Agreed.

But unfortunately, they are the only thing a lot of guys look at when its time to vote.

 

They must be into a coffee pot an hour mode if no one can email or update their progress. Good thing...................?



FROM THE CHAIRMAN
There is no Chairman's update this week.


JNC (CO-CHAIRMEN CAPTS. DAVE OWENS (CAL) (photo), PHIL OTIS (UAL))
The Joint Negotiating Committee has been involved in intense, end-game negotiations all week, and will continue working throughout the weekend.

Because of time demands of negotiations, there will be no Joint Negotiating Committee update this week.

 

That's odd. Co-worker Jeff assured us that there is no deadline. Why on earth would they be meeting over the weekend?

 

June 9, 2012
A MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN:

The negotiating schedule and demands of preparation meetings over the past week did not permit me the opportunity to write my normal Friday brief, but I want to provide an update now. Negotiations are ongoing this weekend and we remain committed to meeting our June 15 goal for agreement on the terms of the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement. As is typically the case in end-game style negotiations, a lot of issues are on the table at once and a lot of activity occurs behind the scenes. With the pace and complexity involved, as well as the evolving nature of the work, it is not possible nor desirable to provide updates as frequently as many of our pilots understandably would like. I realize the pilots’ keen interest in the negotiations and the need for information. The situation is just too fluid to communicate meaningfully and as I have said before, it would be a disservice to our pilot group to take them on an emotional roller-coaster ride through the ups and downs that are a normal part of negotiations. The NMB mediators have also made their views on communications quite clear to us. I can only say that although progress is being made, it never seems to be fast enough, and it won’t be fast enough until the deal is done. Your union leadership, the JNC and all the volunteers we have working this project remain fully committed to doing the work necessary.

On the other side of the table, it seems that management has more time on their hands than we do. On Friday, I received the attached letter from Company Senior Vice President of Labor Relations Doug McKeen. Without dignifying the baseless accusations by repeating them, I will simply say this: We are, and always have been, fully aware of our obligations under the Railway Labor Act (RLA). To this point, we place the following statement at the conclusion of the Position Report each week and will continue to do so:

“The Continental pilots are justifiably angry about the slow pace of negotiations. The CAL MEC asks you not to take your feelings about the negotiations into our work as pilots – whether it’s unnecessarily calling in sick or fatigued, or, when at work, changing your normal way of operating in the hopes that this will put pressure on the Company. If pilots engaged in such activities, they could delay an agreement while the Company deals with us in court rather than at the bargaining table. These actions could give the court an excuse to put mediation or a release on hold. They could lead to heavy fines and claims for damages against the Association and discipline and fines or damages against individual pilots.”

We understand our legal obligations. I am left to wonder if management understands their obligations to us. I remind management that in addition to status quo obligations, the RLA also contemplates negotiations designed to get a deal done. I suggest that instead of making implicative threats, they get to work on a proposal that recognizes our pilots’ value.

I responded to Mr. McKeen’s letter this evening. In my letter, I reminded him that ALPA remains “… committed to completing a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement by June 15 or seeking a release from the NMB. The RLA does not bar us from setting internal goals or from communicating about those goals. The CAL MEC firmly believes the Company should do its part to complete bargaining by that date, and we remain convinced that it is appropriate to continue to seek a release from the NMB if we have not seen sufficient progress toward such an agreement by that date.”

I closed the letter with the following statement: “I submit that both parties can spend our time and energy most productively by focusing on how we can reach agreement in principle on a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement by June 15, 2012.”

I hope you have a great weekend. Your union will be hard at work to complete the project you sent us to New York to do. I hope management will focus on that and stop their foolishness. Let’s get back to work.

 

P. Douglas McKeen
Senior Vice President Labor Relations

June 8, 2012
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL

Captain Jay Pierce
Continental Airlines MEC Chair Air Line Pilots Association
3803A World Houston Parkway Houston, TX 77032

Re:Status Quo Obligations and Preliminary Injunction Order

Dear Captain Pierce:

The Company is concerned about the risk of operational disruption attributable to s-CO pilots. We have observed an increase in sick leave which coincides with communications from ALPA imposing an artificial deadline of June 15 for completion of contract negotiations, incorrectly implying that negotiations would be at impasse absent agreement by that date, and inaccurately declaring that a release from the NMB leading to a right to strike is necessary absent agreement by that date.

