Temporary Injunction against USAPA filed today

[CallawayGolf]

If I were Cleary I'd issue something like this today:


To all US Airways pilots,

US Airways has conducted a study of our airlines operations and that study shows a significant decrease in certain metrics since May 2011. I should not have to remind you that we are currently under the status quo rules and any action on your part that would violate those provisions would be ILLEGAL. To the specific points in the company's claims, I an directing you to:

1) Not call in sick if you are not indeed sick and/or unless you do not meet the requirements for reporting for duty listed in the FOM.
2) Do not falsely enter into the FDML or CML a discrepancy that is not valid.
3) Do not taxi at a speed that you know is less than safe for conditions.
4) Do not call in fatigued if you are well rested
5) At all time operate your aircraft as directed by the FOM with the priorities of:
-safety
-passenger comfort
-schedule
-efficiency


In general, continue to do the superior job that you have done since 2005, despite being the lowest paid and lowest appreciated pilots in the industry.

I fully support that. So, what has Cleary/USAPA issued in response to the Company's filing thus far?

 

[Claxon]

If I were Cleary I'd issue something like this today:


To all US Airways pilots,

US Airways has conducted a study of our airlines operations and that study shows a significant decrease in certain metrics since May 2011. I should not have to remind you that we are currently under the status quo rules and any action on your part that would violate those provisions would be ILLEGAL. To the specific points in the company's claims, I an directing you to:

1) Not call in sick if you are not indeed sick and/or unless you do not meet the requirements for reporting for duty listed in the FOM.
2) Do not falsely enter into the FDML or CML a discrepancy that is not valid.
3) Do not taxi at a speed that you know is less than safe for conditions.
4) Do not call in fatigued if you are well rested
5) At all time operate your aircraft as directed by the FOM with the priorities of:
-safety
-passenger comfort
-schedule
-efficiency


In general, continue to do the superior job that you have done since 2005, despite being the lowest paid and lowest appreciated pilots in the industry.

Your company is obviously losing control of its' employees. The mechanics will be next to be upset, December. The PSA flight attendants are now upset. Your company cannot effectively deal with labor, it will translate to lower profit. Institutional investors are already fed up, so are the small investors. The company is a clear failure, unable to ever reverse course for years. The western pilots have never had good managers, they would not recognize it if they saw it, nor would many eastern employees. It has been missing for years. There may be a bad outcome for all employees at this airline. It is that out of control with labor. You might be getting set up for a new management team, after they make life unbearable for another year. You will welcome someone like Stephen Wolf when he appears, with open arms. It is that bad under this management. Stephen Wolf or his clone will seem like a godsend, and he will not give you much other than a good pep talk you will buy in to after the beatings you will take under Parker. Parker will never work in this industry again after what is coming at this airline. He is a total failure. All of you, eastern and western should not stand for what he is doing to this airline. He is destroying your livlihood while enriching himself. But if he wins this new battle with eastern pilots? He will then defeat them, and take on the mechanics and the western pilots. Then? He will be the new model.

 

[Pi brat]

Well, if you are correct, then this would be another unintended consequence of USAPA engaging in an illegal work action related to safety. That is, USAPA foolishly enjoined safety topics to a work slowdown campaign rather than working to resolved genuine safety concerns that I'm sure Management would have cooperated in seeing it corrected. Instead, USAPA lost its voice over a true safety issue, as you describe it, and recklessly used that along with other slowdown tactics which has landed them in court with a high probability of having an injunction issued which will prevent them from bifurcating true safety issues from their illegal negotiating strategy. Well done USAPA.

Do you really expect the company to identify multiple, simultaneous spikes in operational statistics and then not include all of their data in their request for injunctive relief, especially when all of the activity is centered on east operations, particularly CLT?

