MEC CODE-A-PHONE UPDATE - July 20, 2005
This is Jack Stephan with a US Airways MEC update for Wednesday, July 20th, with two new items.
Item 1. The MEC convened its special meeting today in Pittsburgh and discussed with ALPA International President Captain Duane Woerth a letter that MEC Chairman Bill Pollock received from Jerry Glass on July 19th, which contains written assurances that if ALPA were to prevail in its grievance, “a full remedy will be available, including, if necessary, a re-opening or re-do of the bid process.†This letter also states that the “pilots’ bidding rights and legal arguments that this transaction is an ‘MDA Affiliate Event’ within the meaning of LOA 91 will not be waived during the period the System Board case is pending.â€
During his conference call today with the MEC, Captain Woerth said that it is not appropriate to pursue injunctive relief at this time. He has, however, ordered ALPA attorneys to prepare injunction papers so that they can be quickly filed if there is any indication that US Airways management is not living up to their statements or if the grievance process is not completed expeditiously.
The MDA/Wexford arbitration has been scheduled in Washington, DC, for August 29th, 30 th, 31st, and September 1 st with Arbitrator Krinsky.
The Glass letter to Captain Pollock, which is posted on the MDA and pilots only home page under “US Airways/America West Merger Information†also addresses the transfer rate of aircraft to Republic.
At the special meeting today, the MEC also voted to postpone the Joint Negotiating Committee election until a special meeting to be called on August 1st and 2nd.
Additionally, the MEC received a briefing on pilots receiving access to 401(k) trading as it currently exists in the pilots’ DC plan, and on the cost that is associated with that change. The MEC expects to receive more information on this matter.
The MEC will reconvene its special meeting tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. US Airways President and CEO Bruce Lakefield will address the MEC and pilots tomorrow, July 21st, at approximately 12:15 p.m. Mr. Lakefield will be accompanied by US Airways CFO Ron Stanley and Executive VP, Marketing & Planning Bruce Ashby. The bulk of the Company’s presentation is expected to be received in closed session.
The meeting is at the Pittsburgh Crowne Plaza, located at 1160 Thorn Run Road in Coraopolis, PA. The telephone number for transportation information to the hotel is 412-262-2400. All US Airways pilots are encouraged to attend the meeting. Please be advised that portions of the special MEC meeting may be in closed session.
Item 2. The MEC Grievance Committee has posted a new grievance update on the pilots only home page dated July 19. This update contains information from a July 14th, one-day arbitration on a line holding pilot’s ability to split a trip in order to maximize his or her time for the month. ALPA successfully prevailed in this arbitration.
It was the Association’s position that the Company had implemented additional restrictions beyond what they had negotiated in LOA 93, “The Transformation Plan.†Arbitrator Susan Brown instructed the Company to implement the System Board of Adjustment’s decision immediately and she also instructed the Company to retract the provisions they had unilaterally implemented on June 1. The unanimous ruling from the System Board required the Company to return to the language negotiated in LOA 93 and the Collective Bargaining Agreement of 1998.
All pilots are urged to read this grievance update on the pilots only website.
Item 3. It has come to the attention of our Merger Committee that there is a rumor on the line concerning possible hiring at America West. The best we can gather at this point is that any proposed hiring at America West has been postponed until January 2006. The US Airways Transition Agreement Steering Committee will be meeting next week in PHX with their America West counterparts and management representatives from both airlines to address this and other issues of concern to the US Airways pilots. At that time we will attempt to establish a procedure whereby any future vacancies at America West will be filled by US Airways pilots. We hope to provide you with more details of these talks next week via the code a phone and the pilots only web site. As always, treat rumors accordingly, and direct any questions you may have about the proposed merger with America West to your Reps and your Merger Committee.
As a reminder, during the week of July 25 your Merger Committee is also scheduled to travel to PHX to informally meet with the America West Merger Committee. The purpose of this first meeting is to get acquainted with their counterparts and their seniority list. There are a lot of details surrounding positions and bidding that are unique to each airline.
Once our Merger Committee receives an official copy of the America West pilots’ seniority list, the process of examining the specific issues of this seniority integration will begin. At this point no list integrations have been done and obviously no positions have been established. This process will take some time.
Please remember we now have 1,574 pilots on furlough with approximately 400 pilots currently working at MDA or Jets For Jobs carriers.
Thank you for listening.
