To: All ATI Crewmembers
From: John Vestal
Subject: Pilot contract negotiations
The management team meets with each recurrent class to get a firsthand account of the pilots' perspective and to assist with resolving concerns they may have. We feel this open communication is very important to building a good relationship within the company.
During those meetings, I have fielded numerous questions regarding the parties' progress toward a successor collective bargaining agreement. Crewmembers seemed particularly concerned about how long it would take to reach a new agreement following ALPA's request for mediation under the auspices of the National Mediation Board. That question is very difficult to answer. A couple of years are not an uncommon timeline for a resolution through mediation. I simply cannot say how long it will take given the number of tentative agreements we have reached on individual sections of the collective bargaining agreement, and the parties' respective positions on the remaining open items.
As most of you probably are aware, the parties have reached tentative agreements for most sections of the CBA. We are at the point where the majority of the remaining open items are economic. They include issues related to scheduling, business class travel for international deadheads, per diem, pay scales, and more.
The biggest economic point of interest is pay. We have received proposals from ALP A which sought pay scales and annual pay materially higher than any of our competitors, including pay scales applicable to 747 flying at Atlas and Kalitta, and 767 flying at ABX.
We have proposed pay scales and annual salaries that represent very significant increases over current book. Your committee received and rejected our proposals.
Our operation consists of B757 /767 aircraft and we find ourselves in a great position to capture additionalopportunitieswithourcustomers. However,ourcustomerswantlaborpeaceand competitive cost, which means an amended contract. Getting a deal now puts us in the cat bird seat for capturing a bigger share of the market. We all know, more growth means more upgrades and job security.
Our last proposal offered pay based on the current ABX salaries, minus $10k per year to account for a portion of the value of home basing. We estimate that home basing is worth at least $ 17k per year, so the proposal leaves at least $7k of the value of home basing in the wages. This proposal does not contemplate business class travel, but rather distributes the annual estimated cost of such travel - over $ 1.3M annually - into to the pay tables. That is worth over $5,700 per pilot. This table summarizes that proposal:

The Company and its negotiating committee are committed to reaching an agreement that fairly rewards ATI's crewmembers for their dedication, perseverance, and very valuable contributions, and
at the same time is fiscally responsible and allows us -
competeinaveryaggressiveenvironment. Wewerehopefulthatourproposalwouldopenthedoor to rapid closure and a tentative agreement.