I absolutely expect the company to react to the problems in their operation, I just disagree with their methods. To start with, they should have done things a lot differently years ago, and we wouldn't be in this situation. But, even if they didn't do that, they have completely mishandled this safety thing. No matter what you think one of the real reasons is, I cannot understand a company refusing to take part in a safety survey. They should have said" Absolutely we will take part. We don't see a problem, but if you really feel that way and want to fund it, we will encourage ALL our pilots to truthfully answer it, and will study and meet with you to review the results." That would have completely taken the wind out of anyone that wanted to use it as a job action! But noooo, they are just too damn smart for that.

Why do you and some west guys completely let the company off the hook? The have an obligation to the customers, employees , and shareholders of US Airways to manage this company in a way that actually does put safety first. By completely mishandling this merger( I think we can agree on that), they have not done that part of their job. Look at the Satcom issue on the 767. That was an issue that USAPA safety brought up. Were they wrong? If so, why is the company finally installing them? Yet the company and west pilots want to say that ALL that USAPA safety and east pilots do is for a contract or DOH. The west pilots, as a group, have played right into it, hoping for anything that will bring victory.

 

[luvn737s]

Stephen Wolf or his clone will seem like a godsend, and he will not give you much other than a good pep talk you will buy in to after the beatings you will take under Parker. Parker will never work in this industry again after what is coming at this airline. He is a total failure. All of you, eastern and western should not stand for what he is doing to this airline. He is destroying your livlihood while enriching himself.

Hate to break it to you, but Parker has been at the helm of this airline longer than Steppenwolf ever served at any airline. He's not going anywhere.

I believe he has not exploited all the cost advantages he has to make this airline all it can be, but he gets a passing grade for keeping it afloat.

Go back to bed Mother Jones wanna be.

 

[CallawayGolf]

I absolutely expect the company to react to the problems in their operation, I just disagree with their methods. To start with, they should have done things a lot differently years ago, and we wouldn't be in this situation. But, even if they didn't do that, they have completely mishandled this safety thing. No matter what you think one of the real reasons is, I cannot understand a company refusing to take part in a safety survey. They should have said" Absolutely we will take part. We don't see a problem, but if you really feel that way and want to fund it, we will encourage ALL our pilots to truthfully answer it, and will study and meet with you to review the results." That would have completely taken the wind out of anyone that wanted to use it as a job action! But noooo, they are just too damn smart for that.

Why do you and some west guys completely let the company off the hook? The have an obligation to the customers, employees , and shareholders of US Airways to manage this company in a way that actually does put safety first. By completely mishandling this merger( I think we can agree on that), they have not done that part of their job. Look at the Satcom issue on the 767. That was an issue that USAPA safety brought up. Were they wrong? If so, why is the company finally installing them? Yet the company and west pilots want to say that ALL that USAPA safety and east pilots do is for a contract or DOH. The west pilots, as a group, have played right into it, hoping for anything that will bring victory.

I suspect Management and most west pilots saw the USAPA safety survey as the obvious precursor to an illegal work slowdown and the tired old negotiating tactic which has been proven over and over again to receive harsh reprimand from the courts. Do you think Americans should participate in a Taliban-authored survey entitled, "is America the Great Satin"? I say no, because you cannot trust that the survey instrument is properly constructed to remove any prejudicial bias on the part of the survey designer. Furthermore, who would really trust USAPA to tell the truth if the survey actually put the company operations in a neutral to favorable light. Isn't it far more likely that USAPA would ensure the results came out exactly as they intended, not matter what the pilots actually said? USAPA telegraphs their nefarious intentions well enough in advance for Management and west pilots to know to steer clear of their every move.

Management does put safety first. Not only is that "the right thing to do" for all who travel on US, but it is also the most fiscally responsible thing to do as well. However, Management and USAPA may not always agree on what is/is not safe. If USAPA could ever be trusted and sought to have a meaningful and honest bilateral relationship with Management, certain concerns would almost certainly be given more consideration in the normal give and take between labor and Management. However, USAPA's penchant to turn everything into a narcissistic adversarial relationship based on distrust, false accusations, and breach of duty means they rightfully get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. Actions have consequences and USAPA's actions with regard to the NIC mean that they have no credibility or trust from anyone they sit across the table from.

