Ill help:

Log onto Deltanet, click on iCrew, log in. Any questions? :)

Their shareholder is their government...they don't have to plow back billions to them. That leaves lots for extensive advertising and free T shirts

Some D-bag from SLC asked for them to stop giving out 5-day GS's and break those up to shorter trips, send us to short layover hotels more often, and put more guys on reserve on the weekends.

It looks to me like we have a battle in the 320 category between 5 day trip lovers and everyone else. More 5-days....Less 5-days....5 days are awesome.....5-days suck. That about sums up 80% of the remarks in SLC. :)

I can't help but continue to be impressed by the points Heide makes. I think a lot of people are fed up with the nonsense coming out of ALPA these days, continuing and compounding the huge setbacks of the last 13 years.

"ALPA’s Pattern Bargaining hasn’t worked.

ALPA has failed at the fundamental task of effectively using pattern bargaining to enhance the careers of airline pilots. The Association has failed to defend the profession for decades now. The attitude of ALPA National over the past few decades has been that they simply provide resources to our MEC’s, which in turn, are independent decision makers and negotiators for their own airline. This has proved to be an extremely ineffective approach to pattern bargaining from the world’s largest pilots union. There are too many examples over our careers that can be used to show ALPA’s inability to follow its own policy with respect to airline unit bargaining.

During the ALPA Board of Directors meeting this October, the members of the BOD will have a clear choice in candidates for ALPA President. If elected ALPA President I can promise you that I will return true pattern bargaining to our union by “negotiating together” in conjunction with a long-term strategic view for the profession. Negotiating in isolation has only benefitted the greater agenda of management. The state of our profession is proof of this. By negotiating together we will be able to utilize all of our assets to leverage the solidarity of our union and all pilot groups to the benefit of the profession.

The current ALPA leadership and negotiating style continues to benefit management. A recent example of using isolation bargaining to benefit corporations can be seen at Envoy Airlines (previously American Eagle) negotiating fiasco where management had insisted upon concessions from the Envoy pilots. ALPA National had their appointed ALPA attorney at the table negotiating alongside the pilots. Every MEC is appointed with one or more ALPA attorneys to represent them as contract and negotiations experts. This ALPA attorney, along with the National Officers, insisted that Envoy agree to the concession-laden proposal that management had demanded. When the Envoy MEC rejected the deal and refused to entertain a B-scale and other significant concessions, management redirected airplane orders to other express carriers, and simultaneously announced the retirement of airplanes in the current fleet. The Envoy MEC and pilots showed great courage in taking a stand for the profession and received cheers of support and gratitude from pilots across the industry. But management was not finished shopping these concessions around their system.

Fast forward a few months from the Envoy contract rejection, and what you find is that the same ALPA contract attorney and negotiations expert who “helped” the Envoy pilots, is now assigned to PSA (an express carrier for US Airways and is now part of the American Eagle Group). He and the National Officers are again insisting that they accept the same sort of B-scale and concessions that the Envoy pilots just turned down.

This time around the PSA MEC agreed and sent it out for a vote and it passed by 61%. Here is what your current ALPA leadership brought to the PSA pilots at the expense of the Envoy pilots (and the profession):

· The promise of the thirty 76-seat jets.

· PSA’s pilots have agreed to limits on their Captain pay scales to the 12th year after date of hire, and limits on first-officer pay scales to the fourth year.

· The agreement also extends the existing contract for another five years, until 2023, with no interim contract amendment clauses.

· It allows for no pay raises other than cost-of-living adjustments for the duration of the contract.

· By the third year of the deal it calls for a double digit increase in medical benefit contributions that can easily wipe out whatever meager pay raises COLA’s bring.



Is this “pattern bargaining?” It certainly is, but just not the kind that any labor union should be a part of.

If you haven’t seen Captain Moak’s latest Bloomberg/BusinessWeek interview in which he assures Wall Street that “we” won’t be seeking any major improvements in our contracts any time soon; you may want to read it:

Pilot Contract Talks in 2015 to Come Amid Robust Airline Profits - Businessweek

“Moak contends that ALPA pilots at the larger carriers enjoy what he calls ‘mature, good contracts’ already. Radical overhauls aren’t in the cards, he says.”

