USA320Pilot
Veteran
U-Turn & the AWA Giant Sucking Sound
CJ Szmal took great Web Board exception to the latest U-Turn’s latest comments on cross-domicile flying. His keyboard must have been smoking. As usual, he was long of tooth, but short on facts. One thing we did find deliciously intriguing and worthy of its own U-Turn response was Mr. Small’s comment:]
BTW As far as your unrealized upgrades on the west goes, did you know that the east system lost 47 line positions in the most recent bid?
Ah, Mr. Szmal…Your comments just show how ignorant you are of the East’s operations. Every fall, the East draws down their line positions as they transition from the European flying, which required augmented crews, to Caribbean flying with single crews. In the spring, the process is reversed.
We added 49 Captains in our bid…
WOW! Over 132 West attrites since the merger was announced and we’ve added 29 + 27 = 56 CA positions!…Let’s see, when is the last CA upgrade start training? May, 2008. By then the East will have had an additional three bids, recouped all those 47 line positions and hired/recalled another 260 crew members (that’s a very conservative number). We do pick up as many as 20 new-hires/recalls. We’re sensing some real growth here. That was sarcasm, CJ.
… and the east is livid because they claim the company transferred their flying west.
[Oh really? Then it was one of the best kept “lividity†secrets out there. Here at U-Turn, we’re surprised that the MEC didn’t rub it in the East’s noses. That seems to be their latest stock-in-trade. Forget about who refuses to present the list (Herndon)…just attack the East. Unfortunately, our MEC hasn’t cornered the market on this escalating MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction. The continuing escalation by both sides against each other completely ignores who created this mess, who is sustaining this mess and will ultimately gain from this mess: Herndon and ALPA National.]
But enough of the CJ-isms. As entertaining as they may be (his missive that East 8:30 rest is “behind the door†is our favorite), let’s take a look at that giant sucking sound, called the September lines. And lest anyone think U-Turn invented these numbers, they were produced by our own MEC. Check out the latest MEC Committee News (August 22), if you have any doubt.
September saw a draw-down of West flying by from a total of roughly 58,190 CA hours to 54,476. That is a quantified 6.4% hourly reduction. The number of regular lines dropped from 1328 to 1234, for an overall 7% reduction. But don’t take U-Turn’s word for it. Look up the numbers. Or just read the comments from our PBS Chairman:
All seats experienced a reduction in total credit hours (the A320 CA reduction was very slight) resulting in fewer lines for September. The B757 experienced the largest reduction (by percentage), losing more than 25 percent of the total credit from August.
Ah, the giant sucking sound of synergies, as we on the West get “synergized†out of flying that is going East to the “cheap seats.†But we at U-Turn can’t really find fault with the company for doing what their stock holders demand: keeping costs down, getting earnings up. While the company may be our competition, they are not our enemy. They are often vilified as the enemy. They are not. They provide us with jobs. It is our responsibility to make sure we improve our pay and working conditions, not the company’s. And as long as we refuse to dispute this violation, from the company’s point of view, it isn’t a violation at all.
Our enemy is the group that doesn’t play by the rules. Our enemy is the group that doesn’t believe in or follow the ALPA Constitution. Our enemy is the group that continues to play one side off against the other. Our enemy has defined itself and its position. Our enemy, if you really need to have an enemy, someone to blame, our enemy is ALPA National, where the Constitution is treated as nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
And speaking of that enemy, where was Duane Woerth when the company started synergizing the work away from us last year? Obviously not following the ALPO Merger Policy:
D ACTIONS TAKEN UPON DETERMINATION OF MERGER
4 The President shall take reasonable measures to provide that the flight operations, equipment, and existing flying of each company party to a merger shall remain separated until such time as the pilot seniority lists and the employment agreements are merged, or until the MECs of the affected pilot groups mutually agree otherwise. Any dispute shall be decided by the Executive Council. (AMENDED - Executive Board May 1998)
CJ concluded with: I do agree that our senior most FO are the ones taking the royal shaft in all the shenanigans we are witnessing.
And who do we have to thank for that? We hope Mr. Szmal doesn’t stare too long at himself in the mirror.
We’ll leave you all with this little ditty, sung to the tune of Pete’s Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?†[Later sung by the Kingston Trio, and Peter, Paul and Mary]
Where has all the flying gone? Long time passing…
Where has all the flying gone? Long, long time ago…
Where has all the flying gone?
Gone to Philly, everyone…
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Where have all the upgrades gone? Long time passing…
Where have all the upgrades gone? Long, long time ago…
Where have all the upgrades gone?
Gone to “Easties,†everyone…
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Where have all the recalls gone? Long time passing…
Where have all the recalls gone? Long, long time ago…
Where have all the recalls gone?
Gone to Charlotte, everyone…
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Where has all the big iron gone? Long time passing…
Where has all the big iron gone? Long, long time ago…
Where has all the big iron gone?
