Alpa Unit 1 Employees May Strike
03-31-2009 | 11:11 AM
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Alpa Unit 1 Employees May Strike
Special Early Edition of Your EWR Council 170 Weekly BlastMail for Tuesday, March 31,
“Continental feels that there is no contractual reason to pay the lump sum.” – Fred Abbott, Vice President of Flight Operations, March 16, 2009, during a pilot meeting in Guam.
Today is Tuesday, March 31st. As some of you may know, Unit 1, the bargaining unit for many of ALPA’s staffers, faces a possible strike tonight at midnight. The Officers of Council 170 fully support our brothers and sisters of Unit 1 in their efforts to bargain for a fair and equitable contract. We will not perform struck work of any kind nor will we be able to access many of ALPA’s services if Unit 1 is forced to go on strike tonight or at any time prior to agreement on a new contract. We have issued this week’s BlastMail early to avoid any interruption in our communications to you, our constituents.
There are 10 items for discussion:
Item 1: Mr. Kellner’s Flights of Fancy
In “The Gift That Keeps on Giving” department, rarely is one story so generous as to provide us with material for multiple BlastMails. Thus, we are thankful for Mr. Kellner’s interesting and enlightening feature article in a recent issue of the Houston Chronicle. In this article, Mr. Kellner tells us all that “now might not be the best time for negotiations with mechanics and pilots”. History demonstrates that the only time best for management to negotiate with us in a fair and equitable manner is “never”.
The article goes on to say that that, “Continental’s labor costs are on the high end of the industry, in part because of a rash of bankruptcies earlier this decade that allowed some rivals to slash pensions and other employee commitments.” Yes, that’s what the article says. They almost make it sound like fun, all that slashing of “pensions and other employee commitments”. After reading Mr. Kellner’s assurances that our contract is, indeed, at the pinnacle of the airline industry, we are relieved to know that all the things we thought had been taken from us via Contract ’02 are still in place—like our pensions, work rules, and pay. Maybe all we need to do is file a pay claim.
To analyze Mr. Kellner’s assertion that our “labor costs are on the high end of the industry”, we turned to our resident airline analyst, former member of our Negotiating Committee, and Chairman of our council’s Education Committee, Captain Tim Boyens. Captain Boyens is well-known among our pilots for his insight and intellectual vigor and honesty. His take?
Continental Airlines pilots rank eighth (8th) in cockpit costs, and $234 per block hour lower than the pilots of American Airlines.
The list below, from last week’s MEC Chairman’s Update, bears repeating. It shows all U.S.-based airlines ranked from highest to lowest block hour cockpit costs in 2007, the last year for which this data is available. The list does not include UPS or FedEx; if it did, we would rank tenth lowest (10th) instead of eighth (8th) lowest.
Total Cockpit Cost per Block Hour - ALL AIRCRAFT 2007
American $781/hour
Northwest $648/hour (via BK court)
Hawaiian $627/hour
Alaska $621/hour
United $613/hour (via BK court)
Southwest $567/hour
Delta $562/hour (via BK court)
Continental $547/hour
USAirways $520/hour (via BK court twice)
Vice President of Flight Operations, Fred Abbott, on his recent fishing trip to Guam, told our Guam-based pilots that we will be spending freely on things such as lie-flat seats for our 777 and 757’s, and satellite TV systems for our 757-300’s and 737 NG’s. While we are naturally thrilled that management has committed millions of dollars to the improvement of our product, they had better be thinking about how to improve the lives and livelihoods of the pilots who safely, efficiently, and economically provide our product to our passengers.
