2015 Pilot Discussion.

[Phoenix]

Why is it that of the three pilot groups, only one of them has a compulsion to repeatedly bellow out the words "liar" and "thief"... as if they have Tourette Syndrome?   Serious question..
 
No other pilot group in the whole industry uses the terms "liar", "thief", and "scab" so profusely.  Such rampant use is obviously out of accord with the entire industry, and rational, civilized society in general.  

 
 

Truth hurts.

If it walks like a duck 😉

 
It was a rhetorical question.  It didn't require your confession.  

 

[Claxon]

Twenty percent of the stock of AMERICA WEST was owned by ANSETT AIRLINES of Australia and 55% of ANSETT was held by Sir Peter Ables and Rupert Murdock. We know from Jonathan Kwitney's book THE CRIMES OF PATRIOTS that Burny Houghton, perhaps the key figure in the founding of the CIA drug money laundering bank NUGAN)HAND in Australia, had coffee with Sir Peter Ables the night of his first day in Australia.

I watched Assistant U.S. Attorney James Lacey prosecute both rounds of this case. The three AMERICAN WEST pilots had all plea bargained out. If they did not testify truthfully about the others in the case they would be looking forward to serious time. Lacey prosecutes all the large narcotics cases in Arizona. Because he is the son of Frederic Lacey, the federal judge appointed by the Justice Department to be administrator of the TEAMSTERS UNION, Jim Lacey has unusual clout in the U.S. Attorney's office here. Although Lacey could not deny the pertinence of the information I gave him it was clear that he did not want to know where this case ultimately led. I watched him play patty cake with the defendants when he should have been playing hard ball.

The plot began in July of 1986 when Helmut Bubbel called Thurston from Alaska and arranged a meeting at the ARIZONA BILTMORE RESORT HOTEL with Thurston and the other pilots. Ten days later they met again in Bangkok Thailand to arrange their first cargo. Their original plan was to make their pick up in communist Laos. One doesn't go to the great difficulty to travel to restricted Laos to purchase marijuana or Thai stick as the pilots claimed. Pot is legal in Thailand. One goes to Laos for heroin. Thurston testified that his cut of this first flight was to be one million dollars. When I ran the numbers for Lacey it was obvious that only a heroin cargo would generate this amount of profit. With the DC 6 three or four flights a year would have provided the entire US requirement for heroin.T h) T

It was well known that Thurston was formerly a CIA pilot for AIR AMERICA supporting the secret war in LAOS. Several employees of AMERICA WEST told me that all three pilots worked for military intelligence. I pleaded with Lacey to check the military records of the defendants. I know that he never did. I told him that Helmut Bubbel fit the perfect CIA profile and that he was probably the highest ranking member of the plot. After several unscheduled stops overseas made it clear to the pilots that they would be caught, it was Bubbel that the pilots closed ranks to protect.

Imagine that, a west pilot with connections to Federal Judges.
Did Wobser " interview " John Scherff and determine Scherff would be ready and willing to supply pilot info of a confidential nature to third parties? Was a scab with a family connection to a Federal Judge hired as a matter of " coincidence?"

 

[Claxon]

American Airlines passes on Phoenix for new international flights
 
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2015/07/15/american-airlines-keeps-skipping-phoenix-for-new.html

 

[traderjake]

Why aren't you posting much on c&r? Was it that Laa capt that made the comment: " you must spend a lot of overnights by yourself" .

 
Overnights?
 
Sorry, I'm not familiar with the term. 

 

[Claxon]

Arbitrator Richard I. Bloch, disagreed with the Nicolau finding of financial superiority of the west in his SLI ruling of DOH for the dispatchers of US Airways and america west.
 
west pilots before you claim compensation superiority, you were given the East pension DB plan, East profit sharing and East jump seat privileges.  Also most west pilots were on lower pay due to their lack of tenure and same pay for all A320 and 757. 
 
Mr. Bloch's quotes below;
 
"Much of West’s claimed superiority over East, in terms of what it brought to the merger, is speculative. There is, for example, scant support for West’s claim that, post-merger, “the focus of lender anxiety is clearly on the side of U.S. Airways”21 or that, following the merger, with the AWA CEO assuming the helm in Phoenix, “the predator king gets to have the top job, to grant fiefs to his chieftains, and to fly the flag over his castle!”
 
