Item 8: Request for Committee Volunteers
All of our committees need volunteers. If you are one of the many somewhat selfish and untested among us, if you are interested in committee work, if you have special artistic talents of any kind, or if you just like to chew the legs off your dining room table, we want you to help your fellow EWR pilots. If you are interested or have previously expressed interest via e-mail or a phone call, please confirm your continuing interest in an e-mail to Captain Kaye Riggs, Secretary-Treasurer, LEC 170 at
[email protected]. Please put your name and the word “Volunteer” in the subject line.
Item 9: Next Meetings
Please join us at our next local council meeting scheduled for August 12, 2009, from 11:00 to 15:00 at the EWR Airport Marriott.
Our next MEC meeting has not yet been scheduled but should occur in October.
Item 10: Chairman’s Editorial
There is much to talk about this week. I apologize in advance for the length of my editorial, however, by necessity, it will be a long one.
Your CAL MEC was notified this week that Continental Management would be sending out as many as 308 letters to our most junior pilots notifying them of a possible furlough. These letters are required by New JerseyState law. Your LEC Officers believe any possible furloughs in light of the total revamp of the FAA Flight and Duty Time Regulations, scheduled aircraft deliveries over the next year, and our historical inability to ever correctly staff this airline as is evident by the ongoing abuse of so many of our pilots is completely ludicrous and unwarranted. As former IACP President Bill Borelli used to state, “every time our flight operations management comes to a fork in the road, they take the wrong turn.” Or as our Kaye Riggs says, “every time our management comes to a fork in the road they take the spoon.”
I have spoken to many very junior pilots over the last few days. To a pilot they all oppose any furlough mitigation talks. Your EWR LEC Officers are also adamantly opposed to any furlough mitigation negotiations. While we will certainly listen to whatever management has to say—as we are required to do under the RLA—we will not be negotiating any type of concession. We will not put any section of our meager contract up for sale to mitigate furloughs. If management wants additional hostages, they will have to take them without our consent or assistance—and they will have to live with the consequences of their actions.
In light of this news from our heartless management team, I think it’s appropriate to once again quote former union-buster turned union good-guy Mr. Marty Levitt: “Fear is like caviar, lobster and filet mignon. The emotional element of fear is vital.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qajB...4FB943&index=0
Message to many of our pilots: A question was asked last week during our Special MEC Meeting about the number of credit hours waived during PBS monthly bidding. The answer: our pilots waive so many hours every month that, absent this ritual, Continental would not only have to recall every pilot, they would have to hire. Do I have to remind everyone that being in a union isn’t about the individual “me”—it’s about the collective “we”. Something to think about for the many pilots who salivate over how many pay hours they can pack into their bid month like a bunch of pigs at the proverbial trough. Ironically, some of these pilots are junior line holders who may have helped fuel management’s decision to seriously ponder furloughing them!
Last week Mr. Kellner announced his resignation. I’ve honestly lost count, but I believe we are north of 10 ex CEOs or CEO/Presidents during my twenty- two year tenure at Continental. My personal impression of our new leader? Honestly, he reminds very much of one of our former CEOs Robert “CALLITE - We can downsize to profitability” Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson wasn’t a huge fan of the pilots. I truly hope Mr. Smisek proves me terribly wrong. If I am not, then he can look forward to serious pilot unity and labor unrest fueled by the leaders of Council 170. CEO’s come and go and we don’t need to pay too much attention to them. After all, it’s our company not theirs.
In all honesty, the only former Continental CEO who really truly in my opinion cared about our employees and actually had a conscience was the one and only Hollis Harris. Hollis, who spent 36 years with Delta Airlines, starting out as a transportation agent by day and going to college at night, ended his Delta career as the President and Chief Operating Officer. In 1990 he brought hope to our employees: part of the terms of his arrival was the permanent departure of Frank Lorenzo. Unfortunately, a few months after Hollis’s arrival, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and shortly thereafter we entered our second bankruptcy. After a heartfelt voice mail to our employees asking for their prayers for the well being of our company, he was surrounded by the evil back stabbing managers still left over from the Lorenzo days and forced out. Hollis, like the many behind and ahead of him, transited the revolving CEO door at Continental. I was truly disappointed after hearing of Hollis’s departure. I remember looking up Hollis’s phone number in the phone book and calling him (it was actually listed—image that). He took the time to speak to a lowly EWR four year first officer for over an hour. Unfortunately, CEO’s like Hollis Harris and Robert Six are long gone. As an interesting note, I found the following statement from Hollis on the internet from a story about him from a local publication near his residence.
“’However,’ he says, ‘when I went to Continental it was a different management challenge. I learned more about people and crisis management in one year than during my entire time at Delta.’
“The airline was close to bankruptcy and Harris was brought in late in the game to help turn Continental airlines around. When disagreement occurred in management as to how the airline should move forward, Harris chose a direction which supported the staff and pilots rather than go back on his commitments to them. The position left him at odds with the conventional views of others and ultimately resulted in a mutual decision that he end his relationship with Continental.“
http://www.thecitizen.com/archive/ma...ers/pt-01.html
Last week your MEC held a special meeting to receive a brief on the STAR Alliance, anti-trust immunity, the proposed A ++ agreement and a complete financial and negotiating update from our Negotiating Committee and ALPA experts.
While virtually all of the meeting was held in executive session, I can say the following: Every representative thanked me for forwarding to them all of the e-mails containing your economic objectives and they told me they read each and every one of them. Your message was delivered and received loud and clear. We, as an MEC, unanimously decided to move forward on a comprehensive Contract 08 campaign while taking advantage of windows of opportunity as they arise to improve the quality our lives in the interim. We all know you can’t retro quality of life.
The following is just my personal opinion and I have no specific knowledge to base my judgment on other them my instinct and gut feeling: If I was one of our very senior pilots who was preparing to retire in the next few years—given the uncertainty of the economic environment, the change at the helm of our senior management, and the threat of the unknown with little or no time to make up for any catastrophic losses in my retirement funds—I would think long and hard about the options available to me. Just my two cents for what it’s worth. Of course, before making any decision to retire, you need to educate and evaluate for yourself all of the factors and make the decision that is best for you and your family; no one can make that evaluation other then you.
Speaking of executive session, I have heard from some of our pilots their dissatisfaction we continue to hold negotiation strategy sessions in executive session. Tara, Kaye, and I strongly debated after being elected not signing union or company confidentiality agreements. After going around and around the answer became crystal clear: there is absolutely no way to effectively represent our pilots without signing those documents and actively participating in the process of what is being discussed confidentially in executive session. How could we participate, debate, or influence, or carry forth your voice as we vote on your behalf without being privy to all the facts and issues? We came to the conclusion that not signing the documents and not participating in executive sessions would be foolish and inappropriate.
It is paramount that every pilot understands the need for confidentiality of critical union strategy. Do you think the company would strategize with the Board of Directors or within Senior Management without keeping what was discussed in the strictest of confidence? Tara, Kaye, and I are all firm believers in the ALPA triangle and the concepts of “trust but verify” vs. blind trust. Ultimately, each and every one of you will be the judge and you will have the final say.
Unfortunately, given the history of some of our union predecessors including some who have crossed over to the dark side, we are forced to live with the legacy of union leaders who couldn’t and shouldn’t have been trusted. It’s a very unfortunate scenario and I share your frustration. However, with that being said, either you trust Tara, Kaye, and me to actively listen to you our constituents and make the appropriate decisions on your behalf as your elected representatives or you don’t. If you don’t trust us, you have absolutely no choice—in fact you have the duty to recall us. It’s not personal, it’s business and if that is what needs to be done, then so be it.