Delta Air Lines Captain Mike Donatelli, our ALPA National SPSC Chairman, said it best: “The price of fuel is the price of fuel and the price of a pilot is the price of a pilot.” Our management never wants for a thing, and cost never seems to be an object when it comes to new terminals, new President’s Clubs, new ramp equipment, new airplanes, or Mr. Kellner’s latest compensation demands. We, the pilots, demand the same consideration as every other essential component of Continental Airlines. When fuel was $4 per gallon, management paid it. The price of pilots will be going up significantly, too, and we will require management to figure out how to pay us. Management has gotten industry-leading contracts for years—and ours is now due. Management can use their talents to provide us with an industry-leading contact—or they can fight us and stall. In the end, we will be paid what we have both earned and deserve. How much pain management is willing to go through in the process—that is up to them.
Item 2: Fred Goes Fishing
As alluded to above, Vice President of Flight Operations, Fred Abbott, recently hosted all of management’s Chief Pilots on a long-range navigation junket to Guam. At the Guam-based pilot’s meeting called for the occasion, Mr. Abbott told the thirty or so assembled pilots, “this is not just a fishing trip”, and he was right—it was all that—and so much more. It was the chance for Mr. Abbott to treat every Chief Pilot, members of management staff, and assorted hangers-on to positive-space passes, stay in first-class hotel rooms, and enjoy first-class expense accounts, all while soaking up the sun and enjoying the night-life of Guam. They also likely bounced several our non-revs trying to make the difficult trip from Honolulu to Guam to get to work.
How many of our furloughed pilots could have been brought back in exchange for the money spent on this trip? How many pay claims for ACARS time-shorting could have been reimbursed? How many months of health insurance for new hire pilots might have been paid?
Every day, management throws waste and excess like this in our faces followed by a reminder that they just can’t afford to pay us. Yes, they can—and, yes, they will.
Item 3: Management Clarifies Cockpit Jumpseat for Off-Duty Mechanics—Sort of
Late Friday, after several requests from both our MEC leadership and the MEC Jumpseat Committee, and with the support of all Continental pilots, management moved to clarify their position on whether or not our off-duty mechanics may access the Captain's jumpseat for personal travel.
In a bulletin issued on the Flight Operations E-Bulletin Board, management says:
"Recently there has been some confusion introduced with regard to Continental’s long-standing jumpseat policy as it relates to the authorization of Continental mechanics that are licensed certificated airman to occupy the flight deck jumpseat.
Individuals, including licensed mechanics traveling on-duty or for personal travel, who are approved by our automated jumpseat system are authorized to occupy the flight deck jumpseat with your verification of the documentation and identification requirements as outlined in the Flight Operations Manual.
As is stated in the Continental Airlines Flight Operations Manual at Section 5, page 44:
Certificated employees of Continental Airlines (pilots, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians) are authorized flight deck jumpseat access in accordance with the FAR requirements specified in the chart above.
Continental pilots, dispatchers and maintenance technicians actively employed by the airline are identified in Continental’s automated jumpseat access program and permitted flight deck jumpseat access."
While management is certainly entitled to their opinion as to who is authorized to request access to the Captain's jumpseat, the "chart" referenced in the bulletin excerpted above does not mention mechanics flying off-duty on personal travel. To help resolve this, and to help our mechanics regain their jumpseat privileges as quickly as possible, your MEC leadership has requested written clarification from the Continental Airlines POI. In the mean time, management has assured us that no pilot will face any action from the FAA as a result of their decision to carry any mechanic cleared for cockpit access via the existing jumpseat authorization protocol.
Obscured in this tempest in a cockpit is the very real fact that every month older 737's with two cockpit jumpseats leave our fleet. In some cases there is a 737 NG to replace it, in some cases there is not. We are an airline made of commuting pilots—in large part because of the cavalier opening and closing of pilot bases by management in the past. Anyone remember Greensboro, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle, Honolulu, Denver, El Paso, or Manila?
