Posted with permission from the author
I thought I'd let you know what a typical east pilot thinks about this arbitration award. I believe you have a website for pilots in the West. I have one here in the East called "Phillypilots" and I belong to 4 others. I thought this exchange of pilot to pilot views might be useful in letting your side know how we feel. I don't speak for our MEC nor any committee. I speak only for myself, but I believe I represent the feelings here at US Airways east.
First, let me introduce myself. My name is William Glynn. I am almost 56 years old and was hired at Piedmont Airlines in June 1987 before we merged with US Airways. As with every airline pilot, seniority is everything. From the moment I was hired, every aspect of my career was based on my seniority.
In these 20 years, I have waited patiently as bad management tried one plan after another to make this airline successful. Most of those plans were certain to fail. Management made their plans, took huge compensation, failed and fled. This airline has been a "cashcow" for everyone except the employees. I had no say in such matters but realized that someday, someone, probably the employees would have to pay for those mistakes. The airline, instead of expanding, often remained stagnant or contracted. Finally, in the golden days of the late nineties, with at least half of the other pilots here also waiting for their turn, I got a chance to upgrade. It came in 2000 and I held that seat until 2002. So for almost 18 years of my 20 years here, I have been a first officer.
Unfortunately, my story is a common one and I understand there are no guarantees in life. After 9/11, the airline dramatically downsized. US Airways was hit the hardest of all the airlines in the aftermath of those attacks. Because of the closure of DCA and the government restrictions in LGA and BOS as well as the fear passengers had of flying on the East coast, we suffered immense financial damage and we were unable to correct it in time before the company was forced into bankruptcy protection.
The pilots here had to make a decision after we went into bankruptcy. Do we vote "yes" to save our jobs and our company with the hope that someday we could live to fight another day or vote to end it all?
The majority made the decision to vote "yes" -- save the company. In turn, we lost most of our pensions. I went from making $165.00 per hr. as a Captain to $110.00 and hour as an F/O again. I lost a great deal of vacation and other perks. Others paid an even greater price and were furloughed. Pilots with as much as 15 yrs here at that time were looking for temporary jobs elsewhere. But we did it with the hope that we could save this company. We also understood that at some time in the future, if we did survive, the attrition rate through retirements would again allow those of us that downgraded to return to the left seat where we could make enough money to have a decent retirement.
The Teachers Retirement Fund of Alabama, the largest stake holder in the airline at that time recognized that if we were willing to sacrifice so much, they would help us to survive. They put a new CEO in place named Bruce Lakefield, a retired Wallstreet money man with no airline experience, but he did know Wallstreet and how to find money.
Enter AWA. They looked at US Airways during the first restructuring and told us they needed more concessions from the employees to make the numbers work. We were going to pay for this merger. So management came back to us and told us they needed more concessions. We voted "yes" again and my pay went to $85.00 per hour.
Of course, AWA airlines had no money to buy us. That was where Bruce Lakefield, our CEO came in. He put the money people together with AWA management and a merger was born. It all came about because we at US Airway sacrificed to allow it to happen.
Now, how to put two pilot groups together that was fair? Not easy since both sides were so diverse. Since both the East and the West could not agree to a fair seniority merger, we put it to arbitration. That was done based on the knowledge that ALPA policy would protect either side from a windfall. I know that I did not want to take a job from a pilot at AWA and I know I represent the views of the vast majority of the pilots here.
That was why we were so shocked after the arbitration award was posted. The gentleman immediately senior to me is from AWA and was hired in 2003! I lost 16 yrs seniority with the stroke of a pen. In fact, had I quit US Airways during the first bankruptcy and got hired at AWA, I would be senior to me today!
For many of us, the pilots from AWA airlines that were placed senior to us were as young as 10 yrs old when we were hire at US Airways. Some of those children may have come to see the cockpit when I was first hired and might be senior to me now. Some were back from furlough by merger date and were placed junior to a pilot with only a total of 2 months seniority and still on probation with the company and not yet full ALPA members. Do you see where I am going here?
This was not why I voted to save this airline and in a sense as we shall see, save your airline, so I can have my job taken from me by very very junior pilot from another airline.
Nicolau stated in his reasoning behind this ruling, that if it wasn't for AWA, US Airways would have disappeared. Let's examine that.
It has since been revealed that Scott Kirby was placed in charge of forming a secret plan called Zanzibar. This plan was to put AWA into bankruptcy immediately if the merger didn't go through and to downsize immediately by 15%. As everyone knows, going into bankruptcy is no guarantee that you will emerge. So much for AWA "saving" us. Who was about to save who? But I ask you, why should the financial situation of a company have any relationship to our seniority? They are and should be two separate issues.
