Actually, when I said that we weren't taking it out on the AA pilots, what I was really eluding to was the crewroom talk. I don't spend much time on these boards because it's full of "drive by shootings". To me it's a waste of time to get wrapped up in it with people who bitch but don't really debate.
By and large, the focus has been on the unjustified changes to Letter 3 without our consent. Our frustration and anger is directed toward management and APA, not the line pilot. The SCAAB badges that were being worn by some was, I believe, something that happened at one base, but it isn't the mainstream belief.
If APA had any sense, it would see the mass displacement issue as a point of leverage against the company since the company only seems to respect those groups that put up a fight. They don't respect cooperation. To them cooperation means that labor gives and management takes. Everytime we do it, we lose.
And especially since there is the potential for 100s of AA pilots flying the Eagle contract, not to mention 450 or so of us with AA numbers, you'd think APA would at least be interested in improving the Eagle situation, not disemboweling it.
Another principle in this fight is this: What's next in our contract that management will try to unilaterally change without our consent? Without enforcement, what little we have is lost.
The irony of this TA is that the FACTS speak for themselves, so it's easy to take a position that is as devoid of politics as possible.
FACT: AA, AE, APA, and ALPA negotiated and signed a contract in 1997 with a duration of 10 years.
FACT: AA and APA are seeking to change it. Of course AE has to go along with it as our top execs are AA employees looking to stay on the "fast track".
FACT: Letter 3 contains "exceptions" to the Basic Agreements (Preamble Para. C). It is NOT a stand alone document. Anything that is not specifically allowed in Letter 3 is controlled by our (and your) Basic Agreement, period. APA does NOT have the right to "waive" displacement (although ALPA would probably consent to it if asked and management loves the idea), and it does NOT have the right to retain those seats by giving all furloughed pilots recall rights into our vacancies. I challenge anyone to show me those rights in Letter 3.
FACT: Eagle management makes no secret that the TA is a change in Letter 3. Where APA tries to create a smoke screen that they are simply waiving a right, and therefore no consent of ALPA is required, we get emails from management and posting on the company Q&A page clearly stating that Letter 3 says one thing and the TA something very different.
FACT: ALPA was left out in the cold and continues to be shunned by AA, AE, and APA. When those parties criticize ALPA's attitude, it is a smear campaign. They are determined NOT to negotiate with ALPA.
FACT: If you had a major stake in a contract, and the other co-signers were not only violating it, but seeking to make changes without your consent, you'd be talking to a lawyer, too, and you'd be making **CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED****CENSORED** sure that all you're ducks are in a row before going to court, if necessary. You'd be making sure that you follow all the steps in the grievance process and carefully choose your words in public so that when the day comes to file your suit, you're in a strong position.
I've been around a long time here and I've never seen the Eagle pilots so unified on a topic as this one. On the other hand, I was talking with a senior AA captain the other day who thought it was perfectly acceptable to change Letter 3 if it wasn't working out in AA's favor. When pressed about the need to get ALPA's consent, the captain kind of choked on the thought as though APA doesn't have to do things like that.
Another pointer that you may not be aware of. The flow back part was designed by APA and ALPA to be EXTREMELY costly to management to implement in order to discourage them from using token furloughs like they do during contract talks. The impediments were designed to protect your job security.
To prove management's commitment to skirt the requirement that AA pilots displace Eagle RJ captains in order to flow back, management has done the following:
1. The initial wave of flow backs a year and a half ago were never trained but paid to stay at home. The next more senior wave was trained. Management did not want the hassle or cost of the displacements.
2. When the LAX base was opened, management gave our vacancies to pilots who did not have the right to get them - AA flow backs. Management did not want the cost and hassle of the potential displacement ripple effect as many of us would have proferred a displacement off the jet to get back to home base.
3. Our company president last winter said that if APA and ALPA ever did an integration that created mass displacements at Eagle, then Eagle would be sold to avoid the training costs.
4. And finally, AA negotiated away the "right" to displace EMB captains which wipes out almost all of the displacements.
Management is HUGELY committed to not have the cost or the headache of implementing Letter 3 as agreed. Was management duped on this on in 1997. Hardly, and there chess players are better than anyone else's here. They just gambled that a 9/11 scenario of a dramatic downturn in the industry wasn't going to happen. Now that is has, they're screwed and don't want to pay the piper, or in this case negotiated with ALPA, thereby showing RESPECT for the contract and for their own employees.
If Mr. Arpey seeks to made a real difference here, he should start by fixing this bad habit that management has.
I would ask of you what we've been asking of everyone:
1. Get highly educated on Letter 3/Supplement W. It contains both right and protections for BOTH of our groups. Eagle pilots flowing to AA was never meant to be a free-for-all and AA pilots flowing back likewise. Limited up, limited back.
2. Ask your management, chiefs, fellow pilots, and union reps why they don't they think they need to, e.g., live up to their signature on a piece of paper. Ask your union why they are in collusion with management against ALPA and the Eagle pilots. On the
www.letter3.org site there is a laundry list of questions that come to mind. Probably the best one would be why management thinks that it can lead this company in a positive manner when it still relies upon contract abuses followed by scare tactics to cheat their way out of their promises to labor.
3. Submit to us any public documents that would help all of us understand what is going on behind the scenes so that we can cut through the rhetoric that is bombarding and confusing a lot of us. In your first post when you talked about ALPA talking in legal jargon, etc..., I knew that you didn't necessarily have a balanced view of both sides of the issue. On the web site, we have a lot of Eagle stuff, but that's because that's home territory. We're just as interested in getting AA stuff to add balance. The facts are clear but cutting through the spin is hard. But we know it's spin anytime that management (ours) starts defending the actions of APA while at the same time criticizing ALPA's. Management detests unions.
Thanks for the feedback and please spread the word that we all need to get actively involved on both sides of this problem and hold management and the unions accountable, because our livelihoods are at stake.
www.Letter3.org