Every 737 that leaves our fleet means lost jumpseats and fewer commuting opportunities for our pilots—and summer is coming. Despite the economy, full summer loads are coming, as well. While we are excited to see management spend so much time and effort helping our mechanics travel while off-duty, we would like to see some of that effort directed toward us, the pilots of Continental Airlines. We still have a CASS system that is buggy at best, green screen computers at some of our stations, agents who do not know jumpseat processing procedures, and pilots trying to get to work left behind every day because management is not interested in fixing the problem they created. We are also dangerously close to being thrown off the jumpseats of other airlines because word of our daily failure to accommodate our fellow pilots from these other airlines is getting back to their jumpseat committees. There is no free lunch, there is only quid pro quo—and management is not holding up their end of the deal.
While it does not help the pilots from other airlines left stranded by management’s miserable implementation of CASS, please, Captains, know at least the procedure for alternate jumpseat access for our own pilots. If we plan to operate the hellish schedule management has in store for us this summer, everyone will have to get to work.
The Magenta Line
on course from failure to success
the council 170 weekly update
“Continental feels that there is no contractual reason to pay the lump sum.” – Fred Abbott, Vice President of Flight Operations, March 16, 2009, during a pilot meeting in Guam.
Today is Tuesday, March 31st. As some of you may know, Unit 1, the bargaining unit for many of ALPA’s staffers, faces a possible strike tonight at midnight. The Officers of Council 170 fully support our brothers and sisters of Unit 1 in their efforts to bargain for a fair and equitable contract. We will not perform struck work of any kind nor will we be able to access many of ALPA’s services if Unit 1 is forced to go on strike tonight or at any time prior to agreement on a new contract. We have issued this week’s BlastMail early to avoid any interruption in our communications to you, our constituents.
There are 10 items for discussion:
Item 1: Mr. Kellner’s Flights of Fancy
In “The Gift That Keeps on Giving” department, rarely is one story so generous as to provide us with material for multiple BlastMails. Thus, we are thankful for Mr. Kellner’s interesting and enlightening feature article in a recent issue of the Houston Chronicle. In this article, Mr. Kellner tells us all that “now might not be the best time for negotiations with mechanics and pilots”. History demonstrates that the only time best for management to negotiate with us in a fair and equitable manner is “never”.
The article goes on to say that that, “Continental’s labor costs are on the high end of the industry, in part because of a rash of bankruptcies earlier this decade that allowed some rivals to slash pensions and other employee commitments.” Yes, that’s what the article says. They almost make it sound like fun, all that slashing of “pensions and other employee commitments”. After reading Mr. Kellner’s assurances that our contract is, indeed, at the pinnacle of the airline industry, we are relieved to know that all the things we thought had been taken from us via Contract ’02 are still in place—like our pensions, work rules, and pay. Maybe all we need to do is file a pay claim.
To analyze Mr. Kellner’s assertion that our “labor costs are on the high end of the industry”, we turned to our resident airline analyst, former member of our Negotiating Committee, and Chairman of our council’s Education Committee, Captain Tim Boyens. Captain Boyens is well-known among our pilots for his insight and intellectual vigor and honesty. His take?
Continental Airlines pilots rank eighth (8th) in cockpit costs, and $234 per block hour lower than the pilots of American Airlines.
The list below, from last week’s MEC Chairman’s Update, bears repeating. It shows all U.S.-based airlines ranked from highest to lowest block hour cockpit costs in 2007, the last year for which this data is available. The list does not include UPS or FedEx; if it did, we would rank tenth lowest (10th) instead of eighth (8th) lowest.
Total Cockpit Cost per Block Hour - ALL AIRCRAFT 2007
American $781/hour
Northwest $648/hour (via BK court)
Hawaiian $627/hour
Alaska $621/hour
United $613/hour (via BK court)
Southwest $567/hour
Delta $562/hour (via BK court)
Continental $547/hour
USAirways $520/hour (via BK court twice)
Vice President of Flight Operations, Fred Abbott, on his recent fishing trip to Guam, told our Guam-based pilots that we will be spending freely on things such as lie-flat seats for our 777 and 757’s, and satellite TV systems for our 757-300’s and 737 NG’s. While we are naturally thrilled that management has committed millions of dollars to the improvement of our product, they had better be thinking about how to improve the lives and livelihoods of the pilots who safely, efficiently, and economically provide our product to our passengers.
