6 July 2019

Over the past eight months, the Association has repeatedly requested information about what the next generation of the United Career Path Program (CPP) would look like, or if there will even be one going forward. Since its inception the CPP has been plagued with issues and there has been little to no communication with participants, or the Association for that matter, about potential fixes or what the future holds for pilots at XJT in terms of career progression. Our requests for information were designed to provide feedback to United and the company about ways to improve the program for all parties involved.

Yesterday, we finally received the company’s first CPP communication in some time. This communication, strategically sent to a frustrated and exhausted pilot group over a holiday weekend, is language added to the CPP’s attendance and reliability policy. The update states:

United recently made a revision to the “Dependability” section of the CPP program. Specifically, a statement has been added that states “A complete dependability history (excused and unexcused occurrences) will be reviewed by United’ [sic] Board of Review (BOR).”

My preliminary discussions with the MECs of other CPP carriers indicate that this change is, to our present knowledge, exclusive to ExpressJet. While a majority of the attendance and reliability section of the CPP remains unchanged, the Association views yesterday’s update as a pitifully desperate and unoriginal attempt by a similarly-versed management team to solve their mounting operational and staffing issues by threatening possible career repercussions if you call in sick. Our sick calls have increased, but this is no doubt due to the increased physical and psychological stress our pilots face — a symptom of the horrendous state of life on the line and management’s inability to solve the staffing challenges they face. Quality of life has fallen to record lows at XJT, resulting in over-worked and over-extended pilots who, being human, then get sick.

This revision essentially results in two different sick policies for XJT pilots to abide by; the first is the company’s current Attendance and Reliability Program policy and the second is outlined in the CPP guidelines to be used to determine a pilot’s eligibility for the CPP. The company’s sick note policy on xjt.com and the provisions in our collective bargaining agreement remain unchanged. The Federal Aviation Administration Regulations require pilots to assess their fitness for flight prior to each and every flight, and a pilot who calls in sick and meets the requirements of the company’s sick note policy cannot be disciplined. Your ability to conduct safe operations should be your one and only consideration when determining your fitness for duty. To be clear, a pilot should only call in sick if he or she is unfit and should not call in sick if fit for duty. However, the company’s attempt to circumvent and undermine our negotiated work rules while pressuring this decision is simply unacceptable.

Thus far, the CPP has mostly been used as a recruiting and retention tool. Any attempt to sell it as a career progression tool is bogus, as a majority of qualified XJT pilots are unable to progress through the program, L-ASA pilots have yet to be considered and many are still waiting on a second-round Hogan. The recruiting department has recently and unethically used the program to claim on social media that “thousands” of pilots have moved on to United Airlines through the CPP. This claim is false. Even if they were speaking collectively of all UAX CPP carriers, the total number of pilots who have progressed to UAL through the CPP is fewer than 500.

The use of such a terribly mismanaged program to attract pilots on the one hand while simultaneously placing additional pressure on our exploited pilot group on the other is a move the Association deems intolerable on every front. Continue, as you always have, to take professional assessment of your fitness to fly in accordance with the regulations in order to keep yourself, your crew and your passengers safe.

If this program is going to continue to be used to control the pilots at XJT rather than fixing the challenges through the proper channels, it will ultimately become a program your MEC cannot support.

In unity,
ExpressJet MEC Chairman