The financial statistics that have since come out show that in 2005, AWA lost money while we in the East made a small profit. In 2006, the AWA side lost over 300 million dollars. The US Airways side made over $600 million, enough to make up for the AWA side and still give a profit of over $300 million dollars.
So, Let me get this straight. AWA has no money and is losing money at a prodigious rate, but has a young management team with some ideas how 2 airlines in financial trouble can help each side survive and prosper. US Airways has a CEO who specializes in getting the money for a merger. US Airways has an employee group that was willing to make huge concessions to survive, a route system second to none in the most profitable market in the US - the East coast, an extensive international route system and the widebody aircraft to fly them and an expanding Caribbean presence. So since neither airline could buy the other, why was that a consideration in the arbitration?
After studying the award, I realized the facts did not support his assertions. In addition, it was clear that AWA pilots were awarded jobs that before the award would have gone to east pilots. The AWA pilots got a huge windfall at our expense!
I participated, along with nearly 400 other pilots in the demonstration in Herndon last Monday to protest this award. I did this because looking at the facts and understanding the process Nicolau used to come up with his arbitration lead me to believe that this arbitration does not live up to the policies that ALPA National has placed for a fair arbitration to take place.
The AWA attorney's argument that the award was binding shows how weak that position is. In his response, he suggested that ALPA has no right to even look at the award but consider it binding and send it to the company. Would you still consider it binding if the arbitrator had decided seniority based on Alphabetical order? Or perhaps by Date of Birth? Of course not. ALPA has a clear and definite role to play to make sure their policies are followed. If not, why would the arbitration have to be first sent to ALPA to be certified and then sent on to the company? Why not have the arbitrator just send it to the company?
Your MEC Chairman suggested that ALPA get this certified as quickly as possible so we can go back to being unified in our struggle with the company. NOT A CHANCE! There will never be unification with the award as it now stands. That was a most naive assertion and it reflects how little understanding he has for our anger at this award.
To show how egregious this award is and how one sided it is, why is one side celebrating and trying to rush this through certification and the other side has mental health councilors on call? This award does not meet ALPA National policy nor the smell test.
This arbitration award will never go into effect. We have taken a stand. We will do whatever it takes to stop it from ever being implemented. We are nearly unanimous in our desire to decertify ALPA if they allow this award to stand. We have all paid our dues to ALPA, some for as much as 30 yrs and expect them to protect us from an arbitration that has not followed their policy.
We will hold ALPA National accountable. They changed the policy from "Date of Hire" to protect the United pilots should they merge with a more senior pilot group to a very convoluted and confusing policy. But there is no confusion to how this award will enhance the AWA pilots careers to the detriment of the US Airways pilots careers. We paid our dues with the understanding that ALPA would protect our jobs. If they don't we will find a union that will.
If we do decertify ALPA, and since we outnumber the AWA pilots by nearly 2 to 1, we will be taking you with us. We will form our own in-house union or go with a union like the Teamsters or APA. We will go with whoever looks at this award and sees the injustice of it all.
In addition, we are willing to keep both pilot groups separate. We realize we will not get the pay increases we would have enjoyed had we merged, but we would make that up as we upgraded to Captain or Captains of narrow body aircraft to widebody aircraft, etc. Those on furlough will be able to come back here knowing that at sometime in the near future, they will upgrade based on expansion and attrition through retirements.
Because of our lower pay structure, we will probably receive any new International flying and of course, we still keep all of the new E190 flying. No more joint negotiations.
In a merger with another carrier, we will still prevail because we will have the policy that protects us written into our new union bylaws.
When I was at the Herndon rally and saw as many Captains as F/O's, I realized for the first time just how unified and angry this group really is. We have had enough and we won't take any more. We would never allow the company to mess with our seniority, we sure as hell won't allow our union to do it.
No one here wants a job that was supposed to go to an AWA pilot. No one here wants to give up a job that was supposed to go to a US Airways pilot. That was why we expected fences to keep both sides separate. AWA pilots would move up through expansion or attrition as they would have if the merger had not taken place and based on your airline financially health. Our side would do the same. If a pilot from the East decided to move into one of your bases or yours into one of ours, there would need to be penalties so that no one side gets a windfall over the other.
This is in no way an implied threat. But I would not want to be the former AWA pilot with say 8 yrs seniority that moves to PHL to fly as a Captain. The 20+ yr. F/O's would be very difficult to fly with and for good reason. I hope you understand my meaning, so for all our sakes and for the sake of our company, this can't be allowed to happen.
So, now you understand our position. I don't talk for the MEC, but I know I do represent the average pilot here at US Airways.
I look forward to a fair and just conclusion to this episode so we can again be united to make this company great and to be fairly compensated for our work.
