excuse me but was it not just pay scale that they offered. Could you show me where it said AA pilots fly everything above 50 seats?

 

Distinctly possible, yes.

 

Prior to the BK, AMR did put that out there... There were even a few newspaper articles about it. It sounded like they were going to merge Eagle to do it and essentially ask for a C scale for the commuter jets.

 

With the new duty time, and flight time mins, I bet they still do. It ends scope problems, ends RJ problems, end any coming shortage of pilots, including the regional level. If you were hired now you would not hit the line till late Aug 1st, if you flew you butt off your first year maybe 850 hours?? I think the option of bidding out much of eagles flying just became VERY VERY hard. Regional flying is for sure a shrinking thing long term.

 

I flew about 775 mi first year.

 

Wow (jsled) I think you have a good opinion. AMR seems to be setting out to do what they wanted before BK. On the eagle side they started parking the ATR’s on target with the first proposal during the last TA. If that was the last thing that was offered to APA. I would guess the same thing as you. Thanks for the post!

 

That would be common sense..... AA managment wants to copy all the other majors by splitting up its feed to the lowest bidder.... They might be forced into merging the two companies, but I don't see that happening anytime soon.

 

For a while I thought the same as you. However I think the regional’s are all having a tough time. The margins seem small and with the gas price high the simple answer would be larger aircraft equaling larger profits.

However to your point DG is still the president of Eagle and if there is not future for AE they would have put him in another position during the management restructure. I guess there is strong evidence to both points but I think that is what they want. To keep us guessing.

 

they can try and bid it out, but most regional airlines with common sense would staff up now, since the going rate to recruit serious numbers of pilots right now is 500/50-800/100 time wise. With rest times and these mins they will need to staff up now, or else actually pay people later. AMR might make a big dumb moving, by playing the cards of 5 years ago and bidding out feed, just to find they dismantle Eagle and then have to go out and buy a regional in the future with a flow up agreement. That would be because thats the only way people will go to regionals.

 

This is the last straw. Some of these guys need to go. This crap behind closed doors has been going on for a while and now it's proven they just can't be trusted.

Latest letter:

Fellow DFW Pilots,

“The mission of the American Eagle Master Executive Council, as a unified and proactive group, is to defend and advance the careers of all Eagle pilots. We will promote the long term success of our airline, while setting the standard for safety in our airline.”

Please keep this mission statement in mind as you read the following letter. In this week’s hotline you may have read about NDA’s (non disclosure agreements) that are signed by all MEC members. This is not a chance occurrence or standard union news flash. It is an attempt to spin an action taken by your ALPA leaders and by your union in a favorable light.

Last week your union officers, against my wishes and that of others on the MEC, informed management that a fellow ALPA pilot may have received sensitive company information covered by these NDA. They took this action based on language in the NDA agreement that they feel demands disclosure to management when they believe sensitive information becomes public. I disagree, and believe that at no time is it my obligation to place a fellow pilot’s career in jeopardy. What follows is my view of how we got to this point in time and my read on what needs to be done to correct this injustice.

During this meeting I rescinded the non-disclosure Agreement I had signed with the company. Initially I had reservation about signing the NDA because of the overreaching liability that it contained. I was also concerned that it might require me to act in a manor that is contrary to everything I believe as an elected union officer. I signed it based on unfortunate legal counsel that said that I must do so or be excluded from the MEC meetings.

For quite some time, your MEC chairman and MEC vice chairman have been agitated over the web board postings of a New York pilot. They have on more than one occasion accused the MEC of leaking information to this pilot. As the postings continued, our MEC leadership became more focused in their accusations and started accusing several of us who have been outspoken opponents of their policies.

I would like to share with you the NDA language that has prompted this event. The NDA is a company document and I have been advised that I should not be the one to make it public. Please draw no sinister conclusion from this, as an NDA document is a routine precaution used throughout this industry. The action by your leaders is far from routine.

Tony and Dave had used this paragraph in the past to state that they had an obligation to report the New York pilot’s web board postings to the company. Many of us on the MEC had counseled against such action. I called and spoke with an ALPA attorney in Herndon who agreed with me that this course of action was not how unions treat fellow union members. He agreed to speak with Tony and Dave.

On Friday afternoon, this attorney spoke with Dave Ryter. I had been led to believe that this attorney would call Dave and try and put a stop to this folly. In actuality, all ALPA attorneys involved agreed that a breach of the NDA had occurred and that the company must be notified. The legal advice that Tony and Dave received was that in order to comply, our leadership should call and simply state that a breach had occurred without names or supporting evidence. In spite of that legal advice, Tony and Dave gave a copy of the web post and the name of the pilot to our management. When asked, Dave did not deny receiving this call, he just kept repeating, "I have no idea what you are talking about."

On Friday last, cloaked with an indignant sense of morality and emboldened by a misplaced sense of contractual obligation and unfortunate legal advice, Tony and Dave did the unthinkable. They turned this New York pilot over to management in direct contravention to the MEC mission statement.

My reasons for rescinding my NDA are two fold. I am protesting Dave and Tonys using the NDA and management to silence their critics. They are also using the NDA to limit the information that your local representatives pass along to you.

I am deeply troubled and saddened that Tony and Dave believe that turning a fellow union member over to management is in any way an acceptable action. I am troubled that there are elected members of the MEC who also think that this action is acceptable, even if it might result in termination. I am troubled that there are ALPA attorneys who believe that legal obligations outweigh the sacred trust that union members place in us when they elect us to represent them. Part of leadership is the ability to determine when one is receiving less than adequate advice, legal or otherwise.

In closing, union pilots do not do this to fellow union pilots. Tony and Dave's actions are reprehensible and unbelievable. They have crossed the line and there appears to be no way to undo the damage they have caused.

I will be calling a special LEC meeting to further describe our situation and to ask your advice as to how we should proceed. Thank you for taking time to listen.

Respectfully,

Val Jester
Chairman, LEC 83