Good evening, this is Herb Holland with
the MEC Hotline for Thursday, September 5. Tonight’s hot topics are:
1. Black Flag Pairings
2. Fingerprinting
3. Speak Up
4. Labor Day Parade
5. Arming Pilots
6. Congratulations
7. Local Council Meeting
8. Status Rep Elections
9. Deal Cutting and LOIs
10. Intrusions
11. Jump Seat Update
12. Early Departure
13. Negotiations Resume
14. Professionalism
Black Flag Pairings
Scott Andrews, Jon Turner, Trevor Barnes and Frank Helton of our
Scheduling Committee, working closely with Trudy Pitts and Vicki Richardson
from pairing development, have hit a home run for BP 197. The infamous
“Worst of the Worst” list has no pairings on either the 737
or the 757, and only 11 on the Airbus. We won’t be satisfied until they
are all gone, but this is a tremendous improvement. In BP 191 we had over
230 violations of the “Worst of the Worst” protocols. In other
crew scheduling news, the company is finally realizing that it does cost
a lot more than $1.99/hour to lock pilots away in hotels for more than
24 hours.
Fingerprinting
Remember that tomorrow is the last day for fingerprinting and passport
copying. If you haven’t complied by then, call the company recruitment
department at 480-693-8854, do some sniveling, and I am certain they will
work with you to fill all the squares.
Speak Up
The MEC, LEC and all your committees enjoy hearing from you. Unfortunately,
we occasionally can’t decipher the messages that come in. So please speak
up and speak slowly when leaving us a message. And we’ll get right back
to ya.’
Labor Day Parade
We had a great showing at the AFL-CIO Labor Day Parade. We’ve all
talked the talk, but about 45 pilots, family members and guests showed
up Monday and walked the walk. Last year we barely had enough to hold
the banner.
Arming Pilots
The Senate today passed by an 87-to-6 margin its version of a bill
to allow pilots to carry firearms in the cockpit after undergoing a comprehensive
training program. The House passed a similar bill in July.
Congratulations
Yesterday, Captain Barry Kendrick was asked to accept the position
of assistant director, training, for ALPA’s National Security Committee.
Now if we can just get the company to release him on ALPA National business…Oh
well.
Local Council Meeting
Vern Reaser was elected First Officer Representative to complete
the term that expires on February 28, 2003 at Tuesday’s Local Council
meeting. Congratulations, Vern. The meeting was highlighted by spirited
discussion of not only CEO Douglas Parker’s upcoming visit to the Local
Council on October 2nd, but the frustrations over the length of this contract
negotiation. This was truly an exciting meeting, what union meetings should
be like. We hope to transfer that kind of enthusiasm over to the Strike
Center once it is up and running. Once operational, it will be the site
for informative weekly events. These events will include round table discussions
on pre-strike strategy, NC presentations, and guest and motivational speakers.
Speaking of upcoming events, don’t forget
the Spouses’ Day Out at Gold Canyon Resort on Saturday, September 21st.
See the flyer for details and call the office with your R.S.V.P.
Status Rep Elections
Within the next week, you should be receiving your nominating ballots
for the two captain and two F/O status rep positions for the terms beginning
on March 1, 2003. We will be counting the ballots at the October 2nd Local
Council meeting. The top four captain and four first officer vote getters
will face a run-off ballot. Details will follow.
Deal Cutting and LOIs
I’ll be as cryptic as I can on this item, so as not to give away
any ongoing Letter of Investigation. If you cut a deal with crew scheduling,
you may end up with more problems than just your union breathing down
your neck. You might end up with a letter from the FAA. Remember, following
the contract should never get you busted. Believing crew scheduling could.
The MEC officers and the status reps have given you their phone numbers.
Use them. No pilot who has delayed a departure while he got the facts
or while he contacted the CP’s office or the union has ever been disciplined.
And when it comes right down to it, do you want your union representing
you at a Chief Pilot’s hearing or an FAA hearing?
The FAA’s “Whitlow” interpretation
on crew rest has been in effect since May 31. Finally, the company has
produced a Flight Operations Memorandum. It is printed in the Read File.
The MEC thought it was important enough to be distributed to every pilot,
although the company didn’t. Go to the AWA MEC website, log on, click
on MEC and click on the Flight Operations memorandum under the highlights
section.
Quoting from the memorandum: “You
will be hearing more about flight and rest regulations in the future.
It is an extremely high visibility item with the FAA right now. One of
our crew received the dreaded certified letter from the FAA just last
week because they this regulation. Yes, the company got one too, but that
does really help you out at that point? Misery loves company, but it doesn’t
make the letter go away.” Maybe that is funny to the VP of Flight
Ops, but not to your union. We take defense of our pilots very seriously,
even if the company doesn’t.
As tardy, poorly written and wrought with
sarcasm and flippancy as the memorandum may be, it is all we have to go
on from the company right now. While we are waiting for a better written
version from the company, our flight time/duty time expert Rand Harrell
has produced a concise summary of the decision. That summary will be blast
e-mailed tomorrow and in the glass case next week.
