US Airways ALPA MEC Chairman’s Message - June 20, 2007
This is MEC Chairman Jack Stephan with a Chairman’s message to the pilots for Wednesday, June 20, 2007.
I read with disappointment today, the latest missive from Council 41. While Rome burns, our PHL representatives are consumed by conspiracy theories that would rival any John Grisham novel. I am disappointed because this kind of nonsense is not what we need from our leaders right now. I am getting sick and tired of the resurrection of name calling, careless innuendos and placing blame. I am also concerned that your dues dollars are being used to proliferate such reckless communications.
Sometimes I wonder if I attended the same meetings last week that the PHL reps reference. I would be remiss and it would be unfair to the MEC as a whole, if the truth in this instance were not told. In total disregard of the facts, the capitalized statement in the PHL June 19th Fast Read stated: “NOT A SINGLE QUESTION FROM A FELLOW MEC MEMBER,†concerning the recall of Captain Donn Butkovic.
This is blatantly untrue and an unjustified attempt to discredit the entire MEC. One would have to question the motive of this type of statement. In fact, all pilots should know that numerous questions were asked and answered and that Negotiating Committee Chairman Doug Mowery himself stated that the recall attempt was “unwarrantedâ€. The attempt to recall Donn Butkovic ultimately failed and it is time to move on.
At our meeting last week, I told the MEC that what our pilots needed from us right now are solutions and less flag waving. It’s way past the time of looking at the gnarled body on the emergency room gurney saying, “geez that looks awful.†It’s time to start attacking the problem and not each other. Public displays of intra union fighting just don’t work and most importantly, you have told us repeatedly in our Wilson Center Polls that MEC infighting is what you despise the most.
As your MEC Chairman, you need to know that unless I have all 12 MEC members rowing in the same direction, what we end up delivering to you is compromised. I don’t care if your reps like each other or if share the same investments. I want them all on the same sheet of music and that sheet right now is fighting to overturn the Nicolau award. As fighter pilots would say, “all the rest is rubbish,†and this rubbish is distracting to our cause.
I am calling on all PHL pilots to contact your reps and to tell them to knock it off. Tell them they should spend as much time coming up with solutions as they do in writing their next tabloid sequel. I need them to help me fight for you. Rhetoric and personal assaults are of no use to me, teamwork and fresh ideas are the ammunition I need.
No doubt the temperature in our kitchen is getting hotter and the pressure increasing on your elected representatives. I cannot have any of your representatives panic when things aren’t going our way. Democracy, as we know, has its shortcomings, but it beats the alternatives. When we break the huddle of MEC strategy, I recognize that not all members may be thrilled about the play we are about to execute. But to give the play any chance of success we had better not broadcast it to the opposing side.
Now I’d like to inform you of a phone call I will make this week to our CEO, Doug Parker. I am going to talk to him about a resolution that your MEC passed at our meeting in CLT. The resolution demands among other things, that AAA pilots be paid the same rate to perform the same job as the AWA pilots. We have been patient for too long enduring the sting of another B Scale. The AAA pilots are not going to subsidize any more profits and lucrative executive compensation packages around here with bottom of the barrel wages. If equal pay for equal work is good enough for our CEO, then it is good enough for the AAA pilots. Enough is enough of the double standard on our compensation. I will report to you the progress of this call and the process we will engage in to address this inequity.
I am also waiting to hear from Captain Prater on where we stand with the May 24th Executive Council resolution that encouraged both MECs to “explore consensual approaches that promote career protection and mutual success.â€
Regardless of what you have read or heard elsewhere, our agreeing to this process DOES NOT change our position before the Executive Council and our strategy with regard to overturning the Nicolau award. I did tell Captain Prater that it took two to tango, and that we were not interested in engaging in any dance with a recalcitrant partner.
Enough for now. Thanks again for all your support. The battle continues every day. The strength of our resolve and the clarity of our focus will continue to serve us well. So continue to look out for each other out there.
And as always, fly safe and thanks for listening.
USA320Pilot comments: As I indicated last week one option is for the US Airways pilots to receive a pay raise (and vacation too), have the East pilots live under the rest of LOA 93, and then keep the two pilot groups separate as a means to settle the Nicolau Award dispute. Discussions on this issue between ALPA and Management started last week and are now being made public.
The benefit for both pilot groups is that there would not be two different pay scales and each pilot group keeps its pre-merger career expectation.