The Company considers ALPA and the CO MEC’s communications (as well as the UAL MEC’s recent communications) to be a campaign designed to incite concerted pilot action if an agreement is not reached by mid-June. The constant drumbeat that these negotiations must be completed by June 15 is creating an environment ripe for concerted pilot action in the event that negotiations are not completed by that time.

Under the status quo obligations of the Railway Labor Act (“RLA”), ALPA and the CO MEC are required to refrain from inciting an operational disruption, and are required to take all reasonable steps within their power to prevent any interference with the Company’s operations. You also are undoubtedly aware of the injunction currently in place against ALPA resulting from its previous interference with the Company’s operations.

The Company has no interest in spending time in court, and strongly desires to move forward in negotiations in an expeditious and productive manner. We continue to meet with the assistance of the NMB and will continue to do so in an effort to reach an agreement. Because we must maintain operational integrity in order to protect the traveling public and to ensure the Company’s success and that of its employees, however, the Company will enforce its rights under the RLA if necessary.

We expect that you, the Continental MEC, and ALPA will immediately cease any communications imposing an artificial deadline of June 15 for completion of negotiations or inciting a change in pilot behavior, and will immediately take all reasonable steps to ensure that all Continental pilots perform normal pilot operations in compliance with the RLA.

Doug McKeen (Electronic Signature)

cc:
Arthur Luby, Esq.
Bruce York, Esq.
Michael Abram, Esq.
Mike Bonds
Fred Abbott
Jennifer Coyne, Esq.
Captain Lee Moak

 

June 09, 2012

VIA EMAIL

Re: Your June 8, 2012 Letter

Dear Mr. McKeen:

I am in receipt of your June 8, 2012 letter in which you expressed the Company’s concern about the risk of operational disruption on the part of the CAL pilots. I can assure you that the CAL MEC and the Continental pilots are well aware of our legal obligations under the status quo provisions of the Railway Labor Act and that we take those obligations seriously.

We remain committed to completing a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement by June 15 or seeking a release from the NMB. The RLA does not bar us from setting internal goals or from communicating about those goals. The CAL MEC firmly believes the Company should do its part to complete bargaining by that date, and we remain convinced that it is appropriate to continue to seek a release from the NMB if we have not seen sufficient progress toward such an agreement by that date.

As we move forward, I can also assure you that the CAL MEC and the pilots of Continental fully recognize that our lawful right to engage in self-help, should it become necessary, commences only 31 days after the NMB grants such a release. Although you assert that ALPA’s and the CAL MEC’s communications urging prompt completion of an agreement constitute a “campaign designed to incite concerted pilot action if an agreement is not reached by mid-June” you do not identify any basis for that claim and there is none. I have not authorized and we have not issued any communication with the intent or design to “incite” or encourage unlawful conduct or cause operational disruption. We oppose such conduct. Our efforts are concentrated on achieving an agreement.

I will remind our pilot group over the coming days as I have previously that we cannot engage in activity disruptive of Continental’s operations and that such activity would in fact be counterproductive. We will continue to make every reasonable effort to ensure that ALPA, the CAL MEC, and all Continental pilots continue to comply fully with our obligations under the RLA.

In the meantime, I appreciate your stated desire to move forward in negotiations in an expeditious and productive manner. I submit that both parties can spend our time and energy most productively by focusing on how we can reach agreement in principle on a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement by June 15, 2012.

Yours truly,
Captain Jay Pierce
CAL MEC Chairman Air Line Pilots Association, International

cc:
Captain Lee Moak
Captain Jay Heppner
CAL MEC

 

They get it!

But then, of course they do--they "even traded" over $40,000,000 in pilot profit sharing for what was said would be no more than $180k fine for a violation of the merger agreement regarding the 757--all to prevent the sCAL pilots from possibly getting less enthusiastic about keeping the spring and summer schedule afloat in spite of severe understaffing.

Well, they can't expect pilots to bail them out forever.

 

I seem to recall well over a year ago Smisek saying that we'd have an agreement by October. Now, silly me I thought he meant October of that year, but clearly I was huffing on some HI Octane because he meant to say October of "some year well into the future. Now, don't you boys worry just go to work, turn on Channel 9, accept Junior Manning, ***** yourselves out and work 22 days a month for less than anyone else in the industry while I line my bank account."

 

In other words, management is at the end of their rope with the RLA and they need leverage. Time to use all the data they have constructed and hide behind the black robe.

This might get them through the summer, but all they are doing is applying fertilizer(i.e. manure) to the management/employee relation seeds they have planted in the past. The grass will grow thick and tall with long roots.

 

To think we thought employee relations had hit rock bottom.