 

[Pi brat]

I suspect Management and most west pilots saw the USAPA safety survey as the obvious precursor to an illegal work slowdown and the tired old negotiating tactic which has been proven over and over again to receive harsh reprimand from the courts. Do you think Americans should participate in a Taliban-authored survey entitled, "is America the Great Satin"? I say no, because you cannot trust that the survey instrument is properly constructed to remove any prejudicial bias on the part of the survey designer. Furthermore, who would really trust USAPA to tell the truth if the survey actually put the company operations in a neutral to favorable light. Isn't it far more likely that USAPA would ensure the results came out exactly as they intended, not matter what the pilots actually said? USAPA telegraphs their nefarious intentions well enough in advance for Management and west pilots to know to steer clear of their every move.

Management does put safety first. Not only is that "the right thing to do" for all who travel on US, but it is also the most fiscally responsible thing to do as well. However, Management and USAPA may not always agree on what is/is not safe. If, however, USAPA could ever be trusted and sought to have a meaningful and honest bilateral relationship with Management, certain concerns would almost certainly be given more consideration in the normal give and take between labor and Management. However, USAPA's penchant to turn everything into a narcissistic adversarial relationship based on distrust, false accusations, and breach of duty means they rightfully get less respect than Rodney Dangerfield. Actions have consequences and USAPA's actions with regard to the NIC mean that they have no credibility or trust from anyone they sit across the table from.

That is a complete insult to all of us, east and west, that took the time to answer the survey honestly. Had the company backed the survey and the majority of the pilots answered, they could have picked out the obvious distortions.

So, one of the findings from the survey was that our pilots give our dispatchers high marks. So, using your logic, that must not be true and our dispatchers are not to be trusted.

What about the 767 satcom issue? Are you going to answer that?


Pathetic. You and the mangers that did this.

 

[Pi brat]

Dupe

 

[CallawayGolf]

That is a complete insult to all of us, east and west, that took the time to answer the survey honestly. Had the company backed the survey and the majority of the pilots answered, they could have picked out the obvious distortions.

So, one of the findings from the survey was that our pilots give our dispatchers high marks. So, using your logic, that must not be true and our dispatchers are not to be trusted.

What about the 767 satcom issue? Are you going to answer that?


Pathetic. You and the mangers that did this.

I think I have ended quite a few sentences just in today's postings with a question mark that you never responded to either, but I'll respond to this one for you.

Did the 767 satcoms need to be addressed, yes. Were they a critical AOG safety issue that needed to be corrected before another 767 crossed the pond? No.

No one was in danger and no one was even close to being in danger. The FAA and Boeing didn't seek to shut down US' TA flying that I recall, so it was an expense that needed to be justified and handled in the normal course of business. Again, if USAPA had even the slightest degree of respect or credibility then perhaps this could have been addressed sooner.

Let me ask you this, did USAPA offer to have a neutral and mutually agreed upon third party review the safety survey to ensure that it was free of any inherent biases which would skew the results? If USAPA was so interested in learning about pilot opinions about safety why did they not work with Management to jointly conduct a survey that both sides were willing and eager to learn the of the results? USAPA likely has ulterior motives in everything they do and as such I see no reason to endorse any of their actions.

 

[Pi brat]

Let me ask you this, did USAPA offer to have a neutral and mutually agreed upon third party review the safety survey to ensure that it was free of any inherent biases which would skew the results? If USAPA was so interested in learning about pilot opinions about safety why did they not work with Management to jointly conduct a survey that both sides were willing and eager to learn the of the results? USAPA likely has ulterior motives in everything they do and as such I see no reason to endorse any of their actions.

The way I heard it was that the safety committee asked the company to do the survey and they refused, saying it was unnecessary, so USAPA did it on their own. Management refused to work with us!

