LEC 083 Newsblast: 28APR17 Meeting Overview
May 3, 2017
YOUR NEW LEC083 INTERIM FIRST OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE IS…
Fellow DFW Pilots,
With Captain Flynn’s departure from Council 083, we held an interim election for the LEC 083 First Officer Representative position at last week’s LEC meeting. Unfortunately, no eligible First Officers were nominated nor were there eligible First Officers willing to serve in this role.
The ALPA Constitution and Bylaws allow a Captain to be nominated for the First Officer Representative position if no eligible First Officers are nominated. Captain Pat Couture, our current Secretary-Treasurer, understood the importance of this position as it pertains to pilot governance and accepted the nomination and election for the interim position for the First Officer Representative.
Thank you, Captain Pat Couture, for undertaking this very important role!
REGULAR ELECTION FOR FIRST OFFICER REPRESENTATIVE
While Captain Pat Couture is happy to serve as the Interim First Officer Representative, we would like to remind our pilots that a regular election will take place for this position with the term ending 28FEB18. Any LEC 083 First Officer who is in good standing and who is off probation is eligible to be elected to this role. If you are interested in learning more about the duties and responsibilities of the First Officer Representative position, please contact
[email protected]. We expect electronic ballots will be sent to pilots in mid-May so there is still time if you are considering to volunteer.
LEC 083 MEETING OVERVIEW – APRIL 28, 2017
We want to thank all of the LEC 083 pilots who attended our local council meeting last Friday at the DFW Airport. We discussed several issues that produced lively debate. Below is a summary of the topics discussed.
E-175 Options – Envoy announced they will be exercising 4 E-175 aircraft of the 90 total Options which is great news for our airline. We understand that 2 of the optioned aircraft will arrive in November 2017 with the next 2 arriving in December 2017. This means that Envoy will operate 44 E-175 aircraft by the end of 2017. Envoy Management had not approached the Association to discuss PBS at the time of the meeting.
EMB-140 Aircraft – With Air Wisconsin’s upcoming departure from AAG’s regional feed network, AAG is asking PSA and Envoy to increase their flying capacity to cover this additional flying. Combined with paid-off leases and low fuel costs, AAG is preparing to deploy the rest of Envoy’s EMB-140 fleet (59 total) currently in short-term storage at SJT. Unfortunately, we do not know if Envoy will be able to staff these additional aircraft and we are unsure if AAG will place this flying out for bid. Your LEC 083 Leadership expressed concerns about the costs this growth could have on the current pilot group as it concerns junior manning practices and the effects on the flow through. Envoy Management also stated the EMB-145/EMB-140 fleet will be undergoing an FMS upgrade soon and possibly Wi-Fi installation, pending an AAG economics review.
Negotiations: Domicile Flexibility LOA – Envoy Management is no longer interested in the proposed Satellite Domicile LOAs that were the subject of negotiations in 2015/2016. However, the Company still wants the ability to be “more flexible” when it comes to opening and closing pilot domiciles and have proposed a new letter of agreement. Your LEC 083 Leadership has not been provided with the actual language of the LOA, but have been briefed on the basic concepts of a potential agreement. When it comes to opening a new domicile, the proposed Domicile Flexibility LOA would provide a monetary incentive for a pilot to bid the same equipment in a new base in order to reduce training cycles. In exchange, some TDY limitations would be eliminated when opening a new domicile. When it comes to closing a domicile, the Company incorporated many of the provisions found in the MIA/NY TDY LOUs that were the subject of negotiations in 2015 related to those base closures. However, several concerns remain over domicile closing procedures the Company has proposed as it relates to the Company’s resistance to “foot print” travel. Your LEC 083 Leadership does not believe a pilot should be forced to travel TDY to/from a closed domicile on a day off. We have asked the Negotiating Committee and the MEC Officers to publish the proposed Domicile Flexibility LOA to the pilot group as soon as possible. Once that information is transmitted, we will be asking pilots for more feedback.
Other Negotiations – Unfortunately, Management does not seem to have the bandwidth to negotiate more than one item at a time.
While a much-needed fix to our reserve system is not currently being negotiated, the Company has suggested that if the pilots can approve domicile flexibility, they will be more inclined to negotiate necessary reserve modifications shortly thereafter.
Flow Through – In June, the last of the 824 flow through pilots will have flowed to AA and that means we will start the Protected Pilot flow through list. The Association has not been given specific flow through projections broken down by month by the Company for the Protected Pilot flow through group for 2017. However, your LEC Leadership is concerned that Envoy Management continues to incorrectly communicate that metering associated with this flow through group is a maximum figure when the agreement clearly states otherwise. We will continue to closely monitor this information to ensure the CBA is being enforced correctly.
EMB-145 Training in France – As you know, Envoy has announced that pilots conducting quick upgrade training on the EMB-145 this summer may conduct that training in France due to limited training resources. Your LEC 083 Leadership has expressed numerous quality of life concerns over the location of this training including hotel accommodations, food availability and expense, personal safety, connectivity with family/friends back home, etc. Members from the Security Committee and the Hotel Committee will conduct a site visit soon and will better evaluate the conditions our pilots will be exposed to. Once the site visit is conducted, we will work with Management to satisfy any outstanding concerns.
Monthly Schedules – Monthly Schedules continue to be a topic at the forefront of the LEC 083 Leadership’s focus. We were originally told that early 2017 schedules would see marked improvements. While these schedule improvements have not been realized yet, we continue to ask our MEC Officers and Scheduling Committee to push the Company for positive changes to our schedules.
Soft Landing Program – MEC Chairman Sam Pool has asked the MEC if the Envoy pilots would be interested in providing a “soft landing” for other regional airline pilots previously employed by an ALPA carrier who decide to make the transition to Envoy. The “soft landing” would provide some type of monetary incentive for a pilot to start over at Envoy and would have no added benefit as it concerns seniority bidding or flow through. Please provide feedback to your local representatives concerning this issue.
401(k) Default Contributions – Partly due to turn over caused by the flow through, participation in Envoy’s 401(k) program is relatively low when considering past participation. The MEC Officers and the R&I Committee have recommended that all future new hire pilots be subject to a 401(k) default contribution that would automatically begin their 401(k) participation. We asked the R&I Committee to work with ALPA National to research this proposal further since early participation in a 401(k) program traditionally provides a positive financial foundation.
Return to Envoy – Both PSA and PDT have an ability for their flow through pilots to return to their respective airline if they do not successfully complete new hire training at American Airlines. Your LEC 083 Leadership asked pilots if the Envoy pilots should seek parody with PSA and PDT when it relates to this program. Again, please provide feedback to your local representatives concerning this issue.
Contract Compliance – Contract Compliance disputes with the Company continue to be prominent. The Association is getting reports of pilots being expected to have or use a cell phone for Company business, reports of high numbers of PO/PVD/RTD denials, reports of Crew Scheduling’s incorrect application of Junior Man and Extension events, reports of F&H Solutions incorrectly denying FMLA applications, and reports of pilots being scheduled to work more than 6 consecutive days of duty during transition without a calendar day free from duty. When these issues arise, please submit as much detail as possible and collect as much evidence as possible. Then file a contract dispute on the alpa.org website and report the dispute to your local representatives.
In this profession, it’s not always easy to make time for family, much less union meetings. The LEC 083 Leadership Team appreciates those that found time to attend the meeting last week.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns don’t hesitate to contact your LEC 083 Leadership Team.
In Unity,
Captain Neal Spanier
ENY LEC-083 Chairman
More of the same years later. "If you sign this LOA, we'll definitely improve RSV"