December 17, 2008


Council 33 Pilots,

This message is to give you information and express my views. As Captain Wallach has said (see his message of December 16), your union leaders have to be free to give you our views about our management without worrying that this will lead you to take action against the company. I am confident you will accept this and future communications that way.

Captain Wallach wrote you last week and stated that senior management has made it clear that they want to improve your quality of life now. I want to take the time to show you the commitments they have made publically and in a timeline. There is no disputing what they promised in their series of the “Seeds of Doubt” letters.

The beginning of the “Seeds of Doubt” was clear in a letter to Capt. Wallach by Doug McKeen, which was reproduced for the membership. Within this letter, Mr. McKeen states: “That is why we were particularly disappointed- and frankly, puzzled – about your (speaking of Capt. Wallach) decision to end discussions abruptly on the following” - as the company representative continued to assert that it was QWL and the Pilot Early Retirement Program (PERP) that they were ready to finish. There is an obvious effort to convey the notion that United, not ALPA, was and still is ready to make your life better. Take note of the generous offer from Mr. Doug McKeen, included within his letter of October 1st:

“With so many tangible improvements left outstanding, we stand ready to continue this dialogue anywhere, at any time. When we do, we will be able to jointly consider all options, weighed, of course, against the budget parameters with which you are well acquainted. To be clear, there is no separate, segregated source of funds expressly devoted to these issues.”

Did you notice the inferred caveat? Read that quote again please, as it contains the bait and switch - he repeats the familiar offering of “something for something.” The company representatives are unwilling to negotiate unless we offer parts of our CBA in exchange for any other modifications. They call it “cost-neutral” or “equal-offset”. They continue to find new ways to call contract concessions by other names, but the membership has made it crystal clear that the concession stand is closed. Consequently, as Capt. Wallach told you, “we are not going to waste dues dollars negotiating against ourselves.”

These “Seeds of Doubt” letters were published after the company’s complaint was filed in federal court and the lawsuit had begun. In the case of Mr. McKeen’s letter, partially quoted above, Capt. Wallach responded and published that letter for the membership. The central point of his rebuttal letter is recounted below:

“Contrary to your letter, Howard and I in fact had a telephone conversation, and Howard agreed to send over a list of items he wanted to discuss. He has not done so to date, and I have reminded him of that fact”

Further documentation of this exchange is provided by the email that Capt. Wallach sent on October 2nd, part of which is quoted here:

“I’m somewhat taken aback at your assertion that I “rejected” your request to meet. To the contrary, I did not “reject” a meeting but rather requested that you send over, in writing, the list of the “bag-of-goodies” you have publically told the pilot group was available. I then indicated that the officers would determine whether there was a basis for a face-to-face meeting.”

It is difficult to acknowledge anything other than the company’s continued desire to occupy our time and waste our money in “dialogue”, as Mr Mckeen calls it. To repeat Capt. Wallach, “ We are not going to negotiate with ourselves.”

As the court proceedings developed, Capt. Wallach also expressed to Mr. McKeen:

“My suggestion to Joe was grounded in the fact that constructive engagement has been made nearly impossible by the company’s lawsuit against ALPA and four individually named pilots.”

The reason for this statement, despite Capt. Wallach’s desire to openly review and consider Attarian’s self-described “bag-of-goodies,” is it remained Capt. Wallach’s responsibility to make every effort to prevent individual pilots from being sued. Despite his willingness to consider offers (that never came), he made it clear that “full” engagement would occur if the four named pilots were removed from the lawsuit. Senior management has repeatedly refused this offer, yet on the very day the Judge awarded the company a preliminary injunction against ALPA, one senior manager had the gall to state:

“This is not a lawsuit against pilots…..” Joe Kolshak, Nov. 18th

Please review the other company statements included in the recent “Seeds of Doubt” series:

September 2008
“Integrity and leadership mean doing the right thing in the face of adversity.”
Howard Attarian

Remember that one, because we are going to hold him to that statement.

October 2008
“Recently we were on the cusp of finalizing a QWL/Fatigue agreement while also delivering our initial proposal for a voluntary retirement program that would have helped mitigate the need for furloughs”….
Joe Kolshak


“We have urged him to reconsider his refusal to meet and have let him know that we are ready to reengage – without any preconditions, at any time.”
Joe Kolshak

October 1, 2008
“With so many tangible improvements left outstanding, we stand ready to continue this dialogue anywhere, at any time.”
P. Douglas McKeen

November 18th, 2008 (On Injunction Day)
“Earlier this year, we had reached a number of agreements with ALPA and were on the verge of finalizing a QWL/fatigue agreement and considering a voluntary early retirement program that would help mitigate the need for furloughs, and we stand ready to resume those discussions”
Joe Kolshak

“We all know there’s room for improvement and we remain committed to making this happen.”
Joe Kolshak

Also, one should be aware of Mr. Attarian’s statements during the domicile tour in Denver. When asked by a pilot if Mr. Attarian had the resources to fix the pilots problems, He stated emphatically that the company promised him the resources to fix the pilots’ problems when he interviewed for VP of Flight Operations, and stated,

“I would not have accepted the job if I had not been given the resources. I was promised the tools to fix these problems, and the tool shed is open.”

Now you can understand why Capt. Wallach stated the following:

“Messrs Kolshak, Attarian, and McKeen: I have authorized the Negotiating Committee to engage the corporation in QWL, fatigue mitigation and the PERP program because you have made it abundantly clear to the United pilots that you want to improve their quality of life issues now. You have also made it clear you wish to offer greater furlough mitigation. We stand ready for you to prove this commitment to the pilots of United Airlines. We stand ready for you to do this without a “cost neutral” or “equal offset” negotiation. We also stand ready for you to validate your open display of consideration afforded to the pilots with a trip trade system that brings real flexibility and quality of working life to our pilots”.

The company is now on point to perform, just as they have said they would. Let them put their money where their mouth is, or we will all know the “Seeds of Doubt” were crafted only for that reason. I will gladly be made the fool if they can deliver on a Trip Trade system with real flexibility, real QWL issues, improvement in fatigue mitigation, and a PERP that is far superior to what a senior pilot would get out of the Voluntary furlough; and now, not is Section 6. The initial contact with our negotiation committee on December 2nd does not show much new in their response.

I hope this helps to clarify the issue.

Like you, I am Standing Ready,
Rick Perry
Chairman - DEN Council 33
719-331-8473
[email protected]