Brad Mahoney for Block 2 Rep
08-14-2019, 04:28 PM
#1
On Reserve
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Nov 2009
Position: MD-11 Captain
Posts: 11
Brad Mahoney for Block 2 Rep
The LEC 22 Council Meeting notice just came out and announced the election of a new Block 2 rep because Captain Clark Kluwe is going to step down. I found out he was going to do this a few weeks ago while talking to him in the hub. He has served twice as a rep and deserves to be treated to a number of beers. Thank you Clark!
I have prepared an email I will be sending through ALPA email tomorrow announcing my intention to run. This is the email I will send. Please let your friends who are in blocks 2, 5 and 7 know that they need to get to the meeting to vote. This is not done electronically - it is done at the meeting by those in attendance (or by proxy). Here is the body of the email. Thanks for your time and consideration.
BTW, I'm not on any other social media so I would be happy for anyone to copy this post to other FedEx pilot sites. Thanks.
__________________________________________________ _____
You are receiving this letter because you are in LEC 22. Blocks 2, 5 and 7 are eligible to vote in the election that will replace the resigning representative from block 2. The entire LEC votes on this, not just block 2. To all blocks—this is important for your career.
____________________________________
It was announced that Captain Clark Kluwe has decided to resign his position as Block 2 Representative. I’ve known Clark well for more than 15 years in union work and thank him for serving on the MEC for a second time in his career. If he pays for beer on any trip in the future, we have failed as a crew force.
I am going to run for his position and would appreciate your support in the coming election to replace him. I apologize for such a long announcement, but the experience I have is broad, complete and extensive.
I began union work as the Communications Chairman for the FedEx Pilots Association in 1998, in my third year at FedEx. I was moved to serving in that capacity because of the horrible tentative agreement that had been negotiated in 1997 by FPA. I worked in FPA throughout most of the ensuing contract re-negotiation in 1998. During that time I instituted weekly message lines that were delivered to email addresses. Before that, pilots had to call a phone-based message to get information. This was a welcome improvement.
Before FedEx had a pilot website, I designed and built the union’s first website. The website brought a dramatic improvement in communications between representatives and members because the website had links to email for each representative and committee. Although it seems simple now, in 1998 it was an order of magnitude increase in the flow of information between our union and its members.
The most striking characteristic of the 1998 negotiation was the rancorous battle between the union and the company. The company employed almost every dirty trick that could be used in negotiations during that time period. Most of the pilots who are on property today have never seen the company at its worst during a contract negotiation. I believe that many of our pilots would be seriously shocked at some of the tactics that can be used, and have been used, here at FedEx. Read our union history - we need the experience of people who have seen these tactics to recognize and counter them if they are used in the future.
In late 1998, FPA was failing to prepare our pilots for a strike even though it was being threatened publicly. I became very vocal about the lack of preparation. I was eventually asked to resign. I found out three weeks later why we were not getting them ready for a strike. The union leadership caved in negotiations. They had never intended to strike. The leaders at the time were unwilling to fight for our pilots or believe in them. I've never been hesitant to tell people why I was fired from that job.
In 2002, I became the Communications Chairman for ALPA. I held the position from 2002 until 2009. One of the best aspects of the Communications job is that you are exposed to all of the different committees and their jobs. There's not a single committee you don't work with on a regular basis, and it’s a great place to learn their missions and challenges.
I, along with the SPC, was responsible for planning most of the communications for the 2006 negotiation, under the guidance of the MEC Chairman. During this time as Communications Chairman, I instituted the use of streaming technology, newer website technologies, in-house video production, electronic delivery of publications, and mass DVD distributions.
A good example of our successful communications was our pilots’ response to a retirement proposal in 2004. We knew that the company was about to open up retirement in negotiations, and we expected them to come out with a concessionary offer to counter the expectations of our pilots. During the two months leading up to this point, we repeatedly told our pilots to be ready for this tactic. The company still played the tactic out with a concessionary opener. When managers flooded the crew room to try and push the opener as a reasonable idea, they were laughed back into their offices.
The 2006 contract was a turning point in union representation at FedEx. The 1998 contract was basically shoved down our throat after FPA imploded. The 2006 contract was the first contract that was the result of a real negotiation. The difference between the way the two contracts were handled was night and day. The 2006 contract was far from perfect, but it was ratified by over 95% of our pilots and had definitive improvements in most areas.
ALPA national closely followed the way that the FedEx MEC handled the 2006 contract. They saw in it well constructed Communications, SPC and Negotiating Committee tactics. Shortly after our 2006 contract was signed, ALPA national asked myself and two other pilots from FedEx to be members of the new national SPSC. It was a committee made up of people with experience who could assist other MEC's in negotiations support and SPC strategies.
As part of the national SPSC, my first job was to help the Alaska Airlines MEC with their communications and SPC strategies for a complicated negotiation. I worked with them for two years. In that capacity, I learned that most tactics in negotiations were common to all airline managements, with the only difference being the execution on each property. During my four years on the national SPSC, I worked with a total of eight other negotiating MECs.
