Cal mec jcba ta pro statement
11-21-2012, 02:37 PM
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Cal mec jcba ta pro statement
Today is Wednesday, November 21, 2012 and there is one item for your review.
Item One: Tentative Agreement Pro Statement
The following is a reprint of the Tentative Agreement Pro Statement published earlier today by the majority of the CAL MEC Status Representatives who voted in favor of sending the TA to the pilots for your review:
PRO Statement
Throughout the lengthy four party negotiations which culminated in the Tentative United Pilot Contract Agreement, your MEC shared the high expectations of the majority of our pilots. We acknowledge from the start, that it is disappointing that we did not secure equity or full retro pay. It is also disappointing that our hourly pay rates do not catch completely up to Delta's from the start. With that said, we believe that overall, as viewed from the present time to the amendable date, as well as from cover to cover, the Tentative Agreement is Industry Leading. Additionally, while falling short of full retro pay, the lump sum is the highest amount ever achieved by any pilot group in an ALPA contract, and it is dramatically higher than what management believed was acceptable as recently as last July.
The JCBA negotiating environment was difficult on a number of levels. First, the merger required the negotiations to start with two drastically different contracts, both of which are severely concessionary and unsatisfactory. Second, having two distinct MEC's created additional logistical and political issues from the beginning of the process to the end. Third, the National Mediation Board was heavily involved during much of the process. Fourth, the Railway Labor Act is designed to amend and make gradual adjustments to contracts. It was neither designed, nor intended, to merge two drastically different contracts together, while simultaneously recovering from draconian concessions.
Upon first reading, absent any briefings or explanation, the Tentative Agreement leads to many questions, and it can also lead to many assumptions. Because the TA is so lengthy and complex, it is important for every pilot to read the educational materials, view road shows and the TA website, and directly ask for clarification about any sections which he or she continues to find unclear or confusing, rather than simply making assumptions or believing rumors. Questions can be submitted on the Tentative Agreement website www.unitepilotagreement.com
Scope
One of the primary cornerstones of our contract is Scope. In an era of complex joint ventures, Open Skies agreements, and the potential for cabotage and foreign encroachment, Scope governs our careers like no other section of our contract. Scope is about protecting and enhancing United pilot careers, which is much more complex than simply the size of individual regional aircraft used to support our mainline flying. Continental pilots had the same 50 seat RJ limit in 2001, yet Continental was the very first airline to furlough pilots after 9/11, and regional Continental Express flying exploded during the 2000's.
We believe that the Scope contained in the TA is arguably the leading Scope agreement in the Industry, and without equal when compared to other peer Legacy Network Carriers. While our TA closely mirrors Delta in some aspects, it exceeds them in its breadth of protections for our pilots. Additionally, it far exceeds US Airways, and what was recently negotiated at American. Further, the TA Scope provides fixes to the weaknesses in our current CAL Scope and that of UAL.
While we may have deprived the company from outsourced 76 seat jets in the past, that deprivation never rewarded our pilots with the ability to fly them, nor did it afford the company an additional means necessary to generate the revenue we required of them for our increased salary and benefit demands. Industry conditions, competitors and the NMB made it more or less inevitable that scope would have to be modified, if we were to make necessary economic progress in the JCBA.
Knowing our pilots' distaste for UAX 76 seat jets, we secured industry leading provisions related to this change, that would ensure United pilot jobs would be protected. We achieved this by virtue of an Industry Leading block hour ratio, tied to our single aisle aircraft. No other carrier has this level of protection at the present, and for our pilots it starts at Date of Signing.This provision also creates a balance of flying between our single aisle aircraft and UAX operations, something that we did not have at CAL, which allowed our single aisle flying to shrink, while CalEx flying exploded following 9/11. This potential is now corrected, by virtue of this new ratio. It also fixes the problem the UAL pilots suffered, which allowed their 737's to be parked and replaced by regional jets. The only way UAX can grow under the new TA, is for our single aisle flying to grow, and conversely, if we begin to shrink our single aisle flying, so too will UAX. An important part of this is that the Widebody growth we expect to experience in the coming years is exempted from this ratio, so UAX will not be able to grow via mainline Widebody growth.
We believe that a huge win for our pilots in this TA is to contractualize the acquisition of our “gap in gauge” aircraft (this is reflected in the New Small Narrowbody Aircraft requirement). Whether or not the company chooses to extend their options that will trigger this purchase remains to be seen, but if they do, it will trigger a landslide of additional protections for our pilots. These include the purchase of the new aircraft, tightening of the block hour ratio and the immediate reduction of 50 seat aircraft, with no mechanism for their return. If they choose not to take that path, then they will operate at a strategic and numerical disadvantage to DAL, and we will still have our block hour protections.
Management used large Q400 turboprop aircraft to exploit our current Scope provisions. TA Scope limits large turboprops, because they are counted just the same in the limits and ratios as jets are.
