Originally Posted by
iarapilot
From 2nd hand knowledge, I was told our grievance chair suggested to one of the accused to accept the Companies deal. He said he could make up the $$ that had to be paid back by getting his job back, and over time, he would recoup his $180000 or so.
That was before being fired. What they are doing now for the pilots, I dont know.
The Union, IMO, knows the LOA is/was a bad deal from the beginning. When HKG wasnt being filled shortly before the first bid was to close, the Company unilaterally made 2 improvements to the LOA without the input of the Union via side letter. The STV was changed and 500lbs was added to the move package. This was a change to the LOA unilaterally, with no Union input!! I suspect it was done to entice more FOs to bid HKG.
Anyway, a grievance was filed with the Union stating that the Company had violated the RLA by changing contractual language on their own.. The Union never followed up. And about a month later, instead of being up in arms about what the Company had done, our Union signed a side letter allowing these changes.
What is my point? Since the signing of LOA1, I think our Union has known that the LOA was crummy. But instead of having egg on their face, they have, quit a few times, been complicit in letting the Company do things that instead they should have been fighting against. And, we still have the same grievance chair as we did back then.
May have been sound advice ?, but at the end of the day it is just advice looking at the facts from his and legals perspective. In no way will it affect how ALPA represents the pilot going forward. You seem to have some angst against our Grievance Chair, well I know for a fact that he is one of the most diligent, hard working pilot advocates in the ALPA system and if you want to throw stones, go ahead, but be ready to step up because people only will take so much in volunteer positions and I for one am very glad we have people like him on our seniority list.
He did not negotiate the LOA, he enforces and protects the CBA, LOA(s) and most importantly pilots in discipline cases. ALPA has a very good record of saving jobs. Lastly, the "guilt before proven innocent" theme is not accurate in these cases, you see the Company has given the pilot his due process under the CBA and has found the pilot(s) guilty. Not saying I agree/disagree because I do not know the facts, none of us do, but the process is what it is and these pilots will have to hear from the VP if their cases are upheld or overturned. If termination is upheld then they have an arbitration appeal and any outside actions they see fit to fight for their jobs.
I think the Grievance Chair must have seen the risk/reward and to bet a multimillion dollar career against some harsh terms but with job in hand is a decision none of us ever desire to be faced with. I wish all of them the best of luck and hope they can return to the line in short order.