Phoenix Crew News February 6, 2007
Pilot: I hear you stand there and talk about how great the view is on your side of the podium is like my compatriot Coladio saying on this side we are pretty upset. You are touting all these improvements but I just wanted to tell you from our view what weve seen accomplished. Since this merger was announced it has been complete stagnation for our pilot group. Our schedules are what we are able to do as far as bidding that type of thing. None of that has improved. The pilots that were hired here three years ago have the same schedules that they had. They dont have weekends off. They spend the same amount of time away from their families. Pilots that we had in our hiring pool were sent home. Pilots that are on the east pilot group are being recalled. America West and this pilot group put you in a position to where you could acquire US Airways. We dont see that as fair at all. Speaking of unfair, the seniority boarding thing youve come out with we view it as a real farce. Its not seniority boarding, its date of hire. Theres people that are on furlough-- pilots that are on furlough that have a greater day of hire than me. They dont have a job right now when they come back they are going to bump me out of a seat. Its also a violation of our contract Section 26 says you cant make any changes to that benefit. Weve also heard from Scott Kirby that this cost neutral thing was a big mistake and we were told to expect some changes at the bargaining table. Last time we were at bargaining it was pretty apparent from our side that management didnt spend any time they just came in handed sections out of the east contract. If we follow through on our plan of action while flying an aircraft the way that management is following through on their plan of action, there would be craters in the desert. The question I have for you today is if you agree that as pilots that we should focus on doing our jobs and running this airline as safely as possible.
CEO Doug Parker: The answer to that question is Yes. And let me talk about some of the comments you made. First off, as to the stagnation of growth for America West pilots since the merger what I will tell you is, and this is a hard thing to communicate to people but I believe it with all my heart, that if we didnt do the merger with US Airways youd be in a lot worse position. And frankly I think as a 3-year FO, you wouldnt have a job. We would have gone through a bankruptcy filing. We would have downsized. We had an airline at America West that had 20% lower unit revenues than US Airways and now has the same unit cost. That airline could not survive. We would try to make it better. Wed go file bankruptcy. Wed get ourselves a little stronger now the economy is back wed be trying to come out like Delta is. But I swear to you that airline was going to file bankruptcy. When it filed bankruptcy we would have downsized at least 15% and you know while you feel bad about stagnation, you should feel better about that versus where you were headed. And thats we were headed. So I feel very good about what we were able to do with the America West team through the merger because believe me the standalone plan was not gonna work. So again I mean thats hard for you to appreciate because you never saw it but, you know, it was coming. So thats point 1.
