Arado 234

Going for great! The saga continues...



Fellow Pilots,

As you recall, your LUS East representatives filed a Presidential Grievance against the Company for:
· Failing to comply with the 85 Hour assignment maximum for LUS reserve pilots;
· Prohibiting LUS pilot-initiated trip changes for sequences on weekends, holiday, and at the end of a bid month;
· Failing to limit long call to short call conversions for LUS pilots to five (5) per bid month;
· Failure to pay LUS pilots :30 per long call conversion;
· Exceeding RAP shifting limits for LUS pilots; and,
· Failing to pay LUS pilots duty RIGS relating to Minimum Pay and Credit, Time Away from Base, and Duty Period Minimums (Section 15).

This grievance was heard by Captain Kimball Stone – Vice President, Flight. We have received his ruling and it was denied. An Arbitrator will now hear the grievance. The maximum amount of “make whole” solutions will be sought. Continue to file pay claims and keep records.

Folks, this is clear contract language. When you voted on the JCBA you were told that the new contract contained 1.3 billion dollars in contract improvements. There is only one catch - the contract must be implemented to be realized. The Company has taken the position that they, and only they, have the right to implement various provisions of the JCBA. LOA-13-06 says otherwise. The current position of the Company, as per Todd Jewett (Senior Manager Labor Relations, Flight), is that LUS East pilots will continue to operate under the provisions of LOA-93, indefinitely. Todd Jewett is a Jerry Glass protégé, and we all know that Jerry is the architect of LOA-93. Just so you understand the chain of command here, Labor Relations runs everything. The Flight Ops leadership might as well be cardboard cutouts.

Apparently, we cannot depend on our Flight Operations leaders (Tim Campbell, Kimble Stone, Mark Cronin and Base Chief Pilots) to stand up for us in the big room. A small example of the enormity of the pay you are losing is reflected in the On Duty All-Nighters (ODAN’s). Under your CURRENT CONTRACT (the JCBA) ODAN’s pay around 9 hours, which we are being denied. The Company is stealing roughly $700.00 per night from a group two Captain who flies them. That is just one small example of the blatant theft that is taking place by rouge labor relations managers. There are many more like the 5:10 minimum day, not to mention quality of life issues.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is as serious as it gets! We cannot allow this Labor Relations group to unilaterally determine what parts of the contract they will honor and what parts we will honor. We must take a stand. Captain Frear explained to Captain Stone during the grievance hearing that as long as the company honored the contract, they wouldn't hear us complain. Captain Stone said, “That was reasonable.” Apparently, he did not mean it.

Delta just signed a new industry leading contract that is far superior to ours and has an amendable date that is BEFORE ours. The epitome of disgrace is our Company will not even honor the current industry lagging contract. They have the gall to expect you to continue to abide by a contract that was forced upon us in the worst time in airline history more than 11 years ago. It is now the best of times in the industry. They have no shame, and we will not acknowledge their arbitrary rules.

You have a contract. It is the JCBA with an effective date of January 30, 2015. LOA-93 is no longer your contract. FLY YOUR CONTRACT!

In Unity,

eaglefly

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this just denied by management as opposed by an arbitrator ?

Bringupthebird

Hmm wonder how this would have gone if there was a unified pilot group instead of USAPA's patented whipsaw strategy?

Remember to thank Steven Bradford for setting you up for this.

Cheddar

According to the authors, this wasn't before the arbitrator, it was before the VP of Flight Ops.

This letter is an example of one of the biggest problem with the LUS East reps - IMnshO - the factual errors. Ugh. They diminish the argument (which is valid, and they shouldn't even have to grieve it) by putting in misleading crap like 5:10 min day (non-calendar to be implemented with PBS, as per every roadshow), and Delta HASN'T signed a new "industry leading" contract! In fact, if you look at most responses in other threads, it's concessionary.

This ability to skew facts in order to make one's argument 'heavier' was all to familiar during the JCBA, when the darned facts were bad enough. All I'm trying to say is that by adding in crap, that is Easily refutable, it really takes away from an otherwise valid argument.

All of that notwithstanding, I can't believe they lost. Hopefully it will be a no-brainer before the arbitrator.

asacimesp

It's hard to win when you are presenting your argument to the people who are already telling you "no"....

Bringupthebird

Is there a Plan B in case the East doesn't like the arbitrator's decision? USA Today ad? Lanyards?

EMBFlyer

Lee-ta-gation?

Bringupthebird

Good luck getting senior guys to ante up the money to help out some no-name reserves.

EMBFlyer

We'll just sell ties for $6.75 a piece and sell them out in front of the "eens" we stay in.

Thedude

You are correct.