And from a 767 check airman, the company repeatedly said that satcom was not necessary. It's not the Atlantic, as much as Brazil.

 

[azdryheat]

That is a complete insult to all of us, east and west, that took the time to answer the survey honestly. Had the company backed the survey and the majority of the pilots answered, they could have picked out the obvious distortions.

So, one of the findings from the survey was that our pilots give our dispatchers high marks. So, using your logic, that must not be true and our dispatchers are not to be trusted.

What about the 767 satcom issue? Are you going to answer that?


Pathetic. You and the mangers that did this.

Many flights still operate over the ocean without SATCOM. With the age of the 767's I don't think I would spend the money on it. SATCOM is nice to have, not essential. I am sure some will disagree.

 

[Res Judicata]

I cannot understand a company refusing to take part in a safety survey. They should have said" Absolutely we will take part. We don't see a problem, but if you really feel that way and want to fund it, we will encourage ALL our pilots to truthfully answer it, and will study and meet with you to review the results." That would have completely taken the wind out of anyone that wanted to use it as a job action! But noooo, they are just too damn smart for that.

I don't think the company is "too damn smart" for that, it's USAPA is too damn STUPID. The very second I laid eyes upon the "safety" survey, I knew exactly where this was headed. It's the lowest common denominator when seeking leverage when you have none for a pilot union. The company saw right through all of this as well and wisely refused to get involved. USAPA is so damned predictable the company probably saw this as their opportunity to let USAPA hang themselves. Which they did...right on cue. It is my fervent opinion that when compared to attaining the DOH promise, to USAPA, nothing else matters. NOTHING. Compared to saving face/ego and delivering on their impossible promises 4 years ago, the "safety" concern isn't even on the same planet.

IOW, USAPA doesn't give a rats ass about "safety". Professional pilots know when not to fly. They don't need their union to tell them that something isn't safe and YET here is USAPA standing on the roof top shouting through a bull horn about safety to anybody that will listen. Really? When was the last time you saw another Pilot union act this way? Uh, Never? I've lost count as to how many hysterical, manufactured crises USAPA was engineered. They simply have no credibility. None. Nobody gives a crap about USAPA or what they have to say anymore. They had their chance years ago but decided to focus their energies on C18 RICO, Fuel School, the lost Addington battle, Identity theft, Demanding Morell's head on a platter, "Safety" survey's and yet another epic failure USA Today ad and their pointless "on board" program. Notice there was never any effort to actually Unite the two groups. Quite the opposite. Being they are the "Union" and they demand payment for services, the Onus is on USAPA to Unite the two groups. That's what they're paid to do...The Cleary regime flatly refused to do so.

USAPA is here to force a DOH contract. Aside from that, there simply isn't another purpose for their existence. Everybody knows this...except the East for some reason. I think USAPA's fuel tank is bouncing off zero. I don't think they have nearly the support they used to and guys are simply worn out. I think LOA93 is wearing guys down to the bone, and USAPA has finally painted itself into the last corner. They don't have the interest, energy, or money to fight the Company on this. I don't think it's really a matter of If USAPA will eventually be thrown off the property, it's really just a matter of when. If Kasher ever gets off his lazy ass and does his job, that might be the final nail. In your heart of hearts...do many guys actually believe they're going to get a huge raise with astronomical back pay from Richard Kasher? I don't. So No DOH, an Injunction with possibly massive assessments for damage, No snapback, and no sign of EVER getting off LOA93. That is where USAPA will be putting the East pilot group in a matter of weeks. Most people can see that coming.

That is a far cry from their promises years ago. Cleary obviously caved on the lanyard issue as even he finally seems to be understanding the limits and futility of USAPA's efforts. The East pilots created this mess and unfortunately it's the East pilots that are going to have to dig us out. We out West are simply along for the ride as we watch USAPA grind through their own internal War of Attrition. The sooner USAPA flames out, the better for everybody. USAPA failed. Time to move on.

