MEC CODE-A-PHONE UPDATE - July 13, 2007
This is Arnie Gentile with a US Airways MEC update for Friday, July 13th, with three new items.
Item 1. The MEC held a special conference call meeting this past evening that convened at 7:00 pm and adjourned at approximately 10:00 pm.
The agenda for the meeting was as follows:
1. Preparation for the July 17th ALPA International Special Meeting of the Joint MECs called by President John Prater.
2. Report from the Joint Negotiating Committee regarding the current JNC negotiations.
3. Report from the Negotiating Committee regarding the proposed Parity negotiations.
The MEC continues to discuss strategies that lead to vacating the Nicolau award. It continues to be apparent that all four parties involved, AAA pilots, AWA pilots, ALPA International and the Company, all have serious problems stemming from the award and as a matter of fact, our problem may not be as grave as others.
The JNC briefed the MEC on the two short meetings they had in Washington DC this week. There was little to report but most talks centered around health care issues including UHC, and LTD.
The US Airways Pilot’s Negotiating Committee along with MEC Chairman Jack Stephan had the opportunity to speak to management and US Airways President Scott Kirby about “Equal Pay for Equal Work.†The Nicolau Award may very well be in litigation for some period of time and we should no longer subsidize corporate profits, other employee group’s profit sharing checks and lucrative executive compensation packages. These were preliminary discussions in which management listened, but made no commitments.
As Captain Stephan noted in his recent chair letter, to be successful in achieving “Equal Pay for Equal Work,†we need to continue following the “Three Pronged Approach.†Our pilot’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. It is solely up to the US Airways East pilots, so now, more than ever continue to do your own job, understand the W.A.R. Reports, and be ready to answer the call when we need your participation. Management needs to know that the first step in fixing our abysmal operation is to properly acknowledge the group of individuals that made the company successful. That acknowledgement needs to come on the 15th and 30th of each month.
Item 2. Recently the company changed its position on how employees conduct themselves when transporting passengers to the BAPS convention. The bottom line for those of us who may be flying these passengers, is that all crewmembers must follow our SOPs. As pilots, we should not be directly involved with this situation, however, should there be an incident on your flight remember to reference the FOM regarding passenger disruptions and security threat levels. The re-clarification to the AFA, instructed the flight attendants to follow SOPs.
While we are all very aware of different cultures, the re-clarification from management ensures that we follow normal procedures.
Item 3. A safety update on the merger process and Flight Deck distractions has been posted under What's New and emailed to all pilots.
News you can use;
W.A.R. Item 711
Standard Duty Periods, domestic, two pilots
A pilot shall not be scheduled for a standard duty period of more than fourteen (14) hours.
A pilot on a standard duty period may be required by the Company to remain on duty for up to fifteen (15) hours.
15 hours is the contractual limit.
Educate to Vacate:
The following is a prepared statement from the law firm of Baptiste & Wilder:
The question has been asked, “Why did we name the America West MEC and America West MEC Chairman as defendants in our complaint challenging the Nicolau Award, instead of Nicolau himself or for that matter ALPA National?†The answer to this question is straight-forward. Arbitrators are immune from suit over their awards under most state and federal law. A suit in the District of Columbia to overturn an arbitrator’s award is brought against the prevailing party in the arbitral proceeding rather than the arbitrator. In this case the appropriate party to the litigation is the America West MEC because it represented the AWA pilot group in the arbitration proceeding. The AWA MEC Chairman was sued in his official capacity as representative of all AWA pilots as a procedural safeguard. Our dispute over seniority integration is with the AWA MEC, not ALPA National, in its present posture. Under ALPA Merger Policy, ALPA National oversees the process but is commanded to remain neutral in the underlying seniority dispute. ALPA was neither a disputant nor a party to the arbitration proceeding. Thus, ALPA National is not the real party in interest to an action to vacate the award. That is why it was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Equal pay for Equal Work item:
Cost of not receiving equal pay for equal work, as of October 1st, 2005 to July 1st , 2007 (including DC plan):
$29,147 for TOS Group 2 Captains
$13,258 for TOS Group 2 F/Os
Furlough updates will be announced once a week, normally in the beginning of the week and of course, when changes occur.
