Allegheny TA 8/17/02 for anyone interest

[LearLove]

The first post is the TA and the second post below is commentary on the key points:ALPA Proposal 1

August 16, 2002

Allegheny SJ/Restructuring Agreement
A. The provisions of this Letter of Agreement are predicated on (1) equitable and
meaningful participation in the restructuring program by other labor groups and
management and salaried personnel at Allegheny and (2) the acceptance of
USAirways’/Allegheny’s application to the ATSB and the granting of the loan by
the ATSB. With regard to (1), above, the Company agrees to provide information
sufficient to demonstrate the necessary participation no later than August __,
2002. With regard to (2), above, the Company agrees to continuously provide
updated, current information regarding the status of said loan application to the
Allegheny MEC Chairman or his designee.
B. Relief Provided
1. Section 27.B.9. of the basic pilot Agreement shall be modified to provide
that pilots shall pay for their Health Insurance coverage at a rate
established each year by the Company that results in a 25%/75% (pilot
25%) sharing of the Company’s medical premiums; provided, however,
that no pilot will be required to pay more than twenty-five dollars ($25.00)
per month over the Health Insurance cost he paid on August 1, 2002.
Based on this formula, the following increases per pay period will be
effective as of August 1, 2002: Single $5.76, Two Party 1.44 and Family
$12.50.
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2. An additional 6 years and 1 day duration on the current basic Allegheny
Pilot Agreement; i.e., the basic Allegheny Pilot Agreement amendable
date changes from May 1, 2003 to May 2, 2009 (with Section 6 Notice 90
to 150 days prior). The parties will re-open a limited number of quality of
life issues (of insignificant economic impact) in May 2004. The parties will
have a maximum of 5 issues each resolved in binding arbitration by the 3-
member System Board of Adjustment as provided in Section 20 of the
basic Allegheny Pilot Agreement if they are unable to resolve such issues
in negotiations.
3. Current DHC-8-100 Captain rates (rates as of May 1, 2002) will be
reduced 9.5%. Current DHC-8-100 First Officer rates (rates as of May 1,
2002) will be reduced 9.5% and the first year First Officer rate will be
reduced an additional $1.00 per hour. All Captain and First Officer rates
will be subject to 2% annual increase on May 1 in 2003 and a 3% increase
on May 1 in each of the following years: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008,
and 2009. Rate charts are attached as Appendix A to this Letter of
Agreement.
4. Current Per Diem shall be reduced from $1.45 to $1.35 per hour until May
1, 2003, when it shall increase $.05 (to $1.40), with additional $.05
increases on May 1, 2004 and May 1, 2006, and an additional increase of
$.10 on May 1, 2009.
5. Taxi pay and maintenance write-ups, as described in Section 3.H. of the
basic Allegheny Pilot Agreement, shall be reduced to .0 then back to .2 on
May 1, 2009.
6. Pilots hired at Allegheny beginning after the effective date of a final
Agreement on this Restructuring/SJ Agreement will not be eligible for
Allegheny’s Defined Benefit Plan.
7. Delete paragraph 1.C.1. and 2. (Furlough Protection) of the basic
Allegheny Pilot Agreement.
8. No change in any other provision of the basic Allegheny Pilot Agreement
and no change to any other compensation, benefits or work rules.
C. 1. Pursuant to the so-called “small jet agreement” (Attachment B to the
mainline Restructuring Agreement), for the regional jet aircraft that are
financed with US Airways Group, a number consistent with that agreement
will go to the wholly owned subsidiaries of USAirways who participate in
restructuring, including the “Jets for Jobs Program.”
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2. The parties hereby accept and agree to the terms for operation of small jet
aircraft as specified in Attachment B to the mainline Restructuring
Agreement ratified 8/8/02. No more than fifty percent (50%) of the new
vacancies at Allegheny Airlines will be offered to USAirways Affected
Pilots and/or U Pilots. The pilot positions in jet aircraft not required by the
terms of Attachment B to the mainline Restructuring Agreement ratified
8/8/02 to be staffed with USAirways Affected Pilots and/or U Pilots will be
staffed by pilots from the Allegheny Pilots System Seniority List, excluding
former USAirways Affected Pilots and/or U Pilots.
3. Upon pilot ratification of this Letter of Agreement and signature by ALPA’s
President, the Company would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of
USAirways Group that is participating in restructuring, including the Jets
for Jobs program, i.e., the Company would become a Participating Wholly-
