Does anyone in upper management in America ever get held accountable anymore? Of course not. Accountability is for suckers, or as we like to call ourselves, employees. One upper-level manager--who may have played a part in many of these poor decisions--was let go recently. Do you consider a $13,000,000 severance package an example of holding someone accountable? His golden parachute amount probably resembles pretty closely the savings the company achieved from the pilot group when they forced us into concessions a few years back, a move accompanied by these base closures and other mistakes that are all hopefully being reversed. Anyway, while accountability at the top is a pipe dream, luckily other outside circumstances have changed, and things are looking up at envoy for the foreseeable future.

 

September 28, 2016

NEW YORK DOMICILE TO RE-OPEN

Fellow DFW Pilots,

Today, Envoy Management announced their intentions on re-opening our New York domicile with the EMB145 aircraft and also released the subsequent vacancy bid to fulfill those pilot positions. This is great news for Envoy as well as our brothers and sisters who were previously displaced from New York and have been forced to commute for over a year. According to the Company, the vacancy bid will shift flying from Chicago to New York and the bid will not contain a displacement.

However, this news is tempered by obstacles in our current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Our CBA language precludes current First Officers from being able to bid different equipment types as a First Officer. This means ex-New York First Officers, who were displaced to the CRJ-700 in Chicago or the E-175 in Dallas/Ft. Worth, will be stuck on that equipment in those cities and unable to bid for open First Officer positions in New York since New York will be an EMB-145 domicile only. In other words, only those First Officers presently on the EMB-145 aircraft in either Chicago or Dallas/Ft. Worth will be able to bid for a transfer to New York.

Likewise, ex-New York based Captains will be faced with a difficult decision. While our CBA language allows up to 30% of current Captains to bid to different equipment types as a Captain, they will be forced to face the reality that the attached training freeze could delay their flow through to American Airlines. This means ex-New York Captains not currently on the EMB-145 aircraft will have to make a tough decision on whether to continue to commute half-way across the country or to be based at home, knowing it could delay their transfer to mainline.

The MEC has discussed these important issues with Envoy Management but, thus far, Envoy Management has been reluctant to provide a solution. Your LEC 083 Leadership Team is hopeful that management will do the right thing for our pilots by working with the Association to “undo” previous displacement bids caused by the 2015 closure of the New York domicile. Our pilots shouldn’t be forced to commute to work when they live in or closer to another Envoy domicile.

In Unity,


Captain Neal Spanier
ENY LEC-083 Chairman

First Officer Kyle Flynn
ENY LEC-083 Vice-Chairman

Captain Pat Couture
ENY LEC-083 Secretary-Treasurer

 

Are you guys shifting away from the 145, or am I wrong? For some reason I thought you were moving away from 50 seaters. Either way, good for you guys. It's quickly becoming a good time to be a pilot at a WO

 

So metering it is, then. I've heard numbers anywhere from 750-1000 pilots wanted at AA, and 330 isn't anywhere near 50% or 40 a month. Just like always, we get the short end of the stick.

 

September 28, 2016

**UPDATE** NEW YORK DOMICILE TO RE-OPEN

Fellow DFW Pilots,

Since transmitting our previous Newsblast a few hours ago, we have learned there have been some important developments this evening. The MEC met with representatives of management throughout the course of the day to discuss possible mechanisms for displaced pilots being able to return to their home domiciles. It’s our understanding that these conversations have been very productive and we applaud management for working quickly to correct a quality of life shortfall in our contract. We are hopeful these discussions will provide relief for those affected pilots and will keep you apprised of any future developments.

In Unity,


Your LEC 083 Leadership Team

 

I think the 330 is managing expectations. If AA is really going to hire 1000 next year, that 330 number will be a lot larger. Fifty percent is what's in the contract, followed by the protected pilot language. With hiring trending to the robust side, it should not be an issue.

 

I hope you're right, but I'm not holding my breath.

 

I could be wrong but I think our fleet plan still includes quite a few 50 seaters through 2024.

 

But the contract also says metered to 30 per. I think managing expectations indeed. Would I love to see more then the meter flow, Sure. But I am not holding my breath.

 

I heard we have had over 500 applicants and filling classes of 25 every two weeks until March.

I'm guessing the 500 applicants could be right. The 50 per month until March sounds like a projection. I would imagine if this were true then it would take a little bit longer than two weeks for paper work, interviews, CJO, PRIA, and the CA review board to go through and start assigning classes.

Anyone have any info?