StangDog

Another argument that has gotten some traction is the one that says due to the schooling issue and the smaller size of the housing these new bases don’t work well for 100% of our pilots. Rather than waste my time refuting that assertion, I will just say that we don’t have a single crew base that works well for 100% of our pilots. With the cost of housing and the high state taxes, LAX isn’t for everyone. It is certainly inarguable that ANC isn’t for everyone, and if MEM worked well for everyone I doubt we would have upwards of 65% commuters in that base. If CDG and/or HKG don’t work well for your situation, I recommend you don’t bid them.

I do recommend you vote for the LOA, though. I could give you many well-substantiated reasons to do so, but in the interest of brevity I’ll limit myself to three important ones:


During the negotiation of our Contract we promised you we wouldn’t bring you any agreement that didn’t contain quantifiable economic gain. Taking into account only the $2700.00 per month to secure housing, the $32,400.00 per year that the monthly allowance totals, amounts to a 21.6% pay premium for a sixth year FO earning $150,000.00 annually, and 14.4% for a twelfth year Captain earning $225,000.00. By any measure those percentages represent quantifiable economic gain that is quite substantial. In fact, the 21.6% pay premium for a First Officer exceeds the cumulative pay raises of the entire 2006 Agreement on a per year basis. Scope. The approval of this LOA further memorializes this flying under our Agreement and the Railway Labor Act. I know you understand the importance of that. The rejection of something as straightforward as an LOA that only adds to our current Agreement and gives up nothing can only empower the “hawks” on the management side. They already believe we are an unruly mob given to anarchy.
There has been a lot of ground covered in this update, and hopefully some informed discussion has been stimulated. I really feel our focus has been diverted unnecessarily and to our collective detriment. Membership ratification was never intended to provide “line item veto” power to individual members. In a representative democracy such as our Association that type of authority belongs to the elected representatives. Nevertheless, if you honestly feel the LOA before you imposes a significant hardship on you and the welfare of your family, then you should vote against it. If you are simply angered that you will not be made into a “privileged class” of pilot by having all your living expenses in CDG or HKG paid by the company then I think you have lost your way. If you never had any intention of bidding either of these bases, but are intending to vote “no” simply because it makes you feel good or “because you can” then know you are doing irreparable damage to this process and depriving the pilots who will bid these bases anyway of, at the least, tax equalization; and most likely, significant economic benefits. That would be horribly irresponsible. If there is something else causing your anger (like the Association’s position on the mandatory retirement age), I urge you to compartmentalize those issues and deal with them individually and at the proper time. After carefully weighing the facts, I am hopeful the majority of you will exercise your votes on the FDA LOA responsibly.

I must admit though, to being more than a little concerned about the ability of a vocal minority to drive this group into the angry and emotional state in which we are currently entrapped. This FDA LOA is a clear improvement and economic gain over and above the provisions of our current Contract. Yet some of us seem unable to accept it for what it is—an economic improvement—and make an unemotional business decision. This does not bode well for 2010 negotiations. Our strength in our most recent negotiating effort came from the silent resolve of the center of the bell curve—not the fringes. The silent majority refused to become ensnared in the intoxicating rapture of discontent and we were able to achieve an outstanding Agreement. What’s more, we did so with our dignity intact.

I’ll leave you with this business axiom from a good friend of mine, a country gentleman from Arkansas :
Fraternally,

Captain Bob Chimenti
FedEx MEC Negotiating Committee Chairman

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