"However, West’s claim that U.S. Airways emerged from bankruptcy “only because it [was] acquired by a stronger enterprise”10 is reflected neither in the KPMG audit report (cited by West)11 nor in any other portion of the evidence. Instead, each carrier had something to contribute. Airways, for example, was much larger. It served almost twice as many destinations as AWA and carried twice the number of passengers.12 Airways has substantially more cash on hand, following the merger agreement. AWA, for its part, brought relative success as a low cost carrier operation with a meaningful presence in the Western United States."
 
 
In the Matter of the Arbitration Between:
____________________________
TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, LOCAL 545
AND
TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION OF AMERICA, LOCAL 542
 
http://jamhoff.com/PDFs/ArbitratorDecisionAward.pdf

 

[Claxon]

Why was arbitrator Bloch's opinion so divergent from arbitrator Nicolau?
 
Mr. Nicolau's "neutral"  alpa arbitrator clerks who wrote the opinion (notice the we word was mentioned many times in the Nic award), ual pilots brucia and gillen were not neutral, they were preparing for a future ual, US Airways SLI integration.
 
When USAPA was voted in, April 2008, ual called off merger talks with US Airways and promptly furloughed 1500 ual pilots.  (alpa neutrals thought US Airways pilots would take the hit on this, via the nic), nice try alpa "brothers".  
 
When it looked like East lost the DFR in early  2009, merger talks between ual and US Airways were on again.  Two weeks before the 9th Circuit Court June 2009 ruling overturned the DFR, ual and US Airways broke off merger talks.
 
What a coincidence. 

 

[snapthis]

Quoth the biggest Spindoctor on the board.....

This was written by East pilots. Do you consider their words about Mike Cleary, spin? You could not even get along with each other. You never row in the same direction because of your dysfunction. I'm enjoying watching you paddle in circles.

Romance at USAPA Headquarters

Leadership at USAPA

Introduction

In a previous Compass Correction, entitled DECISIONS, DECISIONS, our readers were informed that Mike Cleary had fired USAPAs General Counsel, Lee Seham. We received many e-mails asking why and how this decision might affect our pilot group going forward. The coalition has been trying to get this information for you, but our union leadership has been not very responsive to our requests. So, we will share with you what we do know.

Background

When the founders of USAPA hired Lee Seham as their attorney, they were confident, after exhaustive research, that they had hired one of the countrys eminent lawyers and labor law firms. Lee Seham came on board, and he immediately understood the struggles a new union would have to overcome.

One of those struggles was destined to be startup finances. To his credit, Lee agreed to work for half pay thats right half pay! If we won the election then we would pay him the rest with the new dues money coming in. Lee Seham, true to his word, did this and when our new union had a lawsuit (Addington) and dues Boycott (the west pilots) Lee Seham put us on a payment plan and worked with our new union for his legal fees. Lets be perfectly clear we have received excellent legal advice and our attorney had us on a manageable payment plan. Try that with most legal firms today!

Lee Seham never let us down!

As USAPA matured, we were faced with the Addington Lawsuit. Addington was a direct assault on the DOH provisions of the unions Constitution and By-Laws. Lee Seham gave great legal advice and defended our union, in court, before Judge Wake in PHX. Lees legal strategy set the stage to take that ruling to another, more labor friendly court, the 9thCircuit Court of Appeals in SFO where he argued and won a published decision for USAPA. This win which the Supreme Court decided not to hear was a big win for USAPA.

Lee Seham has done everything he has told USAPA he would do. He has provided excellent counsel for our union. His hourly rate has been 250 bucks an hour. He stays at the crew hotels, with the BPR, and his expenses are in line with USAPA UOM guidelines.

I first met Lee in the summer of 2007 as USAPA was being formed. I have had a great deal of contact with him and believe that his integrity and honesty are beyond reproach. He is a true believer in his work and if you have had an opportunity to listen to him speak you know that he is dedicated to his craft, the law, and to supporting his client.

