Last week in Washington, I attended the semi-annual meeting of MEC chairmen, known as
Executive Board. During the course of conducting internal national ALPA business, I
received strong indications of support from our President, Executive Council members, and
staff. The executive vice presidents, whose faces you see in the Air Line Pilot
magazine every month, are all working airline pilots like you and me; and they all know
the importance of our next contract to us and to the industry as a whole. It’s our
MEC’s job to use ALPA’s resources wisely in order to put together a sound
strategy that our pilots believe in. Our national officers know from our plans and polls
that we have done just that. As we begin to implement our plan next year, the value of
being part of a national union will become increasingly clear. We are on the right track.
As I think you all know, our contract becomes amendable in May of 2000. As a result of
protocols developed last week in meetings of the negotiators, we are pleased to announce
that the negotiations will begin February 7. I think this is an acknowledgement that many
of the elements of our current contract don’t work for either us or for the company,
and the sooner we begin to talk about it, the better. Altogether, we have agreed to
fourteen protocols, including the use of interest based bargaining (IBB), as the
negotiating method. I have taken a “show me” attitude toward these protocols,
but I have an open mind. Our MEC said “get us protocols that will protect our
interests” and our negotiators have done that. Protocol number fourteen says
“neither party relinquishes their rights under the Railway Labor Act….” I
am persuaded that we have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by going forward under these
protocols, and I am very proud of our negotiators for pressing forward on this. Thanks to
our entire MEC for endorsing this recommendation by our negotiators. I also want to
compliment America West’s team, including Jerry Glass, Greg Garger and Lee Steele,
because they showed up fully prepared and with full authority to conclude an agreement. If
this is the way things are going to go next year, we are going to solve a lot of problems
in a hurry.
Last month America West ordered 27 new airbuses, including 15 new A318’s. The company
took options on 50 additional airbuses, type not yet specified. We could have up to 139
airbuses in addition to the Boeing fleet, and that spells a lot of flying jobs. The A318
is a 100 seat aircraft, competitive with a stretched RJ. America West will pay us the same
amount to fly an A318 as any other larger aircraft in our fleet. Scope extends to the
holding company, as did the A319 side letter. We could have held this up, but America West
got a smoking deal on these airplanes and it’s growth for us, ladies and gentlemen.
Your MEC wisely approved this deal. Say thanks to Jack, Dave, Eric and Gary.
Now for the misfires. There’s been some poor information about open enrollment and
the options available to you. R&I Vice Chairman John McIlvenna has just produced an
R&I Update newsletter with the able assistance of Yvette Freeman. We’ll have this
out in the racks next week. A point we have to make: Benefits Manager Diane Welle did not
write guidance tailored specifically for pilots. Some of the changes she envisioned do not
pass muster with ALPA. Diane did not send us the plan documents for some of her planned
changes to our benefits, and until she does, they are not going to happen for us. A lot of
our pilots are having a lot of heartburn about our benefits. Remember this: if you
don’t make a change in open enrollment, you continue to be covered as before. Diane,
we need to talk.
ALPA has won two significant arbitrations recently; we refer to them as the Eaton and
Sinacropi cases. They involve large dollar obligations of America West to our pilots. In
the latter case we know that the company will owe pilots in excess of $3,000,000, and
potentially more. Apparently nobody wants to give Mr. Franke the bad news. Company lawyers
have asked the arbitrator for clarifications and executive sessions and a lot of other
malarky in order to delay payment to the grievants. It’s not going to work, and
it’s making the arbitrators mad. Ed Sherman and others are going to have to wait a
little longer for their checks, but they’ll come. In the mean time, every arbitrator
in America gets to see how intransigent and lawless America West is when it comes to
complying with verdicts. I can hardly wait until the next arbitration.
Eight hundred pilots have taken the training for PBS and about 830 remain to be trained
with 800 slots available between now and December 2nd. Even if you hate the
idea of PBS you’re missing out on 2:45 of pay for going to class. Your significant
other could get a new place setting or a new set of tires. Or you could just blow it off
and wind up with a reserve line. I don’t know, what do you think?
The November-December issue of the Fenix Flight was mailed from the print shop this past
Monday, November 8th. Look for it in your home mailbox by the end of next week.
Thanks, Yvette, for pulling everything together and getting this out.
Captain Mike McElroy’s last trip will be Friday, November 19th. He will
arrive in Phoenix at 0744 on flight #2831, inbound from Albuquerque. If you are able to
help Capt. McElroy celebrate his retirement upon his arrival at the terminal, your
participation will be much appreciated.
We’re proud of the ladies who answer our phones and help us run our office. Sandy
Peterson is the office manager, Sandy Sinahio is our receptionist and Martha McVay is our
contract management assistant. Our staff knows where each of our officers are and who is
best able to help you solve your problem. Sometimes the best person to help you is not me,
it’s one of our committee chairmen or one of your LEC representatives. Our staff can
help you figure that out. If you need to see me, Sandy P. can put you on my schedule. If
you have an issue with contract interpretation, I suggest you come see Bill Archer, and if
you have an issue with our treasury, I suggest you come see Mike Calabrese. We’re
here to serve you.