Owned Carrier for purposes of Attachment B of the mainline Restructuring
Agreement ratified 8/8/02, entitling Allegheny pilots to all the benefits of
that document, including, but not limited to, job opportunities at Mid-
Atlantic Airlines and flow through to USAirways. The Company commits
to use its maximum efforts to secure regional or express-type jet aircraft
for operation by the Allegheny pilots as contemplated by such agreement.
D. In the event of successorship transaction of any kind or description, including, but
not limited to, a merger (except a merger with another wholly owned subsidiary of
USAirways), assignment, purchase, transfer or change of control of the
Company, all the relief described in paragraph B. above, shall be eliminated and
the terms of the basic Allegheny Pilot Agreement shall immediately come back
into full force and effect.
E. The relief granted in paragraph B. of this Letter of Agreement, and any
Agreement resulting from them, are considered all the concessions by Allegheny
pilots required for any ATSB loan applied for by the Company or US Airways.
F. The relief granted in paragraph B. of this Letter of Agreement, and any
Agreement resulting from them, are considered all the concessions that will be
requested or required of Allegheny pilots should any restructuring, reorganization
or bankruptcy of any kind be applied for or declared by the Company and/ or US
Airways in 2002. If there is a bankruptcy filing during the time of pilot ratification
or thereafter, this Letter of Agreement will be treated by the parties and protected
in the same manner as the parties have agreed in Attachment N to the mainline
Restructuring Agreement, and the current basic Allegheny Pilot Agreement will
be protected in the same manner as the parties have agreed in the July 12, 2002
Letter re: “Tentative Agreement Concerning Restructuring Program” (the interim
bankruptcy protection letter) at Mainline. (See attachment ___ and __ hereto.)
[tracking the recitations in the Mainline deal]
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G. Section 23.C.1. of the basic Allegheny Pilot Agreement is modified to extend
recall rights from a pilot’s 4th anniversary to an unlimited duration.
H. The Allegheny Airlines pilots shall have profit sharing on terms no less favorable
than the profit sharing provisions established for the Piedmont Airlines pilots.
Promptly following the negotiation of such profit sharing provision(s) between the
Piedmont pilots and their management, the parties hereto will meet and confer to
adopt, codify and implement a comparable, no less favorable, profit sharing
program for the Allegheny Airlines pilots.
I. This Letter of Agreement must be ratified by the Allegheny pilots, the Company’s
Board of Directors and executed by the Association to be final and binding.
J. The ratification process for this Letter of Agreement shall be conducted in a
manner to assure that the result will be determined on or before September 6,
2002.
K. ERJ-145/CRJ-50 Rate and New Hire Training
1. Embraer Regional Jet (ERJ-145 and/or the Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ-
50) rates shall be as follows:
Year Captain First Officer
1 48.00 20.00
2 52.00 24.25
3 53.50 26.19
4 55.13 30.43
5 56.81 31.37
6 58.48 32.58
7 59.91
8 61.64
9 63.65
10 65.48
11 67.37
12 69.31
13 71.85
14 73.33
15 75.64
16 76.06
17 76.82
18 77.59
The above rates shall increase 3% annually on May 1 of each year.
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2. New Hires, including US Airways affected Pilot or U pilot, accepting
employment at Allegheny, will train at first year F/O rate applicable to the
equipment for which such pilot is training.
L. 37-44 Seat Small Jet Rates
Rate charts are attached as Appendix B to this Letter of Agreement.
M. Repayment of Monies Owed Due to Retroactive Application
Any amounts due to the Company as a consequence of the retroactive
application of the provisions of this Letter of Agreement to August 1, 2002 will be
paid back through payroll deduction in twelve (12) equal installments over the
twelve (12) months following signing of this Letter of Agreement. Any amount
due and owing when a pilot leaves the service of the Company will be deducted
from his final paycheck.
N. This Letter of Agreement constitutes an amendment to a pre-bankruptcy
collective bargaining agreement and does not alter the existing priority of
payments in bankruptcy.
O. Duration
Upon signing, this Letter of Agreement shall be effective as of August 1, 2002
and shall run concurrent with the basic Allegheny Pilot Agreement as amended
and extended hereby.
Dated this _____ day of August, 2002.
For Air Line Pilots Association For Allegheny Airlines, Inc.
__________________________ _________________________
__________________________ _________________________
__________________________ _________________________

