Old School 737
NG's now and it is A OK!!
- Joined
- Jun 13, 2005
- Posts
- 986
August 3, 2007
ALPA’s President and First Vice-President briefed the ALPA Executive Board by teleconference on August 1 on developments related the status of the seniority integration issues facing pilots at America West and US Airways.
Capt. Prater briefed the Board on the following points:
“Let me first begin by thanking the Executive Council, union leaders, and committee members of both America West and US Airways, members of the Rice Committee, our outside counsel, and our ALPA staff for working tirelessly to develop creative solutions to the issues that both pilot groups are facing when it comes to the integration of their seniority lists and their members’ future.
“I have said many times that, when one pilot has a problem, we all have a problem. I won’t sugarcoat it: I believe that our entire union and all of our 61,000 members have a problem. It is important to each of us, and to each of our members, for us to help resolve the issues that the US Airways and America West pilots are confronting. I am an optimist, and I believe that these pilot groups—through contract negotiations—still have the opportunity to forge a collective bargaining solution that will help all of our groups put the 9/11 bankruptcy era behind us.
“That is why ALPA’s Executive Council, including all the national officers, has worked hard to impress on both East and West MECs that their mutual success depends on their working together to find common solutions to their problems. Unity is the only option. Division will lead us nowhere,” Prater said. “In fact, only their airline’s management will be able to take advantage of this situation. That is completely unacceptable.
“Before I discuss the Executive Council’s resolution passed on July 19, let me brief you on the events leading up to the Council’s resolution. After the corporate transactions at US Airways and America West, and at the request of the two MECs, the Executive Council in October 2005 initiated the requested Policy Initiation Date, the first step in Merger Policy. The merger committees of America West and US Airways pilot groups were unable to negotiate a seniority integration agreement pursuant to policy. They were also unable to reach agreement through mediation, so again following policy, they appointed a three-person arbitration panel. Each group picked a pilot neutral from the ALPA list of pilot neutrals, and they then agreed on the neutral arbitrator, George Nicolau.
“Then, on May 3, 2007, arbitrator Nicolau released the seniority award he had developed. That announcement effectively halted much of the momentum that the joint negotiations and joint campaign demonstrations had garnered. The unity between both sides that we had witnessed through joint picketing events, rallies, and negotiations ground to a halt. I must also interject here that never have the leaders of the two MECs stopped trying to communicate with each other,” Prater said. "Hard disagreement does not mean that any of them have stopped trying to create a solution that works.
“However, the MECs’ public positions concerning the merits of the award were nearly diametrically opposed. We—the national officers and Executive Council—subsequently received thousands of letters and e-mails from pilots of both airlines voicing their opinion about the award and the path forward that each of them preferred we take.
“After I met with the US Airways MEC and the America West MEC during the week after the publication of Nicolau’s award, I extended an invitation to the MEC officers to appear before the Executive Council,” Prater recalled. “We heard from the two MECs at the May 21 meeting of the Council and deliberated on the subject through the Executive Board meeting at the request of the US Airways MEC. The Executive Council took up the issues of seniority integration again on June 26 and decided to extend consideration of the award until the Council next met on July 17.
“During that time, the Council established a committee under the guidance of ALPA’s first vice-president, Capt. Paul Rice, to work with both MECs and their Negotiating Committee members to communicate with all pilots and develop creative solutions to the problems that the pilot groups face.
“Between June 16 and July 17,” Prater said, “we worked hard to set up a joint MEC meeting, which I would convene on July 17. We also conducted polling and moved forward on several fronts with the Rice Committee [click here to read an update from Capt. Rice], and we focused on keeping the lines of communication open between the two MECs.
“Then, on July 17, the Executive Council participated in a full day of intense dialogue with both the America West and US Airways MECs. This session took place at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., and was facilitated by three members of the Rice Committee (Paul Rice and Capts. Ray Miller, the ALPA executive vice-president from Northwest, and Dave Webb, the FedEx MEC chairman). Deliberations centered on the representatives’ views as to the seniority award and various collective bargaining solutions to the present situation.
“I am pleased to report that the joint MEC meeting led to an increased understanding on everyone’s part as to the true nature of the difficult issues confronting us,” Prater said. “Of equal importance, the deliberations formed the basis for significant action taken by the Executive Council on July 19.
“Let me first say that the resolution was passed unanimously by the Executive Council. In its resolution, the Council determined that ALPA’s role under Merger Policy is to provide a process for seniority integration, while remaining completely neutral on the outcome. The Council determined that no evidence had been presented to persuade them that any aspect of our Merger Policy process was not followed. It’s important to note that this does not constitute a ruling on the US Airways pilots’ request, but it does set forth the rules for deciding that request.
