Easy. We weren’t closing bases back then and the company wasn’t talking about a 30% reduction in international flying. Not so sure why it’s so hard for you to grasp this concept.

As far as unity, I can’t think of anything more unifying than trying to protecting EVERY pilots job.

 

Maybe I'm wrong, but the talk wasn't about a 30% reduction in all international flying, it was a reduction of 30% of ocean crossings. You do realize that shipments have gone down globally. Evan UPS is experiencing this. Don't be distracted by the doom and gloom. Our current shipments are very close to pre-covid numbers.

Do you think that the company would love to drag these negotiations out even longer by spreading fear and discourse among the crew force, distracting them from the original goal? Do you think the company would object to us re-opening Section 1 or other sections, or do you think that they would say fine, we would like to re-open this section. The company would love nothing more that to have this drag out for as many years as they can. They would love to tell the NMB that they were willing to move on the last remaining section, but now the pilots have changed their minds. They would argue that we shouldn't be released, because we don't even know what we want. How can they negotiate with a group that doesn't know what they want.

You are proving my point that most who are complaining on here either never read Section 1 before, or never really cared. They are just reacting to headlines, just like the company wants.

The sky isn't falling.

 

Scope wasn’t high on my list because FedEx hasn’t ever tried to copy the legacy model of the last 30 years. We were caught with our pants down. It’s my fault as well as the fault of all of us. Especially those that were either unemployed or flying RJ’s on food stamps. It can and it will happen here. I can’t change the minds of the ignorant. I can hope to change the minds of the few open minded folks that read these boards. 30 years ago, Delta pilots said they were far too superior to fly those 50 seat jets. Besides, Delta only wanted to buy a handful of them. The rest is history.

 

One person who has read Section 1 is the Scope Comm Chairman. Here are a few quotes:

“I talked to some of the older heads that were involved in negotiating the original contract in '98, and was told that 1.B.2 of our CBA was written as it was in part due to the known lack of protection caused by the lawsuit. Even in your example from the NWA contract they only attempted to protect 5th Freedom flights and ignored 7th Freedom. Interestingly, UPS seems to have worked around the lawsuit by having both parties agree to treat extraterritorial cases "as if" they occurred in the CONUS. This kind of protection is something we could probably have looked at in this round of contract negotiations had the crew force been interested in scope improvements in this contract.”

“There are several areas in Section 1 that need improvement ... the lawyers acknowledge that it is the most poorly written section in the entire contract; full of ambiguities and loopholes.”

“…only our domestic flying is protected from outsourcing. If FedEx REALLY wanted, and the if (huge "if") the lift was available, FedEx could outsource all of our international (1.B.2) flying through "interline, co-load, code-share, and ... block space agreements with other carriers" (1.B.4) while using contractor flying for the rest.”


—

Pinseeker, while I realize that this hasn’t had a big effect on your career, there are a lot of us that have serious concerns about the future of the network and the part that FedEx pilots will play in that future. I’m sorry that caring about the future in a changing environment bothers you so much. We intend to make sure our representative body, ALPA, knows and addresses our concerns with the same vigor they have corrected the errors of your past, most specifically not fighting to improve your retirement.

 

Just curious: Where are those quotes from? I can’t seem to find them.

 

Yeah, he said he would share the communication if asked, but then said he would only do it if we told him who we were. When I agreed to tell him after he told me so I could make sure he is on the seniority list, crickets. My guess, he is taking those quotes out of context, or making them up. He even said he wasn't going to share communications he had with ALPA officials unless he knew who he was sharing them with. So, which is it? Just more unusual ineptitude.

 

No. I offered, you know I’m on the seniority list. You can have the whole email. Sorry that this threat (losing our jobs) is interrupting your regularly scheduled programming.

If you doubt they were said then you know who the Scope Comm chair is. Ask him. I don’t appreciate being called a liar.

 

I have been engaging our leadership and associated committees for a long time. These quotes are taken from email exchanges. I encourage others to engage their reps. When faced with this information my rep responded that while he is concerned about Scope, retirement is the goal. I disagree with that approach considering the new and obvious threats to our long term positions. Senior leadership has not been holding back in telling of the future plans for the network. It is past time for us to secure our role in the future of this company.

 

No, I don't know if you are on the list. I provided solutions for you to send the whole email, you didn't like them.

I don't appreciate you saying that I don't care about pilots' futures.

Funny that at the latest MEC/LEC meeting, no one stated what you have said.

No use discussing this any further on my part. The majority will get to determine which way this goes. Only the future will tell if the majority, which ever that is, is correct.

 

We have lost this flying to ASL as of now:
Feb 2023: CDG-BER, CDG-BUD, CDG-OPO lost
Spring 2022: CDG-CPH, CDG-HEL, CDG-ARN, LGG-MXP lost (posted by Lear earlier in thread)
CDG-BCN and CDG-MAD next according to a crewbus driver.

Got Scope?