Steve Bradford first USAPA President

Every USAPA pilot owes Lee Seham and his firm their thanks.

Present day

President Mike Cleary has Fired Lee Seham (as General Counsel) -Fired! Terminated!

Here at the Compass Correction we were very surprised. We decided to do some research and determine why the President of USAPA, without BPR approval, decided to fire Lee Seham as our General Counsel.

The Girlfriend

Lee Seham had an attorney working in his firm that had been doing legal work for USAPA. This female attorney started dating the USAPA VP Randy Mowrey. One of his clients, an Officer of a labor union, was dating one of his staff members who was closely involved in legal work for the client the labor union a big problem!

(A new law firm for USAPA, ODwyer and Bernstien, have said it is not a problemEven though they are lawyers and they are not directly involved, they do not know the entire history and they do not know all the details. It is a real problem for another firm to say there is no ethical problem when the principles of the firm involved say there is. We believe that it is not a call for outsiders to make.)

The Seham attorney who is romantically involved with USAPA VP Randy Mowrey has stopped working for Lee Seham. The details of her separation from the law firm Seham, Seham, Meltz, and Petersen are not known as they are covered under confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

There are many rumors out on the line, and good information has been hard to come by. The situation brings up more questions than answers, but we have been able to learn several things.

At an earlier BPR meeting, Randy Mowrey read a statement that stated the ongoing relationship between USAPA and Lee Sehams firm was dependent on how Lee Seham treated his former staff attorney, who is now romantically involved with USAPA VP Mowrey.
Mike Cleary and Randy Mowrey were upset with Lee Seham when the BPR sought his legal advice over the alleged altercation between Randy Mowrey and Sec/Treas Rob Streble.
Mike Cleary did not consult with Lee Seham prior to filing the NY lawsuit against US Airways for status quo violations this past May 2011. Mike was not happy when Lee advised against the NY lawsuit and that it undercuts USAPAs interests.
We also believe that Lee Seham advised USAPA the union was exposed to the preliminary injunction that was just decided by Judge Conrad in NC. We understand that Sehams law firm was not consulted in the unsuccessful defense of this injunction action.
We can all read into what has happened.

The romantic relationship has become more important, than keeping one of the best Railway Labor Act attorneys in the country an obvious conflict of interest! The ego of Mike Cleary and his controlling nature have both been threatened when Legal has advised against his legal strategy. We all know that Mike Cleary, and only Mike Cleary (in his own mind), knows best.

Mike Cleary and Randy Mowrey know the pilots will not sit still and watch Lee Seham get fired over a girlfriend and legal advice that Mike doesnt like. So they have to cook up a valid reason. And that is why we are hearing that Lee Seham was terminated for overbilling.

Bottom Line

1. Cleary fired Lee Seham without BPR approval no debate no research no vote no resolution.

2. Cleary has hired replacement legal counsel at 400 bucks an hour!

3. The actions by Cleary (and Mowrey) have placed this union in legal jeopardy our ongoing legal cases (worked by Seham) are now in danger of losing the original legal architect such as our seniority dispute with the west and the declaratory judgement filed by US Airways.

The slanderous accusations of overbilling made by Cleary and Mowrey have exposed this union to a lawsuit.

There has been no proof provided to the pilots not from Cleary, not from Mowrey, not from any union Officer or BPR member THERE HAS BEEN NO PROOF of overbilling by Seham. NONE!

In fact, the PHL Chairman has refused to answer questions regarding this matter in writing what does he have to hide?

So, what is this really all about?

Its about sex. Its about egos! Its about using their union office to protect their personal life and personal agendas, even if it costs the union membership a lot of money. But, that is not their concern its not their money.

Pilots and USAPA members its time to start paying attention. The USAPA ship is sinking fast and these leaders will take you down with them Count on it.

 

[EastUS1]

Truth hurts.

If it walks like a duck 😉

 
...and is every bit as dumb as a duck, well; it still could've clearly gotten a job at AWA.

 

[MUTATIS MUTANDIS]

Two things.. or three.
 
