Special Early Edition of Your EWR Council 170 Weekly BlastMail for Tuesday, March 31,

“Continental feels that there is no contractual reason to pay the lump sum.” – Fred Abbott, Vice President of Flight Operations, March 16, 2009, during a pilot meeting in Guam.

Today is Tuesday, March 31st. As some of you may know, Unit 1, the bargaining unit for many of ALPA’s staffers, faces a possible strike tonight at midnight. The Officers of Council 170 fully support our brothers and sisters of Unit 1 in their efforts to bargain for a fair and equitable contract. We will not perform struck work of any kind nor will we be able to access many of ALPA’s services if Unit 1 is forced to go on strike tonight or at any time prior to agreement on a new contract. We have issued this week’s BlastMail early to avoid any interruption in our communications to you, our constituents.

There are 10 items for discussion:

Item 1: Mr. Kellner’s Flights of Fancy

In “The Gift That Keeps on Giving” department, rarely is one story so generous as to provide us with material for multiple BlastMails. Thus, we are thankful for Mr. Kellner’s interesting and enlightening feature article in a recent issue of the Houston Chronicle. In this article, Mr. Kellner tells us all that “now might not be the best time for negotiations with mechanics and pilots”. History demonstrates that the only time best for management to negotiate with us in a fair and equitable manner is “never”.

The article goes on to say that that, “Continental’s labor costs are on the high end of the industry, in part because of a rash of bankruptcies earlier this decade that allowed some rivals to slash pensions and other employee commitments.” Yes, that’s what the article says. They almost make it sound like fun, all that slashing of “pensions and other employee commitments”. After reading Mr. Kellner’s assurances that our contract is, indeed, at the pinnacle of the airline industry, we are relieved to know that all the things we thought had been taken from us via Contract ’02 are still in place—like our pensions, work rules, and pay. Maybe all we need to do is file a pay claim.

To analyze Mr. Kellner’s assertion that our “labor costs are on the high end of the industry”, we turned to our resident airline analyst, former member of our Negotiating Committee, and Chairman of our council’s Education Committee, Captain Tim Boyens. Captain Boyens is well-known among our pilots for his insight and intellectual vigor and honesty. His take?

Continental Airlines pilots rank eighth (8th) in cockpit costs, and $234 per block hour lower than the pilots of American Airlines.

The list below, from last week’s MEC Chairman’s Update, bears repeating. It shows all U.S.-based airlines ranked from highest to lowest block hour cockpit costs in 2007, the last year for which this data is available. The list does not include UPS or FedEx; if it did, we would rank tenth lowest (10th) instead of eighth (8th) lowest.

Total Cockpit Cost per Block Hour - ALL AIRCRAFT 2007

American $781/hour
Northwest $648/hour (via BK court)
Hawaiian $627/hour
Alaska $621/hour
United $613/hour (via BK court)
Southwest $567/hour
Delta $562/hour (via BK court)
Continental $547/hour
USAirways $520/hour (via BK court twice)

Vice President of Flight Operations, Fred Abbott, on his recent fishing trip to Guam, told our Guam-based pilots that we will be spending freely on things such as lie-flat seats for our 777 and 757’s, and satellite TV systems for our 757-300’s and 737 NG’s. While we are naturally thrilled that management has committed millions of dollars to the improvement of our product, they had better be thinking about how to improve the lives and livelihoods of the pilots who safely, efficiently, and economically provide our product to our passengers.

Delta Air Lines Captain Mike Donatelli, our ALPA National SPSC Chairman, said it best: “The price of fuel is the price of fuel and the price of a pilot is the price of a pilot.” Our management never wants for a thing, and cost never seems to be an object when it comes to new terminals, new President’s Clubs, new ramp equipment, new airplanes, or Mr. Kellner’s latest compensation demands. We, the pilots, demand the same consideration as every other essential component of Continental Airlines. When fuel was $4 per gallon, management paid it. The price of pilots will be going up significantly, too, and we will require management to figure out how to pay us. Management has gotten industry-leading contracts for years—and ours is now due. Management can use their talents to provide us with an industry-leading contact—or they can fight us and stall. In the end, we will be paid what we have both earned and deserve. How much pain management is willing to go through in the process—that is up to them.

