Good evening, this is Herb Holland with
the MEC hotline for Thursday, October 3rd. Tonight’s hot topics:
1. Hotel Committee
2. United Way
3. Strike Center
4. Teamster Organizing Drive
5. SPC Update
6. Arbitration
7. Vacation
8. Professionalism
Hotel Committee
Mike Plapp, Hotel Committee Chairman, has asked for your help. The
infamous Sunrise Hotel in New York needs some major repairs. The hotel
manager told Mike that if the hotel gets enough complaints, they will
do major room overhauls. So if you find anything wrong at the Sunrise,
fill out the forms or e-mail Mike at [email protected]. Just like MX write-ups,
“verbals” ain’t gettin’ it.
Also, if you live in an outstation and
do not plan on using your room on a layover, please call Crew Accommodations
at 1-800-540-5596 and cancel your room. Cancellations must be in at least
24 hours prior to scheduled hotel arrival. The money we save can and will
be used for better hotel accommodations.
United Way
Too late for the “Early Bird” drawings for United Way participation,
but the MEC wants to once again remind you to help those in need. Please
stop by the CP’s office and sign up. And be certain to donate to a cause
you are comfortable with.
Strike Center
Last Monday, 50 pilots and their families joined the MEC as we officially
opened the Strike Center. Thanks to Dave Hagan and his wife Barb for doing
a great job. Dave’s home brew was spectacular. The football game was a
bit of a bore, but we all shared good food and great union bonding.
We’ll be opening up the Strike Center every
Monday night at 5:30 p.m. as long as there is an interest in coming in
to rap about or complain about the union. We’ll have snacks and beverages
available as well. Except for Monday, October 21, the MEC will be there
to answer every question you may have. And on the record. We will also
be scheduling regular informational events commencing the last week in
October.
Teamster Organizing Drive
The gate and ticket agents will be voting on Teamster representation
starting October 11. Support your local gate agent. Urge them to vote
YES! The MEC and various committee members will be handing out ALPA/Teamster
Solidarity cards to pilots next week, which we urge you to pass on to
our gate agents.
SPC Update
Please check your e-mail or the SPC section of the MEC Website for
the latest information regarding upcoming legal self-help events.
Arbitration
At the request of F/O Steve White, his arbitration has been postponed
until the first week in December.
Vacation
“Cactus Bob” is on vacation this week and didn’t leave
me with any of his usual blunders and bloopers. Even Cactus Bob needs
a few days off now and then. He’s going to St. Louis, so it is probably
a working vacation. I’m sure he will be back with more outrageous grist
next week.
Professionalism
I want to devote the remainder of what must seem like a rather lackluster
hotline to comment on the CEO’s September 27th letter. It was meant to
be read, not listened to, so I beg your indulgence in my attempt at narration.
Last Friday you received a letter from
the CEO of America West Airlines, which foreshadowed the company’s future
strategy for negotiating this contract. The company’s letter is but one
more cynical attempt to negotiate away from the bargaining table and in
a forum that the company mistakenly believes can undermine confidence
we have in our union. These tactics are not new to labor negotiations.
They are right out of the Wharton Business School Labor Relations curriculum.
Such tactics may have been successful in 1983 during the infamous Phelps-Dodge/United
Steelworkers Strike in Morenci, Arizona, but they will never succeed here.
Like any such out-of-touch scheme, the company’s stratagem is doomed to
failure.
The CEO’s letter of September 27 contains
a number of incorrect statements, assumptions and predictions. Probably
the most perverse of the CEO’s assertions is that he made an offer of
an immediate 15 percent pay increase at the closed session of our August
6 MEC quarterly meeting. Not so! Not one of the 12 MEC/LEC officers or
professional ALPA staff that was present understood his comments to even
vaguely resemble an offer. And even if such an offer had been made, negotiating
at such a forum would have been a violation of the MEC’s pledge to negotiate
this contract only at the bargaining table under the direction of the
NMB.
There may be a stage in this negotiating
process when, with NMB approval, other approaches could be considered;
but this MEC will NEVER violate the confidence we have in the NMB’s designated
mediator nor in our obligation to comply with NMB protocols, no matter
how enticing the offer may be. And for the record, to date, this alleged
wage proposal has never been presented at the bargaining table.
The MEC wanted a closed session at the
August 6 MEC meeting in order to maintain confidentiality as well as engage
in candid discussion away from the bargaining table. Confidentiality by
both sides is crucial in any meeting with senior management. But since
the CEO finds it acceptable to divulge confidential conversations, I will
relate one non-contractual issue that came up at the MEC meeting. This
was regarding the 22 retired/disabled pilots who have had their company
contributions to their medical insurance cut off. I asked him if he would
reinstate their benefits at least until the arbitration decision was rendered.
He said he would get back to us on that. Two months later, we have heard
nothing on that issue from him or any of his subordinates.
The company did allow ALPA’s Economic and
Financial Analysis staff to review company financial data, but while the
discussions may have been “candid,” they were, at best, incomplete.
We believe the CEO’s assertion that our staffing formula will cost the
company an additional $300 million is based on totally faulty data analysis
and the company has not shown us any documentation that backs up their
assertions.
Curiously, the CEO is now “…prepared
immediately to change the context of negotiations to accommodate an expeditious
agreement.” Why now? Why after two years and five months of stalling
is the company finally ready to “change?” What equipment deal
hinges on this contract being signed and labor peace? We are all waiting
for that carrot. Crandall dangled one at AMR (the “B” scale),
Lorenzo dangled one at CAL; as did Ferris at UAL, Borman at EAL, and Mc
Gee at Braniff. It won’t work here.
The CEO complains about a communications
gap, yet top management has met only once with any MEC officer in the
last four months. I don’t even get the Friday morning vice president phone
calls complaining about my Thursday night Hotlines anymore.
In his closing paragraph, the CEO pleads with the MEC to take the same
“active leadership role” he is “…prepared to take…to
get to the business of doing what is best for our pilots.” There
has never been any question as to the MEC’s commitment to complying with
the demands of our union members.
The CEO ends his letter with a post script,
in which he states that the MEC “…will not allow me to address
America West’s pilots in person.” Not true! The MEC allowed him to
address over 120 pilots in open session of the MEC on August 6. That is
four times the number that normally attends a local council meeting. The
CEO has the resources to hold any kind of meeting he wants, any time he
wants and at any location he wants. He can talk about any topic he wants,
even if it violates the spirit of industry standard bargaining protocols.
But invitations to Local Council meetings must be based on cooperation
at the bargaining table. Without that cooperation, the MEC sees no need
to provide the CEO with either a forum or an audience. The MEC will, however,
keep negotiating at the table, where negotiating belongs, not in public,
not in ex parte meetings and certainly not through open letters. We only
ask that he do the same.
Meanwhile, don’t forget, we ARE fighting
the good fight. We DO hold the high ground. We ARE playing by the rules
and we must continue to do so. Don’t make yourself a hostage and don’t
tolerate those who want to drag us all down with them. And remember, always
obey the FARs, obey the FOM and follow the contract.
Quote of the Week
“The biggest problem with senior
management at any corporation is that they have too much college and not
enough high school.”
– Herb Holland, October 3,
2002
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