Issue: Reserve Long Call-Out.
Outcome: “It was reported to the group that long call out was not an issue that the Company is willing to consider at this time”.
Issue: The Commuter Policy issue was previously voted upon and accepted as an issue.
Outcome: “Management at this time does not want to entertain the concept of a Commuter Policy”.
A general member posted this poll to determine pilot interest in a commuter Policy(over 70% wanted one):
http://www.skywestforums.com/cgi-bin...=7;t=001141;p=
Also, a “general member” started a thread regarding a commuter policy with these responses:
http://www.skywestforums.com/cgi-bin...=7;t=001136;p= Take careful notice of what the general members are saying and the responses they get from Sapa.They all want a commuter policy!
Issue: Elimination of New Hire Pay – “A tentative verbal proposal from Management was received on the morning of January 9th from Jim Breeze to Chris Abell which stated the following: Elimination of the hourly wage and per diem for new hire pilots. Provisions for hotel accommodations for new hire pilots might also be discontinued or at best move to double occupancy.”
Outcome: “Based on SAPA Bylaws paragraph 6, Membership Requirements, it was determined that SAPA has no jurisdiction in the setting of new hire pay.” ???
Issue: OJI Away from Domicile Procedures.
Outcome: “Not voted upon due to Management’s previous disapproval.”
Issue: Commuter Parking Policy – “Discussion ensued. A motion was made to accept this as an issue. It was seconded and voted upon. The motion carried.”
Outcome Intermediate: “Months ago, Michael Macias was commissioned to write up a proposal to allow for one parking pass to be issued to a crewmember at his/her airport of choice. After much discussion over the course of many meetings, many variables and differences of opinions arose. The group never came to a consensus. This lack of consensus coupled with many other pressing issues on the table led to the deferral of this issue to a later time.” Final Outcome: “This issue was placed on hold due to information received from the Company with respect to a possible Company policy change that will require employees to be responsible for airport parking fees.”
Issue: Vacation and Training line. “Tom Coyle reported that he had spoken with Management in regard to the Vacation and Training line issue.”
Outcome: “It looks as if these lines will soon be discontinued due to operational needs.”
Issue: Withholding E120 Vacation Bids. “A motion was made to submit a formal objection to Management based on numerous PIC’s. The motion was seconded. A vote was taken and the motion carried.”
Outcome: Management continued with its decree and Vacation was denied to E120 crewmembers for the first quarter of 2002. This was a hard pill to swallow for crewmembers that had already seen staffing too thin for over a year and been denied vacation, golden days and comp days due to known staffing problems. This, in addition to the poor schedules still prevalent today continues to leave a bad taste and poor moral among the pilots.
Issue: Bylaws Elections Rewrite Proposal – “Different opinions within the group were heard…. it was agreed that prior to changing the Bylaws, that we first find out if in fact the majority of the General Membership would be in favor of the change. We will poll the General Membership via SkyWestOnline with respect to this issue.”
Outcome: Sapa did not conduct a poll. However, a general member posted one and it indicated that a majority of the pilots support direct elections. Ultimately, Sapa with no further input from the pilot group decided the following as recorded in the August 2003 meeting minutes: Bylaws Rewrite - Protocol for the Election of SAPA – “Heavy discussion regarding this issue ensued once again. At the end, each rep was asked to individually express how he/she felt about this issue. After hearing from each individual rep, a motion was made to drop this issue. The motion was seconded. A vote was taken and the motion carried.” What kind of message is being sent when elected representatives are derelict in carrying out the desires or even attempting to find out the desires of those they are shouldered with representing?
Issue: Ready Reserve being assigned at the end of a trip.
Outcome: “SAPA recognizes the ability of the company to assign Ready Reserve after a trip.” For those who are new, ready reserve was brought in with Sapa’s blessing (no snapback, no written temporary agreement, no expiration date) during the 2002 SLC winter Olympics as a temporary way to “Help the company out” with the need for quicker response time during the few months the games were going on. What was a temporary policy to “help the company out” became permanent. It went from periodic use to abusive. From schedulers only being able to assign one person for a given position to RR sometimes to schedulers assigning it to almost all that were finishing a trip on a reserve day just because they wanted to. When Sapa says these words: “We are going to help the company out with a temporary protocol” you better listen up because that new protocol will become policy that follows you for the rest of your career at Skywest.
Issue: Pilots desire for a defendant for review board.
Outcome: “Management will not be able to accommodate due to legal constraints.”