 

[LearLove]

Commentary Post from ALG ALPA web site

Allegheny Grievance Committee
Rick O’Leary, Chairman
8-17-02 Tentative Agreement
Notes and Commentary
Council 95 LEC Meeting
9-4-02

The following text is an item-by-item commentary on specific elements of the T/A
as it was previously agreed to, and ultimately rejected by the Company. It is
important to note that in no way does this proposal mandate the placement of
even one regional jet here at Allegheny. And if it were the case that US Airways
Group was planning on selling the airline, then the wage and benefit concessions
contained herein, would make the deal even more attractive.
It should also be noted that the MEC has by no means endorsed the document.
The majority MEC members’ plan to submit the proposal for review by the
Allegheny pilot group was in response to requests by pilots who wanted that
opportunity.

Item (A). The first part of the first sentence: “The provisions of this Letter of
Agreement are predicated on…” does not require that the company supply us
with either of the two elements mentioned. The term “predicated” is not the same
as “contingent upon”. Therefore, there is no requirement for the company to
supply us with “information sufficient to demonstrate necessary participation…”
or to “continuously provide updated, current information regarding the status of
said loan application to the Allegheny MEC Chairman…” It may appear that if the
ATSB loan is not granted, then we will revert to the terms of our current
agreement, but that is not the case. This paragraph affords us no protection, and
thus is virtually meaningless.

Item (B)(1). Relief Provided. First, it is important to note that the Company is
self- insured. It doesn’t shop for inexpensive coverage; it shops for inexpensive
health plan administration. Core Source merely manages the Company’s health
insurance expenses for a fee. At the end of the first sentence of (B), it states:
“…pilots shall pay for their Health Insurance coverage at a rate established
each year by the Company that results…” This gives the Company the ability to
set artificially high rates at it’s discretion, which will increase our out of pocket
expense for pilot health insurance, while reducing the Company’s expense.
Those of us who were furloughed in 1994 remember all to well the cost of
COBRA health insurance increasing from a family rate of $485.00 per month, to
a rate in excess of $685.00 per month, which the Company was able to do at its
discretion. And this increase will be retroactive to August 1, 2002, which means
that if the T/A ever passes, we will owe the Company money.