Gone to Philly, everyone…
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Fade to black…………..
CJ Szmal took great Web Board exception to the latest U-Turn’s latest comments on cross-domicile flying. His keyboard must have been smoking. As usual, he was long of tooth, but short on facts. One thing we did find deliciously intriguing and worthy of its own U-Turn response was Mr. Small’s comment:]
BTW As far as your unrealized upgrades on the west goes, did you know that the east system lost 47 line positions in the most recent bid?
Ah, Mr. Szmal…Your comments just show how ignorant you are of the East’s operations. Every fall, the East draws down their line positions as they transition from the European flying, which required augmented crews, to Caribbean flying with single crews. In the spring, the process is reversed.
We added 49 Captains in our bid…
WOW! Over 132 West attrites since the merger was announced and we’ve added 29 + 27 = 56 CA positions!…Let’s see, when is the last CA upgrade start training? May, 2008. By then the East will have had an additional three bids, recouped all those 47 line positions and hired/recalled another 260 crew members (that’s a very conservative number). We do pick up as many as 20 new-hires/recalls. We’re sensing some real growth here. That was sarcasm, CJ.
… and the east is livid because they claim the company transferred their flying west.
[Oh really? Then it was one of the best kept “lividity†secrets out there. Here at U-Turn, we’re surprised that the MEC didn’t rub it in the East’s noses. That seems to be their latest stock-in-trade. Forget about who refuses to present the list (Herndon)…just attack the East. Unfortunately, our MEC hasn’t cornered the market on this escalating MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction. The continuing escalation by both sides against each other completely ignores who created this mess, who is sustaining this mess and will ultimately gain from this mess: Herndon and ALPA National.]
But enough of the CJ-isms. As entertaining as they may be (his missive that East 8:30 rest is “behind the door†is our favorite), let’s take a look at that giant sucking sound, called the September lines. And lest anyone think U-Turn invented these numbers, they were produced by our own MEC. Check out the latest MEC Committee News (August 22), if you have any doubt.
September saw a draw-down of West flying by from a total of roughly 58,190 CA hours to 54,476. That is a quantified 6.4% hourly reduction. The number of regular lines dropped from 1328 to 1234, for an overall 7% reduction. But don’t take U-Turn’s word for it. Look up the numbers. Or just read the comments from our PBS Chairman:
All seats experienced a reduction in total credit hours (the A320 CA reduction was very slight) resulting in fewer lines for September. The B757 experienced the largest reduction (by percentage), losing more than 25 percent of the total credit from August.
Ah, the giant sucking sound of synergies, as we on the West get “synergized†out of flying that is going East to the “cheap seats.†But we at U-Turn can’t really find fault with the company for doing what their stock holders demand: keeping costs down, getting earnings up. While the company may be our competition, they are not our enemy. They are often vilified as the enemy. They are not. They provide us with jobs. It is our responsibility to make sure we improve our pay and working conditions, not the company’s. And as long as we refuse to dispute this violation, from the company’s point of view, it isn’t a violation at all.
Our enemy is the group that doesn’t play by the rules. Our enemy is the group that doesn’t believe in or follow the ALPA Constitution. Our enemy is the group that continues to play one side off against the other. Our enemy has defined itself and its position. Our enemy, if you really need to have an enemy, someone to blame, our enemy is ALPA National, where the Constitution is treated as nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
And speaking of that enemy, where was Duane Woerth when the company started synergizing the work away from us last year? Obviously not following the ALPO Merger Policy:
D ACTIONS TAKEN UPON DETERMINATION OF MERGER
4 The President shall take reasonable measures to provide that the flight operations, equipment, and existing flying of each company party to a merger shall remain separated until such time as the pilot seniority lists and the employment agreements are merged, or until the MECs of the affected pilot groups mutually agree otherwise. Any dispute shall be decided by the Executive Council. (AMENDED - Executive Board May 1998)
CJ concluded with: I do agree that our senior most FO are the ones taking the royal shaft in all the shenanigans we are witnessing.
And who do we have to thank for that? We hope Mr. Szmal doesn’t stare too long at himself in the mirror.
We’ll leave you all with this little ditty, sung to the tune of Pete’s Seeger’s “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?†[Later sung by the Kingston Trio, and Peter, Paul and Mary]
Where has all the flying gone? Long time passing…
Where has all the flying gone? Long, long time ago…
Where has all the flying gone?
Gone to Philly, everyone…
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Where have all the upgrades gone? Long time passing…
Where have all the upgrades gone? Long, long time ago…
Where have all the upgrades gone?
Gone to “Easties,†everyone…
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Where have all the recalls gone? Long time passing…
Where have all the recalls gone? Long, long time ago…
Where have all the recalls gone?
Gone to Charlotte, everyone…
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Where has all the big iron gone? Long time passing…
Where has all the big iron gone? Long, long time ago…
Where has all the big iron gone?
Gone to Philly, everyone…
When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?
Fade to black…………..
