It's their job to make profits for the shareholders not make us millionaires for only working half the month. I personally believe managment would welcome us to communicate more and solve these problems. Management is not some evil group up at headquarters trying to make our lives miserable. They have a tough job and put in a lot of hours. Give them some respect for gods sakes!!
Right....................................
UA Flights from CO Hubs
By now you have heard of plans by the new United Airlines to operate some 70-seat United Express flights out of Continental hub cities. This has been characterized by some as an intentional action on the part of management meant to insult the pilot group. You should be assured that this is not the case.
Now that the corporate merger has closed, United Airlines is one company operating two separate airlines. This is an arrangement we are obligated to maintain until we reach a joint Collective Bargaining Agreement, until ALPA completes the seniority integration of the CAL and UAL pilot groups, and until we obtain a single operating certificate from the FAA. The provisions of the CBA recognize this transition period and allow cooperation with United flights, whether it be for a United flight they have chosen to operate with a 150-seat jet or for a flight United has chosen to operate with a 70-seat jet.
We are working to optimize our combined network in order to increase our feeds through the hubs. This feed will flow onto larger mainline jets and create jobs for mainline pilots in larger aircraft – it is part of a strategy that allowed Continental to offer recall to all 148 pilots we had on furlough. We are using the assets available to the new United to enhance your future, not harm it.
The Company believes that optimizing our network in this way does not violate the contract – we would not do it if we thought it did. We have shared our explanation of this with ALPA and remain committed to working quickly through the issue with them, offering to take the issue to a neutral third-party arbitrator on an expedited basis if we cannot resolve it between ourselves. At the same time we will continue to meet with the ALPA Joint Negotiating Committee to quickly develop new work rules and compensation rates which will govern our combined airline going forward.
As we have asked the chairmen of both the United and Continental MECs to pass along to you, we appreciate the hard work you do and the focus you have kept on running a safe and reliable airline in spite of all the distractions around us which are unavoidable through the merger.
