Charlotte
Charlotte Domicile Update
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Hostile Work Environment
"Everyone at US Airways and particularly those who have a voice in compensation, promotion or work assignments must avoid conduct that could appear improper. Suggestions or inferences that an employee's response to discrimination or unlawful harassment will affect his or her employment, wages, advancement, assignments, or any other benefit or condition of employment, are prohibited and will not be tolerated. Should such behavior occur, appropriate disciplinary action will be taken Discipline may include suspension, demotion or termination. Any employee who feels that he or she has been subjected to unlawful discrimination or harassment should promptly report the matter to his or her Station Manager or department head, any Human Resources Manager, or the Sr. Vice President of People, Communication and Culture."
The above quote is taken directly out of the Code of Ethics and defines the Hostile Work Environment Policies of US Airways in the Human Resources manual. As Professional Pilots we are being subjected to obvious threats and intimidation while on duty from many sectors which cross the lines of the above definitions. We have reports of agent supervisors, mechanic supervisors, and management personnel that are directly interfering with our flight crews in their defined job performance and are actually verbally threatening as well as writing abusive reports that have led to investigations. We have seen our pilots brought into the Chief Pilot's office for hearings as well as so-called "fact finding meetings" that we deem to be harassment and intimidation by flight department management. We have personally seen Captain Ed Schmidt hiding in the PHL crew room (lying flat on his belly on top of crew bags in the bag stowage area) attempting to overhear pilot conversations during crew room visits. Captain Schmidt has also been observed in the ramp tower in CLT the last few weeks attempting to spy on our pilots as they perform their duties. His observations have generated meetings for at least 9 of your peers to the Chief Pilot's office to address what Ed has thought he has witnessed. In fact Ed Schmidt has falsely accused our pilots of taxiing too slow, supposedly sitting off the gate for excessive periods of time and writing up legitimate discrepancies in the FDML. Lyle Hogg has actually accused our professional pilots of a "job action" because of Management's failures and inabilities to run an airline. Without doing their homework the false accusations as well as attempted intimidation of our pilots has brought us to a new low in Safety Culture. Our pilots are being subjected to a hostile work environment that borders on discrimination because a group of former airline pilots with half the experience of any line pilot in CLT think they can run your cockpit from the ramp tower. They are second guessing -- Monday morning quarterbacking, if you will -- your every move while you make decisions concerning the operation of your aircraft. This threatening behavior is demonstrative of the failed Safety Culture of our airline in addition to creating the hostile work environment defined above. The piece de resistance of this behavior can be seen in the following CBS message (all caps means they are yelling at you) generated to the pilot group last month. This message along with all the behaviors mentioned above clearly in our minds crosses every line of threats and intimidation of the above policy statement:
FROM: CORBUSIER. J.
SUBJECT: DISTANCE LEARNING COMPLETION
I AM ISSUING YOU A DIRECT WORK ORDER TO COMPLETE YOUR DISTANCE LEARNING TRAINING BY THE ESTABLISHED DEADLINE OF MIDNIGHT MAY31, 2011. FAILURE TO COMPLETE YOUR DISTANCE LEARNING BY THE ESTABLISHED DEADLINE MAY RESULT IN DISCIPLINE UP TO AND INCLUDING TERMINATION OF YOUR EMPLOYMENT. IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS PLEASE CALL THE OFFICE.
CAPTAIN SKIP PATE
CLT CHIEF PILOT
We have never witnessed such behaviors at our airline and this is not only a defined change in the status quo at US Airways but is the definition of a hostile and intimidating work environment. As Professional Airline Pilots we are all constantly being pushed towards the "red" in the threat and error management Volant model by a hostile management team that not only fails to understand our work environment but refuses input. This while they constantly seek to punish rather than look for cooperative solutions from those that are entrusted to fly their jets, as we carry on our shoulders the ultimate responsibilities of operating a safe airline.
Each and every one of you should hold your head high as you have maintained control of your cockpits and working environment from those that threaten the safety of our profession and our airline. Dr. Terry von Thaden and the Illumia Corporation's Safety Culture Survey clearly states that it is your professionalism and experience that has prevented the human factors disaster that US Airways' safety culture and management style propagates. Thank you all, and especially those of you that have been recently been placed on the tip of the spear and subjected to the harassment and intimidation of the Tempe mindset. You, ladies and gentlemen, are heroes in our eyes, standing up to Team Tempe's intimidation campaign as they attempt to gain control of your cockpits. Each of us owe those of you that have been placed on that spear tip our gratitude and appreciation for standing up for our profession. Our crews are the masters and true professionals of their flights, and we must maintain control of our flight operations. Those that hold management positions have lost touch with our profession and fail to comprehend the effect their adverse behaviors have on the Safety Culture of our airline.
We expect more actions from Management, and more quality time being spent in the office representing our pilots from the hearings being ordered from Team Tempe. Thus far, the following Charlotte pilots have sustained the threats and intimidation delivered by our management team:
Captain Hank Ratliff
Captain Mike Gearing
Captain Tom Jellar
Captain Rick Taylor
Captain Randy Sands
Captain Tom White
Captain Tip Airey
Captain Stan Parker
Captain Darrell Webb
We consider each of you heroes of your profession and we will not waver in our efforts to defend and protect all of our pilots from the flawed safety culture behaviors of an aggressive unresponsive management team that simply fails to get it. Your union did not make the decision to call for the termination of VP Safety Paul Morell in a vacuum -- all of the actions taken by the Company show you why he must go.
