two pilot groups. However, it is a political reality that accusations not answered become believed to be truths and perception becomes reality. It is also true that in order for untruths to prosper, those who know the truth must remain silent. It would be irresponsible of me to let lies become truth due to a lack of response. I am confident that Capt. Heppner can overcome the political pressure he must be facing and will tell the UAL pilot group the truth. The plain facts are that given the course of events with the TPA discussions, the goals of the UAL MEC and the goals of your CAL MEC, one of the two pilot groups was going to be deeply disappointed. We had hoped to achieve all, but when TPA talks that would provide benefit to both groups dissolved without resolution, I was left with only one path remaining: to serve the Continental pilots whom I represent. Last, do not forget that we have faced and resolved other disagreements between our two pilot groups, some significant. We have and will continue to work together on a JCBA and in all areas where we have common interests. It is my sincere hope and fervent belief that with Capt. Heppner’s help, we will be able to put an end to what Capt. Morse described in October as a UAL MEC where “politics were placed before the pilots."

Have a good weekend and Fly Safe.

LifeNtheFstLne

I guess I'm still confused. Do CAL pilots get the UAL profit sharing plan for 2011 or our previous style plan which yielded very little?

APC225

My understanding is that everyone gets the same. The CAL profit sharing formula for 2011 is not the one used in the TPA profit sharing we got for 2010. The same formula is used for all UCH employees now. CAL pilots got 3.9% of W2 for 2010. Have heard it may be about 8% of W2 pretax for 2011.

liquid

You know it's funny how you shut up when the whole story is told but whenever you have the chance you jump in with syd111 and dig at the CAL pilots. Are you saying CAL pilots won't be welcome in your cockpit when the ISL comes around? Should make some good calls to pro-standards...

liquid

I have yet to read ANY blastmails from Wendy and or Jay H. refuting anything Jay P has put out, all we have here is pure hearsay. In fact the only thing we have is half-truths put out by your LEC's. Care to enlighten us?

I'd be happy to call OUR pro-stds (as we will be one pilot group), the lame FODM or the CP. If you think I'll be bullied you're sorely mistaken.

You haven't answered the original question, are CAL pilots welcome in your cockpit or not?

Slammer

...and the truth is normally somewhere in the middle. From the comm's
I've read both sides Have their interpretation of the what and how and are pretty good at pointing the finger (although weve not heard directly from Morse)

Why didn't the UA MEC propose foregoing PS as a sign of Unity and leverage THEN ask the CAL MEC to do the same? That's called skin in the game...by all parties...

Flyguppy

Wow.....you guys just can't get one simple fact thru your thick skulls.

The CAL profit sharing was NOT in their contract. The mere fact they got it was an EXTRA benefit gotten by a side deal by Pierce.

UAL has PS in their contract. It was negotiated as such.

Why is that so hard to understand? If you get it then your quote above makes ZERO sense.