Another new restriction and limitation in the TA Scope is that 80 percent of all UAX flying must be less than 900 statute miles.
The TA codeshare provisions came from our CAL book and have been effective for the last seven plus years, by requiring reciprocity in all such arrangements. TA Scope also corrects a problem that was brought to us by the UAL scope section, by requiring the company to fly its own aircraft in the market on joint ventures. The Aer Lingus JV made an example of the weakness of current UAL book Scope. In essence, under TA Scope, the company cannot receive revenue from these arrangements if they are not also generating revenue from our flights, using our pilots.
This TA also takes what we learned from our current merger situation, and codified the bulk of the protections from our contract and those negotiated in the Transition and Process Agreement. While we don’t foresee another round of big mergers in our future, this TA will ensure that we will be sitting at the table having already achieved the protections we would want at that time, should such an event occur. It also strengthens our fragmentation language, by encompassing our Guam operations, which were essentially left on the outside of our contractual protections existing in our current Scope section.
There are new furlough protections in this Scope TA that were not previously available to our pilots. As a brief overview of these protections, they include the 76 to 70 seat conversion requirement if a single current seniority list pilot is furloughed (a tremendous economic disincentive for the company to furlough), a staffing formula that must be met prior to a furlough, two separate merger no furlough protections, and a requirement for job opportunities in the event of a fragmentation.
Finally, the Retained Management Rights clause in our current and past contracts' Scope sections has been removed from the entire contract. This clause has been cited by management in various arguments and System Boards.
When looking at TA Scope in its entirety, we believe that it is Industry Leading, and that it also provides improved job protections for our pilots, over andabove our current Scope protections.
Compensation
Another cornerstone of the contract is Compensation. The TA provides initial hourly pay rate increases of 12 percent to 22 percent at Date of Signing, and eventual hourly pay rate increases of 32 percent to 44 percent, for all current equipment types except the 767-200's, which are rapidly leaving our fleet. While most of us admittedly look at Section 3 of a new contract TA first, hourly pay rates are not the only component contributing to your bottom line in a mature airline pilot contract's Total Pilot Compensation each month.
Recent Continental contracts have provided very little opportunity to receive Credit, or “Soft” pay time every month. This will change substantially with provisions in the new TA, including a minimum pay of 5 hours per calendar day average over an entire trip, known as M5D. Most other airlines, including Legacy United current book and Delta, have a Duty Period Minimum pay, but this TA secured what we believe to be a generally more valuable DAILY Minimum pay of 5 hours. The DAILY minimum is more valuable because United flies so many 2 duty period 3 and 4 day trips with limited flight hours. The Duty Period Minimum would only provide a minimum pay of 10 hours for those two duty periods, while the M5D provides a minimum floor of 15 or 20 Pay hours every 3 or 4 work days.
Unlike Continental Contracts '97 and '02, and in addition to the M5D Rig, the TA contains Duty Rig and better, viable Trip Rig provisions. Your time is valuable, and you should receive a minimum, fair amount of Pay Hours for any given amount of time away from home. Rigs also encourage the Company to schedule pilots more efficiently. In the case of trips in which more efficient scheduling is not possible, the Rigs will provide a substantial number of additional Credit/Soft Pay hours, and substantially higher Total Compensation, than the actual Hard Hours actually flown would pay by themselves.
Additionally,the TA contains many new opportunities for a pilot to earn Add Pay and Premium Pay, which are contained in Sections 5 and 20, including Senior Man Pay, Late Pay, Day Off Pay, and various other Reassignment pay provisions. Reserve pilots receive Rigs and also have opportunities to receive Add and Premium pays.
B-scales for new pilots were the scourge of the industry from the early 1980's to the mid 1990's. Unfortunately, despite the fact that B-scales had disappeared at most other airlines by the late 1990's, every CAL pilot hired under both C'97 and C'02, was hired under a B-scale. The FO pay ratios did not become reasonable until 6th year and after. The B-scale has been eliminated with this TA. The first year TA pay is a 95 percent increase over C'02 current book first year pay.
The TA restores International Override of $6.50 per hour for Captains and $4.50 per hour for First Officers. Training pay increases to 3.75 hours per day for all recurrent and other training less than 5 days, and 3 hours per day for training 5 days or greater other than recurrent.
PTC, or Protected Time Credit, is a line guarantee protecting a lineholder for the pay value of all trips awarded in Monthly Schedule Preferencing (aka PBS), or through subsequent trip trading, including any deadhead and rig time.
The TA achieved some important CAL MEC strategic goals in Pay Banding: maintaining the 767-400 and 787 banded with the 777 and 747-400. We also finally placed the 757-300 into a higher band than the 757-200, alongside the legacy United 767-300.
Per diem will increase at Date of Signing and throughout the duration of the TA. Crew meals are restored, with extensive provisions. Additional types of expenses will now be reimbursed, including uniform cleaning and Global Entry. If required to appear in person for a new passport, visa, etc, a pilot will now be paid one hour of Add Pay.