Item (2). This paragraph extends our contract, with the modifications contained
in the T/A, until May 2, 2009. Also included in this section are two of the most
disturbing conditions of the agreement. Consider the following sentence: “The
parties will re-open a limited number of quality of life issues (of insignificant
economic impact), in May 2004.” The difficulty with this language is that
virtually any condition of any agreement can be argued to be of economic impact;
(a factor affirmed by ALPA Assistant Director of Representation Ken Cooper, as
well as our outside counsel). There is no clear description of what constitutes
“insignificant economic impact”, therefore, if we had an issue(s) we wanted to
negotiate, we would first have to argue whether or not it’s impact would be
“insignificant”. Then we would head for the next hurdle, which is embodied in the
following sentence: “The parties will have a maximum of 5 issues each resolved
in binding arbitration.” Agreeing to have issues resolved in binding arbitration
prevents us from engaging in “self help” (i.e. picketing). We will be legally hog
tied until May 2, 2009. That factor will also be of benefit to a prospective buyer
should Group decide to sell us.
Item (3) These rate reductions make us an even more attractive to a potential
buyer, and we will owe the Company 9.5% of what we made from August 1,
2002, until the date the T/A is ratified.
Item (4) Self-explanatory.
Item (5) We will no longer be paid for taxi credit or maintenance run-ups;
regardless of the time spent engaged in either task, and we will owe the
Company the credits we were paid from August 1, 2001.
Item (6) This sentence spells the end of the defined benefit (pension) plan for
new hire pilots.
Item (7) This sentence waives our furlough protection.
Item (8) This sentence states the obvious; as it goes without saying that all other
contract provisions remain unchanged.
Item (C)(1) This section does not guarantee in any way that regional jets will
come to Allegheny. Unlike the mainline Restructuring Agreement, our T/A does
not illustrate exactly what the terms of the referenced “Attachment B to the
mainline Restructuring Agreement” actually are. This language is extremely
general in it’s scope, and open to broad interpretation. It doesn’t commit the
company to anything.

Item (C)(2) The sentence: “No more than fifty percent (50%) of the new
vacancies at Allegheny Airlines will be offered to US Airways Affected Pilots
and/or U Pilots”, is a misrepresentation. Regional jets brought onto our property
to replace our Dash 8s do not represent “new vacancies”. And as was the case
in item C 1, there is no clear illustration of exactly what the terms of “Attachment
B” of the mainline agreement are.
Item (C)(3) This section also states the obvious. With what appears to be
upstanding legal language, is not. This merely says that if we accept this T/A, we
accept Jets for Jobs. It fails to mention in it’s reference to “…entitling Allegheny
pilots to all the benefits of that document…” that one of the benefits is putting
50% of our jobs on the cutting block, with no guarantee of even one regional jet
in return. The sentence: “The Company commits to use its maximum efforts to
secure regional or express-type jet aircraft for operation by the Allegheny pilots
as contemplated by such agreement”, is meaningless verbiage as well. The
company is under no obligation whatsoever to secure any aircraft for us.

Item (D) This section says that if we are sold to any entity outside US Airways
Group then our current contract goes with us, and the terms of the T/A are null
and void. There is no provision to refund the wages we gave the company back
in concessions. It is also important to consider that David Siegel is on record as
saying that he is going to build the Airways Express Division the same way he
built Continental Express (CoEx). At CoEx, he did not develop the contract
carriers; rather he developed the airline they owned. Siegel also said that he has
brought to US Airways the same group of people that he used to build the CoEx
operation.

Item (E) This poorly written paragraph implies that additional Letters of
Agreement may be written as a result of amendments to paragraph (B). One
note of interest is the fact that it makes reference to an ATSB loan applied for by
the Company or Airways.

Item (F) In the middle of this seemingly protective language, there is a reference
to “Attachment N” of the mainline restructuring agreement. Attachment N is a
document in which David Siegel affirms that if US Airways files bankruptcy in
2002, then neither US Airways, nor any of it’s affiliates will challenge the terms of
the agreement. Airways MEC Chairman Chris Beebe and ALPA President
Duane Woerth agreed with those terms as well. What is significant to us is that
Woerth’s signature on that document spoke on our behalf as well. In effect,
Woerth has waived our right to challenge the terms of the Airways T/A, because
he speaks for ALPA, who is our collective bargaining agent. His signature has
tied our hands. You will also note two blank spaces in the last sentence, and a
reference to “recitations” in the “Mainline deal”. Poor language, which is easy to
circumnavigate.

Item (G) This poorly written language should read: Replace the second sentence
of Section 23.C.1. To read: “Such recall rights are to be in effect for an unlimited
duration.”

