Airline Pilot Central Forums - Con statement for TA

CON Statement Regarding TA 2022
We, the undersigned, voted against approving UPA 2022 and sending what we believed was a substandard agreement out for membership ratification. Included as a signatory is one non- voting member of the MEC (Secretary-Treasurer). The reasons for our vote against this TA are as follows:

• Changes to Scope that threaten our job security
• Pay increases are substandard
• Duration fails to reflect the value of the deal
• Work rules (particularly reserve and reassignment provisions) are not fixed, but in some
cases made worse
• Pattern bargaining is harmed – not helped – by United pilots agreeing to this deal

The Scorpion and the Frog...

A scorpion asks a frog to carry him over a river. The frog is afraid of being stung, but the scorpion argues that if it did so, both would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog then agrees, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion points out that this is its nature.

Many of you are all too familiar with this tale – although for a great number of pilots, perhaps not in the context of a Section 6 negotiation. Regardless, the lesson is worth highlighting.
We lead with this tale because what lies before you is the conclusion of multiple rounds of negotiations between ALPA and management. United is supposed to become the best airline in history, according to CEO Scott Kirby. We believe this TA does not reflect that.

Scope

This TA provides the company with 4,750 pounds per aircraft of scope relief on the CRJ-550. Recall that the limit on 50-seat jets under either the current UPA or the TA is ninety percent of the number of single aisle aircraft in the company fleet and that a CRJ-550 is a 70-seat jet recertified to become a 50-seat jet. Now is the time that we should be clawing back pieces of Section 1 provisions that have suffered more than two decades worth of losses. To breathe life into the regional jet model is unconscionable. Not one pound, not one airframe, not one seat, not one mile!

Instructor Scope

We are facing yet another version of Scope concessions for instructors. The new LOA 22-02 (attached to the end of this TA) allows the Company to hire retired United Pilots into the training center as pilot instructors. This sets a new precedent!

For the last several decades, only United Pilots on our seniority list have filled these important positions conducting simulator training on this property. These are jobs for United pilots to train their fellow United pilots, and it is a contractual provision that the United pilots have paid for multiple times in the past. The importance of having seniority list instructors is invaluable because they have skin in the game with all other seniority list United pilots.

Some have argued that there are limits in place as to the allowable number and duration of employment at TK for these retired pilots. While that may be true initially, we have allowed “the camel’s nose under the tent” by accepting non-ALPA seniority list instructors. What is next? Contractors off the street? As we saw two decades ago with the continually increasing number of RJs, a small expansion can quickly bust through the guardrails and become an eight lane highway.

Retired United Pilots doing jobs such as New Hire Pilot Interviews and working in Station Operations/CPO make $32-50/hour. While this TA may “rain dollars” over our current ALPA pilot instructor cadre today, it does not take much of an imagination to envision a day where all pilot instructors are replaced with much cheaper contract instructors. We ignore this threat at our peril. We have been fighting the topic of non-seniority list instructors since the 1980’s, and we have been successful thus far. We must hold the line on scope.

Notwithstanding what the rest of the world thinks, or how we voted on the MEC, what you have to decide is if the TA meets your expectations, considering the leverage labor had going into these negotiations.

• Anemic Pay Raises: this all depends on how you look at inflation, or which chart you choose to favor. Regardless, in our opinion, this agreement fails to keep up with inflation.

• This is a two-year deal. Does anyone reading this really believe we’ll have the next CBA by the amendable date in 2024? And unlike the UPA extension, there are no pay increases baked into the end of this agreement to account for negotiations that are sure to run years past the amendable date.

• Much MEC direction to the Negotiating Committee was left on the table, unaddressed. This direction stemmed from issues identified by you, the rank and file, and were egregious enough to be turned into MEC direction to the Negotiating Committee. As your reps, it becomes exceedingly difficult to support an agreement that falls short here. To summarize, your complaints were not fixed in this TA.

• Wall Street is already hyped on the prospects of Q2 earnings. They are expected to beat Q2 of 2019, the best year ever for financial performance at UAL. Consummating this deal, with a lack of value for the years we have been bargaining and a carry-through of the 5% increase promised in the Pandemic Recovery Agreement, is a slap in the face. Consider that we are being asked to vote on this TA prior to the Q2 results being released... nobody wants to “leave money on the table”. But in this case, money may be left just outside the meeting room door.

