Don't forget to vote! Vote closes July 10

IMPORTANT NOTE: Your ALPA number and internet password
are no longer your voter ID and password.
Please note that there has been a change to voter ID and passwords. You should have received a voter
activation code in the mail to establish you new voter credentials. Should you need a reactivation
code, please visit crewroom.alpa.org and click on My ALPA and then Elections, send an email to
[email protected], or contact Membership & Council Services at (888) FLY-ALPA and press ‘3’.

TELEPHONE AND INTERNET VOTING INSTRUCTIONS

To vote using the telephone:

• Call 1 – 888 – 647 – 1787.
• You will be prompted to enter your 7 digit VIN (voter identification number) and your
4 - 8 digit PIN (personal identification number).
• You will select the ballot entitled FDX Amendments to the LOA Regarding FDA
Assignments in CDG and HKG LOA Ratification Ballot June 2008
• Follow the voice prompts to cast your vote.
• You may recast your vote at any time during the voting period.

To vote using the Internet:
• Log on to the Internet site: https://www.ballotpoint.com/alpa
• You will be prompted to enter your 7 digit VIN (voter identification number) and your
4 - 8 digit PIN (personal identification number).
• Click the Login button. Click on View Ballots.
• Select the ballot entitled FDX Amendments to the LOA Regarding FDA Assignments in
CDG and HKG LOA Ratification Ballot June 2008
• Then click the Request Ballot button.
• Cast your vote by clicking on the button to the left of your selection.
• Finally, click on the Cast Ballot button.
• You may recast your vote at any time during the voting period.

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**If you are calling from a country not listed above, please use the applicable International
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instructions listed above.

 

Or don't forget to not vote if that is your decision.

PS Don't forget you can change your vote! But I don't know if you can change your no vote to a not voting. Maybe someone at the MEC can tell us.

 

My 2 cents:

I'm currently an SFS FO, and am going to HKG as an FO (the only other option out there for me now is 727 SO). I guess I consider HKG FO the lesser of two evils in my particular case.

I'm not trying to tell people how to vote, but I'll just throw out there my line of thinking, again, as a pilot who is going to an FDA:

NO

Reasons? Two off the top of my head:

One,

N. Ongoing Implementation Measures
The parties recognize that the details involved in opening and operating foreign pilot bases are varied and fluid. Other measures facilitating the operation of the pilot bases in CDG and HKG and supporting the pilots based there may be implemented if agreed upon in writing by the Vice President, Labor Relations Law and the ALPA FedEx MEC Chairman.

This is a blank check for the company to make changes, good and BAD, to our lives without the consent of the pilot group; No voting from the membership is required. I simply do not think giving the company the power to make these changes via a handshake with Webb is a good idea. He has clearly demonstrated his inability to look out for the interest of our pilot group, with the exception of about 200 NDs. Why expect him to do otherwise in the future?

Two,

In its most basic form, voting ultimately boils down to one simple principle:

• A Yes vote sends the message that you think this LOA is adequate
• A No vote sends the message that you think this LOA is inadequate

Which message do you want to send? 2010 is closer than you think

A friend of mine said to me today, "haven't even looked at it closely, but seems to me that voting it down will do nothing but hurt the guys who are already going there. not going to affect any kind of change with the company."

I disagree. As a pilot who is going to an FDA, trust me, you will not hurt my feelings by voting No. There is little to nothing you will be taking away from me if this LOA is voted down.

 

I agree 100%, especially reason one. The same bat rastards who sold out the Jr members on STV will do it again in a heart beat. You know there has never been an official explanation on why invol STV eligibility was changed from once every 14 to once every six. But guess what it will pass.

 

Hey there yall, new poster here. Also one affected greatly by this mess, I agree with the Pine. Don't give our stellar performing negotiators the ability to not even consult the group, although they already do. That is setting yet another bad precedence.

I think another noteworthy item is adding trains and boats to the transportation is just giving them more choices on how to make the trip to CAN as miserable as possible. There are direct flights from HKG to CAN, why not just add China Airlines or whoever flies there to the list of 'approved' carriers and it would be an easy trip. (Can their safety record be that much worse than ours?)

No is the only sensible conclusion.

For those who have already gotten some of the enhancements, are they going to take them back? ...you now have to send back 500lbs of crap! Right!