The TA also allows all pilots to participate in Profit Sharing, with no sunset date.
We believe that the TA is Industry Leading in Total Compensation for United pilots over the term of the Agreement.
Retirement and Insurance
The TA increases the Defined Contribution plan company contribution rate to 16 percent from the 12.75 percent of C'02. Additionally, the TA requires equal representation on the Investment Committee, instead of 2 ALPA members and 3 from management.
Unlike C'02, the TA requires that pilots and their dependents will be eligible for medical benefits on date of employment. Medical and Dental plan cost shares are 80% company /20% pilot by plan, and the Medical, Dental and Vision plans are locked-in by the TA. C'02 provides no input or transparency in rate setting, while the TA provides complete transparency and direct ALPA input. Generally, the TA provides for better insurance coverages at reduced cost to the pilot.
Pre-65 and Post-65 retiree medical plans are patterned after current legacy United plans, with a one year transition option for CAL pilots to use the Bridge Medical Option. C'02 provided only pre-Medicare benefits, while both Before and After Medicare benefits are in the TA. Additionally, the TA now places Before Medicare in the same risk pool as active pilots, to reduce cost. A new RHA VEBA has been created to accumulate tax advantaged funds to pay for retiree healthcare.
The Long Term Disability is patterned after the CAL LTD. Maximum monthly LTD benefitincreases from $7500 to $8000 per month, or $96,000 per year tax free. A pilot will now have the option to preserve 120 hours of Sick Leave when going to LTD. The plan will now provide unlimited coverage for cognitive or psychological disorders, subject to medical review. There is a new 12 month LTD benefit for substance abuse, which is even available to pilots not enrolled in the plan.
All pilots who are not currently enrolled in LTD, who hold a 1st Class Medical, will be allowed back into the plan at Date of Signing. The LTD plan under the TA provides for easier re-entry upon return from leaves of absence, and for continued LTD payments until training commences. Finally, no premiums are due once a pilot applies and awaits LTD benefits.
We believe that the highest DC plan contribution percentage of our peer global legacy airlines, combined with the overall Retirement and Insurance package, is Industry Leading.
Work Rules
CAL C'02 resulted in extremely onerous concessions to Work Rules and Scheduling. Chronic, often severe understaffing has combined with inadequate contractual provisions, to result in unsatisfactory quality of life for many, if not most CAL pilots, most of the time. Inadequate staffing often results in Overall Solution Constraints, Splat, reserve abuse, and other undesirable outcomes.
The TA addresses these shortfalls in many ways, which we believe are Industry Leading. The TA contains much more stringent Manpower Requirements and Vacancy and Displacement provisions in Section 8. Manpower Requirements (formerly Staffing Formula) are now by aircraft type, instead of systemwide, and also include planned MAC flying. There is a requirement for a minimum of 12 percent reserves in Airbus and 737, and 14 percent for all other aircraft. Changes in Line Production Averages (LPA) in Section 5 also have a significant impact on Manpower Requirements.
The TA eliminates the CAL-style “System Bid.” Instead, there will be Vacancy Bulletins and Bidding and Displacement Bulletins and Bidding that will be run on a Category (BES) basis, instead of systemwide, as needed. The TA will make it easier and faster to advance, and harder and slower for the Company to displace and furlough.
Section 5 Hours of Service and Section 20 Allocation, Assignment and Scheduling of Flying contain the bulk of the TA Scheduling provisions. Some components of these sections directly impact Compensation in addition to quality of life, and these were mentioned previously, including the M5D Rig, and the 2:1 Duty Rig and 1:4 (1 year after OMD 1:3.5) Trip Rig. Maximum LPA is 84.0, reduced with a furlough, and there is a 92 hour Cap, with required repair, unless the pilot waives. Pay equals Credit during Monthly Schedule Preferencing (MSP), the new term for PBS.
Open time is allowed after MSP, and Trip Trades with Open Time will be seniority based. Except for Line Check Airmen giving line checks, Captains may not fly as FO, unless both pilots consent. 2 Captains and 2 FO's must be staffed on flights scheduled over 16 hours. Layovers require 9 hours behind the door in the hotel room, and those scheduled longer than 14 hours require a downtown hotel.
There is extensive language regarding Crew Rest, which will never again be in Economy or Economy Plus. Deadhead is in First or Business if a Global Flight, and Economy Plus at a minimum if a Basic Flight (50 states, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, Bermuda, South America north of 15 degrees.) There is Premium Pay in the event of a middle seat Deadhead.
The TA provides many other opportunities for Add/Premium Pays, including 100% for Senior Manning, 50, 75, and 100% incentives for certain open pairings, and 125% for Inverse Reassignment. The Company must use volunteers with 100% Add Pay, even if it creates a conflicting trip drop, before Inverse Reassignment.