Delta Air Lines Captain Mike Donatelli, our ALPA National SPSC Chairman, said it best: “The price of fuel is the price of fuel and the price of a pilot is the price of a pilot.” Our management never wants for a thing, and cost never seems to be an object when it comes to new terminals, new President’s Clubs, new ramp equipment, new airplanes, or Mr. Kellner’s latest compensation demands. We, the pilots, demand the same consideration as every other essential component of Continental Airlines. When fuel was $4 per gallon, management paid it. The price of pilots will be going up significantly, too, and we will require management to figure out how to pay us. Management has gotten industry-leading contracts for years—and ours is now due. Management can use their talents to provide us with an industry-leading contact—or they can fight us and stall. In the end, we will be paid what we have both earned and deserve. How much pain management is willing to go through in the process—that is up to them.
Item 2: Fred Goes Fishing
As alluded to above, Vice President of Flight Operations, Fred Abbott, recently hosted all of management’s Chief Pilots on a long-range navigation junket to Guam. At the Guam-based pilot’s meeting called for the occasion, Mr. Abbott told the thirty or so assembled pilots, “this is not just a fishing trip”, and he was right—it was all that—and so much more. It was the chance for Mr. Abbott to treat every Chief Pilot, members of management staff, and assorted hangers-on to positive-space passes, stay in first-class hotel rooms, and enjoy first-class expense accounts, all while soaking up the sun and enjoying the night-life of Guam. They also likely bounced several our non-revs trying to make the difficult trip from Honolulu to Guam to get to work.
How many of our furloughed pilots could have been brought back in exchange for the money spent on this trip? How many pay claims for ACARS time-shorting could have been reimbursed? How many months of health insurance for new hire pilots might have been paid?
Every day, management throws waste and excess like this in our faces followed by a reminder that they just can’t afford to pay us. Yes, they can—and, yes, they will.
Item 3: Management Clarifies Cockpit Jumpseat for Off-Duty Mechanics—Sort of
Late Friday, after several requests from both our MEC leadership and the MEC Jumpseat Committee, and with the support of all Continental pilots, management moved to clarify their position on whether or not our off-duty mechanics may access the Captain's jumpseat for personal travel.
In a bulletin issued on the Flight Operations E-Bulletin Board, management says:
"Recently there has been some confusion introduced with regard to Continental’s long-standing jumpseat policy as it relates to the authorization of Continental mechanics that are licensed certificated airman to occupy the flight deck jumpseat.
Individuals, including licensed mechanics traveling on-duty or for personal travel, who are approved by our automated jumpseat system are authorized to occupy the flight deck jumpseat with your verification of the documentation and identification requirements as outlined in the Flight Operations Manual.
As is stated in the Continental Airlines Flight Operations Manual at Section 5, page 44:
Certificated employees of Continental Airlines (pilots, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians) are authorized flight deck jumpseat access in accordance with the FAR requirements specified in the chart above.
Continental pilots, dispatchers and maintenance technicians actively employed by the airline are identified in Continental’s automated jumpseat access program and permitted flight deck jumpseat access."
While management is certainly entitled to their opinion as to who is authorized to request access to the Captain's jumpseat, the "chart" referenced in the bulletin excerpted above does not mention mechanics flying off-duty on personal travel. To help resolve this, and to help our mechanics regain their jumpseat privileges as quickly as possible, your MEC leadership has requested written clarification from the Continental Airlines POI. In the mean time, management has assured us that no pilot will face any action from the FAA as a result of their decision to carry any mechanic cleared for cockpit access via the existing jumpseat authorization protocol.