Please stay safe,
William G. Glynn,
F/O - A320, PHL
I thought I'd let you know what a typical east pilot thinks about this arbitration award. I believe you have a website for pilots in the West. I have one here in the East called "Phillypilots" and I belong to 4 others. I thought this exchange of pilot to pilot views might be useful in letting your side know how we feel. I don't speak for our MEC nor any committee. I speak only for myself, but I believe I represent the feelings here at US Airways east.
First, let me introduce myself. My name is William Glynn. I am almost 56 years old and was hired at Piedmont Airlines in June 1987 before we merged with US Airways. As with every airline pilot, seniority is everything. From the moment I was hired, every aspect of my career was based on my seniority.
In these 20 years, I have waited patiently as bad management tried one plan after another to make this airline successful. Most of those plans were certain to fail. Management made their plans, took huge compensation, failed and fled. This airline has been a "cashcow" for everyone except the employees. I had no say in such matters but realized that someday, someone, probably the employees would have to pay for those mistakes. The airline, instead of expanding, often remained stagnant or contracted. Finally, in the golden days of the late nineties, with at least half of the other pilots here also waiting for their turn, I got a chance to upgrade. It came in 2000 and I held that seat until 2002. So for almost 18 years of my 20 years here, I have been a first officer.
Unfortunately, my story is a common one and I understand there are no guarantees in life. After 9/11, the airline dramatically downsized. US Airways was hit the hardest of all the airlines in the aftermath of those attacks. Because of the closure of DCA and the government restrictions in LGA and BOS as well as the fear passengers had of flying on the East coast, we suffered immense financial damage and we were unable to correct it in time before the company was forced into bankruptcy protection.
The pilots here had to make a decision after we went into bankruptcy. Do we vote "yes" to save our jobs and our company with the hope that someday we could live to fight another day or vote to end it all?
The majority made the decision to vote "yes" -- save the company. In turn, we lost most of our pensions. I went from making $165.00 per hr. as a Captain to $110.00 and hour as an F/O again. I lost a great deal of vacation and other perks. Others paid an even greater price and were furloughed. Pilots with as much as 15 yrs here at that time were looking for temporary jobs elsewhere. But we did it with the hope that we could save this company. We also understood that at some time in the future, if we did survive, the attrition rate through retirements would again allow those of us that downgraded to return to the left seat where we could make enough money to have a decent retirement.
The Teachers Retirement Fund of Alabama, the largest stake holder in the airline at that time recognized that if we were willing to sacrifice so much, they would help us to survive. They put a new CEO in place named Bruce Lakefield, a retired Wallstreet money man with no airline experience, but he did know Wallstreet and how to find money.
Enter AWA. They looked at US Airways during the first restructuring and told us they needed more concessions from the employees to make the numbers work. We were going to pay for this merger. So management came back to us and told us they needed more concessions. We voted "yes" again and my pay went to $85.00 per hour.
Of course, AWA airlines had no money to buy us. That was where Bruce Lakefield, our CEO came in. He put the money people together with AWA management and a merger was born. It all came about because we at US Airway sacrificed to allow it to happen.
Now, how to put two pilot groups together that was fair? Not easy since both sides were so diverse. Since both the East and the West could not agree to a fair seniority merger, we put it to arbitration. That was done based on the knowledge that ALPA policy would protect either side from a windfall. I know that I did not want to take a job from a pilot at AWA and I know I represent the views of the vast majority of the pilots here.
That was why we were so shocked after the arbitration award was posted. The gentleman immediately senior to me is from AWA and was hired in 2003! I lost 16 yrs seniority with the stroke of a pen. In fact, had I quit US Airways during the first bankruptcy and got hired at AWA, I would be senior to me today!
For many of us, the pilots from AWA airlines that were placed senior to us were as young as 10 yrs old when we were hire at US Airways. Some of those children may have come to see the cockpit when I was first hired and might be senior to me now. Some were back from furlough by merger date and were placed junior to a pilot with only a total of 2 months seniority and still on probation with the company and not yet full ALPA members. Do you see where I am going here?
This was not why I voted to save this airline and in a sense as we shall see, save your airline, so I can have my job taken from me by very very junior pilot from another airline.
Nicolau stated in his reasoning behind this ruling, that if it wasn't for AWA, US Airways would have disappeared. Let's examine that.
It has since been revealed that Scott Kirby was placed in charge of forming a secret plan called Zanzibar. This plan was to put AWA into bankruptcy immediately if the merger didn't go through and to downsize immediately by 15%. As everyone knows, going into bankruptcy is no guarantee that you will emerge. So much for AWA "saving" us. Who was about to save who? But I ask you, why should the financial situation of a company have any relationship to our seniority? They are and should be two separate issues.