Item (H) The profit sharing referenced in this paragraph has yet to be negotiated,
if it ever is negotiated. We are at the mercy of Piedmont. If they end up
negotiating profit sharing out of an agreement they make, we are out of luck.
The sentence: “… the parties hereto will meet and confer to adopt, codify, and
implement a comparable, no less favorable, profit sharing program for the
Allegheny Airlines pilots” is so broad based as to guarantee virtually nothing.

Item (I) In this sentence, we realize that it is not US Airways Group who has the
final say, but the Allegheny Board of Directors. It also indicates that the ALG
pilot group must ratify the agreement.

Item (J) While no longer relevant, our outside counsel has confirmed that in the
absence of a deadline mandated by the Bankruptcy Court, there is no need to
ratify the agreement by September 6, 2002.

Item (K)(1 and 2) these are self-explanatory.

Item (L) The 37-44 seat jet rates are industry standard. There has been some
speculation that the reason the Company didn’t suggest discount rates, is
because they aren’t planning on investing in aircraft of that size.

Item (M) This paragraph, which our outside counsel advises us the Company
cannot claim in Bankruptcy court, forces us to pay the Company back wage cuts,
taxi credit, runup credit, and higher health insurance premiums, retroactive to
August 1, 2002.

Item (N)

Item (O) Again, this affirms the retroactive nature of the agreements terms.

 

[Brother Francis]

"...Their chief weapon was their capacity to astonish; no one could believe anyone would do such a thing until it was already done..."

---Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Breakfast of Champions

 

[njcapt]

Rick O' Leary is my man. He is apparently the only ALG pilot with a voice of reason left as spokesman for the pilots. After the Mesa airlines selloff of 1994, I can't believe that any ALG pilot with intact long term memory would ever consider the abortion that is the SJ agreement. Comfy job protection for furloughed US Airways pilots, with no promise of a single small jet to ALG. So... as Mid Atlantic adds SJ's, turboprops are retired at the WO US Airways carriers until nothing is left.

For those of you who contend that this scenario is simply fear - mongering, I ask, "how long can ALG and PDT operate 13 to 18 year old Dash 8 equipment?" Not very much longer. As much money as these aircraft have saved US Airways money in the past ten years, there is no credit given when it is time for management to do the right thing. Will Group replace them with other turboprops? No way in heII.

The WO US Airways pilots have absolutely no leverage if they give up their hard won contract terms for the SJ hand job. Personally, I'm glad that I'm no longer there , forced to lobby my fellow pilots for the opportunity to stand up for myself. That, rather than be brushed aside by my supposed ALPA 'brothers' who want to subordinate my career to benefit those displaced by misguided policies that strangled the carrier that they relied on to make a living.

I sincerely hope the ALG membership has the cojones to vote this loser agreement down.

It is better to die on your feet, than to live on your knees.
Emilio Zapata

 

[LearLove]

What Vote!!!!!!

Thats exactly it. We can't vote down what we can't vote on. They the ALG "board of directors" according to our managemant took the TA away. What The Fck.

 

[njcapt]

That's what the fck, OVER.

Haven't had a chance to talk to Rick. Any idea why the ALG board pulled the offer? Are they worried about the whole deal being held up in court or do they think the offer is too lean (they would have to be delusional to think that they are asking for too little)?

Awaiting a shred of good news.

 

[Concierj]

Ouch, those pay rates are less then Mesa's. 5th year RJ Captain at YV makes 58.11 per hour...

 

[TWA69]

Mabye everyone from the WO's will start going to Mesa now to make more money if these concessions are passed. I hear they are going to start hiring.

 

[meanstreak]

It seems like you guys will make less than Mesa pilots ect. But what you don't realize is your work rules still kick ass over anything Mesa has to offer, therefor you will still be making much much more.

 

[328dude]

You know, I find it interesting that U pulled your guys TA off the table over a freaking sucessorship clause. I find it odd that U didn't pull PDT's as well. Your company's succesorship clause at all three WO are exactly the same.

If they had a problem with succesorship, they why pull only one TA and not both.

Any ideas?

 

[LearLove]

As far as I know and by the PDT pilot website management did pull PDT's TA too.