"Compromised Safety Programs"
09-23-2013, 06:32 AM
#12
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Nov 2010
Position: 737 Cap
Posts: 451
Originally Posted by CRM114
So you're saying that some United pilots have a much deeper safety culture than others and are willing to throw down the gauntlet when established practice and contractual rights are tossed aside...and some don't? Which one were you again? 
This is a problem for all United pilots, but it appears to be rearing it's head in the former sCAL bases. Draw your own conclusions. The last gasp of FoF, a maverick CP looking to make a name for himself, or a guy who just doesn't get it - it doesn't matter. Like you say, this affects all United pilots, and it will take every last United Pilot to take a stand and reject this way of doing business.
Focusing a broad spotlight of attention on this issue isn't "going off the reservation". We have strong contractual language, in fact we have an entire section of our CBA (section 19) that establishes the procedures and protocol that the company must follow. We have past practice and a strong spirit of cooperation between UAL, the FAA, and ALPA that has been truly successful in spotting trends early and bootstrapping the lessons learned back into training. If we allow safety reporting and debriefing to be turned into a which hunt to assign blame, then the entire system suffers. The entire system becomes less safe as a result of participants not providing feedback out of fear of second-guessed disciplinary action.
For a safety chairman to report that safety programs are compromised is one of the most serious things I can imagine coming from union communications. The question is: what are we ALL going to do about it?
This is a problem for all United pilots, but it appears to be rearing it's head in the former sCAL bases. Draw your own conclusions. The last gasp of FoF, a maverick CP looking to make a name for himself, or a guy who just doesn't get it - it doesn't matter. Like you say, this affects all United pilots, and it will take every last United Pilot to take a stand and reject this way of doing business.
Focusing a broad spotlight of attention on this issue isn't "going off the reservation". We have strong contractual language, in fact we have an entire section of our CBA (section 19) that establishes the procedures and protocol that the company must follow. We have past practice and a strong spirit of cooperation between UAL, the FAA, and ALPA that has been truly successful in spotting trends early and bootstrapping the lessons learned back into training. If we allow safety reporting and debriefing to be turned into a which hunt to assign blame, then the entire system suffers. The entire system becomes less safe as a result of participants not providing feedback out of fear of second-guessed disciplinary action.
For a safety chairman to report that safety programs are compromised is one of the most serious things I can imagine coming from union communications. The question is: what are we ALL going to do about it?
This isn't a slam against even one LCAL pilot, but it does speak to the CAL management culture. It simply isn't acceptable. They will not leverage our (collective, because we're all UAL pilots now) safety culture in favor of a fear and threat based solution. Unsat.
I have written literally dozens of FSAPS in my 20 years. I've been involved in exactly one FSI. Despite the fact that we did everything perfectly with a positive outcome, it still felt like we were put under a microscope. The last thing we need is a ladder climbing chief pilot breathing down our necks during that process. Again, we simply can't let them leverage our safety culture and processes. What we have works really, really well. It is worth defending.
Scott
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