Fellow America West pilots,
When we recently announced the pull down of AWAPPA from its current structure, we promised you that we would not do so until we were able to provide you more information and closure about agency shop and membership issues. Although we have had updates about both of those issues prepared for some time, certain events have required us to withhold and/or revise the updates.
Within the last couple of weeks, USAPA sent letters to the Company demanding that it fire four pilots who USAPA claimed had not paid union dues or fees. While there are literally thousands of West and East pilots who have not paid dues, USAPA chose to send these letters to the Company demanding only that these four West pilots be fired. So far as we know, USAPA has not sent any other letters since sending these four.
USAPA mailed these letters on September 5th which started a critical fifteen day timeline to pay the dues alleged or submit a request for a review by the Company. All four pilots chose to request a review with US Airways Vice President of Labor Relations in accordance with Section 29 of the West collective bargaining agreement. Last night, we received word that the Company upheld the appeals of all four pilots. While each pilot raised numerous issues in arguing that the provisions of Section 29 were nor properly interpreted or applied, the VP of Labor Relations upheld the appeals based on the following issue (and therefore did not address the other issues each pilot raised):
While all four pilots had applied for membership with USAPA, only one pilot received email notification that her application had been accepted. This appeal was upheld on the basis that USAPA had violated its own Constitution and By-Laws by allowing the USAPA BPR to accept the application rather then the domicile members as required. The appeal states that unless it is clear that membership has been granted based upon established admissions procedures, the obligation to pay dues is in doubt and the pilot will not be fired.
The other three pilots had received no notification of whether their application had been accepted or denied. If in fact USAPA had denied their application, section 29 would not apply to them at all and there would be no obligation to pay dues money.
We will post copies of the company's decisions and other related documentation under the "members only" portion of the AWAPPA website sometime this weekend.
USAPA now has the opportunity to appeal these decisions within ten calendar days and submit the case before a neutral arbitrator.
USAPA continues to tell pilots to watch what our Management does and not what they say. We believe that the same test applies to USAPA's self-appointed leadership team. While USAPA claims that it wants West pilots to be part of the union, its actions have proven they are only interested in continued discrimination and intimidation. In addition to their baseless lawsuit against our pilots that was promptly dismissed by the Federal court, it also published an update on September 4th that announced the "acceptance" of over 600 West pilots' membership applications. But instead of notifying and welcoming these pilots, on September 5th, it sent letters to four of those pilots in an attempt to have them fired. Additionally, it seems as if the acceptance of the West membership applications was improper and invalid.
It is important for all pilots - West and East - to recognize that USAPA may send additional certified letters to pilots they believe are delinquent in union dues or fees and letters to the Company asking that they be fired. The date of this certified letter triggers a critical 15 day timeline that, if ignored, could lead to possible termination.
To summarize:
1) If you are delinquent on your dues or fees with USAPA, there is no basis upon which USAPA may seek your termination unless they have sent you a certified letter in accordance with Section 29. However, if you have been sent a certified letter from USAPA, it is imperative that you either:
a. Ensure that USAPA has received full payment no later than 15 days following the date of the letter, or
b. You have requested a review in accordance with Section 29.A.5.a no later than 5 days following your receipt of the certified letter. [Note: there is no guarantee that a review will prevent your termination]
2) We believe that those who applied for USAPA membership in accordance with our recommendations are not USAPA members for two reasons:
a. There has been no official notification of membership acceptance
b. The applications were not approved in accordance with the USAPA Constitution.
We realize that this news raises many more questions that it answers about Section 29. As always, you may submit your questions to info@awappa.org, and we will do our best to incorporate your questions into future updates. Expect to see a more detailed update about this issue in the next few days.
In solidarity,
AWAPPA
