The US Airways East pilot contract limits Express turboprop aircraft to have no more than 69 seats. Thus, the company is not permitted to fly the 76-seat Q400.
The Company needs to replace the aging Dash 8 fleet and considers Plan “B†the ATR, which it s currently able to fly.
Scope clause relief is being held hostage to the Nicolau Award and contract problems. The East pilots would not agree to a contract talks that would implement the Nicolau Award through a joint contract, thus, negotiations stopped during the representational election.
Now, it is still unclear how pilot contract negotiations will proceed, which could include the turboprop scope clause topic. Yesterday USAPA issued the following Officer message:
USAPA OFFICER MESSAGE - May 1, 2008
Fellow Pilots,
This morning USAPA President Stephen Bradford, Vice President Mike Cleary, Secretary Treasure Mark King and Negotiating Advisory Committee Consultant Doug Mowery met with senior management in Tempe AZ. Present for Management was CEO Doug Parker, President Scott Kirby, Chief Operating Officer Robert Isom, Senior Vice President Flight Operations/Inflight Ed Bular and Vice President Labor Relations Al Heminway. The 60 minute meeting in Tempe was the first time the two parties met, and talks were professional and businesslike. Although this was the first meeting between Management and USAPA as the new collective bargaining agent, many of our pilots have been down this path with no less than four management teams in the last seven years.
The meeting certainly provided an occasion to open channels of communications and afforded each party an opportunity to deliver a message. Although Management's message to USAPA expressed optimism and was forward looking now that the representational vote is completed, we know that what management says is not as important as what they do.
USAPA’s message to management was straightforward concerning pilot issues system-wide. There is an enormous amount of pilot energy here at US Airways which can be easily directed. US Airways management has an opportunity to motivate the employees in a positive direction and our message made them aware that addressing the pilots’ issues will be a key component. This, in turn, will produce positive effects for the Corporation and Management’s strategic plans. It will however take more than words to motivate our pilots. Actions truly do speak louder than words.
We look forward to seeing positive actions from Management in the very near future that support a motivated pilot work force; these will be the actions of a management who desires to create an airline that delivers a quality service to its customers.
Regards,
USA320Pilot
From what I know we allow outside contract carriers to fly the E170/175 but a wholly owned like PSA or Piedmont can't fly the Q400? :blink:
