Here is the MASS email sent to about 200 pilots on company email. It looks and feels very much like the SO's first email but includes massive sanitization and inflammatory accusations. ALPA falsely accused the SO of sending out this email and threatened retribution. (remember a FedEx ACP was in the loop on these emails so the accusation is a joke).
Fellow FedEx Pilots,
The union has recently negotiated a resolution that may negate your contractual right to Passover pay. The recently negotiated resolution concerns a case in which the company admitted training an MD-11 FO out of seniority. After several days of phone calls and emails the union appears to have €œNegotiated€ almost all of us from our contractual right to Passover pay. The company made a mistake and trained a pilot with a seniority date of July 11, 2005 prior to many other pilots holding the same exact MEM MD-11 FO bid. The company has admitted to this mistake, it is indisputable. The union fielded complaints yet did not include many of us in their decision although it meant an economic impact in the thousands of dollars per month to each pilot. The facts are the company admitted to training someone junior to you with the same bid from 06-02, you were entitled Passover pay beginning January 26, 2007 as per the contract, and the union €œnegotiated€ a settlement in which many of us never new about, and will never receive Passover pay.
Our union is here to protect us and enforce the contract. In this case it appears that neither may be the case. Not only did they not protect us, they agreed to insert into the current contract the ability for the company to train someone Jr. to you if they hold the same aircraft and seat but at a different domicile from a previous bid. (i.e. previous bids will no longer be cancelled if it is the same aircraft and seat) Below is the exact example that took place and the union appears to have agreed to make this action legal in the future:
Pilot 1 Hire Date 11 July 2005
Pilot 2 is Junior to Pilot 1, Hire Date 11 July 2005
Bid 05-03
Pilot 1 is awarded a 727 MEM FO bid
Pilot 2 is awarded an MD-11 ANC FO bid
Bid 06-01
Pilot 1 is not awarded a bid
Pilot 2 is not awarded a bid
Bid 06-02
Pilot 1 is awarded an MD-11 MEM FO bid
Pilot 2 is awarded an MD-11 MEM FO bid
Pilot 1 was notified on hours prior to starting training for Bid 05-03 that his training was cancelled due to being awarded an MD-11 MEM FO bid on the yet to be posted Bid 06-02. When Pilot 1 asked if he could keep the class date, which started in a few hours, the company representative notified Pilot 1 that all previous bids in which you have not begun training are cancelled upon award of a subsequent bid. Pilot 1 was given a training date of May 2007 which was later moved to June then August 2007.
Pilot 2 had a July 2006 class date for Bid 05-03 and therefore had not started training. Pilot 2's original July 2006 MD-11 ANC FO training date was not cancelled as was Pilot 1's 05-03 bid. Pilot 2 was awarded a MEM MD-11 FO bid on 06-02. Pilot 2's O5-03 training date was moved to October 30, 2006. Pilot 2's activation date was projected as January 21, 2007 and was given an expected lateral date of February 26, 2007 from ANC (Bid 05-03) to MEM (Bid 06-02).
Pilot 2 completed training and was activated on January 26, 2007.
For almost everyone in this email you did not lose a previous training date. For everyone senior to Pilot 2 above and with an MD-11 FO bid and an activation date after January 26, 2007 the company trained a pilot Junior to you and you should have begun receiving Passover pay upon activation of the Junior pilot (last Friday). A small group of us feel like the union owes us an explanation and we retain the right to investigate this situation. Since the union is our elected representative and has possibly taken action on this matter without knowledge of the pilots involved, we need to unite as a single voice and request a formal meeting with the MEC officers and all Pilots involved to discuss our options. Additionally, if the union has used our €œPassover Pay Capital€ to negotiate a change to the current contract, the entire Pilot force should be aware of this action. Our impression after numerous phone calls and emails from the union is that they are trying to ignore this and hopefully it will go away. This mistake will cost Pilot 1 nearly one years pay, and if ALPA has negotiated that away we deserve to know why. If you are a narrow body FO on second year pay this decision is costing you over $2300 per month. If you are a narrow body SO, it is costing you almost $4,800 per month.
What can you do to help?
Please contact your LEC and MEC officers and request a face-to-face meeting for our group to hear the union's response to our questions and provide us an explanation of the negotiated resolution of January 10, 2007.
Speak to any senior pilots at the company and explain the situation we find ourselves in and how the contract has apparently been changed at our expense. Support from the senior pilots will help.
If anyone would like the email trail between ALPA Contract Enforcement, and our group please reply with your request and we will gladly forward. You will be amazed at what they have apparently done to you.
Ponder this FACT
Considering this could affect over 120 pilots, the union possessed a negotiating chip worth more than $300,000 per month. Are you curious how they used that Passover Pay Capital?