While I was on the SPSC, I found a collection of common tendencies within MEC’s that were highly destructive. I was able to come up with a teaching presentation to educate MEC’s on how to avoid the self-destructive issues. ALPA national representatives saw the presentation and immediately asked me to give it to the National Leadership Conference, which is the educational introduction to union governance that is given to every newly elected MEC representative in ALPA. I presented the seminar for two years, until I became a representative myself in 2010 (after that it would've been inappropriate for me to be an elected FDX MEC representative presenting a seminar that could influence the politics of other MEC’s).
The main issue that happened during my tenure as a FDX MEC representative was the extension of our 2006 contract through 2012. It was to be a two-year stasis in work rules with inflation-rate raises. The excuse that the company gave for needing this extension was complications in negotiations arising from an active NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) from the FAA that eventually became part 117. The Company promised to continue negotiations for a new contract during the extension and assured the union that a full, new contract would be ready at the end of the extension in 2012.
Based on history, I saw this as nothing more than a delay tactic and never for minute believed that the company would negotiate in good faith during the interim. Tony Cutler and I were the only two representatives to vote against the extension, publishing a dissenting opinion with our reservations. Our reservations were confirmed when the company participated in a paltry number of negotiating sessions after the extension was ratified. The new contract, which was supposed to have been ready in 2012, didn't happen until 2015. Their tactic was very effective.
I was elected in 2012 by the FDX MEC to be Vice Chairman. They elected me primarily to bolster the amount of strategic experience in the main office. After about seven months, I resigned so as to dissociate myself from the ethics of the administration. The final straw for me was that the Negotiating Committee, with the consent of the MEC chairman, was going behind the MEC’s back and negotiating issues without the knowledge of the MEC.
Since the time of my resignation in 2013, I have been flying the line as an MD-11 captain.
We have a contract negotiation coming up as our current contract becomes amendable in November of 2021. We need leaders who won’t make the big mistakes of the last two contracts. The biggest mistake in the last decade was negotiating tactics.
PBS was used by company negotiators to put our crew force on defense in the 2015 negotiations. The reason it worked was multiple points of failure in the union leadership:
---When PBS was presented to our negotiators in 2014, they failed us badly. Polling showed our pilots - by a commanding margin - would never ratify PBS. The negotiators should have said ‘no,’ pushed the proposal back at management with prejudice, and laughed at company negotiators. Instead, they took the proposal back to the union.
---The Chairman should have admonished the negotiators to return the ridiculous proposal to FedEx with no action until PBS was gone from the text. He failed that test.
---Both then took PBS to our MEC reps. The MEC reps should have had told the negotiators to stand up to the company and negotiate the will of the pilots. Instead, the reps followed the weak lead of the Chairman and the negotiators and sent the proposal to our pilots, attempting to assemble enough backbone to say ‘no’ to FedEx.
---Our pilots saw the timidity of our Chairman, negotiators and MEC and immediately went on defense. Our pilots went from “better contract” to “NO PBS!!!” overnight.
The pilots should not have to do the job the union is being paid for.
These leadership failures gutted our hopes for improving our contract. The quality of the resulting negotiation was evidenced by its ratification vote. Only 57% of our pilots voted for it, after a long, hard sell by the Chairman, the MEC and negotiators. And the fact that it was a 6-year contract tied our hands for far too long between opportunities to negotiate improvements.
It takes experience and foresight to avoid these kinds of mistakes. I have the experience of working through three negotiations at FedEx. My work helped produce a 95% contract ratification in 2006, not like the 57% in 2015. I have 4 years of seeing the experiences of other negotiating MECs. I have a track record of accuracy in judging the intent of Company negotiators. I will not be part of unethical behavior. And I’ve been able to make decisions without handing them off to others for all of my adult life. I ask for your support in this election.
Thank you,
Brad Mahoney
I have prepared an email I will be sending through ALPA email tomorrow announcing my intention to run. This is the email I will send. Please let your friends who are in blocks 2, 5 and 7 know that they need to get to the meeting to vote. This is not done electronically - it is done at the meeting by those in attendance (or by proxy). Here is the body of the email. Thanks for your time and consideration.
BTW, I'm not on any other social media so I would be happy for anyone to copy this post to other FedEx pilot sites. Thanks.
__________________________________________________ _____
You are receiving this letter because you are in LEC 22. Blocks 2, 5 and 7 are eligible to vote in the election that will replace the resigning representative from block 2. The entire LEC votes on this, not just block 2. To all blocks—this is important for your career.
____________________________________
It was announced that Captain Clark Kluwe has decided to resign his position as Block 2 Representative. I’ve known Clark well for more than 15 years in union work and thank him for serving on the MEC for a second time in his career. If he pays for beer on any trip in the future, we have failed as a crew force.
I am going to run for his position and would appreciate your support in the coming election to replace him. I apologize for such a long announcement, but the experience I have is broad, complete and extensive.