Regards,
USA320Pilot
This is MEC Chairman Jack Stephan with a Chairman’s message to the pilots for Wednesday, June 20, 2007.
I read with disappointment today, the latest missive from Council 41. While Rome burns, our PHL representatives are consumed by conspiracy theories that would rival any John Grisham novel. I am disappointed because this kind of nonsense is not what we need from our leaders right now. I am getting sick and tired of the resurrection of name calling, careless innuendos and placing blame. I am also concerned that your dues dollars are being used to proliferate such reckless communications.
Sometimes I wonder if I attended the same meetings last week that the PHL reps reference. I would be remiss and it would be unfair to the MEC as a whole, if the truth in this instance were not told. In total disregard of the facts, the capitalized statement in the PHL June 19th Fast Read stated: “NOT A SINGLE QUESTION FROM A FELLOW MEC MEMBER,†concerning the recall of Captain Donn Butkovic.
This is blatantly untrue and an unjustified attempt to discredit the entire MEC. One would have to question the motive of this type of statement. In fact, all pilots should know that numerous questions were asked and answered and that Negotiating Committee Chairman Doug Mowery himself stated that the recall attempt was “unwarrantedâ€. The attempt to recall Donn Butkovic ultimately failed and it is time to move on.
At our meeting last week, I told the MEC that what our pilots needed from us right now are solutions and less flag waving. It’s way past the time of looking at the gnarled body on the emergency room gurney saying, “geez that looks awful.†It’s time to start attacking the problem and not each other. Public displays of intra union fighting just don’t work and most importantly, you have told us repeatedly in our Wilson Center Polls that MEC infighting is what you despise the most.
As your MEC Chairman, you need to know that unless I have all 12 MEC members rowing in the same direction, what we end up delivering to you is compromised. I don’t care if your reps like each other or if share the same investments. I want them all on the same sheet of music and that sheet right now is fighting to overturn the Nicolau award. As fighter pilots would say, “all the rest is rubbish,†and this rubbish is distracting to our cause.
I am calling on all PHL pilots to contact your reps and to tell them to knock it off. Tell them they should spend as much time coming up with solutions as they do in writing their next tabloid sequel. I need them to help me fight for you. Rhetoric and personal assaults are of no use to me, teamwork and fresh ideas are the ammunition I need.
No doubt the temperature in our kitchen is getting hotter and the pressure increasing on your elected representatives. I cannot have any of your representatives panic when things aren’t going our way. Democracy, as we know, has its shortcomings, but it beats the alternatives. When we break the huddle of MEC strategy, I recognize that not all members may be thrilled about the play we are about to execute. But to give the play any chance of success we had better not broadcast it to the opposing side.
Now I’d like to inform you of a phone call I will make this week to our CEO, Doug Parker. I am going to talk to him about a resolution that your MEC passed at our meeting in CLT. The resolution demands among other things, that AAA pilots be paid the same rate to perform the same job as the AWA pilots. We have been patient for too long enduring the sting of another B Scale. The AAA pilots are not going to subsidize any more profits and lucrative executive compensation packages around here with bottom of the barrel wages. If equal pay for equal work is good enough for our CEO, then it is good enough for the AAA pilots. Enough is enough of the double standard on our compensation. I will report to you the progress of this call and the process we will engage in to address this inequity.
I am also waiting to hear from Captain Prater on where we stand with the May 24th Executive Council resolution that encouraged both MECs to “explore consensual approaches that promote career protection and mutual success.â€
Regardless of what you have read or heard elsewhere, our agreeing to this process DOES NOT change our position before the Executive Council and our strategy with regard to overturning the Nicolau award. I did tell Captain Prater that it took two to tango, and that we were not interested in engaging in any dance with a recalcitrant partner.
Enough for now. Thanks again for all your support. The battle continues every day. The strength of our resolve and the clarity of our focus will continue to serve us well. So continue to look out for each other out there.
And as always, fly safe and thanks for listening.
USA320Pilot comments: As I indicated last week one option is for the US Airways pilots to receive a pay raise (and vacation too), have the East pilots live under the rest of LOA 93, and then keep the two pilot groups separate as a means to settle the Nicolau Award dispute. Discussions on this issue between ALPA and Management started last week and are now being made public.
The benefit for both pilot groups is that there would not be two different pay scales and each pilot group keeps its pre-merger career expectation.
Regards,
USA320Pilot
