And I look forward to many more years of scorn and derision hurled down from your bully pulpit of self-righteous indignation.

 

just stated an opinion on how some see things as far as pitted against one another.

 

It's expediated arbitration, doesn't say anything about binding. So, november 5th is going to come and go, POS is going to continue to play his games, both MEC's will continue to try and hide behind the GAG me order, and we won't see an agreement until Heppner either rolls over or POS tries to jaywalk across a busy intersection and doesn't quite make it. No news here.

 

I think that you are 100% correct.

 

By definition, arbitration is binding. Mediation is non-binding

Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), is a technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, where the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons (the "arbitrators", "arbiters" or "arbitral tribunal"), by whose decision (the "award") they agree to be bound

 

I'm not, nor have ever been, "against" any of the CAL pilots. There are times when I think your MEC and MC have hurt our chances of getting a good JCBA, but I am also well aware that the same could be said of our MEC and MC... particularly our previous MC. Again, nature of this beast. We all want what's best for us, and sometimes our interests are not in lockstep. Hopefully cool heads will prevail going forward.

I agree that the retro section should have been calculated as you suggested above. Trouble is, this was a "negotiation", and we don't always get everything we want. I wasn't in the room, so I can't comment on how that negotiation went and what the NMB had to say about it.

Your assessment of our bond debacle is inaccurate. The MEC created a problem that shouldn't have existed by not allowing us to vote on a distribution method. They did this because the numbers would have pushed the method towards the junior pilots preferred payout method. The MEC chose the middle option, thinking it was a fairer distribution in order to protect the senior pilots. A group of the most senior pilots, wanting GAP 1, (which would NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS been voted in) sued and won claiming they didn't have fair representation. A simple vote would have solved the problem. In this case, we will vote on the contract, including the retro section. This is not the same issue.

 

Yeah.....Tell that to USAirways-East.

 

Doesn't matter what you call it.
It's a failure of the MEC's/ALPA National for letting this happen.

Others have already posted the finer points. But for us to now be fighting over "scraps" while the company smiles is mind boggling.
And sad~

Motch

 

10-25-12

After approximately 900 days of negotiations for a joint collective bargaining agreement (JCBA) for our pilots, we had hoped to announce that we had a tentative agreement (TA) last week. While that was not the case, the Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) reports that they are nearing completion of the language of the entire JCBA and continues to negotiate an Implementation Letter of Agreement for integrating the many parts of the new JCBA.
A further step was taken this week towards completion of the JCBA with a process agreement that, if accepted by our respective MECs, will determine the allocation amounts between MECs for the retroactive/lump sum payment negotiated as part of the TA. This is an expedited arbitration process that will commence on Oct. 31 with a decision mandated no later than Nov. 5. Once the TA language and the Implementation Letter of Agreement are completed and the process agreement is accepted, the TA will be ready for MEC consideration.

On Monday, Oct. 29, both MECs will be meeting to review the process agreement and to prepare for evaluating the TA. The plan is that when all the components of the TA come together the MECs will be available and have the resources necessary to be fully briefed and informed in order to take the appropriate action. They will hear from the ALPA negotiators, attorneys, and subject matter experts and analysts on every section of the completed TA. This process will take a minimum of eight days but will last as long as necessary. Let us make this point perfectly clear – there is not yet a TA. We will announce one the day we have one. After meeting with the NMB these last two days, the gag order will be lifted only for the MECs but will still apply to the line pilots until the MECs have acted upon the TA.

If the TA is accepted by both MECs independently, it will promptly be sent to the entire Continental and United pilot groups for the membership ratification process. This will kick off a series of Town Hall meetings in domiciles and large pilot population centers, videos, a website, Q&A, etc. all of which are intended to give our pilots all the information they need to make an informed decision. The two MEC Communications Committees have been working on this project for quite some time and will have it ready before membership ratification begins.

The specific schedules for Town Hall meetings and balloting are in flux until the entire TA has been completed, and the MECs’ processes have begun. It is expected that the membership ratification process will be approximately thirty days, which includes the balloting window.

As soon as we have more information to share with our pilots, we will communicate that to you promptly.

Capt. Jay Pierce Capt.
CAL MEC Chairman

Jay Heppner
UAL MEC Chairman

 

Yes, it bears repeating.