October 29, 1998
ALPA, Intl
Committees
Local Council Meeting and Nominees
The following pilots were elected yesterday at the Local Council meeting as nominees for
positions on the new Local Executive Council:
Secretary-Treasurer: the nominees
are Mike Calabrese and Richard Mitchell.
First Officer Representatives:
the nominees are Gary Bakewell, Eric Durnell, Dale Cooke, and Bill Archer.
Captain Representatives: the
nominees are David Chambless, Jack Ryan, Mike Martin, and Bob Ewert.
Election ballots to elect one Secretary-Treasurer, two
First Officer reps, and two Captain reps will be mailed to all pilots next month.
Medical Insurance Changes
The MEC has informed management that it will not endorse a change to our medical insurance
benefits after only one oral briefing and documents that have not even been finalized with
the insurance carriers. America West had asked the MEC to approve the company’s benefits
change within a matter of days – a violation of the contract language � and without any
final details of the benefits plan or time to analyze them. What information we did
receive showed that the pilot group could suffer a decrease in benefits � another
contract violation.
We are now waiting to hear if the company will allow us to
stay with the current plan, or force us to go with the new plan. The MEC is monitoring
this issue very closely. We have prepared a Just the Facts publication detailing this
issue, and we hope to have it distributed to all T-4 mailboxes tomorrow, Friday, October
30. We will keep you informed as new developments arise.
Vacation Bid Deadline Grievances
The vacation bid deadline is this Saturday, October 31. As of this hotline, America West
has given no definitive information as to how it plans to correct the vacation bid
scheduling. So far, management has kept us in the dark. However, we have filed a grievance
due to management missing the vacation bid deadline of October 1, by one week. As new
information becomes available, we will keep you informed.
Vacancy Bid
We are continuing to have discussions with management concerning the vacancy bid. As we
have mentioned before, the bid was published with an effective date of January 31, 2000,
with some pilots to be trained out of seniority order, and up to several months after the
effective date. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.
PBS Update
PBS Committee Chairman Del Brummett and Vice Chairman David Weeks began working on the
Detail Requirements Document, or DRD, last Thursday and Friday, October 22 and 23, with
AD-OPT representatives, and Diane Berkey and Jackie Hazelton of America West. Diane works
in Scheduling and Jackie is an information systems programmer.
The DRD will be the blueprint in which AD-OPT will
customize PBS for implementation at America West. AD-OPT will return to Phoenix within the
next few weeks to continue finalizing the document with the PBS Committee.
Additionally, we are in the process of choosing arbitrators
for the expedited arbitration process that was negotiated with the company for all PBS
issues. However, management has not been very responsive in choosing additional
arbitrators. The MEC will not give the go-ahead for the DRD until the selection of all
arbitrators is complete.
More details will be provided within the next two weeks in
the new PBS on the LINE publication.
Combs Arbitration Settlement
The Combs grievance case was settled last night on the eve of the arbitration, which was
scheduled for today and tomorrow. The case involved an alleged charge of insubordination.
The settlement includes the pilot receiving full back pay, all accrued benefits lost, and
removal of all derogatory information from the pilot’s personnel file.
That concludes this week’s Hotline update. The next update
will be on Thursday, November 5. Fly safe; fly your contract, wear your ALPA pin; and
thanks for listening.
- Local Council Meeting and Nominees
- Medical Insurance Changes
- Vacation Bid Deadline & Grievances
- Vacancy Bid
- PBS Update
- Combs Arbitration Settlement
| MEC Hotline | ||
| This is Communications Committee Chairman David Weeks with the America West MEC Hotline update for Thursday, October 29. Tonight’s topics are: |