This is Eric Edwards with the MEC hotline
on Friday, November 15. Tonight’s topics:
1. Fatigue
2. Contract Rumors
3. Local Council Rep Elections
4. Third Annual Union Christmas Party
5. 2003 Vacation Bid Awards
6. MEC Meeting
7. Freedom Air
8. Respect
Fatigue
The amount of sleep loss engendered
in current pairing construction continues to be staggering. Even though
some of the worst of the worst pairings have been alleviated, there continues
to be an unacceptable number of pairings that cannot be flown safely to
completion. Instead of continuing to work on making the schedule flyable
by all pilots the company relies on their FOM fatigue policy which is
really a fly-to-failure policy. Just as an impaired driver is not able
to ascertain his fitness to drive drunk, a pilot in the middle of a fatiguing
trip is the least qualified to ascertain his fitness to fly. Reliance
on self-evaluation via the fatigue policy places the pilot in an untenable
position. The company has a regulatory requirement to prevent fatigue
not only by following the regulations but also by acting intelligently
and conscientiously by taking all circumstances into account that might
affect the flight crew’s alertness or judgment on a particular flight.
What the company fails to consider is that many of the schedules they
create, albeit legally constructed per FAA regulations, may put the pilot
in a position of being illegal because of pronounced fatigue.
By relying solely on a legal 121 schedule,
the company has put the rest of regulatory compliance for a legal schedule
on the pilot by forcing him to continually evaluate his fitness to fly.
Over-reliance on the FOM fatigue policy by requiring the pilot to fly
to failure is not an acceptable measure to meet the regulatory requirement
upon the company to prevent fatigue. The CASC is continuing their efforts
on this front by trying to get the company to establish limits on scheduling
construction. In the meantime, we encourage you when confronted with a
fatigue problem to call one of your representatives so the union can take
the issue to the company for resolution in real time.
Contract Rumors
It seems to be rumor-mania out on the line these past two weeks.
It is far more difficult to stop rumors that it is to start them. I apologize
if I didn’t get to your call this week, but please accept that all the
reps have been on the phone for countless hours answering all kinds of
questions. In summary, neither the MEC nor the negotiators have given
up, sold you out, or negotiated away what little we do have. Nobody trusts
management, ALPA National, or even our own Council on some days. We will
continue to negotiate for a contract. There will be no “sales job”
to promote it and the MEC expects each of you to take on your membership
ratification responsibility when the time comes. If you hear a rumor,
don’t assume its fact: call your reps and verify it.
Local Council Rep Elections
With the nominees now determined,
balloting instructions will be mailed to all eligible voting members on
Wednesday, November 20. As before, voting will be conducted by phone and
the Internet. Balloting will close on December 10 and the new representatives-elect
will be introduced at the December Local Council meeting. Biographical
information for all candidates will appear in the November-December issue
of “A Line in the Sand.”
Third Annual Union Christmas Party
The Third Annual America West Union Employees Christmas Party is
set for Monday, December 16 from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Club Rio in Tempe.
Tickets are $10 per person if reserved before December 10. The cost includes
a dinner buffet, dancing and door prizes. Once again, there will be a
silent auction to benefit Aid to Adoption of Special Kids. More information
on buying tickets can be found by logging in to the pilots-only section
of the MEC website at www.awalpa.org.
2003 Vacation Bid Awards
The 2003 Vacation Bid Award results have been posted to the MEC website.
You can find them by navigating to www.awalpa.org, logging in with your
ALPA number and password, selecting “MEC” from the top menu,
and then clicking the “2003 Vacation Bid Awards Link on the top right
under the “Highlights” heading.
MEC Meeting
The MEC’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November
19 and Wednesday, November 20 at the AWA MEC Strike Center. The meeting
begins at 0900 both days and a tentative agenda is posted on the MEC website.
All members in good standing are welcome to attend.
Freedom Air
After facing allegations of “churning” client accounts,
losing people’s hard-earned savings, giving up your stock broker’s license
and having your employer settle out of court because of something you
did, what do you do next? You join the ranks of airline management, ascend
to the position of CEO, and then snub your employees and the pilot profession
by starting an alter-ego, union-busting airline. Don’t boards of directors
have to do background checks on their CEOs?
So then what does our own management do?
They subcontract with the guy, pay his freight and put our pilots’ job
security at risk. If you were intuitively disgusted by Freedom Air, you
should have been. The National Mediation Board discarded Ornstein’s appeal
of the Mesa-Air Midwest-CCAir single-carrier status ruling, and ALPA filed
an amended single-carrier petition with the NMB last Friday to include
Freedom Air. There still is a December 2 federal court hearing over alleged
bad-faith bargaining by Mesa management in negotiations with Mesa pilots.
And for all of you that have contacted your reps in support of arbitrating
a Freedom grievance and picketing their operation, attend the MEC meeting
on Tuesday, November 19 at 1100.
Respect
The pilots on this flight line
are going out of their way week in and week out get the job done. J.R.
salutes you in his weekly updates. He recognizes your contribution, but
some management folks above him seem to be oblivious. One management representative
argued in a grievance hearing last week that “it is past practice
to ask pilots to deviate from the collective bargaining agreement.”
When ALPA protested, we were informed that it wasn’t relevant to the case.
Au contraire, the contract IS relevant and this management’s cultural
indifference to its terms and intent needs to be thrown out with last
week’s leftovers.
The contract should be followed – period
– not just when they can or when it won’t be too costly. Our pilots get
less support and work harder to pick up the slack than any of their major
counterparts only to have this union fight week in and week out over the
smallest of contractual details. Don’t mistake this for a whine from an
overworked union representative. I’m just amazed at how far beyond the
call of duty that some of you will go and how little some members of this
company’s management seem to care.
That’s all for tonight; the next regular hotline update will be on Thursday,
November 21. Thanks for listening.
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