Message from your MEC – October 21, 2005
From: AWA MEC
To: All AWA Pilots
After much deliberation, soul searching, and consultation with legal counsel, the MEC made the decision late yesterday to make the MEC web board read-only until seniority integration is complete. We recognize this is a controversial decision, and it is a decision that wasn’t made lightly. In the final analysis, however, there is too much at stake for our pilots to allow a handful of individuals with malicious intent and selfish personal agendas to subvert and destroy the work of your union.
At present, the MEC and its Committee Chairmen are working full-time on merger issues. As of today, every America West Committee Chairman has been in touch with their US Airways counterparts, establishing a relationship with that individual and coordinating efforts with them to benefit all the pilots of the combined airline. Just overseeing the activities of the Joint Negotiating Committee and the Merger Committee is a full-time enterprise and, yet, your elected representatives and MEC Officers have to continually divert their attention from the task of representing our pilots to respond to misinformation being posted daily on the web board by a small group of individuals.
We recognize that these issues are not unique to our property. In fact, our colleagues at Atlas and Polar have recently seen their boards taken down, and ATA and Delta Airlines have suspended the use of their boards in the past. We must consider that our property is in the midst of a historic merger, and it has never been more important for our energies to be focused on protecting your careers.
While the web boards are read-only you will continue to receive official updates and news from the MEC on a daily basis. In fact, the MEC Officers will be in Herndon next week to petition the Executive Council for additional funding for communications efforts during this period of contract negotiations and seniority integration.
The MEC recognizes how critical it is for you to receive timely and relevant information in the coming weeks, but we also recognize how destructive rumors and deliberate misinformation can be as well. We encourage you to call your MEC officers, elected representatives, or committee volunteers with questions or comments. Alternatively, you can email the MEC at [email protected]. We will respond to appropriate questions and comments on the web board for the entire pilot group to see.
We know that some of you will continue to feel the need to vent and certainly there will be other avenues for you to do so. Our only request is that you consider the ramifications of your actions on your fellow pilots and act accordingly.