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Air Wisconsin pilots win!!
- Thread starter Rottweiller
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captjim
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Pro: Many other "Regionals" will be able to build on their contracts with this one as the bar.
Con: None!
Great news. Congrats to the AWAC pilots. This is also really good news for the pilots at CMR, ASA, and PCL who are currently negotiating contracts. The pilots at MAG will be entering Section 6 this year also, and they need all the help they can get.
This is what your 1.95% does for you. Spread the word to your buddies at Skywest.
This is what your 1.95% does for you. Spread the word to your buddies at Skywest.
avrodriver
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Unfortunately for our managment the only people that would believe this story are people that don't work for this company....as long as there's money to be made, which there is regardless of our contract, it's in our owners best interest to keep the money machine rollin till the US Airways contract is up. AWAC's profits do not go to shareholders, they go to our owners. The money they each bring in a year from this comany is worth alot more to them than what any individual pilot on the property makes. They pay out the money they "borrowed" and made a couple sweet bets with ( US Airways stock), and the money keeps flowin in for them.
Good Luck getting the money, even if you did win the arbitration. Remember that you didn't win, until the cash is in your hands
Look at me!! I can be Captain Obvious too.
I'd say we're just a little better off than if we lost the arbitration aren't we?
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JustaNumber
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Could someone please provide a quick synopsis of the story of how the AWAC contract was changed? Was it mutually agreed to, or imposed? Thanks for those of us who haven't been following from the beginning. Every pilot I've talked to today (myself included) didn't even know there was anything in arbitration!
This sounds very good for all of us. Congrats!
ImbracableCrunk
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Rottweiller
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The short and quick version.
A couple of years ago when UAL where Chapter 11 they put everyones flying for them back up for bidding (some companies AWAC, ACA) had already signed new agreements, but now UAL wanted to cut them back. ACA said NO and went off on their own as Independance. AWAC pilots sat down with the company and and worked on a concessonary agreement BASED ON GETTING A UAL CONTRACT.
A few months later the company advised that AWAC had a contract with UAL for another 14 years of flying and so the concessonary contract went into effect in October 2004.
Then in 2005 UAL put out an RFP for AWAC flying stating to the courts that they couldn't reach an agreement with AWAC on flying and to terminate our contract with them. During this time AWAC management were being paid their original rate and the difference between that and the rate they had in 'theory' with UAL was put into an escrow account which AWAC owners got if no contract with UAL was signed. This was over $140 million (AWAC bought 14% USAir for $125 million).
The kicker was that the concessonary contract was written so it would only be effective on UAL flying so when we didn't get that the pilots (Union) asked for the old contract back. The company said NO you signed a new one, live with it. So off it went to court and the arbitrators. 1 1/2 years later the pilots get redemption.
Ever since AWAC owners profits have gone up clearing over $23 million a 1/4, they have pulled out over $300 million in USAir stocks and still own close to their original stake. Remember there are no share holders in AWAC just 6 owners who get to divy up the pot so they aren't hurting and won't be even after paying out or paying the old rates.
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Sandstorm
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Justa,
Not sure how you or anyone else on the property didnt know about the arbitration. That baffles me. Anyway....
Back in the day 2003 when UAL was in bankruptcy, they came to all the UEX carriers they had at the time (Skywest, ACA, AWAC) and asked all of us the rebid on the flying that we all already had. Additionally, they opened up the bidding process to basically every regional airline in existance. Long story short, the company told us that our costs were too high, and that in order to secure the UAL flying we needed to give paycuts. The union and ALPA attorney felt it was the best thing for us if we wanted to have jobs and wasnt going to be any better situation. The pilot group drank the Koolaid and agreed to concessions by a majority voting 324 YES 160 NO. The company then came back telling us good job, we have a 10 year contract with UAL. A couple months later they came back saying our contract with UAL was not an affirmed contract. As a result, the company stole our money and concessions, without ever securing the UAL flying. As a result, we filed a grievance and won.
avrodriver
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.........ummm I believe that is why it went to arbitration.
avrodriver
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The ladder was kicked out 3 1/2 years ago. There's no place else to go but up.
Rekks Inbound
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AWAC/Eastshore will still make plenty of money for the next 8 years then we'll close up shop. It's going to be fun stalling with contract negotiations with the company after we snapback to our old (expired) contract. Finally the tables will be turned with negotiations.
