February 18, 1999
ALPA, Intl
Committees
Flight Attendants
Over the last few days America West management has notified
every employee of the possibility that the airline may shut down, with resulting
furloughs, if its operations are severely disrupted. The company issued such notice
ostensibly in order to comply with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act,
a federal law that requires managements to issue advance notice of plant closings. The MEC
believes that this notice serves as more of a tactical signal from management than an act
of regulatory compliance. The letter sent to pilots was generic, and sent to all
employees, many of whom do not have the protection of a collective bargaining agreement.
There is no, and I emphasize NO, provision in our contract for furloughing out of
seniority.
Throughout the next few weeks, we will continue updating
the pilot group via the hotline, via pilot-to-pilot briefings, via written communiqu�s.
Local Council Meeting
Nevertheless, we might point out that today’s Wall
Street Journal reported that “Delta Air Lines quietly has dropped out as a suitor for
America West Airlines after taking a look at acquiring the Phoenix-based carrier.”
The Journal also reported that “United hopes to decide whether to make an offer for
the smaller carrier within a couple of weeks.”
Over the last two years, the MEC has forged good
relationships with MECs at all major ALPA carriers as well as the union leadership at a
few non-ALPA carriers. These relationships continue, but any MEC-to-MEC contact has so far
been on an informal and ad-hoc basis.
On another note, today’s meeting was the last Local
Council meeting to be chaired by the current LEC officers, who have for the last
year-and-a-half, also served as the MEC officers. While Don Steinman, Darcy Pierce and
Mike Calabrese remain as MEC officers, effective March 1st, all Local Council
meetings will be chaired by the new LEC with newly-elected LEC Chairman Jack Ryan at the
gavel.
Congratulations to Captain J.R. Baker
That concludes this week’s update. Fly safe; fly your
contract; and wear your pins and ribbons. The next scheduled hotline will be Thursday,
February 25 or sooner if news develops. Thanks for listening.
- Local Council Meeting
- AFA Update
- New Chief Pilot named
| MEC HOTLINE | ||
| This is Communications Chairman David Weeks with the MEC hotline for February 18, 1999. Tonight’s topics are: The America West flight attendants are now on a 30-day countdown to a possible strike, or CHAOS activities. The National Mediation Board released both America West and the flight attendants from negotiations late yesterday, putting into motion a 30-day cooling-off period. Over the next 30 days, both sides will again try to reach an agreement through “super-mediation” with the NMB. If an agreement is not reached by midnight eastern time on March 19, both sides may then engage in self-help activities. The MEC continues to support the flight attendants’ efforts to achieve a contract. We encourage both parties to approach super-mediation with the paramount goal of achieving a fair and equitable agreement.
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