“The resolution also acknowledged that no timetable has been set under either the Merger Policy or the Transition Agreement regarding the handing over of a merged seniority list to US Airways management,” Prater said. “Further, the Council recognized that, in accordance with Merger Policy and the Transition Agreement, management may not use a merged seniority list without a single collective bargaining agreement, and that such an agreement will not take effect without separate successful membership ratification votes by America West and US Airways members. This means that both sides have effective veto authority on any such agreement.
“What the resolution does is to clarify that ALPA National’s role in seniority integration under Merger Policy is to provide the process for the MECs and their merger representatives,” Prater said. “The resolution does not require the MECs and the Rice Committee to focus on continuing to seek a merged agreement at this time, but it recognizes that potentially there are other practical solutions that may or may not lead to a merged agreement. It assumes that both groups will continue to cooperate with the work of the Rice Committee to develop these solutions.
“To summarize, given all of this, the Executive Council decided that our union’s resources should be devoted to bringing about practical results through the efforts of the Executive Council, the Rice Committee, the MECs, and the Joint Negotiating Committee.
“The result may lead to a merged agreement, umbrella agreements, or multiple agreements. The Executive Council believes that, with the terms of its limited jurisdiction clarified, there is now a clear basis for full cooperation with this process on the part of both MECs.
“I want to reiterate to everyone on the call that we are not going to stop working until we get to collective bargaining outcomes that we want. It’s going to take hard work, and good faith, within our union.
“The problems that exist today for these two pilot groups are not going away by looking for some other organization to join or form. We need to get on with the work of providing good pay, good benefits, good work rules, and career protection for all of the pilots of the combined US Airways,” Prater said.
“I am asking each of you to pledge your personal support for this effort and to make yourself available to join our work as we move forward. It is in the best interests of all ALPA pilots that we unify the pilots of the combined US Airways and get them what they so richly deserve. They and many of our members have worked and lived for far too long under the bankruptcy-era post-9/11 contracts, and that is the express purpose for which I wanted the Executive Board to be briefed and engaged in finding the solution to our problem.”
Capt. Rice, who chairs the special committee formed by the Executive Council provided the following report.
Get on with it already and quit stalling. Both sides followed the ALPA guidelines and merger policy and a judgment was made. All they "ALPA" is doing now is making it worse for the rest of us buy making it look like they don't follow the rules when they don't like them. Great way to run an organization.
ALPA’s President and First Vice-President briefed the ALPA Executive Board by teleconference on August 1 on developments related the status of the seniority integration issues facing pilots at America West and US Airways.
Capt. Prater briefed the Board on the following points:
“Let me first begin by thanking the Executive Council, union leaders, and committee members of both America West and US Airways, members of the Rice Committee, our outside counsel, and our ALPA staff for working tirelessly to develop creative solutions to the issues that both pilot groups are facing when it comes to the integration of their seniority lists and their members’ future.
“I have said many times that, when one pilot has a problem, we all have a problem. I won’t sugarcoat it: I believe that our entire union and all of our 61,000 members have a problem. It is important to each of us, and to each of our members, for us to help resolve the issues that the US Airways and America West pilots are confronting. I am an optimist, and I believe that these pilot groups—through contract negotiations—still have the opportunity to forge a collective bargaining solution that will help all of our groups put the 9/11 bankruptcy era behind us.
“That is why ALPA’s Executive Council, including all the national officers, has worked hard to impress on both East and West MECs that their mutual success depends on their working together to find common solutions to their problems. Unity is the only option. Division will lead us nowhere,” Prater said. “In fact, only their airline’s management will be able to take advantage of this situation. That is completely unacceptable.
“Before I discuss the Executive Council’s resolution passed on July 19, let me brief you on the events leading up to the Council’s resolution. After the corporate transactions at US Airways and America West, and at the request of the two MECs, the Executive Council in October 2005 initiated the requested Policy Initiation Date, the first step in Merger Policy. The merger committees of America West and US Airways pilot groups were unable to negotiate a seniority integration agreement pursuant to policy. They were also unable to reach agreement through mediation, so again following policy, they appointed a three-person arbitration panel. Each group picked a pilot neutral from the ALPA list of pilot neutrals, and they then agreed on the neutral arbitrator, George Nicolau.
“Then, on May 3, 2007, arbitrator Nicolau released the seniority award he had developed. That announcement effectively halted much of the momentum that the joint negotiations and joint campaign demonstrations had garnered. The unity between both sides that we had witnessed through joint picketing events, rallies, and negotiations ground to a halt. I must also interject here that never have the leaders of the two MECs stopped trying to communicate with each other,” Prater said. "Hard disagreement does not mean that any of them have stopped trying to create a solution that works.