First, the SCOTUS name is not slandered by the drive by justice of the 3 judge panel acting on behalf of the 9th.   The 9th itself will have to decide if they will tolerate or acquiesce to two judges acting contrary to the 9th's and SCOTUS' precedents.   Maybe they will.  Maybe they won't.  
 
Secondly, USAPA's motive may have been bad, but that is not evidence of actual harm or DFR..... "it is not the existence of an illegitimate motive that turns a union action into a violation of the duty of fair representation. It is, instead, the absence of any legitimate motive."  (Emphasis in the original)
 
"In short, there is ample evidence to support the district court’s finding that USAPA acted, in part, from a legitimate motive when it negotiated to include Paragraph 10(h) in the MOU. In holding that the district court’s findings of fact were clearly erroneous, the majority mischaracterizes the district court’s decision and ignores the real threat that a ratification fight would have erupted if USAPA’s members believed the MOU would trigger an obligation to implement the Nicolau Award. Whatever faults USAPA might have, its decision not to link the MOU and the Nicolau Award was not “wholly irrational.” Id. (internal quotation marks omitted). On that ground alone, we should affirm."
 
And thirdly, the 9th panel never enjoined anyone to ever use the Nic for anything.  After doing somersaults to peer backwards at things gone by, the two judges could come up with absolutely nothing for the future.  Nothing at all was mandated for the future.  Nothing.  So WTF was their purpose in publishing on the "very eve" of the MB hearings?  The Arb panel isn't stupid (but have every reason to be miffed), and ironically may just go all "Nicolau" on the two judges for interfering with the MB process, that was clicking along just fine until they threw a grenade on the table.  
 
Will the Arbs be as acrobatic as the two judges were to take a "retrospective" philosophy, or will they be "prospective"?   They, unlike the judges, will actually mandate something for the future, and earn their pay.  
 
Grab your popcorn... The Court didn't muzzle Marcio.   😀

Very True, but after another group just filed another lawsuit against the company and Allied today, your going to need a bigger timeline!

 

[Phoenix]

Very True, but after another group just filed another lawsuit against the company and Allied today, your going to need a bigger timeline!

 
 
I'm not sure the time line will slip much.  The Arb panel has been clearly pissed off by indirect court interference and has been pretty clear they are marching forward.  Unless a court directly enjoins the Arb panel I don't see them deviating from their statutory obligation to develop a fair and equitable list on schedule, as best they can.  YMMV.

 

[luvthe9]

Fwd: American Eagle pilots sue Allied Pilots Association, American Airlines over seniority placement




More suits to follow, hope you enjoy PHX for a few more years.

 

[dariencc]

American Airlines passes on Phoenix for new international flights
 
http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2015/07/15/american-airlines-keeps-skipping-phoenix-for-new.html

 
Wow.  There's a shocker.

 

[Metroyet]

Because only one of the three groups is the victim of liers and thieves.
 
They had to used they own money to keep USAPA from stealing their jobs as well as having having their own dues used against them.
 
EF mortgaged his house to defend the result of the mutually agreed upon arbitration process.
 
In the absence of fraud, civilized, rational people don't weasel out of again reements they make.

Let's see, Wake thought USAPA were liars and cheats. So did a neutral jury. Silver questioned their ethics out right and Conrad slapped them with an injunction for illegal behavior. The 9th destroyed them in their opinion finding them liable of DFR in a wholly unprecedented way. They also called USAPA liars and cheats. The only people who don't seem to think of East pilots as liars and cheats are the East pilots themselves.

IOW, if the liar and cheat shoes fit....

 

[A320 Driver]

And the award was supposed to be fair and equitable. Instead, we were told our airline and our careers were worthless. Since then, it's been proven time and again where the value was in the merger between US and AWA. Now the AA pilots are getting an eyeful of NICs handiwork and they are NOT impressed. Hopefully this panel will make sense out of all of this. They have great reputations and I trust that they will do this right.
 
Name calling destroys what little is left of your credibility. 

 

[traderjake]

 

Traitor...

 
 

Name calling destroys what little is left of your credibility. 

 
I suppose Traitor is a term of endearment.......... 😀