Good evening, this is Herb Holland with
the MEC Hotline for Thursday, July 4th.
Tonight’s topics:
1. MEC News Briefs
2. Holiday Airline Security
3. Sexual Harassment and Sensitivity Training
4. Under the Microscope
5. Sobering Thoughts/Zero Tolerance
6. Professionalism
7. My Brother’s Keeper
MEC News Briefs
The MEC office will be closed
on Friday July 5th. If you have any emergencies, please call one of your
MEC or LEC reps. My home number is 480-807-3546.
Negotiations resume Monday, July 8th.
Don’t forget to attend the Local Council
meeting this Thursday, July 11th. ALPA International President Captain
Duane Woerth will be our guest speaker. And don’t forget to vote for the
permanent First Officer Rep position. Voting closes Wednesday morning.
Due to recent committee “retirements,” the MEC has two vacancies
for FOQA Gatekeepers and one vacancy for Chairman of the Central Air Safety
Committee. If you are interested in these positions, please forward a
letter of interest and brief resume’ to the MEC. An Email to www.awalpa.org
is acceptable. And we still have a large number of other committee positions
to fill.
I want to thank the members of our ALPA
staff for their tremendous effort in making the Salmon Bake and Concert
the huge success it was. Over 550 pilots, family and friends attended.
And I want to give special thanks to Archie Turnbull who conceived and
planned the event of the summer and Barry Kendrick who arranged for our
special guest entertainer, Esteban, to perform. By the way, Esteban is
giving a benefit concert tonight for the fire victims at El Pedregal.
By now most of you have received the certified letter from the company
regarding passport or birth certificate documents required before using
company simulators. Had the MEC known that these letters were going to
be sent out certified, we would have let you know last week to expect
that mode of delivery and saved you considerable anxiety. Please comply
with the government regulations as soon as possible.
Holiday Airline Security
If you are flying this weekend, please read your releases very closely.
Double-check the credentials of FAMs, LEOs, and FAA personnel, especially
on the West Coast. Your release will explain why. The company has been
in close contact with our MEC Air Carrier Security Specialist Barry Kendrick.
In light of the shootings at the EL AL ticket counter at LAX this morning,
there appears to be legitimate reason for heightened awareness. If you
have any questions, Barry and the MEC encourage you to contact him at
480-216-1135. While you are on a layover this weekend, please take extra
care to de-identify yourself as an airline crewmember.
Sexual Harassment and Sensitivity Training
As mentioned in Tuesday’s e-mail message, the MEC took exception to
the company adding the Sexual Harassment and Sensitivity Training to the
Security Training Package without giving pilots proper notice of the additional
time involved. By mutual agreement, Wednesday’s class was canceled. The
company has responded to the MEC’s position with (in part) the following
statement: “As of next Monday, July 8, any pilot refusing the training
will be subject to disciplinary action. The Company sees no need to enter
into any LOA regarding this training.”
The company has agreed to our strongest objection: proper notification.
In an effort to avoid any potential disciplinary action, please attend
the additional training. Failure to attend is hardly a battle worth drawing
a line in the sand. And this is not the right time to ratchet up the rhetoric
level. The MEC will pursue an LOU with the company and a possible grievance.
Under the Microscope
The events of earlier this week have once again put airline crews
in general and America West crews in particular under an undeserved umbrella
of suspicion. Our every move, nuance or casual remark will be subject
to greater scrutiny in the weeks ahead. It is imperative that we all exert
extra caution in how we behave, whether it is on the crew bus, going through
security, at the gate, in the aircraft or in the hotel van. We are under
a microscope. Confrontations with security screeners, passengers, gate
agents, or other employees only serve to further destabilize an already
volatile situation. Don’t give the nay Sayers any excuse to attack our
reputations as the professionals that we are.
Sobering Thoughts and Zero Tolerance
Because of the timeliness of the subject, I am going to reprint below,
verbatim and in its entirety, the Company’s corporate statement regarding
alcohol and drugs. Because of the lengthiness of this policy and the limited
length of hotline tape, I will not read it on the hotline. Please refer
to a printed copy of the hotline. Suffice to say, the company allows for
ZERO Tolerance.