Obscured in this tempest in a cockpit is the very real fact that every month older 737's with two cockpit jumpseats leave our fleet. In some cases there is a 737 NG to replace it, in some cases there is not. We are an airline made of commuting pilots—in large part because of the cavalier opening and closing of pilot bases by management in the past. Anyone remember Greensboro, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Seattle, Honolulu, Denver, El Paso, or Manila?
Every 737 that leaves our fleet means lost jumpseats and fewer commuting opportunities for our pilots—and summer is coming. Despite the economy, full summer loads are coming, as well. While we are excited to see management spend so much time and effort helping our mechanics travel while off-duty, we would like to see some of that effort directed toward us, the pilots of Continental Airlines. We still have a CASS system that is buggy at best, green screen computers at some of our stations, agents who do not know jumpseat processing procedures, and pilots trying to get to work left behind every day because management is not interested in fixing the problem they created. We are also dangerously close to being thrown off the jumpseats of other airlines because word of our daily failure to accommodate our fellow pilots from these other airlines is getting back to their jumpseat committees. There is no free lunch, there is only quid pro quo—and management is not holding up their end of the deal.
While it does not help the pilots from other airlines left stranded by management’s miserable implementation of CASS, please, Captains, know at least the procedure for alternate jumpseat access for our own pilots. If we plan to operate the hellish schedule management has in store for us this summer, everyone will have to get to work.
03-31-2009 | 11:11 AM
#2
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Gets Weekends Off
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Item 4: Funding Management’s Future
We all know how management loves to chip away at us especially in the area of pay. Management has legions of specialists trained to squeeze every last dollar from us and one of their favorite tools is the manipulation of ACARS block times. This is despite a Letter of Agreement prohibiting this practice. How many of us have filed pay claims based upon some mystery-manager altering our ACARS times for pay? How many of us have given up filing pay claims for five minutes here, eight minutes there? Although the favored method of pay adjustment occurs on the front-end, management has some back-end tricks, too.
An interesting item from the Inflight Manual: Chapter 5, page 40, requires the lead flight attendant on 737 domestic arrivals to crack the 1L door after disarming it. The specific sequence reads:
“Door Disarming
• After the aircraft has parked at the gate and the FASTEN SEAT BELT sign has been turned off, flight attendants must disarm their assigned door(s) and crosscheck the appropriate door(s).
• (On 737 domestic flights only) Flight attendant A cracks the 1L door.
• Flight attendant A then makes the door disarming announcement. (Refer to specific aircraft chapter for door assignments and disarming procedures. Refer to this chapter for crosscheck procedures.)
• On wide body and 757 aircraft, flight attendant A also initiates an All Call. (Refer to Door All Call Procedures, this chapter.)”
Not too many years ago a flight attendant cracked her door a little too far—and fell onto the ramp. There was no jetway to save her. It did, however, save management a couple of bucks on the early block-in.
Your LEC leadership recommends that all B-737 Captains brief your flight attendants to follow their Inflight Manual procedures and do not crack the door until the seat belt sign is turned off.
Your LEC leadership also recommends that all Captains do not turn off the seatbelt sign until the jetway is connected to your aircraft with a gate agent ready to complete the door-opening procedure and deplane our passengers.
Item 5: No A-Fund Liquidity Shortfall—This Week
Management has notified the CAL MEC that there will be no A-Fund liquidity shortfall for the period from March 27, 2009 through June 27, 2009. While management still cannot be bothered to fund our A-Plan on the same schedule they use to fund their own or add any new money to our plan, the stock market had a good week leading up to the liquidity shortfall calculation. This means that the A-Fund lump-sum payment option for retirees will be available through at least June 27, 2009, when the next calculation will take place.
Item 6: Crew Scheduling Seeks Pilots to Train Them on Contract ‘02
Not really—but they should.
