US Airways ALPA BOS Council 32 First Officer Rep. Update #1 - September 27, 2007
Our Picketing in DCA
BOS Pilots,
We had an excellent, well attended march for Pay Parity in DCA today, with over 50 pilots on the picket line at any one time, and many others coming and joining us as their schedules permitted.
Our MEC Officers, Jack Stephan, Kim Snider and Mike D'Angelo were there, 5 MEC Reps, Mike Swiatkowski and myself (BOS), Bob Sauer and Don Baier (DCA), and Lance Svendsen (CLT), and Committee Chairmen Steve Smyser (SPC and Sched), Bob Crowther (J/S), and Doug Mowery (NC).
And then there were our storm troopers, many from BOS, who walked, in full uniform, with temperatures in the upper 80's, for almost 2 hours straight since we didn't want to take anyone off the picket line with so many news cameras taking pictures of them.
Volunteers all, picketing on their days off, and picketing for one thing...Pay Parity Now.
Not an "ALPA" event, not condoned, approved, or paid by ALPA National (in fact, they have now withheld all financing for such events unless we picket for a single contract, and a single contract only), but paid for by us, the "East" pilots.
And after all we've been through, I have personally never been more proud of a group a pilots in my life than those who walked today for all 3000 of us.
This was our first picketing event for Pay Parity Now, with many more to follow. And here's my message to this pilot group. If you truly want to bury this B-Scale and make Parker pay you what he pays his "West" pilots, then be at the next ones.
Fifty to seventy-five pilots is a superb beginning. Put three to four hundred out there at any one time and Doug Parker has a Revolution on his hands. And a Revolution over B-Scale is exactly what he deserves.
USAPA advocate? No problem. Let's get a pay raise first, and if you're successful in becoming the new bargaining agent, then you too will have a much higher bar from which to negotiate an industry leading contract.
In any event, we're going to be out there again with those who won't quit, and, as we did today, we're going to have our heads up when we do it.
Hope to see you there.
Fraternally,
Garland
CC: MEC
"A top World War II ace once said that fighter pilots fall into two broad categories: those who go out to kill and those who, secretly, desperately, kno they are going to get killed—the hunters and the hunted." — General Nathan F. Twinning, USAF
US Airways ALPA BOS Council 32 First Officer Rep. Update #2 - September 27, 2007
I won't do this to the next generation of pilots behind me
BOS Pilots,
During our Sept. 25-26 Special MEC Meeting we reaffirmed the direction that we intend to take this pilot group. Our guiding principles are defined by three previously passed Resolutions, which are:
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1. We will reject any "Band-Aid" attempts to "fix" the Nicolau Award.
2. We will proceed with Separate Operations, and, along with the "West," will secure Separate, Equivalent Value, industry leading contracts.
3. We demand Pay Parity Now, and will withdraw from the JNC negotiations until we achieve Pay Parity, after which we will engage in JNC negotiations in order to achieve Separate, Equivalent Value, industry leading contracts.
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Whose our ally? Nobody. As you know, we're on our own. Regardless, if we hold true to those 3 Resolutions, I have no doubt we'll succeed.
Compromise on these principles, and those allied against us are empowered by our apparent weakness, and only grow more determined to defeat us.
Lose this fight and you'll get a single agreement, and you'll get the Nicolau award, as is, and anyone who tells you otherwise is blowing smoke up your trouser leg.
And the Nicolau Award will plunge this pilot group into a nightmarish Civil War Hell beyond all imagining.
Not on my watch. As I told the MEC at this meeting, my DOH is contractually recognized by the Company, and printed on the back of my Company ID, as 11/03/80 (as we all know by now, seniority is only valid if it is so recognized by the Company who employs us). It's ALPA merger policy, not the Company, who didn't recognize this DOH as my seniority, and after 2 Nicolau Awards my seniority is now 2001. As such, I, and many like me, will retire after 28 years as a F/O.
And I won't do this to the next generation of pilots behind me.
Fraternally,
Garland
CC: MEC