Which Family Will You Choose?
Dear US Airways Pilots,
We would like to express our appreciation for the many emails we have received. While we acknowledge they have not all been positive, we are pleased to see that many are and not all of those are from the pilots of Phoenix. To be sure, there have been a few negative responses, but they have mostly been authored by pilots within a predictable seniority range. As previously mentioned, we will attempt to answer your questions and address your concerns through our blog as quickly as we are able.
We are beginning to see evidence of the trend we predicted before the election began: It is becoming increasingly clear that many East pilots have grown tired of what can now be recognized as an obvious and costly strategic failure. These pilots now face a choice between “staying the course,” or “choosing a new path.” More succinctly, they face a choice between making their own flesh-and-blood family their priority, or placing a figurative “union brotherhood” of East pilots first.
An analysis of the USAPA leadership and committee structures shows precisely who has been making key decisions. Four of the eight non-Phoenix representatives on USAPA’s Board of Pilot Representatives were furloughed at the time of the merger. These pilots stand to gain richly at the expense of the former AWA pilots if the union were to ever reach its Date-of-Hire objective. This powerful motive is shared with the vast majority of committee volunteers. Of the 289 volunteers listed in the USAPA “Yellow Pages,” approximately 23% were also furloughed at the time of the merger, while another 32% were East First Officers. In addition, around 30% of Committee Chairmen and Co-Chairmen were furloughed at the time of the merger, while another 26% were First Officers. In summary, counting all officers, board members and committee members, an astonishing 56 % hail from the bottom half of the EAST (only) seniority list. More telling is the fact that most of these pilots stand to gain about 25-30% relative seniority over their East-only relative position when combined with the West using USAPA’s DOH proposal. The overwhelming majority of the union’s leadership, therefore, hails from the bottom half of the East list only. When counting the West pilots, they are representative of only about 25% of our total pilots. This is hardly reflective of the true majority.
The rest of this message is directed towards pilots found in the other THREE QUARTERS of the seniority list. For too long now, you have given (or been coerced into giving) your unwavering support to these junior East pilots. Most of you supported the creation of USAPA as a means of “helping” your East “brothers and sisters” regain a portion of the losses suffered during their lengthy furloughs. While this may have appeared worthy, the fact that the planned financial recovery for these pilots was at the expense of the West pilots, rather than from the coffers of the company, was carefully obscured. Whether you understood exactly what was happening or not, the overwhelming majority of East pilots went along with a union deliberately designed from the outset to disenfranchise and also severely limit the power of those former AWA pilots who would choose to participate. On the surface, this seemed like an unbeatable plan and, for a brief while, it created an incredibly unified group. For many, this may have even seemed admirable, but speaking against USAPA’s plan also meant certain persecution for those of you who would dare.
Many were fooled into believing you were doing the right thing and were proud to sacrifice tens-of-thousands of dollars to help your junior East colleagues. USAPA, by its very existence, created a competition between the bottom third of the East list and the entire West list. The only hope of victory for this small minority of the combined group was to enlist senior East pilots by convincing you that you were really fighting for a “higher cause,” or “the gold standard” through which your families would be greatly enriched once victory was achieved. In reality, all this did was force the more senior of you into a choice between supporting them (at the expense of the West), and supporting your own families.
Consider, for a moment, what happens when you are flying with a fervent “Date-of-Hire” supporter who was hired between 1987 and 2001. While it may never have occurred to you before, in actuality this person is really asking you to choose his side of the dispute, but he does not bother to explain the cost to the West group, and certainly hopes you ignore your own mounting losses! Your continued support only subjugates the needs of your own family to the desires of the Date-of-Hire “true believers.” You may choose to quietly “smile and nod” in order to keep the peace, but this only prolongs the illusion of your support. Alternatively, you can tell him (or her) that he had his chance to accomplish a goal for which he alone benefits and that you and your family will no longer pay the price. The decision as to how you wish to handle this recurring situation is yours. You can pretend to go along, or finally speak your mind. However, when it comes time to vote, you have only one choice- Ferguson, Koontz, and Holmes.
Voting for anyone else means and you are choosing that First Officer’s (or perhaps, junior Captain’s) family over your own. Those of you who would make such a choice are only pretending that your “union brothers and sisters” matter more than the future of your own family. Unity is a fine word and it serves as the foundation of an effective union, but in our present situation it cannot be attained until the relatively senior East pilots unite with the already unified West group. Only then will we possess the unity needed to bargain effectively with the company- strength in real numbers will be had for the first time since the merger began. If you haven’t already, you need to choose a different side at this time. Together, we can take control of our union from those who have had the helm for many years now, yet have managed to only move us backwards.
Throughout the remainder of the election period, we will outline our plans to achieve an industry-leading contract and transform USAPA into an independent union we can truly be proud of. Central to this plan is eliminating the infinite loop we are now in as a result of the continued pursuit of a non-Nicolau list. In addition, and unlike the way USAPA has been run so far, we will staff committees with volunteers from all ranges of the seniority list from every side of the entire company. We will actually be far more inclusive than USAPA has ever been before, and even the junior-most East pilots have nothing to fear. This is because we will not treat them the way in which the West has been treated. Instead, we will do things the right way, and tangible gains for all will be had as a result.
Please check back regularly for additional information.
So, which family will you choose?
Sincerely,
Eric Ferguson
Jeff Koontz
