Fellow pilots,
As a part of our ongoing informal discussions with management, we plan to meet today with company executives and listen to their ideas and future plans for our carrier. The MEC will then convene to discuss what was learned and decide how to move forward.
JC
Communications Chairman
So informal that the NYC LEC chairman wrote this...
Contract Update
We have been informed that we should know this week if the company and union will be able to begin the formal process of crafting a pathway forward for Envoy and AAG. In the meantime, with each passing day the dynamics of the regional industry change that much more in our favor.
In NY, we will have either a Meet-N-Greet like the other bases; or we'll have an alternate type of unity event which will draw support from others in the industry. This should also provide an opportunity for media coverage of an event that will be favorable to our cause.
Just over a year ago the company felt the need to demand additional concessions to match Delta feed costs. Based upon publicly available data we were able to determine the cost variance between Envoy and Delta's regional airline - Endeavor - was only about $3 per hour in total pilot related costs. In spite of the relatively minor cost differences, AAG used that opportunity to demand massive concessions during a period of record breaking profits. Since then, the industry has gone through another period of dynamic change. Recently AAGleaders stated that the FFD industry has changed yet again. I congratulate AAG and their leadership team for recognizing the rapidly evolving changes in the FFD marketplace. I now challenge them to react accordingly and make Envoy the leading AA feed provider and pilot recruitment center.
They know how to do that; it's very simple. Give us the planes, and create a more definitive path from college classrooms to AA classrooms. Increase FO compensation, protect senior CA'swho wish to retire, and give the rest of us a certain level of job security while we await being hired at a legacy or flowing to AA. We have a strong pilot group ready willing and able to help AAG make Envoy the leading regional airline in the world. That will take investment on their part in providing us the tools to do the job more efficiently (new airplanes); and commitment on their part to ensuring our pilots are provided a clear unobstructed pathway to a mainline career, while protecting those who wish to finish their career here.
The truth is that for most of us, they could not raise the compensation enough to keep people here when national and legacies are offering jobs. They can, however, make it attractive enough that the few pilots that are entering the Part 121 world and/or are coming up through the system won't even consider working anywhere other then Envoy.
In closing, it can not be cheaper to send the flying back to AA mainline instead of giving us a decent contract; yet that is precisely what our parent company (and all major brands) are now doing. In this new FFD industry; the question is no longer who can do the flying the cheapest; it's who can do the flying at all. That comes with a price tag. The first management team to realize this and act accordingly, wins. And we all want to be winners!
Fraternally,
RI
NY LEC121 Chairman