Agree!
------------

 

You obviously haven't read the TA either.

 

Dec. 15, 2012


Fellow Pilots,

This morning, with 97.66 percent of eligible pilots voting, 67 percent voted in favor of ratifying the tentative agreement to become our Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement. We are pleased to congratulate our pilots on this new agreement that puts an end to our separate concessionary and bankruptcy-era contracts. This agreement will begin to immediately deliver gains through its industry-leading compensation, job protection, work rule, and retirement and benefits provisions. Many economic provisions, including pay rates, per diem, contributions to retirement and others will begin not only immediately, but will be retroactive back to Nov. 30, 2012. Other provisions will require more time to implement, under the watchful eye of our ALPA pilots on the joint implementation team. For our pilots and their families, this agreement is a positive step towards a new future.

This vote also confirms the strengthening unity that continues to bring our two pilot groups together as one. We voted jointly not just for a new contract, but for a new future. From the beginning of this process more than two and a half years ago, we have worked in a coordinated fashion with our Joint Negotiating Committee, subject matter experts, professional attorneys and staff on the contract. We have proven our solidarity through joint efforts with informational picketing, family awareness events, legislative work and communications. We, as Continental and United pilots, have demonstrated throughout this effort that our interests as professional airline pilots are aligned, and we have recognized that we are stronger for it. Today, we are another step closer to a new future together as a single pilot group — pilots of the new United.

Now that the ratification vote is complete, we know that many of our pilots have questions about the new agreement and its implementation in particular. Many of you may be wondering about what happens next in the merger process, including seniority list integration. We will be putting together new information on these and other topics. Until that can be prepared, please continue to look through the FAQ section of the website at www.unitedpilotagreement.com for information related to the agreement. We will keep the website active as a conduit to answering your questions and providing additional information on our new JCBA.

For those of you who took the time to vote, to attend a Town Hall meeting, to read the TA, visit the website and ask questions, we thank you. Regardless of how you voted, you exercised your right as a union member to act. We would like to personally thank the Joint Negotiating Committee and the subject matter experts for the job they have done. The many, many volunteers who worked tirelessly these past few weeks during the ballot window to get you information also deserve our thanks: the Communications Committees, the P2P Fact Team and Fact Checkers, your Local Council representatives, Family Awareness representatives, and the countless others who worked behind the scenes without fanfare to gather data, create websites and calculators, etc. This is ALPA – pilots working for pilots. And we thank the ALPA staff who supported our volunteers.

We may have closed one chapter, but we have opened another. There will be many more chapters to come. We surely must recognize by now that we are stronger and better together than we are separately. Let’s move forward together.

We are United,

Capt. Jay Pierce
Capt. Jay Heppner
CAL MEC Chairman
UAL MEC Chairman

My comment:

Put the differences behind us. No matter how you voted. We've got to be United (pun intended) to improve from here. Good luck to us all.

 

I voted no. There are a lot of things in the TA that I really liked, but there were enough bad things to make me vote no. Now we all have to live with it. No need to discuss or blame anything or anyone. I will laugh at any yes voter complaining about something in their contract. Who's making the "Don't blame me, I voted no" buttons. I'll buy one.

 

Well said. Does this still mean that the party you were going to throw is cancelled?

 

Don't worry, you will not hear any B!tching from the Yes voters because you won't be able to find any!

 

This I can agree with.

 

If you don't think going from 50 seat scope to 76 seat jet scope isn't a concession then I don't know what else I can say to you.

 

I can agree with your sentiment there. It's just hard to stomach how well management pitted different segments of the pilot group against each other to get the cost neutral contract to pass.

 

We are so Jeff'd......