All Reserves are on a 13 hour Long Call to start, and all reserves are released to a trip at Pickup or Assignment. There is no leveling for Reserve Aggressive Pickups. A 73 hour Reserve MPG increases for Short Call or Airport standby. All Rigs apply to Reserves, and there are numerous opportunities for increased MPG and Add Pay. Basic Reserves (generally 737 and Airbus) have one Flexible Day Off with limited assignment rights. Global Reserves have six Hard Days Off, one Flexible Day off and the remainder Regular Days Off. FDO's and RDO's are not the same as CAL movable days off, in that they cannot be moved to sit Reserve, and a trip cannot be assigned on them.
Once on a trip, Reserves are protected by the same Reassignment rules as lineholders. The TA also does not allow continuous rolling, in which a reserve is rolled more and assigned another trip after the last leg. First In First Out prevents the junior reserves from always rising to the top of the list for call out. As mentioned above, the TA also requires a greater minimum percentage of reserves than CAL has operated with under C'02.
The TA Work Rules are lengthy and extremely complex, because they are so critically important. Because the starting point for most of them was UAL book, many provisions are currently unfamiliar to CAL pilots. FAR 117 will also lead to many changes, especially in duty limits and augmentation. This brief synopsis in no way takes the place of the comprehensive educational materials and Town Hall briefings. As always, if you have questions, please ask.
Conclusion
The TA contains enhancements to provisions for the Flight Instructors, pilots in Training, Guam pilots, Moving, and other sections, in addition to those achieved for the four cornerstones.
Your MEC received many hours of Briefings by the JNC, Subject Matter Experts, and attorneys, and many questions were answered. We also spent many hours debating the pros and cons of the TA. A majority of Status Representatives believe that the TA and its overall value is worthy of your consideration. Given the size of the increase in value to our pilots, and the uncertainty associated with future negotiations, we believe that we had a responsibility to our pilots to allow you to decide whether or not the Tentative Agreement would meet your needs.
No one else can tell you how to vote. It is up to each individual Member In Good Standing to decide, after careful review and consideration of all available information, whether or not the Tentative Agreement is acceptable to you and your family.
Fraternally,
Capt. Jayson Baron
Council 170 Chairman
F/O Tara Cook
Council 170 Vice Chairman
F/O John Person
Council 172 Chairman
Capt. Scott Cornelison
Council 172 Vice Chairman
Capt. Bruce Bishop
Council 173 Chairman
F/O David Gourley
Council 173 Vice Chairman
Capt. Tom Howard
Council 178 Chairman
That is all for today. Thank you. We wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving holiday.
Fraternally,
Chairman Captain Jayson Baron
Vice Chairman First Officer Tara Cook
Secretary-Treasurer Captain Tim Boyens
Item One: Tentative Agreement Pro Statement
The following is a reprint of the Tentative Agreement Pro Statement published earlier today by the majority of the CAL MEC Status Representatives who voted in favor of sending the TA to the pilots for your review:
PRO Statement
Throughout the lengthy four party negotiations which culminated in the Tentative United Pilot Contract Agreement, your MEC shared the high expectations of the majority of our pilots. We acknowledge from the start, that it is disappointing that we did not secure equity or full retro pay. It is also disappointing that our hourly pay rates do not catch completely up to Delta's from the start. With that said, we believe that overall, as viewed from the present time to the amendable date, as well as from cover to cover, the Tentative Agreement is Industry Leading. Additionally, while falling short of full retro pay, the lump sum is the highest amount ever achieved by any pilot group in an ALPA contract, and it is dramatically higher than what management believed was acceptable as recently as last July.
The JCBA negotiating environment was difficult on a number of levels. First, the merger required the negotiations to start with two drastically different contracts, both of which are severely concessionary and unsatisfactory. Second, having two distinct MEC's created additional logistical and political issues from the beginning of the process to the end. Third, the National Mediation Board was heavily involved during much of the process. Fourth, the Railway Labor Act is designed to amend and make gradual adjustments to contracts. It was neither designed, nor intended, to merge two drastically different contracts together, while simultaneously recovering from draconian concessions.
Upon first reading, absent any briefings or explanation, the Tentative Agreement leads to many questions, and it can also lead to many assumptions. Because the TA is so lengthy and complex, it is important for every pilot to read the educational materials, view road shows and the TA website, and directly ask for clarification about any sections which he or she continues to find unclear or confusing, rather than simply making assumptions or believing rumors. Questions can be submitted on the Tentative Agreement website www.unitepilotagreement.com
Scope
One of the primary cornerstones of our contract is Scope. In an era of complex joint ventures, Open Skies agreements, and the potential for cabotage and foreign encroachment, Scope governs our careers like no other section of our contract. Scope is about protecting and enhancing United pilot careers, which is much more complex than simply the size of individual regional aircraft used to support our mainline flying. Continental pilots had the same 50 seat RJ limit in 2001, yet Continental was the very first airline to furlough pilots after 9/11, and regional Continental Express flying exploded during the 2000's.
