I just had a tarot card reading, and the cards said management has been, and is currently building a false case, both internally and in the media, stating that the pilot group is taking illegal work action, now, in retaliation to lack of negotiation progress. If there is not another sick call this entire summer, we will still be in court over these false accusations. Negotiations will go from a slow crawl to a total halt, and they will get another year and change with the cheapest labor contacts in their corner of the industry as we finger each other in court. They will soon have the numbers to prove it as they understaff the summer more severely than last year, on purpose or through incompetance-doesn't matter, only the spin afterward. Take the false accusations of last summer and multiply by an appropriate factor. Looking forward to Susan Carey's article on the subject.

Exactly right...except the case has already been built with said false information and is ready to file at a moments notice. I think your union leadership has failed you for not thinking about this 2 years ago..yet even with the UAL TRO staring them right in the face. Two years ago he (and Baron) were spending months and months of time and energy on what? Paybanding?

Even so, how hard is it to keep reminding your pilots of that possibility? Encourage them to keep proactive on delay codes..keep the company honest, as hard as it is to do. Provide them an avenue for collecting legitimate documentation(narratives/pictures) that goes right to your attorneys. "Your Honor, I'm not quite sure why the company is accusing us of a job action? In fact, we have evidence that the majority of their claims, which is the premise of their accusation, to be false in nature. Of course, we are not accusing them of deliberately (wink) falsifying this information."

Maybe Jay P thought that, for "whatever reason", this would never happen on his watch. Thought: If the company has been all relaxed with the crews about late departures and given them wide latitude for being late then I think you've been set up.

In any case, I hope it doesn't happen as it affects all pilot groups.

It goes without saying that unlike last summer, we have a fatigue risk management plan in place now - mandated by the FAA and created by the company. If you are fatigued, do the right thing (safety first) and use it. This prevents loss of pay for operational fatigue calls and avoids red carpet dances, and validates our claims of scheduling abuses. Just a friendly reminder. :-)

The big "if" is if they determine it is "operational." If it isn't it leads to a loss of pay and a notification that you may be contacted by the CP under the Attendance and Reliabilty Program. From folks who have reported going through the process not that many are paid.

June 10, 2012

Dear United Pilots:

Late on Friday, while most principals were here in New York in an attempt to conclude Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA) negotiations by June 15, Mr. Doug McKeen, United’s Senior Vice President of Labor Relations, wrote individually to Continental MEC Chairman Captain Jay Pierce and me, reminding us of our obligations under the Railway Labor Act (RLA) and management’s intentions if there are any actions by individual pilots or groups of pilots that are considered a disruption to the operation. Click here to read Mr. McKeen’s letter. The United Pilots have and will continue to abide by the provisions of the RLA, Preliminary Injunction and the Standstill Agreement. To be clear, the UAL-MEC has not authorized any pilot job action, and any unauthorized action by individual pilots or groups of pilots would be both unlawful at this time and counterproductive to our ability to complete contract negotiations.

That said, we recognize Mr. McKeen’s letter as further evidence of management distancing itself from completing these contract negotiations in the near term and its lack of commitment to negotiate with any intent of actual completion. This falls in line with comments made recently by United CEO Jeff Smisek on flight decks and attributed to him by a Senior Vice President on a Chief Pilots’ conference call this week that the United Pilots will not have a contract by June 15. These comments clearly demonstrate that management does not intend to conclude an Agreement by June 15 absent action from the National Mediation Board (NMB). Further evidence is illustrated by the June 6 United Daily with the following, “We held further negotiations with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) in Chicago last week, with negotiations currently scheduled through June 29.” This announcement is disingenuous as these dates were set aside with the NMB as a backstop for time with the mediators. Nonetheless, ALPA stands ready to negotiate and conclude an Agreement in Principle on the JCBA by June 15.

Make no mistake; management is using the same tactics that have been used during other contract negotiations: toying with emotions, instilling doubt and inciting employees to perform contrary to their best judgment in a mistaken effort to get us back into court and thwart our efforts to secure a release, let alone a JCBA.

Follow the pattern: A payroll changeover to a new system for only one pilot group which adversely affected thousands of United pilots. The company’s actions result in continual over payments, underpayments and, quite often, no payments whatsoever. United pilots experience miscalculations of tax rates, incorrect withholding and garnishments, incorrect W-2 statements, late W-2 correction statements and last week the boarded meal charges that affected more than 2,800 pilots’ June 1 paychecks.

Health benefits and insurance were lost for a short period of time, prescription benefits were denied and legally eligible family members were incorrectly dropped from coverage over the last few months. The company has failed to properly manage your Flex Spending accounts, resulting in no or incorrect payments for the first quarter of the year. Additionally, the company failed to manage a dental plan resulting in incorrect reimbursement. Management attempted to force you to re-verify already eligible family members in a manner contrary to our CBA. Those with partners or spouses with different last names were suddenly deleted, as were those with hyphens or apostrophes in their names.