I began union work as the Communications Chairman for the FedEx Pilots Association in 1998, in my third year at FedEx. I was moved to serving in that capacity because of the horrible tentative agreement that had been negotiated in 1997 by FPA. I worked in FPA throughout most of the ensuing contract re-negotiation in 1998. During that time I instituted weekly message lines that were delivered to email addresses. Before that, pilots had to call a phone-based message to get information. This was a welcome improvement.
Before FedEx had a pilot website, I designed and built the union’s first website. The website brought a dramatic improvement in communications between representatives and members because the website had links to email for each representative and committee. Although it seems simple now, in 1998 it was an order of magnitude increase in the flow of information between our union and its members.
The most striking characteristic of the 1998 negotiation was the rancorous battle between the union and the company. The company employed almost every dirty trick that could be used in negotiations during that time period. Most of the pilots who are on property today have never seen the company at its worst during a contract negotiation. I believe that many of our pilots would be seriously shocked at some of the tactics that can be used, and have been used, here at FedEx. Read our union history - we need the experience of people who have seen these tactics to recognize and counter them if they are used in the future.
In late 1998, FPA was failing to prepare our pilots for a strike even though it was being threatened publicly. I became very vocal about the lack of preparation. I was eventually asked to resign. I found out three weeks later why we were not getting them ready for a strike. The union leadership caved in negotiations. They had never intended to strike. The leaders at the time were unwilling to fight for our pilots or believe in them. I've never been hesitant to tell people why I was fired from that job.
In 2002, I became the Communications Chairman for ALPA. I held the position from 2002 until 2009. One of the best aspects of the Communications job is that you are exposed to all of the different committees and their jobs. There's not a single committee you don't work with on a regular basis, and it’s a great place to learn their missions and challenges.
I, along with the SPC, was responsible for planning most of the communications for the 2006 negotiation, under the guidance of the MEC Chairman. During this time as Communications Chairman, I instituted the use of streaming technology, newer website technologies, in-house video production, electronic delivery of publications, and mass DVD distributions.
A good example of our successful communications was our pilots’ response to a retirement proposal in 2004. We knew that the company was about to open up retirement in negotiations, and we expected them to come out with a concessionary offer to counter the expectations of our pilots. During the two months leading up to this point, we repeatedly told our pilots to be ready for this tactic. The company still played the tactic out with a concessionary opener. When managers flooded the crew room to try and push the opener as a reasonable idea, they were laughed back into their offices.
The 2006 contract was a turning point in union representation at FedEx. The 1998 contract was basically shoved down our throat after FPA imploded. The 2006 contract was the first contract that was the result of a real negotiation. The difference between the way the two contracts were handled was night and day. The 2006 contract was far from perfect, but it was ratified by over 95% of our pilots and had definitive improvements in most areas.
ALPA national closely followed the way that the FedEx MEC handled the 2006 contract. They saw in it well constructed Communications, SPC and Negotiating Committee tactics. Shortly after our 2006 contract was signed, ALPA national asked myself and two other pilots from FedEx to be members of the new national SPSC. It was a committee made up of people with experience who could assist other MEC's in negotiations support and SPC strategies.
As part of the national SPSC, my first job was to help the Alaska Airlines MEC with their communications and SPC strategies for a complicated negotiation. I worked with them for two years. In that capacity, I learned that most tactics in negotiations were common to all airline managements, with the only difference being the execution on each property. During my four years on the national SPSC, I worked with a total of eight other negotiating MECs.
While I was on the SPSC, I found a collection of common tendencies within MEC’s that were highly destructive. I was able to come up with a teaching presentation to educate MEC’s on how to avoid the self-destructive issues. ALPA national representatives saw the presentation and immediately asked me to give it to the National Leadership Conference, which is the educational introduction to union governance that is given to every newly elected MEC representative in ALPA. I presented the seminar for two years, until I became a representative myself in 2010 (after that it would've been inappropriate for me to be an elected FDX MEC representative presenting a seminar that could influence the politics of other MEC’s).
The main issue that happened during my tenure as a FDX MEC representative was the extension of our 2006 contract through 2012. It was to be a two-year stasis in work rules with inflation-rate raises. The excuse that the company gave for needing this extension was complications in negotiations arising from an active NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) from the FAA that eventually became part 117. The Company promised to continue negotiations for a new contract during the extension and assured the union that a full, new contract would be ready at the end of the extension in 2012.
Based on history, I saw this as nothing more than a delay tactic and never for minute believed that the company would negotiate in good faith during the interim. Tony Cutler and I were the only two representatives to vote against the extension, publishing a dissenting opinion with our reservations. Our reservations were confirmed when the company participated in a paltry number of negotiating sessions after the extension was ratified. The new contract, which was supposed to have been ready in 2012, didn't happen until 2015. Their tactic was very effective.