We believe that the Scope contained in the TA is arguably the leading Scope agreement in the Industry, and without equal when compared to other peer Legacy Network Carriers. While our TA closely mirrors Delta in some aspects, it exceeds them in its breadth of protections for our pilots. Additionally, it far exceeds US Airways, and what was recently negotiated at American. Further, the TA Scope provides fixes to the weaknesses in our current CAL Scope and that of UAL.
While we may have deprived the company from outsourced 76 seat jets in the past, that deprivation never rewarded our pilots with the ability to fly them, nor did it afford the company an additional means necessary to generate the revenue we required of them for our increased salary and benefit demands. Industry conditions, competitors and the NMB made it more or less inevitable that scope would have to be modified, if we were to make necessary economic progress in the JCBA.
Knowing our pilots' distaste for UAX 76 seat jets, we secured industry leading provisions related to this change, that would ensure United pilot jobs would be protected. We achieved this by virtue of an Industry Leading block hour ratio, tied to our single aisle aircraft. No other carrier has this level of protection at the present, and for our pilots it starts at Date of Signing.This provision also creates a balance of flying between our single aisle aircraft and UAX operations, something that we did not have at CAL, which allowed our single aisle flying to shrink, while CalEx flying exploded following 9/11. This potential is now corrected, by virtue of this new ratio. It also fixes the problem the UAL pilots suffered, which allowed their 737's to be parked and replaced by regional jets. The only way UAX can grow under the new TA, is for our single aisle flying to grow, and conversely, if we begin to shrink our single aisle flying, so too will UAX. An important part of this is that the Widebody growth we expect to experience in the coming years is exempted from this ratio, so UAX will not be able to grow via mainline Widebody growth.
We believe that a huge win for our pilots in this TA is to contractualize the acquisition of our “gap in gauge” aircraft (this is reflected in the New Small Narrowbody Aircraft requirement). Whether or not the company chooses to extend their options that will trigger this purchase remains to be seen, but if they do, it will trigger a landslide of additional protections for our pilots. These include the purchase of the new aircraft, tightening of the block hour ratio and the immediate reduction of 50 seat aircraft, with no mechanism for their return. If they choose not to take that path, then they will operate at a strategic and numerical disadvantage to DAL, and we will still have our block hour protections.
Management used large Q400 turboprop aircraft to exploit our current Scope provisions. TA Scope limits large turboprops, because they are counted just the same in the limits and ratios as jets are.
Another new restriction and limitation in the TA Scope is that 80 percent of all UAX flying must be less than 900 statute miles.
The TA codeshare provisions came from our CAL book and have been effective for the last seven plus years, by requiring reciprocity in all such arrangements. TA Scope also corrects a problem that was brought to us by the UAL scope section, by requiring the company to fly its own aircraft in the market on joint ventures. The Aer Lingus JV made an example of the weakness of current UAL book Scope. In essence, under TA Scope, the company cannot receive revenue from these arrangements if they are not also generating revenue from our flights, using our pilots.
This TA also takes what we learned from our current merger situation, and codified the bulk of the protections from our contract and those negotiated in the Transition and Process Agreement. While we don’t foresee another round of big mergers in our future, this TA will ensure that we will be sitting at the table having already achieved the protections we would want at that time, should such an event occur. It also strengthens our fragmentation language, by encompassing our Guam operations, which were essentially left on the outside of our contractual protections existing in our current Scope section.
There are new furlough protections in this Scope TA that were not previously available to our pilots. As a brief overview of these protections, they include the 76 to 70 seat conversion requirement if a single current seniority list pilot is furloughed (a tremendous economic disincentive for the company to furlough), a staffing formula that must be met prior to a furlough, two separate merger no furlough protections, and a requirement for job opportunities in the event of a fragmentation.
Finally, the Retained Management Rights clause in our current and past contracts' Scope sections has been removed from the entire contract. This clause has been cited by management in various arguments and System Boards.
When looking at TA Scope in its entirety, we believe that it is Industry Leading, and that it also provides improved job protections for our pilots, over andabove our current Scope protections.
Compensation
Another cornerstone of the contract is Compensation. The TA provides initial hourly pay rate increases of 12 percent to 22 percent at Date of Signing, and eventual hourly pay rate increases of 32 percent to 44 percent, for all current equipment types except the 767-200's, which are rapidly leaving our fleet. While most of us admittedly look at Section 3 of a new contract TA first, hourly pay rates are not the only component contributing to your bottom line in a mature airline pilot contract's Total Pilot Compensation each month.
Recent Continental contracts have provided very little opportunity to receive Credit, or “Soft” pay time every month. This will change substantially with provisions in the new TA, including a minimum pay of 5 hours per calendar day average over an entire trip, known as M5D. Most other airlines, including Legacy United current book and Delta, have a Duty Period Minimum pay, but this TA secured what we believe to be a generally more valuable DAILY Minimum pay of 5 hours. The DAILY minimum is more valuable because United flies so many 2 duty period 3 and 4 day trips with limited flight hours. The Duty Period Minimum would only provide a minimum pay of 10 hours for those two duty periods, while the M5D provides a minimum floor of 15 or 20 Pay hours every 3 or 4 work days.