 

[autofixer]

Deleted by me. It's not worth the effort!

 

[Pi brat]

Many flights still operate over the ocean without SATCOM. With the age of the 767's I don't think I would spend the money on it. SATCOM is nice to have, not essential. I am sure some will disagree.

Yes, they do, but I have heard the we are the only airline to operate to Brazil without. Maybe a current 767 pilot can confirm. I think we lost track of an airplane that diverted due to HF problems. Again, through the grapevine.

 

[Pi brat]

I don't think the company is "too damn smart" for that, it's USAPA is too damn STUPID. The very second I laid eyes upon the "safety" survey, I knew exactly where this was headed. It's the lowest common denominator when seeking leverage when you have none for a pilot union. The company saw right through all of this as well and wisely refused to get involved. USAPA is so damned predictable the company probably saw this as their opportunity to let USAPA hang themselves. Which they did...right on cue. It is my fervent opinion that when compared to attaining the DOH promise, to USAPA, nothing else matters. NOTHING. Compared to saving face/ego and delivering on their impossible promises 4 years ago, the "safety" concern isn't even on the same planet.

IOW, USAPA doesn't give a rats ass about "safety". Professional pilots know when not to fly. They don't need their union to tell them that something isn't safe and YET here is USAPA standing on the roof top shouting through a bull horn about safety to anybody that will listen. Really? When was the last time you saw another Pilot union act this way? Uh, Never? I've lost count as to how many hysterical, manufactured crises USAPA was engineered. They simply have no credibility. None. Nobody gives a crap about USAPA or what they have to say anymore. They had their chance years ago but decided to focus their energies on C18 RICO, Fuel School, the lost Addington battle, Identity theft, Demanding Morell's head on a platter, "Safety" survey's and yet another epic failure USA Today ad and their pointless "on board" program. Notice there was never any effort to actually Unite the two groups. Quite the opposite. Being they are the "Union" and they demand payment for services, the Onus is on USAPA to Unite the two groups. That's what they're paid to do...The Cleary regime flatly refused to do so.

USAPA is here to force a DOH contract. Aside from that, there simply isn't another purpose for their existence. Everybody knows this...except the East for some reason. I think USAPA's fuel tank is bouncing off zero. I don't think they have nearly the support they used to and guys are simply worn out. I think LOA93 is wearing guys down to the bone, and USAPA has finally painted itself into the last corner. They don't have the interest, energy, or money to fight the Company on this. I don't think it's really a matter of If USAPA will eventually be thrown off the property, it's really just a matter of when. If Kasher ever gets off his lazy ass and does his job, that might be the final nail. In your heart of hearts...do many guys actually believe they're going to get a huge raise with astronomical back pay from Richard Kasher? I don't. So No DOH, an Injunction with possibly massive assessments for damage, No snapback, and no sign of EVER getting off LOA93. That is where USAPA will be putting the East pilot group in a matter of weeks. Most people can see that coming.

That is a far cry from their promises years ago. Cleary obviously caved on the lanyard issue as even he finally seems to be understanding the limits and futility of USAPA's efforts. The East pilots created this mess and unfortunately it's the East pilots that are going to have to dig us out. We out West are simply along for the ride as we watch USAPA grind through their own internal War of Attrition. The sooner USAPA flames out, the better for everybody. USAPA failed. Time to move on.

Amazing, but, what autofixer said.

 

[autofixer]

Yes, they do, but I have heard the we are the only airline to operate to Brazil without. Maybe a current 767 pilot can confirm. I think we lost track of an airplane that diverted due to HF problems. Again, through the grapevine.

It is true... it was a diversion to an alternate not filed, but directed by ATC; the alternate was full, something we don't have to consider in the States. I think they were lost to company for over 2 hours. There is very limited ACARS coverage and HF reception is difficult at best. We had no HF contact in S.A. this morning.