I was elected in 2012 by the FDX MEC to be Vice Chairman. They elected me primarily to bolster the amount of strategic experience in the main office. After about seven months, I resigned so as to dissociate myself from the ethics of the administration. The final straw for me was that the Negotiating Committee, with the consent of the MEC chairman, was going behind the MEC’s back and negotiating issues without the knowledge of the MEC.
Since the time of my resignation in 2013, I have been flying the line as an MD-11 captain.
We have a contract negotiation coming up as our current contract becomes amendable in November of 2021. We need leaders who won’t make the big mistakes of the last two contracts. The biggest mistake in the last decade was negotiating tactics.
PBS was used by company negotiators to put our crew force on defense in the 2015 negotiations. The reason it worked was multiple points of failure in the union leadership:
---When PBS was presented to our negotiators in 2014, they failed us badly. Polling showed our pilots - by a commanding margin - would never ratify PBS. The negotiators should have said ‘no,’ pushed the proposal back at management with prejudice, and laughed at company negotiators. Instead, they took the proposal back to the union.
---The Chairman should have admonished the negotiators to return the ridiculous proposal to FedEx with no action until PBS was gone from the text. He failed that test.
---Both then took PBS to our MEC reps. The MEC reps should have had told the negotiators to stand up to the company and negotiate the will of the pilots. Instead, the reps followed the weak lead of the Chairman and the negotiators and sent the proposal to our pilots, attempting to assemble enough backbone to say ‘no’ to FedEx.
---Our pilots saw the timidity of our Chairman, negotiators and MEC and immediately went on defense. Our pilots went from “better contract” to “NO PBS!!!” overnight.
The pilots should not have to do the job the union is being paid for.
These leadership failures gutted our hopes for improving our contract. The quality of the resulting negotiation was evidenced by its ratification vote. Only 57% of our pilots voted for it, after a long, hard sell by the Chairman, the MEC and negotiators. And the fact that it was a 6-year contract tied our hands for far too long between opportunities to negotiate improvements.
It takes experience and foresight to avoid these kinds of mistakes. I have the experience of working through three negotiations at FedEx. My work helped produce a 95% contract ratification in 2006, not like the 57% in 2015. I have 4 years of seeing the experiences of other negotiating MECs. I have a track record of accuracy in judging the intent of Company negotiators. I will not be part of unethical behavior. And I’ve been able to make decisions without handing them off to others for all of my adult life. I ask for your support in this election.
Thank you,
Brad Mahoney
VERY IMPORTANT!
This election will be during the LEC meeting on August 29th. Because it is an election to replace a rep in the middle of their term, it is done at an LEC meeting and not by normal voting procedures. You must attend, or find a proxy who is attending, if you want to vote. If you can’t attend, you need to fill out a proxy form and give it to someone who can attend. No pilot can hold more than 3 proxies. Please attend this meeting and carry proxies for your fellow pilots. It is important for the next negotiation and the rest of your career.
JUST AS IMPORTANT TO THE JUNIOR BLOCKS!
This is important to the pilots in blocks 5 and 7 as, not just block 2. It is the entire LEC that votes, not just the block affected, so blocks 5 and 7 can and must vote as well. This choice is easily as important to blocks 5 and 7 because of the effects you will feel for the rest of your career if we weakly stumble into the next contract negotiation. Vote to put strength and experience on your side. Don’t sit this out.
This election will be during the LEC meeting on August 29th. Because it is an election to replace a rep in the middle of their term, it is done at an LEC meeting and not by normal voting procedures. You must attend, or find a proxy who is attending, if you want to vote. If you can’t attend, you need to fill out a proxy form and give it to someone who can attend. No pilot can hold more than 3 proxies. Please attend this meeting and carry proxies for your fellow pilots. It is important for the next negotiation and the rest of your career.
JUST AS IMPORTANT TO THE JUNIOR BLOCKS!
This is important to the pilots in blocks 5 and 7 as, not just block 2. It is the entire LEC that votes, not just the block affected, so blocks 5 and 7 can and must vote as well. This choice is easily as important to blocks 5 and 7 because of the effects you will feel for the rest of your career if we weakly stumble into the next contract negotiation. Vote to put strength and experience on your side. Don’t sit this out.
08-15-2019, 12:03 AM
#2
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2007
Position: let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Posts: 828
Originally Posted by Brad Mahoney
The LEC 22 Council Meeting notice just came out and announced the election of a new Block 2 rep because Captain Clark Kluwe is going to step down. I found out he was going to do this a few weeks ago while talking to him in the hub. He has served twice as a rep and deserves to be treated to a number of beers. Thank you Clark!
I have prepared an email I will be sending through ALPA email tomorrow announcing my intention to run. This is the email I will send. Please let your friends who are in blocks 2, 5 and 7 know that they need to get to the meeting to vote. This is not done electronically - it is done at the meeting by those in attendance (or by proxy). Here is the body of the email. Thanks for your time and consideration.
BTW, I'm not on any other social media so I would be happy for anyone to copy this post to other FedEx pilot sites. Thanks.