Regards,
USA320Pilot
This is Jack Stephan with a US Airways MEC update for Wednesday, July 20th, with two new items.
Item 1. The MEC convened its special meeting today in Pittsburgh and discussed with ALPA International President Captain Duane Woerth a letter that MEC Chairman Bill Pollock received from Jerry Glass on July 19th, which contains written assurances that if ALPA were to prevail in its grievance, “a full remedy will be available, including, if necessary, a re-opening or re-do of the bid process.†This letter also states that the “pilots’ bidding rights and legal arguments that this transaction is an ‘MDA Affiliate Event’ within the meaning of LOA 91 will not be waived during the period the System Board case is pending.â€
During his conference call today with the MEC, Captain Woerth said that it is not appropriate to pursue injunctive relief at this time. He has, however, ordered ALPA attorneys to prepare injunction papers so that they can be quickly filed if there is any indication that US Airways management is not living up to their statements or if the grievance process is not completed expeditiously.
The MDA/Wexford arbitration has been scheduled in Washington, DC, for August 29th, 30 th, 31st, and September 1 st with Arbitrator Krinsky.
The Glass letter to Captain Pollock, which is posted on the MDA and pilots only home page under “US Airways/America West Merger Information†also addresses the transfer rate of aircraft to Republic.
At the special meeting today, the MEC also voted to postpone the Joint Negotiating Committee election until a special meeting to be called on August 1st and 2nd.
Additionally, the MEC received a briefing on pilots receiving access to 401(k) trading as it currently exists in the pilots’ DC plan, and on the cost that is associated with that change. The MEC expects to receive more information on this matter.
The MEC will reconvene its special meeting tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. US Airways President and CEO Bruce Lakefield will address the MEC and pilots tomorrow, July 21st, at approximately 12:15 p.m. Mr. Lakefield will be accompanied by US Airways CFO Ron Stanley and Executive VP, Marketing & Planning Bruce Ashby. The bulk of the Company’s presentation is expected to be received in closed session.
The meeting is at the Pittsburgh Crowne Plaza, located at 1160 Thorn Run Road in Coraopolis, PA. The telephone number for transportation information to the hotel is 412-262-2400. All US Airways pilots are encouraged to attend the meeting. Please be advised that portions of the special MEC meeting may be in closed session.
Item 2. The MEC Grievance Committee has posted a new grievance update on the pilots only home page dated July 19. This update contains information from a July 14th, one-day arbitration on a line holding pilot’s ability to split a trip in order to maximize his or her time for the month. ALPA successfully prevailed in this arbitration.
It was the Association’s position that the Company had implemented additional restrictions beyond what they had negotiated in LOA 93, “The Transformation Plan.†Arbitrator Susan Brown instructed the Company to implement the System Board of Adjustment’s decision immediately and she also instructed the Company to retract the provisions they had unilaterally implemented on June 1. The unanimous ruling from the System Board required the Company to return to the language negotiated in LOA 93 and the Collective Bargaining Agreement of 1998.
All pilots are urged to read this grievance update on the pilots only website.
Item 3. It has come to the attention of our Merger Committee that there is a rumor on the line concerning possible hiring at America West. The best we can gather at this point is that any proposed hiring at America West has been postponed until January 2006. The US Airways Transition Agreement Steering Committee will be meeting next week in PHX with their America West counterparts and management representatives from both airlines to address this and other issues of concern to the US Airways pilots. At that time we will attempt to establish a procedure whereby any future vacancies at America West will be filled by US Airways pilots. We hope to provide you with more details of these talks next week via the code a phone and the pilots only web site. As always, treat rumors accordingly, and direct any questions you may have about the proposed merger with America West to your Reps and your Merger Committee.
As a reminder, during the week of July 25 your Merger Committee is also scheduled to travel to PHX to informally meet with the America West Merger Committee. The purpose of this first meeting is to get acquainted with their counterparts and their seniority list. There are a lot of details surrounding positions and bidding that are unique to each airline.
Once our Merger Committee receives an official copy of the America West pilots’ seniority list, the process of examining the specific issues of this seniority integration will begin. At this point no list integrations have been done and obviously no positions have been established. This process will take some time.
Please remember we now have 1,574 pilots on furlough with approximately 400 pilots currently working at MDA or Jets For Jobs carriers.
Thank you for listening.
Regards,
USA320Pilot