 

Still mulling this over....

I guess the Mother-of-All Excess Bids got everyone a little distracted, and not necessarily focused on the FDA LOA "enhancements"

(...Wow, does that sound familiar......spring/summer of 2007 with a different distraction issue...)

Anyway, it's clear there are a couple of bennies in here from a "tactical" standpoint for those the guys who have already voluntarily made a self-assessment and agreed to go to HKG under the current FDA LOA, but I have yet to hear anything on the "strategic" benefits of accepting this FDA LOA.

How does agreeing to another FDA LOA, that is lacking in so many areas, fit into our strategic plan for overall FDA improvements?

How does adding very small improvements to just barely fill the FDAs increase our strategic leverage now and/or in the future?

How does continuing to let the company design a set of FDA benefits that is only acceptable to a very small segment of our overall pilot group benefit the overall pilot group, when it has been repeatedly communicated by the company (and the current state of the US economy) that these FDAs are the "growth areas" for our company?

Is the vast majority of our pilot group going to once again, fall into the trap that the outcome of this FDA LOA vote simply doesn't affect them?

Are these the final conditions we find sufficient to bid/open CDG with the A300 in 12-18 months, and HKG with the MD11 in the "near future", as folks are being told in RGS?

Are the grave concerns that the company will "outsource" the FDA flying, if we don't get on board and grab it, valid when contemplating this LOA vote?

I posted a couple of these questions a few weeks back, but got little to no response....perhaps we've all been distracted by calculating our paycuts and reviewing our household budgets.

...hopefully not too distracted that we miss an opportunity to start viewing the FDAs "strategically".

If not now.....when?

 

So here's my stupid question for the masses, since I tend to be under-educated on the whole process; having voted "NO" once to this POS LOA in the first place, am I voting now on the ENTIRE LOA AGAIN, or am I simply voting on the amendments to the LOA? Because if I'm voting on the whole ball O' wax again, SHEEEEEEEE!!T HOT! I get to say NO again!!! But if I'm simply voting on the "bennies" we've managed to scrape up (since it was "the best we could do" the first time around) and I vote "NO" again am I really doing anything other than hurting fellow crewmembers? I'm trying to determine the message that should be sent.

If I were considering heading west, I would say that anything extra that could be thrown my way would be well-received. But at the same time, the whole LOA SUX big time, and I can't imagine anyone with a family taking this kind of hit. I did the math for my family on the original LOA, and after all was said and done, moving from right- to left-seat widebody there would cost me up to $1600 per month! So I can't with any good conscience say "yes" to ANYTHING that's been thrown our way yet...

What to do....

 

Leroy:

You voting on the new LOA, which contains some minor improvements, and some BIG givebacks. (The Paragraph N that I quoted, and the trains and boats ground trans that Foam Flier quoted.)

If this new LOA is voted down, the old one is still in place and will remain so.

And again, as a crewmember who IS GOING TO HKG, I am voting No. (As is Foam Flier, based on his post). Believe me, the minor improvements in this LOA are not going to be missed by anyone going to HKG.

As always, vote your conscious and consider the message you are sending to the company and Union with a Yes vote, especially with 2010 around the corner.

 

A couple of things....

Those who bid the FDA did so knowing that they were getting LOA #1 without any "enhancements". I dont feel that I am taking anything away from them.

I voted no on the first LOA. The second LOA is the same to me....unacceptable with MORE givebacks.

On a different note, what is with the BS language in the LOA 2?

Example...
From the MEC letter- "This LOA memorializes improvements..."

Well, the definition of memorialize is "to commemorate". What the heck are we commemorating here?? BS smoke and mirror language, period.

From the new LOA- "C Federal Tax Equalization Services
Pilots accepting permanent vacancies in CDG or HKG are both entitled and required to use the tax equalization procedures and tax return filing services (US and foreign) offered by the Company through its vendor.

More smoke and mirror language. When you are entitled to something, you can voluntarily accept or deny the entitlement. But wait....it is required to accept the Tax Equalization! Double BS!

These are just a couple of examples of the language that is used to mislead and distort the reality of what is really being said. Pure lawyer mumbo jumbo.

 

I'm still a Proponent of Hysteria. Good luck to those of you who bid this thing.
fbh