Your LEC Officers have been notified by several of our reserve pilots that crew scheduling seems to have a “training-gap” when it comes to “B” reserve call out times. Section 25, Part 11, Subsection 11 of our contract states:
“A “B” reserve pilot must be phone available during his specified phone availability period and must be able to effectuate a block out (including dead head) within 3 hours of initial contact.”
Granted, this section is extremely complex in language, meaning, and nuance. Nevertheless, your LEC Officers advise that when given a minimum reserve call out time you have up to three hours from the initial contact from crew scheduling.
Item 7: Request for Committee Volunteers
All of our committees need volunteers. If you are interested in committee work or if you have special artistic talents of any kind, we want you to help your fellow EWR pilots. If you are interested or have previously expressed interest via e-mail or a phone call, please confirm your continuing interest in an e-mail to Captain Kaye Riggs, Secretary-Treasurer, LEC 170 at [email protected]. Please put the word “Volunteer” in the subject line.
Item 8: Next Meetings
Our next LC 170 meeting is scheduled for April 8 at 11:00 at the Newark Airport Marriott.
Our next MEC meeting is scheduled to begin at our union headquarters in Houston on April 21st at 13:00 and run through the 24th. After the first day of the MEC meeting, business normally begins at 09:00 but is subject to change based upon workload and schedule.
Please make plans to attend either or both of these meetings. Remember, Speakers’ Corner is held daily at 13:00 at the MEC meeting. This is your chance to address all of your elected representatives directly.
We all know how management loves to chip away at us especially in the area of pay. Management has legions of specialists trained to squeeze every last dollar from us and one of their favorite tools is the manipulation of ACARS block times. This is despite a Letter of Agreement prohibiting this practice. How many of us have filed pay claims based upon some mystery-manager altering our ACARS times for pay? How many of us have given up filing pay claims for five minutes here, eight minutes there? Although the favored method of pay adjustment occurs on the front-end, management has some back-end tricks, too.
An interesting item from the Inflight Manual: Chapter 5, page 40, requires the lead flight attendant on 737 domestic arrivals to crack the 1L door after disarming it. The specific sequence reads:
“Door Disarming
• After the aircraft has parked at the gate and the FASTEN SEAT BELT sign has been turned off, flight attendants must disarm their assigned door(s) and crosscheck the appropriate door(s).
• (On 737 domestic flights only) Flight attendant A cracks the 1L door.
• Flight attendant A then makes the door disarming announcement. (Refer to specific aircraft chapter for door assignments and disarming procedures. Refer to this chapter for crosscheck procedures.)
• On wide body and 757 aircraft, flight attendant A also initiates an All Call. (Refer to Door All Call Procedures, this chapter.)”
Not too many years ago a flight attendant cracked her door a little too far—and fell onto the ramp. There was no jetway to save her. It did, however, save management a couple of bucks on the early block-in.
Your LEC leadership recommends that all B-737 Captains brief your flight attendants to follow their Inflight Manual procedures and do not crack the door until the seat belt sign is turned off.
Your LEC leadership also recommends that all Captains do not turn off the seatbelt sign until the jetway is connected to your aircraft with a gate agent ready to complete the door-opening procedure and deplane our passengers.
Item 5: No A-Fund Liquidity Shortfall—This Week
Management has notified the CAL MEC that there will be no A-Fund liquidity shortfall for the period from March 27, 2009 through June 27, 2009. While management still cannot be bothered to fund our A-Plan on the same schedule they use to fund their own or add any new money to our plan, the stock market had a good week leading up to the liquidity shortfall calculation. This means that the A-Fund lump-sum payment option for retirees will be available through at least June 27, 2009, when the next calculation will take place.
Item 6: Crew Scheduling Seeks Pilots to Train Them on Contract ‘02
Not really—but they should.
Your LEC Officers have been notified by several of our reserve pilots that crew scheduling seems to have a “training-gap” when it comes to “B” reserve call out times. Section 25, Part 11, Subsection 11 of our contract states:
“A “B” reserve pilot must be phone available during his specified phone availability period and must be able to effectuate a block out (including dead head) within 3 hours of initial contact.”