Pass Travel, Vacations Passes, Deadhead seat assignments, Jumpseating and a multitude of other issues as a result of PSS changeover continue with no date of a fix offered up by the company. The Association was notified by the company that L-CAL was to be considered an “Online” carrier as of SOC, and then the company abruptly changed its position months after SOC and now says L-CAL is “Offline.”

The company has refused to comply with System Board awards that resulted from decisions made well over a year ago, has ignored good faith agreements made with the Association and has attempted to make changes to long standing, mutually understood practices.

Despite these blatant attempts to incite our pilots into action detrimental to our goals, you have not allowed yourselves to be baited and you should be proud. We know you will continue to remain professional and responsible in all our dealings at work. As we have stated before and will continue to state, now is not the time for us to act out our frustrations or take actions to impact the operation. We do not want any pilot to jeopardize himself, the Association or the MECs' Strategic Plan. Even if the company chooses not to, we must maintain the Status Quo until we are released by the mediator and the 30-day Cooling Off period has expired.

It’s time for management to resume its focus on the negotiations and stop with these distractions.

We are United,

I hear exactly the opposite, and having gone thru it myself and getting paid just a few months ago, I have to disagree with you.

^+1
Having called (actually emailed) FATIGUE after a double pump, I can tell you that I did not have any action taken against me either.

Main thing, follow the rules and play the game as it's suppose to be played.

Not sure how to post the link, but in the Pilot HandBook of Knowledge (PHBK) there's a great couple of chapters dealing with Fatigue and ORM.
Just use the IMSAFE Checklist.

We have a responsibility to our passengers and the flying public to maintain a certain level of Safety. It is NOT our responsibility to make up for the short comings of poor management.

Nice to hear. I'd like to see the de-identified database of cases and the outcomes, much like NTSB incident database.

ALPA: The Pilots Union

Local Council 171 – T-Minus 5
June 11, 2012


CONTRACT END GAME

Thought I'd try and get an update out as I am on an aircraft flying to EWR to help finish this past due contract. Today marks three years, six months and ten days past the amendable date of Contract 02. Your MEC and the United MEC will be in the NYC area all week to aid in this joint contract's completion.

By now I am sure all of you have seen management’s letter to both MEC's asking us to quit talking about June 15th as the target date for contract completion. All I have to say about that is T-Minus 5 and counting. We have the wherewithal to finish this contract this week. The question is, will the company live up to its obligation to this pilot group and finish what will be the first joint agreement at the new United?

We remain committed to finishing an industry leading contract for this combined pilot group. Your reps are committed to the four cornerstones of that new contract. It must include industry leading scope, pay, retirement and work rules.

I hope to see as many of my fellow pilots tomorrow on the picket line.


STRIKE VOTE:

While attending the special joint MEC meeting this week in New York, we will formalize our plan to call for a strike vote, as mandated by Resolution 0512-29R. We want to reiterate the significance of this vote.

A strike vote is perhaps the biggest indication of unity. It sends a strong message that we support using all available resources needed to secure a contract worthy of our pilot group. It sends a message to the company—loud and clear.

For those who are tentative, allow us to put you at ease. A strike vote does not guarantee that we will go on strike. Our goal is a contract, not a strike; however, we need to be prepared for all contingencies, and preparing for a strike is planning with foresight. A strike vote is also not a commitment that you will strike. While we hope (and fully expect) that you would stand with your brothers and sisters should our path lead to a full-on strike, you are not “signing your life away” by voting in favor of a strike.

In fact, the opposite is true—by voting against a strike or not voting at all, you are indicating that you are content with the current contract, are willing to accept whatever the company unilaterally offers, and, to be quite blunt, are willing to sell out your fellow pilots. That is what a vote not in favor, or a lack of a vote, means.

We will let you know as soon as the timetable for voting is formalized. Do your part to make sure our message is heard loud and clear.


WELCOME ON BOARD:

Remember Jeff hates this:
“Welcome on board Flight 223 proudly operated by the pilots and flight attendants of Continental Airlines.”

Captain "E.H."
Council 171-Chairman

June 15, 2012

Dear United Pilots,

I am pleased to tell you that late this afternoon, Richard Trumka – President of the AFL-CIO, sent a letter to Ms Linda Puchala – Chairman of the NMB, that concluded with “the AFL-CIO requests that the Board further assist the parties to bring about an agreement by proffering arbitration, and if not accepted by both parties, issuing a release under Section 5, First of the Act” this week. Remember, as ALPA members of the AFL-CIO, we are 11,000,000 strong. Click Here to read Richard Trumka’s letter.

This letter, combined with the third letter from ALPA President Captain Moak yesterday, our continued decorum and process at the negotiating table, and other efforts on our behalf, will bring a conclusion to a negotiated JCBA. There has not been a better scenario that warrants action from the NMB than ours. Click Here to read Captain Moak’s letter.

This letter could not have been possible without the endorsement and efforts of Captain Moak, so I want to personally thank him for his assistance in this important piece.

Your continued professionalism will be recognized.

We are United
Chairman, United MEC