Item 2: Fred Goes Fishing

As alluded to above, Vice President of Flight Operations, Fred Abbott, recently hosted all of management’s Chief Pilots on a long-range navigation junket to Guam. At the Guam-based pilot’s meeting called for the occasion, Mr. Abbott told the thirty or so assembled pilots, “this is not just a fishing trip”, and he was right—it was all that—and so much more. It was the chance for Mr. Abbott to treat every Chief Pilot, members of management staff, and assorted hangers-on to positive-space passes, stay in first-class hotel rooms, and enjoy first-class expense accounts, all while soaking up the sun and enjoying the night-life of Guam. They also likely bounced several our non-revs trying to make the difficult trip from Honolulu to Guam to get to work.

How many of our furloughed pilots could have been brought back in exchange for the money spent on this trip? How many pay claims for ACARS time-shorting could have been reimbursed? How many months of health insurance for new hire pilots might have been paid?

Every day, management throws waste and excess like this in our faces followed by a reminder that they just can’t afford to pay us. Yes, they can—and, yes, they will.

Item 3: Management Clarifies Cockpit Jumpseat for Off-Duty Mechanics—Sort of

Late Friday, after several requests from both our MEC leadership and the MEC Jumpseat Committee, and with the support of all Continental pilots, management moved to clarify their position on whether or not our off-duty mechanics may access the Captain's jumpseat for personal travel.

In a bulletin issued on the Flight Operations E-Bulletin Board, management says:

"Recently there has been some confusion introduced with regard to Continental’s long-standing jumpseat policy as it relates to the authorization of Continental mechanics that are licensed certificated airman to occupy the flight deck jumpseat.

Individuals, including licensed mechanics traveling on-duty or for personal travel, who are approved by our automated jumpseat system are authorized to occupy the flight deck jumpseat with your verification of the documentation and identification requirements as outlined in the Flight Operations Manual.

As is stated in the Continental Airlines Flight Operations Manual at Section 5, page 44:

Certificated employees of Continental Airlines (pilots, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians) are authorized flight deck jumpseat access in accordance with the FAR requirements specified in the chart above.
Continental pilots, dispatchers and maintenance technicians actively employed by the airline are identified in Continental’s automated jumpseat access program and permitted flight deck jumpseat access."

While management is certainly entitled to their opinion as to who is authorized to request access to the Captain's jumpseat, the "chart" referenced in the bulletin excerpted above does not mention mechanics flying off-duty on personal travel. To help resolve this, and to help our mechanics regain their jumpseat privileges as quickly as possible, your MEC leadership has requested written clarification from the Continental Airlines POI. In the mean time, management has assured us that no pilot will face any action from the FAA as a result of their decision to carry any mechanic cleared for cockpit access via the existing jumpseat authorization protocol.

Obscured in this tempest in a cockpit is the very real fact that every month older 737's with two cockpit jumpseats leave our fleet. In some cases there is a 737 NG to replace it, in some cases there is not. We are an airline made of commuting pilots—in large part because of the cavalier opening and closing of pilot bases by management in the past. Anyone remember Greensboro, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle, Honolulu, Denver, El Paso, or Manila?

Every 737 that leaves our fleet means lost jumpseats and fewer commuting opportunities for our pilots—and summer is coming. Despite the economy, full summer loads are coming, as well. While we are excited to see management spend so much time and effort helping our mechanics travel while off-duty, we would like to see some of that effort directed toward us, the pilots of Continental Airlines. We still have a CASS system that is buggy at best, green screen computers at some of our stations, agents who do not know jumpseat processing procedures, and pilots trying to get to work left behind every day because management is not interested in fixing the problem they created. We are also dangerously close to being thrown off the jumpseats of other airlines because word of our daily failure to accommodate our fellow pilots from these other airlines is getting back to their jumpseat committees. There is no free lunch, there is only quid pro quo—and management is not holding up their end of the deal.

While it does not help the pilots from other airlines left stranded by management’s miserable implementation of CASS, please, Captains, know at least the procedure for alternate jumpseat access for our own pilots. If we plan to operate the hellish schedule management has in store for us this summer, everyone will have to get to work.