Granted, this section is extremely complex in language, meaning, and nuance. Nevertheless, your LEC Officers advise that when given a minimum reserve call out time you have up to three hours from the initial contact from crew scheduling.
Item 7: Request for Committee Volunteers
All of our committees need volunteers. If you are interested in committee work or if you have special artistic talents of any kind, we want you to help your fellow EWR pilots. If you are interested or have previously expressed interest via e-mail or a phone call, please confirm your continuing interest in an e-mail to Captain Kaye Riggs, Secretary-Treasurer, LEC 170 at [email protected]. Please put the word “Volunteer” in the subject line.
Item 8: Next Meetings
Our next LC 170 meeting is scheduled for April 8 at 11:00 at the Newark Airport Marriott.
Our next MEC meeting is scheduled to begin at our union headquarters in Houston on April 21st at 13:00 and run through the 24th. After the first day of the MEC meeting, business normally begins at 09:00 but is subject to change based upon workload and schedule.
Please make plans to attend either or both of these meetings. Remember, Speakers’ Corner is held daily at 13:00 at the MEC meeting. This is your chance to address all of your elected representatives directly.
03-31-2009 | 11:12 AM
#3
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Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Nov 2006
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Item 9: E-Mail Ooopsie
Due to the miserable failure of your council’s Secretary/Treasurer, the e-mail address of Vice Chairman Tara Cook in last week’s BlastMail contained an error. Only the sharp eyes of about 2000 of our council’s pilots caught this incredibly obscure mistake. Her correct e-mail address is: [email protected].
The Secretary/Treasurer will be made to “kiss the gunner’s daughter”. Tickets are on sale now for this exciting event.
Item 10: Vice Chairman’s Editorial
Since being elected as the EWR First Officer Representative, I have been asked many times by our senior pilots: “How can we count on you to fight for the proper funding of our A-Plan when more than half the pilots you represent don’t have a stake in it?” My answer is simple and is always the same: “I’ll fight for proper funding of the A plan because I believe management’s cavalier attitude toward the future security of our longest serving pilots is a clear indicator of the lack of dignity and respect with which they view all of us.” The lack of the promised and proper funding of our pension plan is a symptom of a larger problem- one that affects every pilot, no matter where they fall on the seniority list. Other symptoms include harassment of military pilots, extensions of probation for putting your family first during a natural disaster, releasing reserves to rest well into a call period to “legally” fly an international red-eye flight later that night, changing ACARS times, working junior pilots like slaves in the months prior to sending them to the unemployment line…need I go on?
The fact is that management views the pilots as simply beans to be counted—and nothing more. They conveniently forget that the pilots are at the tip of the spear, flying thousands of hours in all kinds of weather, ensuring the safety of our passengers and the efficiency of the operation, EVERY DAY! We do so because we are professionals and we are proud of the job that we do. We do so whether we are number one on the seniority list and ready to retire or a new hire, working uninsured and underpaid. We are the life’s blood of this airline and deserve to be treated as such. That treatment must include industry leading compensation in pay rates and soft pay for all of our pilots, work rules that are the envy of the industry, the recognition of Captain’s authority, staffing that is adequate to cover scheduled flying AND irregular operations, and the ability to count on a comfortable living in retirement—starting with a fully funded A -Plan for those who have earned it! Let’s not forget that today’s new-hire is tomorrow’s retiree and how I am treated down the road will be determined by how I allow our senior guys to be treated today. The only way we can successfully fight to be treated as more than counted beans is to stand together, junior and senior, Captain and First Officer, International and Domestic, and fight the disease—let’s not get distracted by our individual symptoms!
“Continental feels that there is no contractual reason to pay the lump sum.” – Fred Abbott, Vice President of Flight Operations, March 16, 2009, during a pilot meeting in Guam.
