ALPA MEC CODE-A-PHONE UPDATE - February 4, 2003

C

chipmunn

Guest
MEC CODE-A-PHONE UPDATE - February 4, 2003
This is Roy Freundlich with US Airways MEC opdate for Tuesday, February 4, with four new items:
Item 1. Most pilots have received by US mail a comprehensive legal notice on behalf of US Airways announcing the Company's bankruptcy court filing to terminate the pilots defined benefits plan on March 31, 2003. The Association is going to file a blanket objection to the Company's motion to terminate the plan in bankruptcy court. More details on ALPA's legal objection will be announced tomorrow.
Item 2. The MEC held a conference call today to receive an update on the pension issue from the Retirement and Insurance Committee, Negotiating Committee, and ALPA benefits, financial and legal advisors in closed session. Discussion included the filing of an MEC grievance as part of ALPA's challenge to the Company's actions to terminate the pilots defined benefits plan.
The Grievance Chairman will be filling an MEC grievance on the termination of the Pension Plan tomorrow stating, in part, that The Association has not agreed to terminate the plan nor to the implementation of a Defined Contribution Plan in place of the existing Defined Benefits Plan. Further, whether or not the plan is terminated, the company is obligated to pay retirement benefits as specified in the Agreement. A copy of the grievance filling should be available on the pilot's only wed site by tomorrow.
Item 3. As previously reported, MEC Chairman Bill Pollock contacted US Airways President and CEO David Siegel regarding canceling the furloughs for today. The Company indicated that they still intend to furlough all pilots scheduled for furlough on February 4th. ALPA believes that an excess of 200 pilots are being furloughed who were not or should not have been identified for furlough in permanent bid 03-01. The MEC has filed a grievance on this issue and will hold the required hearing with the Vice President of Flight Operations on Wednesday.
Item 4. The Company has advised the Association that contrary to prior commitments, pilots' furlough pay will be based on the last six months of service to the Corporation not the last 6 months of active service as the Company had previously indicated. The only exception to this is pilots on military leave. In that instance it will be the last six months of active service. In addition, the Company has also told the Association that any bank time that a pilot might have used in the last six months of his employment will not be used to calculate furlough pay due a furloughed pilot. The Association is planning to grieve both these issues.
Please remember as of today we have 1,827 pilots on furlough.
Thank you for listening.
 
"take a look at Exhibit B, page six, number 11:"

"The deployment of regional jets plays a critical role in the Debtors reorganization. Regional jets, which range in size from 37 to 76 seats, will be used by the Debtors in smaller markets than the Debtors cannot profitably serve with mainline jets. In order to accomplish this plan, the Debtors will grow its regional jet fleet from 70 units to 300 or more units over the plan period. Although some of the units will be placed with third-party code-sharing relationships, the Debtors plan to operate 160 units at US Airways including its regional affiliates. These units operated by the Debtors are forecast to contribute approximately $750 million in pre-tax profitability over the seven-year forecast period and are critical to the success of the reorganized Debtors. To achieve this, the Debtors will need to finance approximately $3 to $4 billion or more regional jet purchases. This financing would not be available to the Debtors if the current pension contribution were to remain in place."

Ouch!
 
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On 2/5/2003 2:16:00 PM Stick-n-Rudder wrote:

"take a look at Exhibit B, page six, number 11:"

"The deployment of regional jets plays a critical role in the Debtors reorganization. Regional jets, which range in size from 37 to 76 seats, will be used by the Debtors in smaller markets than the Debtors cannot profitably serve with mainline jets. In order to accomplish this plan, the Debtors will grow its regional jet fleet from 70 units to 300 or more units over the plan period. Although some of the units will be placed with third-party code-sharing relationships, the Debtors plan to operate 160 units at US Airways including its regional affiliates. These units operated by the Debtors are forecast to contribute approximately $750 million in pre-tax profitability over the seven-year forecast period and are critical to the success of the reorganized Debtors. To achieve this, the Debtors will need to finance approximately $3 to $4 billion or more regional jet purchases. This financing would not be available to the Debtors if the current pension contribution were to remain in place."

Ouch!




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The last sentence pretty much says it all! Double ouch!