July 23, 1998
ALPA, Intl
Committees
America West’s Strategic Action Teams
The MEC has received positive feedback from America West senior management concerning
ALPA’s involvement in the creation of its Strategic Action Teams. As you know, the company
must assemble the teams as a condition of its agreement with the FAA. This past Monday,
July 20, the MEC met with America West President & CEO Richard Goodmanson and offered
technical assistance in helping the airline meet its commitments under the FAA settlement.
As a follow-up, yesterday Ron Aramini, senior vice president of operations, requested a
list of ALPA pilot volunteers to assist on various settlement-related projects, including
Strategic Action Teams. The MEC has designated the Central Air Safety Committee, headed by
Capt. Roger Cox, to serve as ALPA’s liaison with the company on this matter.
Management has also invited the MEC to designate two pilots
to participate in the design phase of the new America West training facility. The ALPA
delegation will include Captain Jack Ryan, MEC Training Committee chairman and Capt. Larry
Taylor, formerly Director of Flight Crew Training.
America West Renegotiates Codeshare Agreement with
Mesa Airlines
America West and Mesa airlines announced today that they have re-negotiated their
codeshare agreement. The new agreement will roughly double the size of Mesa’s America West
Express operation over the next twelve months. Under the agreement, America West Express
will increase to 14 RJs and 12 Dash 8s by the end of next year. There will be an increase
in RJ service out of Phoenix to Des Moines and Fresno. Several new markets will also be
served with non-stop flights to Bakersfield, Gunnison, Hayden, Vail, and possibly
Hermosillo, and Guaymas.
We would like to clarify that America West has not
announced any intention to buy or invest in Mesa Airlines, nor to wet-lease any equipment
from the airline. Discussions are on-going between Mesa and America West regarding America
West Express service in the LAS and CMH route systems.
Council Restructuring Ballot
Ballots for our Council Restructuring Amendment will be mailed to the Board of Directors
on Friday, July 24th. The ballots will be counted on August 10.
The resolution amends the ALPA Constitution and By-laws to
permit the America West MEC to be re-built using the standard ALPA model, that is, with
multiple status reps plus three at-large officers. In other words, after the dust settles,
the MEC will consist of two new captain reps, plus two new first officer reps, plus the
three current officers.
If approved, the changes will lead to elections this fall
for the four new LEC representatives plus an LEC secretary-treasurer. The new electees
will take office March 1, ’99. The current MEC officers will remain as MEC chairman, MEC
vice-chairman and MEC secretary-treasurer through August 31, ’99, after which the four new
MEC members will be free to elect new officers.
Look for more information concerning the election process
in the July/August issue of Fenix Flight.
The Latest Management Changes
Darryal Chandler, senior director of Crew Resources for America West, has announced his
resignation from the company, effective the end of July. Chandler has accepted a
management position with another airline. Mr. Chandler, who was the fourth head of crew
scheduling since the contract was signed in May of 1995, was highly qualified and will be
difficult to replace. The MEC strongly encourages management to replace Mr. Chandler with
a candidate who is equally qualified.
In an unrelated matter, America West yesterday accepted the
resignation of Senior Director of S.O.C Pat Coval. Mr. Coval’s resignation was effective
immediately.
PBS Discussions
The MEC, the Professional Standards and Negotiating Committees met this week to continue
internal discussions on the captain no-fly issue and on the details of a professional
standards side letter. Next week, the Negotiating Committee, Contract Administrator Andrew
Shostack, and ALPA staff attorney Ken Cooper, will meet with management to discuss
resolving the obstacles to PBS implementation.
Upcoming Grievance Hearings
Two important grievance arbitrations are scheduled in August. The Retirement and Insurance
hearing postponed last March has been rescheduled for August 25th. A discipline case is
scheduled for August 12th. In addition a grievance mediation session with the National
Mediation Board is scheduled the week of August 17th.
Pairing Re-Route Credit Problems
It has come to our attention that Crew Resources does not often properly credit pilots for
their originally scheduled pairing credit when they are re-routed. It appears that Crew
Resources must manually enter the original and re-routed pairing credit for the trip. The
Grievance Committee is attempting to obtain documentation about these problems. If you
have flown re-routed pairings and have not been properly credited, please contact the
Grievance Committee.
New Membership Committee Chairman
C. J. Szmal has resigned as chairman of the Membership Committee, effective July 7. He has
passed on those responsibilities to Jeff Blake to focus more on his increasingly important
role as Executive Administrator. Jeff had been serving as the committee’s vice chairman.
That’s it for this week’s Hotline update. The next update
will be on Thursday, July 30. Thanks for listening.
- America West’s Strategic Action Teams
- America West re-negotiates codeshare agreement with
Mesa Airlines - Council Restructuring Ballot
- Resignation of Darryl Chandler
- PBS Discussions
- Upcoming Grievance Mediations
- Pairing Re-route Credit Problems
- New Membership Committee Chairman
- America West agrees to ALPA’s assistance with its
Strategic Action Teams
| MEC Hotline | ||
| This is David Weeks, chairman of the Communications Committee, with the MEC Hotline update for Thursday, July 23. Tonight’s topics include: |