cadetdrivr

The UALMEC accepted the Tentative Agreement on November 12, 2012.

The Master Chairman reported to the MEC that he and the Negotiating Committee would bring the UAL pilots an industry‐leading contract. Every UAL pilot recognizes the difficulties of this trilateral negotiation but that should not be used to justify a TA that falls short.

This TA hands management the key to the lock that serves to retain international Pacific flying out of SEA. By eliminating language in our contract that prevents scheduling W’s containing two or more legs (over 10 hours) across the Pacific, flown by domiciles other than SEA, SFO, or LAX, this TA opens the door to onerous Pacific pairings flown by pilots from any domicile and exposes all three current west‐coast domiciles to a loss of Pacific flying.

The lost language was added to our CBA as a result of lessons we learned about Pacific flying from Pan Am pilots and has been part of our CBA since 1991.

The four cornerstones of our contract are Scope, Compensation, Work rules, and Retirement and Benefits (R&I).

Scope:

The 2012 TA Scope section represents a major concession by both pilot groups. TA Scope is slightly tighter than Delta Scope, thus it could be argued in that context, that this section is Industry‐Leading. However, it must be said that the UAL MEC direction to the NC was clear: “nothing less than DAL pay for DAL scope.” This TA falls short.

Compensation:

The TA Pay Rates fall short of Delta’s pay rates. This is not industry‐leading, as UAL rates fall 8.5% behind Delta in the first year and will not match Delta rates, under the current Delta contract, until January 1, 2016. Contrary to the rationalizing spin, the fact is that DAL pilots will make more per hour for flying the same equipment.

Work Rules:
While sections 5 & 20 of the TA are generally based on the current UAL book, when scrutinized in detail, these sections fall short of industry‐leadingexpectation, as it relates to securing quality of life issues. The sanctity of a pilot’s scheduled private life has not been improved. In 2003 under BK, UAL pilots consciously decided to give up pay in exchange for retaining the QWL value of our work‐rules.

In this 2012 TA, no improvements are found, only monetary mitigation is addressed. UAL pilots are, in effect, being encouraged to sell those rules for add‐pay.

Additionally, because of the uniqueness of the merger, and while current United pilots are on furlough, no contractual monetary incentive programs for the purpose of modifying schedules, picking up open time, or otherwise negatively affecting the manpower staffing requirements should be triggered.

Career security in this TA is only addressed for future furloughs.

Involuntary JRM/SRM in the TA is in direct contradiction with unanimous MEC direction.

Overall this TA’s work rule section gives management contractual language that allows them more control over our lives “at work” and “at home”.

Retirement and Benefits:

Medical insurance premiums once capped at 7% are now capped at 9.25%. Premiums have increased, and deductibles along with out‐of‐pocket limits will cost every pilot more. For example, current UAL PPO for employee/spouse = $173; TA = $232 ‐ $237max. Current HMO participants will swallow the hardest: cost now = $0; TA = $245.

Pilots with extensive family health issues will be hit very hard ($) under the TA.

Another example is the LTD which, under the TA, will be quite expensive to each UAL pilot; The LTD is free at DAL.

In conclusion, UAL pilot’s expectation has always been an industry‐leading contract and the MC and NC have repeatedly reinforced that expectation.

Finally, delivering a TA that fails to address the sacrifices of the last decade in a meaningful way does not meet the justified expectations nor does it recognize the essential role pilots play in the airline industry.

It is the responsibility of every United pilot to attend roadshows, educate yourselves with the information provided, and ask questions of the roadshow presenters until you are satisfied.

Use the tools provided on the MEC website www.unitedpilotagreement.com , and determine for yourself if this TA is truly industry‐leading; and, if it reflects the responsibility borne by United pilots every day in the course of the service you provide to UAL. The UALMEC provided direction to the JNC, based on your input. There is no reason to question the effort of the Negotiating Committee, advisors, or SME’s; and, those MEC members who cast NO votes do not do so with this CON statement.

The democratic process has concluded with the UAL MEC accepting this TA and sending it to the members for ratification. As it should be, the pilots who will work under this potential JCBA will have the final say.