“However, the MECs’ public positions concerning the merits of the award were nearly diametrically opposed. We—the national officers and Executive Council—subsequently received thousands of letters and e-mails from pilots of both airlines voicing their opinion about the award and the path forward that each of them preferred we take.
“After I met with the US Airways MEC and the America West MEC during the week after the publication of Nicolau’s award, I extended an invitation to the MEC officers to appear before the Executive Council,” Prater recalled. “We heard from the two MECs at the May 21 meeting of the Council and deliberated on the subject through the Executive Board meeting at the request of the US Airways MEC. The Executive Council took up the issues of seniority integration again on June 26 and decided to extend consideration of the award until the Council next met on July 17.
“During that time, the Council established a committee under the guidance of ALPA’s first vice-president, Capt. Paul Rice, to work with both MECs and their Negotiating Committee members to communicate with all pilots and develop creative solutions to the problems that the pilot groups face.
“Between June 16 and July 17,” Prater said, “we worked hard to set up a joint MEC meeting, which I would convene on July 17. We also conducted polling and moved forward on several fronts with the Rice Committee [click here to read an update from Capt. Rice], and we focused on keeping the lines of communication open between the two MECs.
“Then, on July 17, the Executive Council participated in a full day of intense dialogue with both the America West and US Airways MECs. This session took place at the AFL-CIO headquarters in Washington, D.C., and was facilitated by three members of the Rice Committee (Paul Rice and Capts. Ray Miller, the ALPA executive vice-president from Northwest, and Dave Webb, the FedEx MEC chairman). Deliberations centered on the representatives’ views as to the seniority award and various collective bargaining solutions to the present situation.
“I am pleased to report that the joint MEC meeting led to an increased understanding on everyone’s part as to the true nature of the difficult issues confronting us,” Prater said. “Of equal importance, the deliberations formed the basis for significant action taken by the Executive Council on July 19.
“Let me first say that the resolution was passed unanimously by the Executive Council. In its resolution, the Council determined that ALPA’s role under Merger Policy is to provide a process for seniority integration, while remaining completely neutral on the outcome. The Council determined that no evidence had been presented to persuade them that any aspect of our Merger Policy process was not followed. It’s important to note that this does not constitute a ruling on the US Airways pilots’ request, but it does set forth the rules for deciding that request.
“The resolution also acknowledged that no timetable has been set under either the Merger Policy or the Transition Agreement regarding the handing over of a merged seniority list to US Airways management,” Prater said. “Further, the Council recognized that, in accordance with Merger Policy and the Transition Agreement, management may not use a merged seniority list without a single collective bargaining agreement, and that such an agreement will not take effect without separate successful membership ratification votes by America West and US Airways members. This means that both sides have effective veto authority on any such agreement.
“What the resolution does is to clarify that ALPA National’s role in seniority integration under Merger Policy is to provide the process for the MECs and their merger representatives,” Prater said. “The resolution does not require the MECs and the Rice Committee to focus on continuing to seek a merged agreement at this time, but it recognizes that potentially there are other practical solutions that may or may not lead to a merged agreement. It assumes that both groups will continue to cooperate with the work of the Rice Committee to develop these solutions.
“To summarize, given all of this, the Executive Council decided that our union’s resources should be devoted to bringing about practical results through the efforts of the Executive Council, the Rice Committee, the MECs, and the Joint Negotiating Committee.
“The result may lead to a merged agreement, umbrella agreements, or multiple agreements. The Executive Council believes that, with the terms of its limited jurisdiction clarified, there is now a clear basis for full cooperation with this process on the part of both MECs.
“I want to reiterate to everyone on the call that we are not going to stop working until we get to collective bargaining outcomes that we want. It’s going to take hard work, and good faith, within our union.
“The problems that exist today for these two pilot groups are not going away by looking for some other organization to join or form. We need to get on with the work of providing good pay, good benefits, good work rules, and career protection for all of the pilots of the combined US Airways,” Prater said.
“I am asking each of you to pledge your personal support for this effort and to make yourself available to join our work as we move forward. It is in the best interests of all ALPA pilots that we unify the pilots of the combined US Airways and get them what they so richly deserve. They and many of our members have worked and lived for far too long under the bankruptcy-era post-9/11 contracts, and that is the express purpose for which I wanted the Executive Board to be briefed and engaged in finding the solution to our problem.”
Capt. Rice, who chairs the special committee formed by the Executive Council provided the following report.
Get on with it already and quit stalling. Both sides followed the ALPA guidelines and merger policy and a judgment was made. All they "ALPA" is doing now is making it worse for the rest of us buy making it look like they don't follow the rules when they don't like them. Great way to run an organization.
Nice to see someone from an airline other than the 2 in question who seems to 'get it' . Sure wish Prater and his minions did.