• Retro Pay – what should that be based upon? December 2021? Or perhaps when our contract became amendable on January 31, 2019?

Our pilots showed great bravery and commitment when they flew the line during COVID. Early in the pandemic, we were without proper PPE or vaccines and spent days locked in our rooms with limited food options on hotel layovers. A number of our fellow pilots died, and a number of our pilots are still dealing with very serious long-haul COVID. In stark contrast, the CEO filmed messages to employees from his kitchen table with his child’s high chair in the background. The head of Manpower Planning gave briefings from the comfort of his sleigh bed. But not our pilots: we were out on the line and in the training center keeping the operation going. We demand a contract that recognizes the sacrifices ALPA pilots made for this Company in some of its darkest days.

COVID MOU Cancellation

This TA has done nothing to improve any aspect of our sick time language. In fact, it will terminate the protections from the initial COVID MOU dating back to March 14, 2020 and will force a pilot who contracts COVID, or who has a household member who contracts COVID, to use their sick time and to quarantine for at least 10 days. With cases of new COVID continuing to plague our pilots, and new variants emerging, to think that it is acceptable to force pilots to use potentially all of their sick time to cover COVID is shocking. Each time a pilot is forced to use their sick time and do the safe, ethical, and responsible thing by staying home for a minimum of 10 days, that pilot will use 50% or more of their annual earned sick time.

This TA is about solving the company’s problems in manpower and training. As an “Add Pay” contract, it gives the company flexibility for manpower, making us a version of seasonal or variablized employees, greatly affecting our quality of life.

Reserve Changes

We have said for decades that we need to fix our reserve system. During the pandemic, almost every pilot was on reserve, so we all understand how onerous reserve can be. The proposed change in the requirement for a reserve to check their schedule from 2359 back to 1759 on their day off, results in an opportunity for a 0500 report time for a flying leg at 0600. This is a change from the existing language, which only permits a 1000 report for a 1100 departure for a flight duty period with a flying leg. The 1000 report was the gift of FAR117 which, when paired with our UPA, resulted in a report time for a flight duty period of no earlier than 1000 on your first day of reserve. The proposed change will almost always result in the commuter reserve pilot sacrificing up to four nights per month at home. Considering we have some of the poorest work rules in the industry with respect to reserve pilots, we should be taking actual steps to improve reserve. We should not reduce the few days off that reserve pilots have.

You will hear that all the reserve Add Pay is an improvement because it will change reserve pilot (and company) behavior. We fear that these reserve changes, which incentivize picking up field standbys, short calls, and open trips, will only change the order in which reserves pick up or are assigned trips. This is because unlike some other airlines, United staffs the airline and reserves not to hold them in reserve, but to fly them. History shows that predictions of creative changes from past negotiations never seem to work out as advertised.

The following points are additional concessions which we could not support:

• This TA prevents the pilot from picking up trips during the last 7 days of the month while the PBS solver is running. This blocks trading for one additional day.

• This TA allows First Officers to go without pay due to landings expiration.

• Some of the Add Pay protections do not apply during IROPs during severe weather or when positive space passes are allowed to get pilots to work due to the company’s need to get them in position.

Just weeks ago at the ALPA Legislative Summit on Capitol Hill, our ALPA President Joe DePete stated we are in the best negotiating environment in the history of ALPA with the most leverage of our careers. This TA squanders that leverage. The only new increase in compensation in this agreement is a 4% raise followed by a 5% raise. The other 5% increase in compensation has already been paid for by the pilots in the Pandemic Recovery LOA.
We currently have a mature contract. There is no reason to fear turning down this TA. We must be willing to say no. We don’t get the contract we deserve, we get the contract we demand. Vote NO!

In Unity,

Captain Glenn Johnson, Council 5 Chair

Captain Anne Worster, Council 11 Vice Chair

Captain Wendy Morse, Council 12 Chair

First Officer Phil Anderson, Council 12 Vice Chair

Captain Lisa Peasley, Council 12 Secretary-Treasurer