Oh yeah, Crashpad don't be so negative...who knows YOU may even see some back pay.
Oh yeah, Crashpad don't be so negative...who knows YOU may even see some back pay.
As a former AWACer, I can't let this one stand. No one "screwed" you. You and your fellow pilots AGREED to the concessions to help keep the company going. While the concessions didn't go for the stated purpose, it can't be denied that they were instrumental in getting a flying contract with USAir. If not for that, you'd have been on the street a year ago. Or more likely, you never would have been hired in the first place, judging by your screen name.
The thing that gets me is you probably weren't even around for the concessions. You were flying for ACA/Indy Air when all this began. So where do you come off complaining about it?
I came to AWAC in 2003. I did not get furloughed at ACA I came to AWAC for the DEN and ORD base. True the pilots did vote on the concessions and that is a vaild point. I did accept the concessions and faught hard to keep our UAL flying.
We (the employee's) got "screwed" because our management/ownership lied to us about having a affirmed contract. We did not have a affirmed deal.. Therefore the case aganist AWAC. Thankfully we won
When the ruling is made public you will see how sneaky our ownership was. If it was not for UAL calling AWAC on the carpet I am not sure it would have come to ARW union's attention.
This is not the same Air Wisconsin that I came to but still work hard as a pilot for them and they are the ones that sign my check. Hopefully this is a good change for other airlines who can re-examine concessions and can make changes.
Thanks.
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When I first found out that we didn't get the UAL deal, I did wonder how that they missed that little loophole in bankruptcy laws. But I just don't believe that they lied to us. I think that they thought that they had a deal with United, affirmed or otherwise. I've met the 3 amigos. I saw one or the other one almost every day. I just don't think they were lying. I could be wrong, but I think they were lied to by UAL.
It's just business...whether we were lied to or they were lied to, they still owe us 100% backpay with interest and our old contract back. They made a deal with us and didn't hold up their end of the deal. I feel no malice, I just want to be made whole. Anything less than a 100% remedy means that they saved money and that other managements should attempt to do the same.
Hoover,
Even if the 3 amigos did not lie to us... why did we take concessions? To keep United flying. We did not keep United flying. So what was the point of taking cuts?
I believe the 3 amigos worked very hard and smart to get the US Airways deal and deserve the millions they have made. But why are we still at our old pay scales? The premis is we took cuts to keep UAL flying. Bottom line is we fly for US Airways. And remember who made that transistion work. The pilots, and Fa's. It's the crews that have uprooted our families and moved or commute very far to the east coast. All this at a lower pay scale (to keep united flying).
So now we have a very profitable Us Airways, Air Wisconsin. So we want back what we had before. Call it lying, call it getting screwed, call it whatever you want. Maybe the amigos did not know. But there is no reason why we are flying for less money. NONE.
Do you know how inflation works, Hoover? So why are we making less? Why do wages decrease over time for us? Look around, people get raises, and QOL increases. Oh let me guess the airline industry is different. Well Air Wisconsin is different. We are highly profitable and invested well. So give us our money back.
Time for the rest of the industry to do the same.
Even if the 3 amigos did not lie to us... why did we take concessions? To keep United flying. We did not keep United flying. So what was the point of taking cuts?
I believe the 3 amigos worked very hard and smart to get the US Airways deal and deserve the millions they have made. But why are we still at our old pay scales? The premis is we took cuts to keep UAL flying. Bottom line is we fly for US Airways. And remember who made that transistion work. The pilots, and Fa's. It's the crews that have uprooted our families and moved or commute very far to the east coast. All this at a lower pay scale (to keep united flying).
So now we have a very profitable Us Airways, Air Wisconsin. So we want back what we had before. Call it lying, call it getting screwed, call it whatever you want. Maybe the amigos did not know. But there is no reason why we are flying for less money. NONE.
Do you know how inflation works, Hoover? So why are we making less? Why do wages decrease over time for us? Look around, people get raises, and QOL increases. Oh let me guess the airline industry is different. Well Air Wisconsin is different. We are highly profitable and invested well. So give us our money back.
Time for the rest of the industry to do the same.
Rez O. Lewshun
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