May 13, 1999 Hotline

  May 13, 1999


Arbitration Award

Maintenance Write-ups

Seniority List

Central Air Safety Publication

Local Council Meeting

Family Awareness Get-Together

The Family Awareness Committee will be very important in the upcoming
year, particularly with contract 2000 negotiations. The committee is an essential part of
the Strike Preparedness team, and recognizes the importance of the entire family in making
decisions affecting pilots, their families, and their careers.

That concludes this week’s update. Remember, if you do nothing, you get
nothing. What are you doing to help secure the next contract? Get involved with your
union. Volunteers are needed on a number of committees. Please contact one of your LEC
representatives if you’re ready to pitch in. The next scheduled hotline will be Thursday,
May 20th. Stay focused, fly safe, and thanks for listening.

  • Arbitration Award
  • Maintenance Write-ups
  • Seniority List
  • Central Air Safety Publication
  • Local Council Meeting
  • Family Awareness Party
    MEC Hotline
  Don Steinman for the MEC:


The company has signed the recent benefits arbitration award. America West must now
demonstrate compliance with the award, including the immediate enrollment of disabled
pilots on company insurance plans. ALPA will aggressively pursue compliance, including
action in federal court if necessary.

There has been a recent increase in FAA actions against America West pilots for
maintenance log infractions. Company manuals, FARs, and common sense all say the same
thing: discrepancies must be entered in the maintenance logbook. Paragraph 1.201 of the
FOM is explicit: the crew must ensure that “each time Maintenance is called out to
the aircraft for a discrepancy, a logbook entry is made and the corresponding corrective
action entered.” If there is a discrepancy, write it up. Any time you call
Maintenance to the aircraft, even for such routine actions as oil or hydraulic service,
write it up. Don’t let anyone tell you that a logbook entry is not required. It’s your
license that’s on the line, and the FAA is watching. Closely.

Once again a Seniority List has been distributed and once again an error, which had been
fixed in the last edition of the list, has reappeared. The column labeled “Seniority
Date” is a vestige of our pre-contract work rules, when there was a distinction
between seniority date and hire date. This column should be eliminated. The column
mis-labeled “ALPA Date of Hire” contains correct seniority dates, and should be
so labeled. Crew Resources has been notified and has indicated that the list will be
corrected and redistributed.

The Central Air Safety Committee, led by Capt. Roger Cox, has developed a new publication,
titled SafetyNet. The first issue of SafetyNet, outlining the recent A320 nosewheel
incident at CMH, will be distributed to all T-4 pilot boxes by the early next week.

As a reminder, the next Council 62 Local Council meeting will be held Wednesday, May 26 at
6pm, at the Holiday Inn Select, 44th and Washington streets in Phoenix. Gil
Mook, America West’s new executive vice president for operations and chief operating
officer will be the guest speaker.

All members are also reminded that the Family Awareness Committee will hold a free summer
get-together on June 12 from 3pm to 7pm, at McCormick Railroad Park in Scottsdale. A BBQ
dinner, beer, ice cream, and children’s entertainment will be provided. Members
interested in attending must RSVP to Sandi Siniaho at the MEC office by June 7. Members
who RSVP will receive a free train ride for their children under 12.