The financial statistics that have since come out show that in 2005, AWA lost money while we in the East made a small profit. In 2006, the AWA side lost over 300 million dollars. The US Airways side made over $600 million, enough to make up for the AWA side and still give a profit of over $300 million dollars.
So, Let me get this straight. AWA has no money and is losing money at a prodigious rate, but has a young management team with some ideas how 2 airlines in financial trouble can help each side survive and prosper. US Airways has a CEO who specializes in getting the money for a merger. US Airways has an employee group that was willing to make huge concessions to survive, a route system second to none in the most profitable market in the US - the East coast, an extensive international route system and the widebody aircraft to fly them and an expanding Caribbean presence. So since neither airline could buy the other, why was that a consideration in the arbitration?
After studying the award, I realized the facts did not support his assertions. In addition, it was clear that AWA pilots were awarded jobs that before the award would have gone to east pilots. The AWA pilots got a huge windfall at our expense!
I participated, along with nearly 400 other pilots in the demonstration in Herndon last Monday to protest this award. I did this because looking at the facts and understanding the process Nicolau used to come up with his arbitration lead me to believe that this arbitration does not live up to the policies that ALPA National has placed for a fair arbitration to take place.
The AWA attorney's argument that the award was binding shows how weak that position is. In his response, he suggested that ALPA has no right to even look at the award but consider it binding and send it to the company. Would you still consider it binding if the arbitrator had decided seniority based on Alphabetical order? Or perhaps by Date of Birth? Of course not. ALPA has a clear and definite role to play to make sure their policies are followed. If not, why would the arbitration have to be first sent to ALPA to be certified and then sent on to the company? Why not have the arbitrator just send it to the company?
Your MEC Chairman suggested that ALPA get this certified as quickly as possible so we can go back to being unified in our struggle with the company. NOT A CHANCE! There will never be unification with the award as it now stands. That was a most naive assertion and it reflects how little understanding he has for our anger at this award.
To show how egregious this award is and how one sided it is, why is one side celebrating and trying to rush this through certification and the other side has mental health councilors on call? This award does not meet ALPA National policy nor the smell test.
This arbitration award will never go into effect. We have taken a stand. We will do whatever it takes to stop it from ever being implemented. We are nearly unanimous in our desire to decertify ALPA if they allow this award to stand. We have all paid our dues to ALPA, some for as much as 30 yrs and expect them to protect us from an arbitration that has not followed their policy.
We will hold ALPA National accountable. They changed the policy from "Date of Hire" to protect the United pilots should they merge with a more senior pilot group to a very convoluted and confusing policy. But there is no confusion to how this award will enhance the AWA pilots careers to the detriment of the US Airways pilots careers. We paid our dues with the understanding that ALPA would protect our jobs. If they don't we will find a union that will.
If we do decertify ALPA, and since we outnumber the AWA pilots by nearly 2 to 1, we will be taking you with us. We will form our own in-house union or go with a union like the Teamsters or APA. We will go with whoever looks at this award and sees the injustice of it all.
In addition, we are willing to keep both pilot groups separate. We realize we will not get the pay increases we would have enjoyed had we merged, but we would make that up as we upgraded to Captain or Captains of narrow body aircraft to widebody aircraft, etc. Those on furlough will be able to come back here knowing that at sometime in the near future, they will upgrade based on expansion and attrition through retirements.
Because of our lower pay structure, we will probably receive any new International flying and of course, we still keep all of the new E190 flying. No more joint negotiations.
In a merger with another carrier, we will still prevail because we will have the policy that protects us written into our new union bylaws.
When I was at the Herndon rally and saw as many Captains as F/O's, I realized for the first time just how unified and angry this group really is. We have had enough and we won't take any more. We would never allow the company to mess with our seniority, we sure as hell won't allow our union to do it.
No one here wants a job that was supposed to go to an AWA pilot. No one here wants to give up a job that was supposed to go to a US Airways pilot. That was why we expected fences to keep both sides separate. AWA pilots would move up through expansion or attrition as they would have if the merger had not taken place and based on your airline financially health. Our side would do the same. If a pilot from the East decided to move into one of your bases or yours into one of ours, there would need to be penalties so that no one side gets a windfall over the other.
This is in no way an implied threat. But I would not want to be the former AWA pilot with say 8 yrs seniority that moves to PHL to fly as a Captain. The 20+ yr. F/O's would be very difficult to fly with and for good reason. I hope you understand my meaning, so for all our sakes and for the sake of our company, this can't be allowed to happen.
So, now you understand our position. I don't talk for the MEC, but I know I do represent the average pilot here at US Airways.
I look forward to a fair and just conclusion to this episode so we can again be united to make this company great and to be fairly compensated for our work.
Please stay safe,
William G. Glynn,
F/O - A320, PHL
