Good evening, this is Herb Holland with
the MEC Hotline for Thursday, September 19. Tonight’s hot topics:
1. FPL
2. Vacancy Bid
3. PBS Mis-award
4. Upcoming Events
5. T-2 Parking
6. Crew Scheduling Outrage of the Year
7. Crew Scheduling Blooper of the Week
8. Hardball, Not Bean Ball
9. Professionalism
FPL
Flight Pay Loss donations have topped 1,030. First Officers still
have a 2 percent lead over captains. But leading all groups are our check
airmen with over 90 percent participation. The donation forms are in the
crew lounge.
Vacancy Bid
The good news: Vacancy Bid 2002-12 is out. The bad news: just one
more cynical attempt to violate our contract. And they are doing this
by reducing the number of FO positions by 70, which is the same number
of new captain bids. This slight-of-hand negates the chance of any FO
without a lock to bid laterally to another piece of equipment. These FO
“unvacancies” will no doubt be filled by new hires, violating
the seniority rights of FOs who have been here more than two years. Yet
one more example of the “In-Your-Face” contract violations we
have come to expect from this crowd. And one more violation we must grieve.
I guess the biggest insult is that the
company didn’t even have the courtesy to advise us of this latest end
run, much less allow us to participate in preparing it. No notice, unless
you consider an after-hours fax last Friday night reasonable notice.
PBS Mis-award
We had another PBS mis-award last bid period. But for all those who
doubted the MEC’s decision to settle the PBS mis-award prior to the arbitration,
no worries. The company paid the pilot the 82.5 hours allowed under the
(with precedence) settlement agreement. By the way, the language in the
settlement may have been “Lawyereeze,” but it held up and the
company made good on their obligations.
Upcoming Events
Don’t forget, tomorrow night, Friday, September 20, the MEC will
be kicking off OPERATION: DESERT HEAT, with a C-2000 Rally at the Doubletree
Suites, starting a 6 p.m. The time for rhetoric is over. The time for
ACTION has begun. In addition to our guest speakers from Comair, we will
be outlining our plans to “Get the Contract Right.” And the
Comair folks know how to “Get a Contract Right.” 38 months in
negotiations and 89 days on the picket line. Now that’s patience and that’s
commitment. In the past, Comair has made their strike prep presentation
to American Trans Air and United Airlines by special request. And most
recently, the American Airlines pilots’ union leadership has ventured
to Cincinnati to seek out their advice. This will be a great show tomorrow
night. And if you have “Scope” questions, I’m sure they will
answer them, too.
And don’t forget to remind your spouses
of the Spouse’s Luncheon, Saturday, September 21, 1 p.m., at Gold Canyon
Resort.
Make certain your boots are made for walkin’
next Wednesday, September 25. The action starts at 6:15 AM at the Strike
Center, 4636 East University, Suite 125. We’ll be taking buses over to
the terminal and will be picketing and handing out leaflets from 7 a.m.
until 9 a.m. The theme: TBA. More details will follow through private
e-mails. No point in giving away all of our strategy.
On Monday, September 30, we will be officially
opening the Strike Center at 5:30 PM. The ribbon cutting will be followed
by catered “Wing ‘n Things,” followed by the first of our weekly
Monday Night Football meetings.
T-2 Parking
That’s not a misprint. This morning all employees lucky enough to
be “grandfathered” with T-4 parking permits were diverted over
to the T-2 parking garage. Well, I guess it was good while it lasted.
Even if you don’t have a T-4 permit, make certain to remove your East
Lot tag from sight if you have to go the CP’s office or to the ticket
counter. If the security “trunk inspectors” see your tag on
your rearview mirror, you’ll be denied entry, even if you are there for
“revenue” business. It happened to me yesterday at 11:45 a.m.
And it can happen to you. Make certain you allow for an extra 30 minutes
to get from T-2 to T-4 when reporting for duty.
Crew Scheduling Outrage of the Year
And ain’t this one a beauty. First, I’ll preface this one by stating
that I contacted the company three weeks ago with the story. I asked them
to check it out. I told them I would give them plenty of time to explain
their side of the story. As of this afternoon, still no reply.
Long story short: pilot on “B”
reserve near the end of BP 195. Before his shift, he checks for open time
and realizes there is only one trip that will keep him under 90 hours.
At 0832, he gets a phone call assigning him a trip that will take him
over 90 hours. He informs the scheduler of that. The scheduler says it
won’t, that he will still have fewer than 90.
Here’s the problem. The pilot had flown
a pairing earlier in the bid period that “payrolled” out at
11:33. After the call, that 11:33 miraculously turned into 11:00, three
minutes LESS than the scheduled block time. But that was the only way
to make the assignment work. Needless to say, the pilot refused the assignment,
crew scheduling acknowledged the “discrepancies,” the pilot
flew another trip and we all lived happily ever after.
Not so fast. How many other times have
we been victims of these “discrepancies?” How many of us have
been sharp enough to catch them and how many contract or FAR violations
have occurred as a result of our lack of attention to detail? Moral of
the story: keep accurate records; beware of “false schedulers,”
and CYA. Because the “Assets” you lose may be your own.
Crew Scheduling Blooper of the Week
On the lighter side (as reported by one of our crews): Another exciting
BP transition last weekend. It seems crew scheduling was a little short
of captains, so they DHed an FO to Mazatlan to bring back a broken plane
all by himself. And course they gave the captain who was supposed to already
be in Mazatlan a no show. Ain’t technology wonderful!
Hardball, Not Bean Ball
That has been the axiom of this MEC for the past eight months. We
all know how easy it is to cross that fine line between advocacy and “unauthorized
behavior.” But that said: this MEC will NOT be intimidated by the
likes of Labor Relations and its threatening letter of June 3. This MEC
will NOT be intimidated by crew scheduling and this MEC will NOT be intimidated
by provocative hotlines from any company vice president. We have taken
under advisement, as far as a blueprint for possible acceptable behavior,
the same tactics threatened by the former MEC Chairman at TWA, Joe Chronic.
And we reject that kind of behavior. It is against the law.
Four years ago, he threatened his former
employer with a slow down. In an interview with the Hannibal Courier Journal,
he stated that individually pilots could legally refuse to fly more than
70 to 75 hours. And if they refuse the extra flying time, “you’re
talking about a significant number of flights that might not be flown,”
Chronic said. “It could have a major impact on the summer schedule.”
Somehow the VP of Flight Ops has forgotten his roots.
This pilot group has never engaged in any
such activity and this leadership will not condone or tolerate even the
suggestion of an illegal slowdown. We do, however, wholeheartedly endorse
his 1998 pronouncement that: “We think the turnaround has begun,
and we want a return on the investment we’ve made. It’s not just rhetoric
to say the employees [pilots] are the reason this company is still here.”
Professionalism
Yes, it is time to turn up the heat. But from now until the contract
is signed, we will be under the microscope of the company, the NMB, the
business community, and the flying public. Our actions must be within
the spirit and letter of the Railway Labor Act and they must be consistent
with status quo. We will get our message out to our fellow pilots, the
company and the flying public. There will be no doubt about our resolve.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, will be to attend VDRs,
stay informed, and most importantly, continue to obey the FARs, obey the
FOM and follow the contract.
Good Evening.
Lamdba’s Rho Alpha Rho.
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