__________________________________________________ _____
You are receiving this letter because you are in LEC 22. Blocks 2, 5 and 7 are eligible to vote in the election that will replace the resigning representative from block 2. The entire LEC votes on this, not just block 2. To all blocks—this is important for your career.
____________________________________
It was announced that Captain Clark Kluwe has decided to resign his position as Block 2 Representative. I’ve known Clark well for more than 15 years in union work and thank him for serving on the MEC for a second time in his career. If he pays for beer on any trip in the future, we have failed as a crew force.
I am going to run for his position and would appreciate your support in the coming election to replace him. I apologize for such a long announcement, but the experience I have is broad, complete and extensive.
I began union work as the Communications Chairman for the FedEx Pilots Association in 1998, in my third year at FedEx. I was moved to serving in that capacity because of the horrible tentative agreement that had been negotiated in 1997 by FPA. I worked in FPA throughout most of the ensuing contract re-negotiation in 1998. During that time I instituted weekly message lines that were delivered to email addresses. Before that, pilots had to call a phone-based message to get information. This was a welcome improvement.
Before FedEx had a pilot website, I designed and built the union’s first website. The website brought a dramatic improvement in communications between representatives and members because the website had links to email for each representative and committee. Although it seems simple now, in 1998 it was an order of magnitude increase in the flow of information between our union and its members.
The most striking characteristic of the 1998 negotiation was the rancorous battle between the union and the company. The company employed almost every dirty trick that could be used in negotiations during that time period. Most of the pilots who are on property today have never seen the company at its worst during a contract negotiation. I believe that many of our pilots would be seriously shocked at some of the tactics that can be used, and have been used, here at FedEx. Read our union history - we need the experience of people who have seen these tactics to recognize and counter them if they are used in the future.
In late 1998, FPA was failing to prepare our pilots for a strike even though it was being threatened publicly. I became very vocal about the lack of preparation. I was eventually asked to resign. I found out three weeks later why we were not getting them ready for a strike. The union leadership caved in negotiations. They had never intended to strike. The leaders at the time were unwilling to fight for our pilots or believe in them. I've never been hesitant to tell people why I was fired from that job.
In 2002, I became the Communications Chairman for ALPA. I held the position from 2002 until 2009. One of the best aspects of the Communications job is that you are exposed to all of the different committees and their jobs. There's not a single committee you don't work with on a regular basis, and it’s a great place to learn their missions and challenges.
I, along with the SPC, was responsible for planning most of the communications for the 2006 negotiation, under the guidance of the MEC Chairman. During this time as Communications Chairman, I instituted the use of streaming technology, newer website technologies, in-house video production, electronic delivery of publications, and mass DVD distributions.
A good example of our successful communications was our pilots’ response to a retirement proposal in 2004. We knew that the company was about to open up retirement in negotiations, and we expected them to come out with a concessionary offer to counter the expectations of our pilots. During the two months leading up to this point, we repeatedly told our pilots to be ready for this tactic. The company still played the tactic out with a concessionary opener. When managers flooded the crew room to try and push the opener as a reasonable idea, they were laughed back into their offices.
The 2006 contract was a turning point in union representation at FedEx. The 1998 contract was basically shoved down our throat after FPA imploded. The 2006 contract was the first contract that was the result of a real negotiation. The difference between the way the two contracts were handled was night and day. The 2006 contract was far from perfect, but it was ratified by over 95% of our pilots and had definitive improvements in most areas.
ALPA national closely followed the way that the FedEx MEC handled the 2006 contract. They saw in it well constructed Communications, SPC and Negotiating Committee tactics. Shortly after our 2006 contract was signed, ALPA national asked myself and two other pilots from FedEx to be members of the new national SPSC. It was a committee made up of people with experience who could assist other MEC's in negotiations support and SPC strategies.
As part of the national SPSC, my first job was to help the Alaska Airlines MEC with their communications and SPC strategies for a complicated negotiation. I worked with them for two years. In that capacity, I learned that most tactics in negotiations were common to all airline managements, with the only difference being the execution on each property. During my four years on the national SPSC, I worked with a total of eight other negotiating MECs.
While I was on the SPSC, I found a collection of common tendencies within MEC’s that were highly destructive. I was able to come up with a teaching presentation to educate MEC’s on how to avoid the self-destructive issues. ALPA national representatives saw the presentation and immediately asked me to give it to the National Leadership Conference, which is the educational introduction to union governance that is given to every newly elected MEC representative in ALPA. I presented the seminar for two years, until I became a representative myself in 2010 (after that it would've been inappropriate for me to be an elected FDX MEC representative presenting a seminar that could influence the politics of other MEC’s).
The main issue that happened during my tenure as a FDX MEC representative was the extension of our 2006 contract through 2012. It was to be a two-year stasis in work rules with inflation-rate raises. The excuse that the company gave for needing this extension was complications in negotiations arising from an active NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) from the FAA that eventually became part 117. The Company promised to continue negotiations for a new contract during the extension and assured the union that a full, new contract would be ready at the end of the extension in 2012.
