Originally Posted by
horrido27
With all due respect, I still operate under a Continental CBA, I am still part of Local Council 170 (EWR-CAL) and until we have a JCBA & a Combined Seniority List, I'm still a Continental Airline Pilot. Or, as the company puts it; S-CAL.
If we were all "United" Pilots, we'd have one council here in NYC, same goes for LAX and soon to be ORD & DEN. If we were all United, the word "Joint" would not be part of any discussions.
I am all for Unity. Many of us have gone to other bases to support rally's, picketing and Family Awareness events.
This should never have come down to a UAL Pilots vs. CAL Pilots argument.
But what do you expect us to do when your MEC Chair did something that none of my Reps were aware of, and actually contradicts what your MEC and JNC agreed to, just the week before!
If you're going to push the CAL Pilots to making a choice between our Jay or your Jay.. it's not going to be good.
Even I'm not a Jay P lover.. but he is my elected leader. If you think that forcing CAL Pilots to choose is a wise thing, I think you're wrong.
Even guys who are on the fence would probably choose Jay P.
While we may (now) all fly aircraft that say the word "United" on the side, we are far from ALL being United Pilots. Both in Name, and in Spirit.
To Bad...
Motch
Motch,
You're normally a pretty thoughtful dude, but lately you're slipping.
Yes, we have different uniforms and councils and planes and wings and ect.. The point is that whether we LIKE IT OR NOT we are going to be integrated, and our lives will be ruled by the JCBA that we are negotiating. In that sense we are one group. I know you get that, but you're still 'pouting' about your MEC being left out of the loop.
When the book is written on this chapter of the aviation profession (and it WILL be written) everyone will have the benefit of hindsight. Right now we are making decisions based on limited information (such is the nature of the real world), but our decisions and actions will be judged in the cold hard light of day. Yes, your MEC was not consulted in the final stages of execution. Does that beg any questions? Is it reasonable to wonder why? That's for you to decide, but I guarantee that you will eventually be given the 'rest of the story'.
How long ago was it that Capt Heppner released his letter stating his intent to request release? Long enough for your MEC members to do whatever they had to do to get involved! They have NO excuse for dropping that ball, and I believe it merely reflects their real desire to stay at arms length of any controversial actions against UCH. Maybe they're secretly hoping that the 'good child' will get rewarded? So no, I don't buy the excuse that they don't know the plan - that's their fault.
You're threat about the outcome of making CAL pilots choose 'your Jay' or 'our Jay' just illustrates the flawed mentality that you have. See if I can be clear... THIS ISN'T ABOUT ANYONE'S JAY! THIS IS ABOUT OUR JCBA! He's got you feeling protective of him...that's sick. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't care about any of my elected leaders feelings or political future. They are there to serve me and that's what I expect. I'm following Jay Heppner not because I like Jay Heppner, but because he is acting in the best interest of my career.
This pilot group has been willing to look past Jayson Baron's threat over pay banding, we've been able to look beyond Jay Pierce's coddling of the company over training, and we're still able to look beyond Jay Pierce's unilateral negotiations with the company over profit sharing. We're not willing to forgive or trust him, but he's NOT the CAL pilots. We are open to unity for the benefit of all. If your group is going to act all stunned and hurt because we finally stood up and stopped accepting whatever your MC wanted to dictate, and let that prevent them from doing the right thing then that's the reality we'll deal with. I'd advise putting your hurt feelings and bruised egos aside and getting on board with this program to get a JCBA.