It is with a vision to the future and recognition of the steep hill our profession must climb to regain that which has been stolen, that we pass to the membership our overall evaluation of this TA. We have specifically not pointed to every provision that gives us pause; nor do we claim there are no improvements.

The pilots of United will make their own decision on the acceptability of the 2012 TA. Together we win.

Fraternally and in Unity,

Captain Jeff Berg, SEA C27 Chairman
FO Ben Pangelinan, SEA C27 Vice‐Chairman
FO Carlos Rodriguez, ORD C12 Vice‐Chairman
FO Eric Popper, ORD C12 Secretary‐Treasurer
Captain Paul Welch, SEA C27 Secretary‐Treasurer

jsled

2 of the 3 votes against this TA (it passed the MEC 12-3 or by 80%)were the SEA LEC Chairman and Vice. I certainly respect their decision and I have not read past this paragraph, YET (I will). But it is interesting that this paragraph is FIRST in the con statement. I can't help but wonder if the potential closing of the SEA base is the biggest factor in their no vote. LOA 25 includes a commitment to keep SEA open for 2 years after DOS, so you know this was a concern.

Sled

CALFO

I respect the votes of all mec members and appreciate their explanations of either voting for or against. The are two items of the letter that I question:

1. Ual mec Directed the NC to achieve dal scope for dal pay. I don't agree with that direction as I would hope they would direct the Nc to do better than dal. That said, did the Nc not accomplish what they were tasked to do? The scope doesn't resemble dal until 2014, the same day that compensation falls in line with dal. I would say in this case, the Nc did exactly as directed, if not better, as the scope section is admittedly better than dal.

2. Ltd: yes dal's scope is free, but if you take a look at the plans, you get what you pay for. I would much rather have the CAL style ltd, and have to pay a portion of it, then have dal's. this is one area of the contract that would be absolutely assinine to reopen.

If this contract gets shot down it is imperative that every pilot understand every section so that we know not only what to fix, but what to leave alone.

horrido27

DAL 2014 Rates..
Capt 12yr 747-$262.38
JCBA 12yr 74-$254.74

Capt 12yr 757-$219.62
JCBA 12yr 752-$205.03

Capt 12yr A320-$203.21
JCBA 12yr A320-$205.03!!!!!!

me..
Delta 757 FO, 7th yr = $139.35
JCBA 757-2 FO, 7th yr = $131.24!!!!!!

Please don't say that our pay falls in line in 2014 with Delta. It DOES NOT.
And Yes, we will get 16% Retirement.. they get 15%~
Doesn't make up the difference.

So, question becomes.. the difference in what we pay- couldn't a Delta Pilot use that money to buy ALPA LTD (or some other LTD insurance) which then would mean he would be paying the same as us.. yet get way more benefits?

I totally agree.. "You get what you pay for"..
AMEN!
We need to not only study this and find the holes. We need to present out Reps (the new ones~) with the fixes.

Motch

CALFO

You can look around but you won't find anything that compares to our ltd plan that is even close to what we pay. Again, going to the dal system is a bad idea and a win for management.

syd111

The potential closing of the sea might have entered into their decision just as the many airbus pilots on the mec had the pay jump for their fleet enter into their decision.

jsled

This contract puts all fleets at market rates. The Airbus just had a heck of a lot higher to go to get there. $137/hr for an Airbus Captain? Some airlines pay their guppy F/Os considerably more than that. It is criminal. I am GLAD they will be getting the biggest Retro checks and percentage raises. They deserve it. BTW, the SEA domicile has 90 pilots. The Airbus fleet has 1887 pilots (35% of our active roster). I hope it entered into their decision.

Sled

A320

When comparing the pay rates make sure to compare all the fleets as they are banded differently at UAL and DAL. Please present all the facts when comparing them and not just the facts that support your opinion.

syd111

Didn't say they didn'tdeserve it or did deserve it. Just pointed out that since many of them are on the fleet I think it probably influenced there decision. I know how many pilots are effected by each decision as does the company. The company knows how to move the vote.

Will vote no regardless do what you want.

jsled

Wow. Ok boss. We'll try to do better. I guess you mean all of us since you didn't address anyone in particular.