Based on history, I saw this as nothing more than a delay tactic and never for minute believed that the company would negotiate in good faith during the interim. Tony Cutler and I were the only two representatives to vote against the extension, publishing a dissenting opinion with our reservations. Our reservations were confirmed when the company participated in a paltry number of negotiating sessions after the extension was ratified. The new contract, which was supposed to have been ready in 2012, didn't happen until 2015. Their tactic was very effective.
I was elected in 2012 by the FDX MEC to be Vice Chairman. They elected me primarily to bolster the amount of strategic experience in the main office. After about seven months, I resigned so as to dissociate myself from the ethics of the administration. The final straw for me was that the Negotiating Committee, with the consent of the MEC chairman, was going behind the MEC’s back and negotiating issues without the knowledge of the MEC.
Since the time of my resignation in 2013, I have been flying the line as an MD-11 captain.
We have a contract negotiation coming up as our current contract becomes amendable in November of 2021. We need leaders who won’t make the big mistakes of the last two contracts. The biggest mistake in the last decade was negotiating tactics.
PBS was used by company negotiators to put our crew force on defense in the 2015 negotiations. The reason it worked was multiple points of failure in the union leadership:
---When PBS was presented to our negotiators in 2014, they failed us badly. Polling showed our pilots - by a commanding margin - would never ratify PBS. The negotiators should have said ‘no,’ pushed the proposal back at management with prejudice, and laughed at company negotiators. Instead, they took the proposal back to the union.
---The Chairman should have admonished the negotiators to return the ridiculous proposal to FedEx with no action until PBS was gone from the text. He failed that test.
---Both then took PBS to our MEC reps. The MEC reps should have had told the negotiators to stand up to the company and negotiate the will of the pilots. Instead, the reps followed the weak lead of the Chairman and the negotiators and sent the proposal to our pilots, attempting to assemble enough backbone to say ‘no’ to FedEx.
---Our pilots saw the timidity of our Chairman, negotiators and MEC and immediately went on defense. Our pilots went from “better contract” to “NO PBS!!!” overnight.
The pilots should not have to do the job the union is being paid for.
These leadership failures gutted our hopes for improving our contract. The quality of the resulting negotiation was evidenced by its ratification vote. Only 57% of our pilots voted for it, after a long, hard sell by the Chairman, the MEC and negotiators. And the fact that it was a 6-year contract tied our hands for far too long between opportunities to negotiate improvements.
It takes experience and foresight to avoid these kinds of mistakes. I have the experience of working through three negotiations at FedEx. My work helped produce a 95% contract ratification in 2006, not like the 57% in 2015. I have 4 years of seeing the experiences of other negotiating MECs. I have a track record of accuracy in judging the intent of Company negotiators. I will not be part of unethical behavior. And I’ve been able to make decisions without handing them off to others for all of my adult life. I ask for your support in this election.
Thank you,
Brad Mahoney
I have prepared an email I will be sending through ALPA email tomorrow announcing my intention to run. This is the email I will send. Please let your friends who are in blocks 2, 5 and 7 know that they need to get to the meeting to vote. This is not done electronically - it is done at the meeting by those in attendance (or by proxy). Here is the body of the email. Thanks for your time and consideration.
BTW, I'm not on any other social media so I would be happy for anyone to copy this post to other FedEx pilot sites. Thanks.
__________________________________________________ _____
You are receiving this letter because you are in LEC 22. Blocks 2, 5 and 7 are eligible to vote in the election that will replace the resigning representative from block 2. The entire LEC votes on this, not just block 2. To all blocks—this is important for your career.
____________________________________
It was announced that Captain Clark Kluwe has decided to resign his position as Block 2 Representative. I’ve known Clark well for more than 15 years in union work and thank him for serving on the MEC for a second time in his career. If he pays for beer on any trip in the future, we have failed as a crew force.
I am going to run for his position and would appreciate your support in the coming election to replace him. I apologize for such a long announcement, but the experience I have is broad, complete and extensive.
I began union work as the Communications Chairman for the FedEx Pilots Association in 1998, in my third year at FedEx. I was moved to serving in that capacity because of the horrible tentative agreement that had been negotiated in 1997 by FPA. I worked in FPA throughout most of the ensuing contract re-negotiation in 1998. During that time I instituted weekly message lines that were delivered to email addresses. Before that, pilots had to call a phone-based message to get information. This was a welcome improvement.
Before FedEx had a pilot website, I designed and built the union’s first website. The website brought a dramatic improvement in communications between representatives and members because the website had links to email for each representative and committee. Although it seems simple now, in 1998 it was an order of magnitude increase in the flow of information between our union and its members.