Intrusions
ALPA and the FAA are warning all pilots who depart north out of DCA
to be especially cautious of Prohibited Area 56. According to ALPA’s Executive
Air Safety Committee, the number of intrusions is now “numerous.”
Vice President Dick Cheney likes his space and doesn’t want it violated.
Jumpseat Update
Our Jumpseat committee chairman Marty Quick will be in DC next week,
IF the VP of Flight Ops releases him, working with a task force on reinstatement
of off-line jumpseats. To date the progress has been slow, but look how
long it took to get the “Buttsizer” approved. I will be in DC
all next week attending the ALPA bi-annual Executive Board meeting, but
I plan to join Marty when his task force makes a presentation before the
TSA and the ATA.
There is a potential situation that could
develop IF, and that is still a big IF, Freedom Air somehow manages to
obtain an operating certificate. We do not and will not have a reciprocal
jumpseat agreement with Freedom. At AWA, the jumpseat is always at Captain’s
discretion, but remember, Freedom pilots are not union members and their
pilot managers have it made it quite clear that they will take our routes
and take our jobs if we go on strike. If we do not allow Freedom pilots
to JS on us, I doubt if we will be able to JS on them. So make your commuting
plans accordingly. But don’t forget, Freedom does have a number of hurdles
to overcome and an inaugural flight on September 25 seems quite ambitious.
Early Departure
The MEC is sad to report that one of our brothers, E.L. Bedair, passed
away last weekend. Funeral services were held in Carrolton, Texas this
morning. We are all saddened by his death.
Negotiations Resume
We resume contract negotiations next Tuesday under the auspices of
the NMB. The ALPA Economic and Financial Analysis team will be in PHX
next week reviewing the books. The MEC has requested that MEC Vice Chairman
Eric Edwards be present to represent our interests. Besides his position
as a respected and trusted member of the MEC team, Eric has a degree in
accounting.
Professionalism
Not the usual verbal barbs this week. Other than the daily reroute
and reserve violations, there hasn’t been much to report. The same old
non-scheduled airline mentality still exists. And these violations are
becoming old news. Anyone who attended the LC meeting earlier this week
knows the level of frustration out there. And those attending also got
some examples of innovative and legal ways of handling scheduling abuses.
Complaining doesn’t do any good. Doing the right thing, the contract-legal
thing and the FAA/FOM-legal thing will make a difference. And remember,
your union reps are only one phone call away. I have taken phone calls
from the cockpit ten minutes prior to push at 1 a.m. Don’t be bashful
or apologetic about calling.
We are very close to the 1,000 mark on
FPL donations. All of our pilots will actually be back on the payroll
next week and we are in the final stretch drive for C-2000. Let’s finish
this up with no hostages taken. So continue to obey the FARs, obey the
FOM and follow the contract. And for those of you who are reading this
Hotline on e-mail or on the web board, please digest the thoughts below.
They are definitely not for company consumption.
Hotel Echo Mike Bravo Kilo.
Good evening.
The forty-second day of the [Flint Michigan]
strike arrived and nearly passed. It was almost midnight when there was
a knock on the door of the hotel room of [John L. Lewis] There stood the
miserable governor Murphy…In his hand was an order to the troops of
the National guard to clear the plants on the following morning.
John L. who had been ill, now gathered
himself for the final effort. He turned all his scorn and eloquence upon
the suffering Governor who had said that he must “uphold the law.”
[Saul] Alinsky describes the scene:
Lewis continued with his voice rising
with each sentence. “Governor Murphy, when you gave ardent support
to the Irish revolutionary movement against the British Empire, you were
not doing that because of your high regard for law and order. You did
not then say ‘Uphold the law!’ When your father, Governor Murphy, was
imprisoned by the British authorities for his activities as an Irish revolutionary,
you did not sing forth with hosannas and say ‘The law cannot be wrong.
The law must be supported. It is right and just that my father be put
in prison. Praised be the law!’
“And when the British government
took your grandfather as an Irish revolutionary and hanged him by the
neck until he was dead, you did not get down on your knees and burst forth
in praise for the sanctity and the glory and the purity of the law, the
law that must be upheld at all costs!
“But here, Governor Murphy, you
do. You want my answer, sir? I give it to you. Tomorrow morning I shall
personally enter General Motors Plant Chevrolet Number 4. I shall order
the men to disregard your order, to stand fast. I shall then walk to the
largest window in the plant, open it, divest myself of my outer rainments,
remove my shirt and bare my bosom. Then when you order your troops to
fire, mine will be the first breast those bullets will strike!”
Then Lewis lowered his voice. “And
as my body falls from the window to the ground, you listen to the voice
of your grandfather as he whispers in your ear, ‘Frank are you sure you
are doing the right thing?'”
-From Saul Alinsky’s book,
John L. Lewis, An Unauthorized Biography,
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1949
Extended excerpt taken from Labor’s Untold Story
(Richard Boyer and Herbert Morais, published by
United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America, NY, 1955)
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