Unlike Continental Contracts '97 and '02, and in addition to the M5D Rig, the TA contains Duty Rig and better, viable Trip Rig provisions. Your time is valuable, and you should receive a minimum, fair amount of Pay Hours for any given amount of time away from home. Rigs also encourage the Company to schedule pilots more efficiently. In the case of trips in which more efficient scheduling is not possible, the Rigs will provide a substantial number of additional Credit/Soft Pay hours, and substantially higher Total Compensation, than the actual Hard Hours actually flown would pay by themselves.
Additionally,the TA contains many new opportunities for a pilot to earn Add Pay and Premium Pay, which are contained in Sections 5 and 20, including Senior Man Pay, Late Pay, Day Off Pay, and various other Reassignment pay provisions. Reserve pilots receive Rigs and also have opportunities to receive Add and Premium pays.
B-scales for new pilots were the scourge of the industry from the early 1980's to the mid 1990's. Unfortunately, despite the fact that B-scales had disappeared at most other airlines by the late 1990's, every CAL pilot hired under both C'97 and C'02, was hired under a B-scale. The FO pay ratios did not become reasonable until 6th year and after. The B-scale has been eliminated with this TA. The first year TA pay is a 95 percent increase over C'02 current book first year pay.
The TA restores International Override of $6.50 per hour for Captains and $4.50 per hour for First Officers. Training pay increases to 3.75 hours per day for all recurrent and other training less than 5 days, and 3 hours per day for training 5 days or greater other than recurrent.
PTC, or Protected Time Credit, is a line guarantee protecting a lineholder for the pay value of all trips awarded in Monthly Schedule Preferencing (aka PBS), or through subsequent trip trading, including any deadhead and rig time.
The TA achieved some important CAL MEC strategic goals in Pay Banding: maintaining the 767-400 and 787 banded with the 777 and 747-400. We also finally placed the 757-300 into a higher band than the 757-200, alongside the legacy United 767-300.
Per diem will increase at Date of Signing and throughout the duration of the TA. Crew meals are restored, with extensive provisions. Additional types of expenses will now be reimbursed, including uniform cleaning and Global Entry. If required to appear in person for a new passport, visa, etc, a pilot will now be paid one hour of Add Pay.
The TA also allows all pilots to participate in Profit Sharing, with no sunset date.
We believe that the TA is Industry Leading in Total Compensation for United pilots over the term of the Agreement.
Retirement and Insurance
The TA increases the Defined Contribution plan company contribution rate to 16 percent from the 12.75 percent of C'02. Additionally, the TA requires equal representation on the Investment Committee, instead of 2 ALPA members and 3 from management.
Unlike C'02, the TA requires that pilots and their dependents will be eligible for medical benefits on date of employment. Medical and Dental plan cost shares are 80% company /20% pilot by plan, and the Medical, Dental and Vision plans are locked-in by the TA. C'02 provides no input or transparency in rate setting, while the TA provides complete transparency and direct ALPA input. Generally, the TA provides for better insurance coverages at reduced cost to the pilot.
Pre-65 and Post-65 retiree medical plans are patterned after current legacy United plans, with a one year transition option for CAL pilots to use the Bridge Medical Option. C'02 provided only pre-Medicare benefits, while both Before and After Medicare benefits are in the TA. Additionally, the TA now places Before Medicare in the same risk pool as active pilots, to reduce cost. A new RHA VEBA has been created to accumulate tax advantaged funds to pay for retiree healthcare.
The Long Term Disability is patterned after the CAL LTD. Maximum monthly LTD benefitincreases from $7500 to $8000 per month, or $96,000 per year tax free. A pilot will now have the option to preserve 120 hours of Sick Leave when going to LTD. The plan will now provide unlimited coverage for cognitive or psychological disorders, subject to medical review. There is a new 12 month LTD benefit for substance abuse, which is even available to pilots not enrolled in the plan.
All pilots who are not currently enrolled in LTD, who hold a 1st Class Medical, will be allowed back into the plan at Date of Signing. The LTD plan under the TA provides for easier re-entry upon return from leaves of absence, and for continued LTD payments until training commences. Finally, no premiums are due once a pilot applies and awaits LTD benefits.
We believe that the highest DC plan contribution percentage of our peer global legacy airlines, combined with the overall Retirement and Insurance package, is Industry Leading.
Work Rules
CAL C'02 resulted in extremely onerous concessions to Work Rules and Scheduling. Chronic, often severe understaffing has combined with inadequate contractual provisions, to result in unsatisfactory quality of life for many, if not most CAL pilots, most of the time. Inadequate staffing often results in Overall Solution Constraints, Splat, reserve abuse, and other undesirable outcomes.