The most striking characteristic of the 1998 negotiation was the rancorous battle between the union and the company. The company employed almost every dirty trick that could be used in negotiations during that time period. Most of the pilots who are on property today have never seen the company at its worst during a contract negotiation. I believe that many of our pilots would be seriously shocked at some of the tactics that can be used, and have been used, here at FedEx. Read our union history - we need the experience of people who have seen these tactics to recognize and counter them if they are used in the future.
In late 1998, FPA was failing to prepare our pilots for a strike even though it was being threatened publicly. I became very vocal about the lack of preparation. I was eventually asked to resign. I found out three weeks later why we were not getting them ready for a strike. The union leadership caved in negotiations. They had never intended to strike. The leaders at the time were unwilling to fight for our pilots or believe in them. I've never been hesitant to tell people why I was fired from that job.
In 2002, I became the Communications Chairman for ALPA. I held the position from 2002 until 2009. One of the best aspects of the Communications job is that you are exposed to all of the different committees and their jobs. There's not a single committee you don't work with on a regular basis, and it’s a great place to learn their missions and challenges.
I, along with the SPC, was responsible for planning most of the communications for the 2006 negotiation, under the guidance of the MEC Chairman. During this time as Communications Chairman, I instituted the use of streaming technology, newer website technologies, in-house video production, electronic delivery of publications, and mass DVD distributions.
A good example of our successful communications was our pilots’ response to a retirement proposal in 2004. We knew that the company was about to open up retirement in negotiations, and we expected them to come out with a concessionary offer to counter the expectations of our pilots. During the two months leading up to this point, we repeatedly told our pilots to be ready for this tactic. The company still played the tactic out with a concessionary opener. When managers flooded the crew room to try and push the opener as a reasonable idea, they were laughed back into their offices.
The 2006 contract was a turning point in union representation at FedEx. The 1998 contract was basically shoved down our throat after FPA imploded. The 2006 contract was the first contract that was the result of a real negotiation. The difference between the way the two contracts were handled was night and day. The 2006 contract was far from perfect, but it was ratified by over 95% of our pilots and had definitive improvements in most areas.
ALPA national closely followed the way that the FedEx MEC handled the 2006 contract. They saw in it well constructed Communications, SPC and Negotiating Committee tactics. Shortly after our 2006 contract was signed, ALPA national asked myself and two other pilots from FedEx to be members of the new national SPSC. It was a committee made up of people with experience who could assist other MEC's in negotiations support and SPC strategies.
As part of the national SPSC, my first job was to help the Alaska Airlines MEC with their communications and SPC strategies for a complicated negotiation. I worked with them for two years. In that capacity, I learned that most tactics in negotiations were common to all airline managements, with the only difference being the execution on each property. During my four years on the national SPSC, I worked with a total of eight other negotiating MECs.
While I was on the SPSC, I found a collection of common tendencies within MEC’s that were highly destructive. I was able to come up with a teaching presentation to educate MEC’s on how to avoid the self-destructive issues. ALPA national representatives saw the presentation and immediately asked me to give it to the National Leadership Conference, which is the educational introduction to union governance that is given to every newly elected MEC representative in ALPA. I presented the seminar for two years, until I became a representative myself in 2010 (after that it would've been inappropriate for me to be an elected FDX MEC representative presenting a seminar that could influence the politics of other MEC’s).
The main issue that happened during my tenure as a FDX MEC representative was the extension of our 2006 contract through 2012. It was to be a two-year stasis in work rules with inflation-rate raises. The excuse that the company gave for needing this extension was complications in negotiations arising from an active NPRM (Notice of Proposed Rule Making) from the FAA that eventually became part 117. The Company promised to continue negotiations for a new contract during the extension and assured the union that a full, new contract would be ready at the end of the extension in 2012.
Based on history, I saw this as nothing more than a delay tactic and never for minute believed that the company would negotiate in good faith during the interim. Tony Cutler and I were the only two representatives to vote against the extension, publishing a dissenting opinion with our reservations. Our reservations were confirmed when the company participated in a paltry number of negotiating sessions after the extension was ratified. The new contract, which was supposed to have been ready in 2012, didn't happen until 2015. Their tactic was very effective.
I was elected in 2012 by the FDX MEC to be Vice Chairman. They elected me primarily to bolster the amount of strategic experience in the main office. After about seven months, I resigned so as to dissociate myself from the ethics of the administration. The final straw for me was that the Negotiating Committee, with the consent of the MEC chairman, was going behind the MEC’s back and negotiating issues without the knowledge of the MEC.
Since the time of my resignation in 2013, I have been flying the line as an MD-11 captain.
We have a contract negotiation coming up as our current contract becomes amendable in November of 2021. We need leaders who won’t make the big mistakes of the last two contracts. The biggest mistake in the last decade was negotiating tactics.
PBS was used by company negotiators to put our crew force on defense in the 2015 negotiations. The reason it worked was multiple points of failure in the union leadership:
---When PBS was presented to our negotiators in 2014, they failed us badly. Polling showed our pilots - by a commanding margin - would never ratify PBS. The negotiators should have said ‘no,’ pushed the proposal back at management with prejudice, and laughed at company negotiators. Instead, they took the proposal back to the union.
