Good evening, this is Herb Holland with
the MEC hotline for Thursday, September 26. Tonight’s hot topics:
1. Road Trip
2. Operation: Desert Heat
3. Picketing
4. Hotel of the Week Award
5. Arbitration
6. Strike Center Opens
7. T-4 Parking
8. Local Council Meeting
9. Support Your Local Teamster
10. Communication
11. Professionalism
Road Trip
This evening I joined ALPA President Captain Duane Woerth, ALPA Executive
Administrator Howard Attarian, and Mesa MEC Chairman Andy Hughes for a
reception and informational seminar in Farmington, New Mexico. We met
with students from Mesa Air Group’s San Juan Academy. The purpose of the
meeting was to introduce these students to the Air Line Pilots Association,
discuss career opportunities and familiarize them with the role of organized
labor in the airline industry. The turnout was beyond anything we expected.
Probably every student (well over 185) at the academy attended.
This road trip does cut into my hotline
preparation time, so I’m apologizing in advance for any typos. I’ll be
back in the office tomorrow morning.
Operation: Desert Heat
Last Friday the MEC launched Operation: Desert Heat. More than 100
pilots and their families attended the C-2000 Rally and 85 spouses at
the Saturday luncheon. All who attended must admit that the Comair presentation
was sobering indeed. They had the patience to stay the course for 37 months
of negotiations and then had the unity to “walk the walk” for
89 days. Without a doubt, it was the most successful strike in ALPA history.
Not one revenue flight in 89 days. They explained it was more than just
about money. It was about control. The Comair pilots humbled their parent
company, Delta Airlines. They held the line. Delta Airlines ended up losing
more than $680 Million arguing over the $30 Million that separated the
two sides. In the process, the Comair pilots changed the regional industry
forever. They changed regional jet jobs into long-term careers. A portion
of Comair MEC Chairman J.C. Lawson’s address from Friday in audio format
will be posted on the MEC Website Friday.
You will be hearing more about Operation:
Desert Heat in the next week through both blast e-mails and other correspondence.
We have a lot of work ahead of us, so we urge everyone to stay in touch
and get involved.
Picketing
Yesterday morning more than 150 pilots rallied at the Strike Center
at 6 a.m. After coffee, donuts and a briefing, we rode over to T-4 for
two hours of picket duty and leaflet handouts. It was a great VDR. We
had great press coverage and lots of interest from the flying public.
It was orderly, well organized by the SPC and went off without a hitch.
Special thanks to Joey Patrizi, Keith Rylands, Bruce Rudinger and all
the SPC and Communication folks who helped put this together. SPC Chairman
Alan Crawford was on a trip. And for all who walked the walk, the company,
the flying public and Wall Street got the message.
Hotel of the Week Award
Once again the Holiday Inn Express at BWI wins by a landslide. Due
to overbooking at our normal long layover hotel in Annapolis, the 29-hour
layover crew was assigned by Crew Scheduling to stay at the short layover
hotel at BWI. The hotel claims it wasn’t notified. The van showed up to
pick up the crew, but it was the wrong crew, the crew without reservations.
So they waited for the next crew to arrive and squeezed two crews into
one van. They all arrived at the hotel at midnight only to find out that
six of the 11 rooms they were assigned had not been cleaned. After a three-hour
wait, the best the hotel could do for the long layover crew to “accommodate”
them in smoking and handicapped rooms. According to the captain, Crew
Scheduling was not very accommodating at doing the crew accommodating.
CS claimed that all the hotel rooms were full.
But interestingly, the short layover crew
that arrived later managed to get rooms right away at the Ramada. So,
I guess it’s better to have a short layover in BWI. At least that way
you are guaranteed a room.
Arbitration
The long awaited Steve White Arbitration is scheduled for October
2 and 3. We’ll have time and location information available on Monday.