The TA addresses these shortfalls in many ways, which we believe are Industry Leading. The TA contains much more stringent Manpower Requirements and Vacancy and Displacement provisions in Section 8. Manpower Requirements (formerly Staffing Formula) are now by aircraft type, instead of systemwide, and also include planned MAC flying. There is a requirement for a minimum of 12 percent reserves in Airbus and 737, and 14 percent for all other aircraft. Changes in Line Production Averages (LPA) in Section 5 also have a significant impact on Manpower Requirements.
The TA eliminates the CAL-style “System Bid.” Instead, there will be Vacancy Bulletins and Bidding and Displacement Bulletins and Bidding that will be run on a Category (BES) basis, instead of systemwide, as needed. The TA will make it easier and faster to advance, and harder and slower for the Company to displace and furlough.
Section 5 Hours of Service and Section 20 Allocation, Assignment and Scheduling of Flying contain the bulk of the TA Scheduling provisions. Some components of these sections directly impact Compensation in addition to quality of life, and these were mentioned previously, including the M5D Rig, and the 2:1 Duty Rig and 1:4 (1 year after OMD 1:3.5) Trip Rig. Maximum LPA is 84.0, reduced with a furlough, and there is a 92 hour Cap, with required repair, unless the pilot waives. Pay equals Credit during Monthly Schedule Preferencing (MSP), the new term for PBS.
Open time is allowed after MSP, and Trip Trades with Open Time will be seniority based. Except for Line Check Airmen giving line checks, Captains may not fly as FO, unless both pilots consent. 2 Captains and 2 FO's must be staffed on flights scheduled over 16 hours. Layovers require 9 hours behind the door in the hotel room, and those scheduled longer than 14 hours require a downtown hotel.
There is extensive language regarding Crew Rest, which will never again be in Economy or Economy Plus. Deadhead is in First or Business if a Global Flight, and Economy Plus at a minimum if a Basic Flight (50 states, Canada, Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, Bermuda, South America north of 15 degrees.) There is Premium Pay in the event of a middle seat Deadhead.
The TA provides many other opportunities for Add/Premium Pays, including 100% for Senior Manning, 50, 75, and 100% incentives for certain open pairings, and 125% for Inverse Reassignment. The Company must use volunteers with 100% Add Pay, even if it creates a conflicting trip drop, before Inverse Reassignment.
All Reserves are on a 13 hour Long Call to start, and all reserves are released to a trip at Pickup or Assignment. There is no leveling for Reserve Aggressive Pickups. A 73 hour Reserve MPG increases for Short Call or Airport standby. All Rigs apply to Reserves, and there are numerous opportunities for increased MPG and Add Pay. Basic Reserves (generally 737 and Airbus) have one Flexible Day Off with limited assignment rights. Global Reserves have six Hard Days Off, one Flexible Day off and the remainder Regular Days Off. FDO's and RDO's are not the same as CAL movable days off, in that they cannot be moved to sit Reserve, and a trip cannot be assigned on them.
Once on a trip, Reserves are protected by the same Reassignment rules as lineholders. The TA also does not allow continuous rolling, in which a reserve is rolled more and assigned another trip after the last leg. First In First Out prevents the junior reserves from always rising to the top of the list for call out. As mentioned above, the TA also requires a greater minimum percentage of reserves than CAL has operated with under C'02.
The TA Work Rules are lengthy and extremely complex, because they are so critically important. Because the starting point for most of them was UAL book, many provisions are currently unfamiliar to CAL pilots. FAR 117 will also lead to many changes, especially in duty limits and augmentation. This brief synopsis in no way takes the place of the comprehensive educational materials and Town Hall briefings. As always, if you have questions, please ask.
Conclusion
The TA contains enhancements to provisions for the Flight Instructors, pilots in Training, Guam pilots, Moving, and other sections, in addition to those achieved for the four cornerstones.
Your MEC received many hours of Briefings by the JNC, Subject Matter Experts, and attorneys, and many questions were answered. We also spent many hours debating the pros and cons of the TA. A majority of Status Representatives believe that the TA and its overall value is worthy of your consideration. Given the size of the increase in value to our pilots, and the uncertainty associated with future negotiations, we believe that we had a responsibility to our pilots to allow you to decide whether or not the Tentative Agreement would meet your needs.
No one else can tell you how to vote. It is up to each individual Member In Good Standing to decide, after careful review and consideration of all available information, whether or not the Tentative Agreement is acceptable to you and your family.
Fraternally,
Capt. Jayson Baron
Council 170 Chairman
F/O Tara Cook
Council 170 Vice Chairman
F/O John Person
Council 172 Chairman
Capt. Scott Cornelison
Council 172 Vice Chairman
Capt. Bruce Bishop
Council 173 Chairman
F/O David Gourley
Council 173 Vice Chairman
Capt. Tom Howard
Council 178 Chairman
That is all for today. Thank you. We wish you and your families a Happy Thanksgiving holiday.