Captain Jayson Baron, EWR Council 170 Chairman
[email protected]
First Officer Tara Cook, EWR Council 170 Vice Chairman
[email protected]
Captain Kaye Riggs, EWR Council 170 Secretary-Treasurer
[email protected]
Due to the miserable failure of your council’s Secretary/Treasurer, the e-mail address of Vice Chairman Tara Cook in last week’s BlastMail contained an error. Only the sharp eyes of about 2000 of our council’s pilots caught this incredibly obscure mistake. Her correct e-mail address is: [email protected].
The Secretary/Treasurer will be made to “kiss the gunner’s daughter”. Tickets are on sale now for this exciting event.
Item 10: Vice Chairman’s Editorial
Since being elected as the EWR First Officer Representative, I have been asked many times by our senior pilots: “How can we count on you to fight for the proper funding of our A-Plan when more than half the pilots you represent don’t have a stake in it?” My answer is simple and is always the same: “I’ll fight for proper funding of the A plan because I believe management’s cavalier attitude toward the future security of our longest serving pilots is a clear indicator of the lack of dignity and respect with which they view all of us.” The lack of the promised and proper funding of our pension plan is a symptom of a larger problem- one that affects every pilot, no matter where they fall on the seniority list. Other symptoms include harassment of military pilots, extensions of probation for putting your family first during a natural disaster, releasing reserves to rest well into a call period to “legally” fly an international red-eye flight later that night, changing ACARS times, working junior pilots like slaves in the months prior to sending them to the unemployment line…need I go on?
The fact is that management views the pilots as simply beans to be counted—and nothing more. They conveniently forget that the pilots are at the tip of the spear, flying thousands of hours in all kinds of weather, ensuring the safety of our passengers and the efficiency of the operation, EVERY DAY! We do so because we are professionals and we are proud of the job that we do. We do so whether we are number one on the seniority list and ready to retire or a new hire, working uninsured and underpaid. We are the life’s blood of this airline and deserve to be treated as such. That treatment must include industry leading compensation in pay rates and soft pay for all of our pilots, work rules that are the envy of the industry, the recognition of Captain’s authority, staffing that is adequate to cover scheduled flying AND irregular operations, and the ability to count on a comfortable living in retirement—starting with a fully funded A -Plan for those who have earned it! Let’s not forget that today’s new-hire is tomorrow’s retiree and how I am treated down the road will be determined by how I allow our senior guys to be treated today. The only way we can successfully fight to be treated as more than counted beans is to stand together, junior and senior, Captain and First Officer, International and Domestic, and fight the disease—let’s not get distracted by our individual symptoms!
“Continental feels that there is no contractual reason to pay the lump sum.” – Fred Abbott, Vice President of Flight Operations, March 16, 2009, during a pilot meeting in Guam.
Captain Jayson Baron, EWR Council 170 Chairman
[email protected]
First Officer Tara Cook, EWR Council 170 Vice Chairman
[email protected]
Captain Kaye Riggs, EWR Council 170 Secretary-Treasurer
[email protected]
03-31-2009 | 02:56 PM
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 258
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Yes, there are three types of employees at ALPA.
ALPA Management
Unit 1 - Professional level, Attorneys, lobbyist, communications specialists etc.
Unit 2 - Administrative employees
Unit 1 and 2 are union represented. I hear Unit 1 and management are far about and a strike is likely tonight. Unit 2's contract expires at the end of April.
ALPA Management
Unit 1 - Professional level, Attorneys, lobbyist, communications specialists etc.
Unit 2 - Administrative employees
Unit 1 and 2 are union represented. I hear Unit 1 and management are far about and a strike is likely tonight. Unit 2's contract expires at the end of April.
03-31-2009 | 05:17 PM
#10
Che Guevara
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 6,408
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No kidding. I don't think people at ALPA should make more than the people they represent. How many there were making six figures again?
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