jetflyer123

This is an awesome letter. Died laughing about management tinkering like Peter Pan... Anyways, there is a 2 year commitment attached to the new hire bonuses?!?!?!? How is this legal???

June 24, 2016

Dear PSA pilots,

First, I want to thank everyone who participated in the recent pilot survey. We are presently sorting through your responses to determine how our MEC can better serve you and ensure that we take the appropriate road to reach our mutually desired destination. As we travel this road, it will be rocky at times, complete with potholes and narrow winding curves, but if we continue to stay strong and unified, we can prevail.

Your MEC will continue the fight for permanent, negotiated improvements to our contract for all PSA pilots. However, to date, PSA has still not put rate increases or work rule improvements on the table.

Both PSA and AAG give the appearance that everything is copacetic at our airline; nevertheless, I still believe that PSA management understands the recruiting challenges we face, knows what needs to be done to correct it, and in time will act appropriately. Here is the problem: with each passing day, we continue to fall further behind the power curve. Right now, we are flying nose up with our airspeed rapidly depleting. Will PSA and AAG add power and lower the nose, or will we continue to setup for the stall?

As airline pilots, when faced with the choice of being a leader or follower, we have chosen to lead. It appears that AAG management agrees with us. In 2012 AAG SVP Kenji Hashimoto told Air Cargo News, “[i]t’s all about being up with the game, if not ahead and leading it. We’re right up there now and I hope that soon—we can effectively lead the way.” While Mr. Hashimoto was referring to American’s cargo operation, his view holds true today. To successfully compete in the recruitment of new pilots, we must heed Mr. Hashimoto’s sound advice to take the lead and be the innovators. Yet management inexplicably remains grounded and inert while the competition soars ahead. Republic, Trans States, CommutAir, Compass, GoJet, ExpressJet and others have all ratified new contracts, contract extensions, or letters of agreement that made significant, permanent improvements. You have heard me speak to management’s pennywise and pound-foolish approach to running its business. It is imperative that management starts making permanent contractual gains instead of continuing to tinker and dabble like Peter Pan in a fantasyland of temporary fixes, imperiling our collective futures.

American’s net profits surged 50% from $4.2 billion in 2014 to $6.2 billion last year. Given these stupefying profits, why is management unwilling to maintain competitive pay rates and work rules for its regional pilots? On a call with investors, Doug Parker stated, regarding AAG profits, that, “[w]e knocked it out of the park.” Yet, we seem to have been left out of the game, so it is no wonder that PSA pilots feel wronged. American novelist Daniel Handler wrote “[s]omeone feeling wronged is like someone feeling thirsty. Don’t tell them they aren’t. Sit with them and have a drink.” So far, management has refused to sit and have a drink with us, telling us that we can’t possibly be thirsty because our story is better than any other story in the industry. After all, here at PSA we have a true flow-through to American Airlines. Our thirst, however, is for fair and competitive work rules and compensation, fueled by the desire to belong to the “team” that we are led to believe we are a part of. It is no wonder why our thirst cannot be quenched when Mr. Parker is quoted saying that “[t]he U.S. airline industry has been so transformed in the past five years that the nation’s largest carriers may never again report annual losses.” If this is true, it is puzzling as to why management will not discontinue recruiting gimmicks like bonuses that can vaporize on a whim and instead provide the permanent gains our pilots deserve and AAG can afford.

Last week I quoted Doug Parker’s recent comments that AAG believes in negotiating industry-leading pay rates in all its contracts. Do we see industry-leading pay rates here at PSA? The answer is a resounding “NO.” In fact, three out of the five lowest first year first officer hourly pay rates are paid by AAG’s wholly owned carriers. Does this public statement that AAG team members should see significantly higher wages every paycheck not apply to us? The contradictions between such public statements and the way we are treated shatters management’s credibility and our morale, leaving us with the impression that we are the black sheep of the American “family,” or American’s B Team.

I also explained that pilots new to PSA will suffer a pay reduction in their second year of employment because their income is no longer artificially inflated by the signing bonus. Why would a pilot stay at PSA under these circumstances? Well, management thought up a fix for this. On day one of class, our future first officers are forced to sign an employment agreement as a condition of receiving the signing bonus. To keep the bonus in its entirety, a new pilot must complete two full years of service at PSA. This is an exceptionally long commitment period. To make matters worse, the bonus does not begin to prorate until after one full year of service. That means if a pilot leaves PSA for a better career opportunity after 11 months and 29 days, he owes PSA the full $15,000! Funny that all those company press releases last week didn’t mention this part of the deal.

Your MEC is highly aware of the problems our airline faces. We are addressing these issues on a daily basis as well as other issues important to our pilot group such as SAP, payroll, and scheduling. The MEC’s goal is to quench the thirst of our members by making across-the-board improvements for all pilots. As your MEC chairman, I strongly feel that I see water ahead, and it is not a mirage of false hope. Rest assured we will keep up our fight to make PSA the best airline for our pilots today, and the best career choice for pilots in the future.

In unity,



Travis Ricks
Chairman, PSA MEC