Because of our concern about First Officer White’s case, the MEC has fast
tracked it, insisting on going directly to arbitration and bypassing the
four-member board. The company agreed. This will be a substitute case
for previously scheduled contract dispute arbitration. Our own contract
administrator, Andrew Shostack, is tied up in negotiations, so the MEC
has asked for assistance from ALPA’s representation department to handle
First Officer White’s case rather than delay any further. He will be represented
by one of ALPA’s top arbitration attorneys, Everett Barber, out of the
Los Angeles office.
Strike Center Opens
Although we used the Strike Center for the first time Tuesday morning,
the official opening will be this coming Monday, September 30 at 5:30
p.m. For those of you who managed to get lost, it is located at 4636 E.
University Ave., Suite 125, in PHX (not in Tempe and not in Mesa). It
is one mile north of I-10 and exactly 1.1 miles southeast of the departure
end of Runway 25R. So if it takes you more than five minutes to get there
from the east lot, you are either lost or in bad traffic. It is located
between SR 143 and SR 153. It is on the north side of the street in an
office complex, on the northwest corner of University and 47th. Now with
directions like that, no one has any excuse for getting lost!
Now, back to the official opening. We tried
to get the mayor to come and cut the ribbon but he was busy. So was Senator
McCain. He was stuck in Washington, working on that Airline Labor Baseball
Arbitration bill. Just not our day, I guess. But we will still open the
center at 5:30, with a light buffet and appropriate refreshments. Then
at 6 p.m. the strike center “morphs” into a Monday Night Football
party. If you have the luxury of a day off, come on down and enjoy the
fun. Watch Denver trounce Baltimore. And bring a friend.
T-4 Parking
Quick save and good job by the company on the T-4/T-2 parking lot
diversion. After only two days of inconvenience, the company worked out
an arrangement with the city by which the airport vendors (those who work
in concessions or at Starbucks) would have to park at T-2 and our pilots
who have purchased parking passes will be once again allowed to use T-4
parking.
Local Council Meeting
As you are all aware, the October 2 Local Council meeting agenda
has been modified. By unanimous agreement, the MEC members and officers
have decided to rescind the invitation to America West’s CEO for reasons
described in Tuesday’s e-mail. But it should be an informative meeting
with a special report by our Negotiating Committee and thorough overview
and discussion of the MEC’s position on Scope and the RJs. I’ll have a
brief report on the Farmington seminar. The meeting will be at the Doubletree,
starting at 6 p.m. We considered having it at the Strike Center, but the
postcards had already been sent out and we didn’t want there to be any
confusion. So, we’ll see you at the Doubletree.
Support Your Local Teamster
Actually, not quite yet, because the ballots haven’t even gone out.
But Council 62 is urging all of our pilots to encourage the gate agents
to VOTE TEAMSTERS! VOTE YES, on Teamster representation. Our endeavor
to support the Teamster organizing drive has the full and unqualified
support of our International union at the highest levels.
Communication
As we commence Operation: Desert
Storm, it will be increasingly important for every pilot to stay informed.
Don’t believe the rumors; don’t get sucked into the gossip. The Communication
Committee just sent out a four-page brochure covering everything you NEVER
wanted to know about navigating through all ALPA’s electronic communication
channels. Information will be distributed by both “high tech”
and “high touch.” And as this MEC has often stated: if we CAN
disclose, we WILL disclose. As J.C. Lawson, Comair MEC Chairman, told
us last week, communications is the key to maintaining unity.
Professionalism
As I mentioned last week, now
that Operation: Desert Heat has begun, we are under a microscope. The
company is watching us, the NMB is watching us and the flying public is
watching us. We all want our company to prosper. And we have repeatedly
showed the company cost savings plans at the negotiating table. Sooner
or later, they will have to listen. Sooner or later, they will have to
realize we are part of the solution, not the problem. And sooner or later,
they will have to return to the negotiating table ready to finish this
contract. We have the unity, we have the discipline and we have the patience
to earn the contract we deserve. Keep your eye on the prize and we will
prevail.
Let me close this week’s hotline with that familiar axiom: continue to
obey the FARs, obey the FOM and follow the contract.
Good evening.
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