ALCOHOL AND DURG-FREE WORKPLACE POLICY
“America West is committed to providing
a safe work environment for all employees. To achieve that objective,
America West instituted a drug and alcohol policy that prohibits the use
of any illegal drug and the abuse of legal drugs or alcohol.
“This policy prohibits the unlawful
sale, possession, manufacturing, distribution or dispensation of illegal
drugs or alcohol in the workplace, and prohibits an employee from being
on Company property or performing any duties for the company with any
illegal substances or an alcohol level above .02 in his or her system.
Employees who violate the drug and alcohol policies are subject to employment
termination. To assure a drug and alcohol-free workplace, and to comply
with various laws, the company conducts drug and alcohol testing in various
circumstances.
“Under the Drug-Free Workplace Act,
America West employees who work in safety-sensitive positions are required
to notify America West of any felony conviction, drug conviction, or DUI-related
offense no later than 5 days after the conviction. Following the employee’s
notification, America West must notify the appropriate federal contracting
agency (FAA, DOT, USPS, etc.). Sanctions, possibly termination, may be
imposed on the employee as determined by the respective agency’s requirements
or company policy.
“The Company Substance Abuse Policy
is available to all employees by contacting your Human Resources representative,
your manager, or the Drug and Alcohol Program Department at (480) 6 93-8996.
Employees are responsible for reading and full understanding the contents
of the Substance Abuse Policy, which provides much greater detail than
contained in this Handbook. In addition, drug awareness training and information
are available. For information regarding treatment programs, please contact
the EAP at (800) 837-4AWA.”
And because the Company does have a ZERO
TOLERANCE policy, you may be briefly removed from the line for evaluation
and counseling if you register any reading above .00, even if you are
below the .02 limit. Such removals are rare, usually brief and are done
in cooperation with your union. The purpose is not to punish, but to educate,
counsel, and rehabilitate if necessary.
Professionalism
In this Brave New World (borrowing from Aldous Huxley), we as pilots
are involved in the industry that has been most affected following the
tragedy of 9-11. Our mission starts long before we pushback from the gate.
It actually begins with a 12-hour lookback prior to departure, which is
where we answer that question: am I safe and legal to report for duty?
It continues with the drive to work, getting on the employee bus, going
through security, and checking in. During each and every step of our duty
day we really ARE under that microscope I alluded to earlier.
For all of us, the profession we have chosen
is a rewarding one. But it is also one which forces us to give up some
of those freedoms others may enjoy, one which forces us to spend vast
amounts of time maintaining and improving our skills, and one which forces
us to use additional decorum not only in the cockpit, but in our off-duty
hours.
My brother is a medical doctor who often
opines about the pressures and responsibilities he has endured. The hundreds
of patients a year whose lives he holds in the balance. I can honestly
smile and quietly muse about the hundreds of passengers a day who rely
on our skill, dedication and professionalism.
My Brother’s Keeper
The next time you meet your fellow crewmembers, think about the teamwork
that is required to successfully complete each flight, each sortie, each
mission. For the sake of them, for the sake of your passengers and for
the sake of our profession, take that little extra time to make sure you
are all physically and emotionally ready to complete the day’s journey.
The length of hotline tape prevents me from reciting the paragraph below,
but please read the words spoken nearly 100 years ago by the de facto
author of the Railway Labor Act, Eugene Victor Debs.
Enjoy a safe Fourth of July weekend. And
as always: obey the FARs, obey the FOM and follow the contract.
“Am I my brother’s keeper? [That frequently asked question] has never
been answered in a way that is satisfactory to civilized society. Yes,
I am my brother’s keeper. I am under a moral obligation to him that is
inspired, not by maudlin sentimentality, but by the higher duty I owe
myself.
“It is when you have done your work honestly, when you have contributed
your share to the common fund that you begin to live. Then, as [Walt]
Whitman said, you can take out your soul; you can commune with yourself;
you can take a comrade by the hand and you can look into his soul and
in that holy communion you live. And if you don’t know what that is, or
if you are not at least on the edge of it, it is denied you even to look
into the Promised Land.”
— From a speech given at the founding of the Federal Council of Churches
in Girard, Kansas, 1908
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