Fraternally,
Chairman Captain Jayson Baron
Vice Chairman First Officer Tara Cook
Secretary-Treasurer Captain Tim Boyens
11-21-2012, 05:12 PM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2010
Position: EWR 777 Captain
Posts: 1,715
Originally Posted by Ottolillienthal
Those guys are all bought and paid for by Pierce.
Don't listen to anything they have to say.
Don't listen to anything they have to say.
No facts. No relevant input. Internet drivel. Can't you come up with a single meaningful, arguable, fact based reason for your negativity?
11-21-2012, 05:28 PM
#5
Banned
Joined APC: Feb 2011
Position: 756 Left Side
Posts: 1,629
Originally Posted by CAL EWR
FAR 117 will also lead to many changes, especially in duty limits and augmentation.
Good Job.
NO
Motch
11-21-2012, 05:31 PM
#6
Banned
Joined APC: Feb 2011
Position: 756 Left Side
Posts: 1,629
Originally Posted by CAL EWR
Management used large Q400 turboprop aircraft to exploit our current Scope provisions. TA Scope limits large turboprops, because they are counted just the same in the limits and ratios as jets are.
NO
Motch
11-21-2012, 05:42 PM
#7
New Hire
Joined APC: Apr 2012
Position: 756 FO
Posts: 9
Originally Posted by horrido27
Maybe you can explain why our Q400 numbers have gone down over the past year?
NO
Motch
NO
Motch
11-21-2012, 06:00 PM
#8
Banned
Joined APC: Feb 2011
Position: 756 Left Side
Posts: 1,629
Originally Posted by CAL EWR
As a brief overview of these protections, they include the 76 to 70 seat conversion requirement if a single current seniority list pilot is furloughed (a tremendous economic disincentive for the company to furlough)
In 2014-15 when the company decides that it's time to get rid of the A319 (Aircraft that is NOT considered a New Small NarrowBody Aircraft).. they can furlough the "new hires, not touch the current pilots and not have to worry about Block Hours. Those 1st 153 76 can fly up (along with the entire UAX Fleet) 120% of our Single Aisle Company Aircraft.
1-C-1-f Scheduled Aircraft Block Hours of United Express Flying as Percentage of Block Hours of Company Flying on Single-Aisle Aircraft
1-C-1-f-(1) In any Rolling Twelve-Month Period ending the first full calendar month following date of signing of this Agreement or later, the Company shall not Schedule or permit the Scheduling of aircraft block hours of United Express Flying (excluding block hours operated by 37-Seat Turboprop Aircraft) exceeding the maximum percentage of Scheduled aircraft block hours of Company Flying on single-aisle Company Aircraft (“Max. % of UAXBH to SBH”) set forth in the following chart. Cells 1 to 8 state the number of 76-Seat Aircraft operated in United Express Flying (cells 2 through 8 show an
increase in the number of such 76-Seat Aircraft if added under Section 1-C-1-g). Cells 9 through 16 state the Max. % of UAXBH to SBH that the Company must maintain based on the number of 76-Seat Aircraft in cells 1 through 8. The measurement for the twelve (12) months in any Rolling Twelve-Month Period shall be made on a weighted basis by the number of 76-Seat Aircraft in United Express Flying in each month.
Oh.. and as the company gets a couple of 90 seaters configured to 76 seats, with a First Class flying between Hub to Hub or other destinations.. up to 900 nm; the company can park 3 50 seaters~
So lets see. 3 50 seaters equal 150 seats. Each flying 10 hours a day.. that's 30 hours of flying.
Replaced by 2 "76 seaters" equal 152 seats. Each flying 12 hours a day.. 24 hours of flying.
Sounds about right.
NOT
Motch
PS> I like this line too-
1-C-1-f-(2) The Company shall be excused from compliance with Section 1-C-1-f-(1) for the period of time that a Circumstance Beyond the Company's Control is the cause of such non-compliance.
PPS> Any Delta Pilots want to chime in here, about the difference between our TA and Block Hours vs. your PWA and ASM's?
11-21-2012, 06:07 PM
#9
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Sep 2010
Posts: 1,253
Originally Posted by Sunvox
No facts. No relevant input. Internet drivel. Can't you come up with a single meaningful, arguable, fact based reason for your negativity?
11-21-2012, 06:19 PM
#10
Banned
Joined APC: Feb 2011
Position: 756 Left Side
Posts: 1,629
Originally Posted by CAL EWR
The TA achieved some important CAL MEC strategic goals in Pay Banding: maintaining the 767-400 and 787 banded with the 777 and 747-400. We also finally placed the 757-300 into a higher band than the 757-200, alongside the legacy United 767-300.
[Delta has the 757-2 banded with the 767-2, -3 and -3er.
Maybe you'd like to answer why we have an A380 payrate that is almost $100 more than the 74's?!
Not to mention, our 74 payscale is $20 less than Delta.
Industry Leading...
NOT
Motch
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