---The Chairman should have admonished the negotiators to return the ridiculous proposal to FedEx with no action until PBS was gone from the text. He failed that test.
---Both then took PBS to our MEC reps. The MEC reps should have had told the negotiators to stand up to the company and negotiate the will of the pilots. Instead, the reps followed the weak lead of the Chairman and the negotiators and sent the proposal to our pilots, attempting to assemble enough backbone to say ‘no’ to FedEx.
---Our pilots saw the timidity of our Chairman, negotiators and MEC and immediately went on defense. Our pilots went from “better contract” to “NO PBS!!!” overnight.
The pilots should not have to do the job the union is being paid for.
These leadership failures gutted our hopes for improving our contract. The quality of the resulting negotiation was evidenced by its ratification vote. Only 57% of our pilots voted for it, after a long, hard sell by the Chairman, the MEC and negotiators. And the fact that it was a 6-year contract tied our hands for far too long between opportunities to negotiate improvements.
It takes experience and foresight to avoid these kinds of mistakes. I have the experience of working through three negotiations at FedEx. My work helped produce a 95% contract ratification in 2006, not like the 57% in 2015. I have 4 years of seeing the experiences of other negotiating MECs. I have a track record of accuracy in judging the intent of Company negotiators. I will not be part of unethical behavior. And I’ve been able to make decisions without handing them off to others for all of my adult life. I ask for your support in this election.
Thank you,
Brad Mahoney
VERY IMPORTANT!
This election will be during the LEC meeting on August 29th. Because it is an election to replace a rep in the middle of their term, it is done at an LEC meeting and not by normal voting procedures. You must attend, or find a proxy who is attending, if you want to vote. If you can’t attend, you need to fill out a proxy form and give it to someone who can attend. No pilot can hold more than 3 proxies. Please attend this meeting and carry proxies for your fellow pilots. It is important for the next negotiation and the rest of your career.
JUST AS IMPORTANT TO THE JUNIOR BLOCKS!
This is important to the pilots in blocks 5 and 7 as, not just block 2. It is the entire LEC that votes, not just the block affected, so blocks 5 and 7 can and must vote as well. This choice is easily as important to blocks 5 and 7 because of the effects you will feel for the rest of your career if we weakly stumble into the next contract negotiation. Vote to put strength and experience on your side. Don’t sit this out.
This election will be during the LEC meeting on August 29th. Because it is an election to replace a rep in the middle of their term, it is done at an LEC meeting and not by normal voting procedures. You must attend, or find a proxy who is attending, if you want to vote. If you can’t attend, you need to fill out a proxy form and give it to someone who can attend. No pilot can hold more than 3 proxies. Please attend this meeting and carry proxies for your fellow pilots. It is important for the next negotiation and the rest of your career.
JUST AS IMPORTANT TO THE JUNIOR BLOCKS!
This is important to the pilots in blocks 5 and 7 as, not just block 2. It is the entire LEC that votes, not just the block affected, so blocks 5 and 7 can and must vote as well. This choice is easily as important to blocks 5 and 7 because of the effects you will feel for the rest of your career if we weakly stumble into the next contract negotiation. Vote to put strength and experience on your side. Don’t sit this out.
08-15-2019, 08:43 AM
#4
On Reserve
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Nov 2009
Position: MD-11 Captain
Posts: 11
Quick note. After talking to the ALPA campaign representatives in Herndon, I've been told that proxies cannot be used in the election of an interim Block Rep. Therefore, anyone who wants to vote in this election must attend in person.
I find this to be problematic. We should be able to have these elections electronically just like any other election. This is not heavy lifting for a union that is technically proficient. Reducing the influence of commuters is the net effect, and that's not appropriate.
I find this to be problematic. We should be able to have these elections electronically just like any other election. This is not heavy lifting for a union that is technically proficient. Reducing the influence of commuters is the net effect, and that's not appropriate.
08-15-2019, 12:27 PM
#6
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jul 2007
Position: 767 Captain
Posts: 3,988
Originally Posted by Brad Mahoney
Reducing the influence of commuters is the net effect, and that's not appropriate.
I just wasted time finding a proxy I can't use now. Complete BS.
08-16-2019, 08:54 AM
#9
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2017
Posts: 2,099
Originally Posted by Brad Mahoney
Quick note. After talking to the ALPA campaign representatives in Herndon, I've been told that proxies cannot be used in the election of an interim Block Rep. Therefore, anyone who wants to vote in this election must attend in person.
I find this to be problematic. We should be able to have these elections electronically just like any other election. This is not heavy lifting for a union that is technically proficient. Reducing the influence of commuters is the net effect, and that's not appropriate.
I find this to be problematic. We should be able to have these elections electronically just like any other election. This is not heavy lifting for a union that is technically proficient. Reducing the influence of commuters is the net effect, and that's not appropriate.
And there is no good reason why these meetings cannot be live streamed either.
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