I am not sure what he means by “good contracts.” Apparently he is signaling that after decades of back sliding and seeing our work rules decimated at the major airlines, we are “good” at this time. This type of pattern bargaining, a pattern of standing hand-in-hand with management, thinking like management, acting like management, and calling it “all good” after a few short yardage gains is not what I have in mind for our Association. Frankly, it is an insult to every hard working ALPA member, most of whom pay thousands of dollars per year for the services of this labor union. You have spent too many years giving away your pensions in bankruptcy, bringing home wages that allow your family to qualify for food stamps at the regional level, and being left out of the ALPA President’s one level of safety at the cargo carriers. You have lived through outsourcing, off-shoring and in-sourcing at your airline, and watched your careers devolve and stagnate for a decade or more. This is not what any of us had in mind when we aspired to be a part of the airline piloting profession.

When Captain Moak says radical overhauls are not needed, is he referring to “scoping in” where we bring mainline pay and benefits to regional-type flying? Is he referring to protections against insidious joint ventures, revenue sharing, and alliance/code sharing agreements? Is he referring to a real and substantial retirement plan at every carrier that allows a pilot to actually retire? If so, I do not find these concepts radical at all, and I do not see our current position as “good.”

Unfortunately, the UAL MEC Chairman and Candidate for ALPA President, Captain Jay Heppner, agrees with Lee Moak and other ALPA negotiators that “provisioning” is a win-win for ALPA and the A4A. I believe he and other key ALPA insiders feel that it should be part of a new way forward. Captain Heppner and his negotiators tried to introduce this latest management dream to the United Pilots during joint contract negotiations in the fall of 2012. Captain Heppner made it very clear that the concept of “provisioning” was being forwarded as a legitimate suggestion and something worthy of consideration during contract negotiations. When they brought the management proposal forward to the UAL and CAL MEC’s, it was fortunate that cooler heads prevailed – this time. The suggestion was roundly criticized and rejected by both MEC’s.

I would like to be crystal clear that “provisioning” is NOT the way forward for our profession. I talked in-depth about provisioning in a previous letter to you and have it posted on my website for your review (entitled “The RJ Debacle”). Provisioning is a “loser” proposition for our careers and the profession. It would be devastating to major airline pilots and just as bad for the long-term career prospects of regional pilots. Provisioning is little more than the latest strategy that management and their A4A trade group have devised to continue the outsourcing of our jobs. It will be a very effective method of dividing and separating ALPA into small, ineffective units with reduced leverage and disastrous consequences. I will not entertain provisioning or any other outsourcing matrix!

This October, the choice for ALPA President is clear. I am the only candidate who has proposed any amount of change to our Association. This new direction that I envision will enable ALPA to successfully function as a labor union vs. an industry trade group. For us to become effective and relevant as a union going forward, we must come together through change. The tired old rhetoric from entrenched ALPA officers is not the answer.

Please help me by visiting my website and contacting your local representatives. I have sample resolutions for you to submit, but local council meetings are winding down as we approach the October BOD meeting. If your Local Council has a meeting scheduled, please attend or ask a friend to attend and make your voice heard. Please make sure that you take the time to call and write your reps and let them know that more of the same old ALPA is not acceptable. Let them know you want them to vote for Heide Oberndorf for ALPA President.

I also want to thank you once again for all of the support that I have received via media and from so many of you in person out on the line."

oberndorf

Fraternally,

Heide Oberndorf

When you live the RJ offline commute dream (I know it's a choice) that used to be our mainline with a guaranteed jumpseat that probably won't go out empty 'cause it's weight restricted....5 days are a necessity not a choice just to limit the exposure.

I like what Heide says too. Contrast it with Moak's recent pompom waving letter a week after selling us out.

Is Heide a man or woman? It doesn't matter to me in a sexist way, I just wonder if a woman should end a letter with fraternally. It seems odd linguistically.

I read the letter, and found something interesting, and thought maybe you could clarify. Is she saying that if UAL turns down a - for lack of another word - provision in their contract, that DAL must also do the same thing if it is offered here for the greater good? That is the impression as to what she was alluding vis a vis the Envoy/PSA comparison.

I get it. I don't mind a 5-day if it is productive and I'm not a commuter. It's just funny to see all the remarks that counter each other. About the only thing I saw everyone agrees on is that 30 hour layovers suck. They won't suck as bad in November though.

I've only read two letters and didn't read them to commit to memory, just to read them. However, two themes (negotiating in isolation and provisioning) were mentioned as ALPA emergent negotiating strategies.

You just said that you like what she said. In the above posted letter, how would you characterize her statements in the context of what I asked you?

I'm not throwing rocks, I am just axing what it is that she said that you liked and what makes her platform a good one other than not being Moak...