The “Come As You Are” Governance Project
By First Officer Neil Roghair, APA Vice President

While we don’t know the date when the National Mediation Board will make a determination on our single-carrier filing, we expect it to occur within the next several months, and there is always the possibility it will occur sooner rather than later. With this in mind, some of us have been working on the “come as you are” governance project in the likely event that at some point soon, the pilots from the former US Airways will become part of APA and fall under our Constitution and Bylaws. I want to tell you what to expect when this happens.

We will continue the membership drive we started earlier this year. This drive focuses on both new hires and US Airways pilots. To make it easier for both groups, we will continue to use the electronic membership application that our IT department and APA Membership Committee created along with the USAPA Membership Committee. To date, we have received more than 500 applications from US Airways pilots.

Members will vote on membership applications at existing APA domiciles, until domiciles are established at the new bases. A minimum of 100 APA members in good standing must exist at a domicile in order to qualify for two domicile representatives.

The APA Policy Manual will be updated to put US Airways domiciles into the APA election cycle. DCA is unique as it is an existing APA domicile, so because we just held a DCA domicile election, that base will not have another election until the May 1, 2016, term. Upon single-carrier determination, our current DCA domicile representatives will begin representing the former US Airways pilots as soon as they are voted in as members.

CLT, PHX and PHL will be placed in our existing C&B election categories (A, B, C or D), each of which has specific terms of office for chairman and vice chairman. The APA president will initially appoint two interim representatives at each domicile until elections for chairman and vice chairman can be held. If fewer than six months remain in the applicable term of office, the elections will be held at a domicile meeting. If more than six months remain, elections will be conducted through the BallotPoint election system used for regularly scheduled elections. In both cases, the elected representatives will serve the remainder of the unfinished term of office.

For example, if the current terms of office for Category A domiciles expire Oct. 31, 2014, and CLT is established as a domicile July 1, 2015, and placed in Category A, the elections for chairman and vice chairman would take place at a domicile meeting because fewer than six months remain in the terms of office. By contrast, if PHX and PHL are placed in Category D, the terms of which do not expire until Oct. 31, 2015, the elections for chairman and vice chairman would take place through the BallotPoint election system because more than six months are left in the terms of office.

Once new representatives are added, the APA board of directors will grow from 16 members to 22.

The key administrative step will be processing membership applications and voting on them at our domicile meetings. We are working to get a head start on that process.

The APA membership application can be accessed via a link on the right side of the APA public home page or directly at mbrapp.alliedpilots.org. Feel free to share the link with pilots you know at US Airways and encourage them to get started on the process so they can participate in APA elections and benefits as soon as possible after the single-carrier filing.

Our staff and pilot volunteers are working diligently to prepare to support all members of what will soon become the world’s largest independent pilot union.