Follow the three prong approach, fly safe and thanks for listening.
This is Arnie Gentile with a US Airways MEC update for Friday, July 13th, with three new items.
Item 1. The MEC held a special conference call meeting this past evening that convened at 7:00 pm and adjourned at approximately 10:00 pm.
The agenda for the meeting was as follows:
1. Preparation for the July 17th ALPA International Special Meeting of the Joint MECs called by President John Prater.
2. Report from the Joint Negotiating Committee regarding the current JNC negotiations.
3. Report from the Negotiating Committee regarding the proposed Parity negotiations.
The MEC continues to discuss strategies that lead to vacating the Nicolau award. It continues to be apparent that all four parties involved, AAA pilots, AWA pilots, ALPA International and the Company, all have serious problems stemming from the award and as a matter of fact, our problem may not be as grave as others.
The JNC briefed the MEC on the two short meetings they had in Washington DC this week. There was little to report but most talks centered around health care issues including UHC, and LTD.
The US Airways Pilot’s Negotiating Committee along with MEC Chairman Jack Stephan had the opportunity to speak to management and US Airways President Scott Kirby about “Equal Pay for Equal Work.†The Nicolau Award may very well be in litigation for some period of time and we should no longer subsidize corporate profits, other employee group’s profit sharing checks and lucrative executive compensation packages. These were preliminary discussions in which management listened, but made no commitments.
As Captain Stephan noted in his recent chair letter, to be successful in achieving “Equal Pay for Equal Work,†we need to continue following the “Three Pronged Approach.†Our pilot’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. It is solely up to the US Airways East pilots, so now, more than ever continue to do your own job, understand the W.A.R. Reports, and be ready to answer the call when we need your participation. Management needs to know that the first step in fixing our abysmal operation is to properly acknowledge the group of individuals that made the company successful. That acknowledgement needs to come on the 15th and 30th of each month.
Item 2. Recently the company changed its position on how employees conduct themselves when transporting passengers to the BAPS convention. The bottom line for those of us who may be flying these passengers, is that all crewmembers must follow our SOPs. As pilots, we should not be directly involved with this situation, however, should there be an incident on your flight remember to reference the FOM regarding passenger disruptions and security threat levels. The re-clarification to the AFA, instructed the flight attendants to follow SOPs.
While we are all very aware of different cultures, the re-clarification from management ensures that we follow normal procedures.
Item 3. A safety update on the merger process and Flight Deck distractions has been posted under What's New and emailed to all pilots.
News you can use;
W.A.R. Item 711
Standard Duty Periods, domestic, two pilots
A pilot shall not be scheduled for a standard duty period of more than fourteen (14) hours.
A pilot on a standard duty period may be required by the Company to remain on duty for up to fifteen (15) hours.
15 hours is the contractual limit.
Educate to Vacate:
The following is a prepared statement from the law firm of Baptiste & Wilder:
The question has been asked, “Why did we name the America West MEC and America West MEC Chairman as defendants in our complaint challenging the Nicolau Award, instead of Nicolau himself or for that matter ALPA National?†The answer to this question is straight-forward. Arbitrators are immune from suit over their awards under most state and federal law. A suit in the District of Columbia to overturn an arbitrator’s award is brought against the prevailing party in the arbitral proceeding rather than the arbitrator. In this case the appropriate party to the litigation is the America West MEC because it represented the AWA pilot group in the arbitration proceeding. The AWA MEC Chairman was sued in his official capacity as representative of all AWA pilots as a procedural safeguard. Our dispute over seniority integration is with the AWA MEC, not ALPA National, in its present posture. Under ALPA Merger Policy, ALPA National oversees the process but is commanded to remain neutral in the underlying seniority dispute. ALPA was neither a disputant nor a party to the arbitration proceeding. Thus, ALPA National is not the real party in interest to an action to vacate the award. That is why it was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
Equal pay for Equal Work item:
Cost of not receiving equal pay for equal work, as of October 1st, 2005 to July 1st , 2007 (including DC plan):
$29,147 for TOS Group 2 Captains
$13,258 for TOS Group 2 F/Os
Furlough updates will be announced once a week, normally in the beginning of the week and of course, when changes occur.
Follow the three prong approach, fly safe and thanks for listening.
