AStar TA!!!

[shooter]

P.S.
Thanks to you and other ABXA crew that have posted congratulatory salutations here. So much nicer than the vitriol being spewed over on the Yahoo board. If any of you guys know who "ABX767ABX" is over there, you should report him/her to your Professional Standards people. That person is not representing your group very well.

FAJ

Why do you guys even go over there and give him fodder. He is a jerk and so are many of you guys and what you post over there. I doubt anyone from either side can be proud of their bunch. You all are feeding off of each other like sharks in a feeding frenzy. You all should hold you heads in shame, and you know who you are.

 

[nitefr8dog]

I understand where you're coming from on that Eric. And this one could, though I don't think it will. There are going to have to be some "gotchas" in there that I don't see yet to make it a no. I'm going to wait for the road shows before I'm certain.

We voted our TA down close to 100%, one reason was a signing bonus instead of full retro watch out so you don't pay for it the rest of your career!

 

[erichartmann]

We voted our TA down close to 100%, one reason was a signing bonus instead of full retro watch out so you don't pay for it the rest of your career!

If they (Astar) accept a signing bonus that will no doubt make things harder for us. OTOH, it is not our place to tell them how to vote. Contract negotiations are a process of arriving at a compromise acceptable to the parties involved. We don't know what else they got that, from their POV, might make a signing bonus acceptable.

Apparently, in addition to pay raises, they got assurances on their scope language or new language that made them comfortable enough to drop their scope litgation. I don't know what this entails, or how it will affect ABX.

DHL may have agreed to hear the grievance, which is what the Astar pilots claim to have wanted. With DHL now owning 49% of Astar they may see the scope grieveance as a slam dunk in their favor. DHL may have agreed to settle the grievance. We don't know. It apparently means an end to any threat of furloughs and recall of any furloughed crewmembers for starters. They also appear to have assurances of additional aircraft, and a possible refleet.

Again, what this means for ABX is not clear. Unless DHL plans to return to pre 2003 levels of service, ABX will probably still have some DHL flying. How much? I don't know. DHL may cancel most or all of the DC-9 runs, leaving us with just the 767's. DHL might also terminate ABX's ACMI and we may find ourselves subcontracted to Astar, although since Astar is a part of the "DHL family" again, this doesn't really make any sense. There may be a renewed offer for a buyout, or an asset sale.

There are other possibilities or permutations of the above. Joe may keep all of the 767SF's and sell the the 767PC's to DHL. It is worth noting that the 12 767SF's that have been purchased from Delta and the lone ex American 767SF are being outfitted with satellite communcations. None of the DHL dedicated aircraft are being so equipped. This may be because DHL doesn't want to pay for or see the need for the upgrade. Joe might use any money realized from the sale of the 767PCs to DHL to purchase more 767's for conversion to SF's and charter. He might sell some of the 767PCs to DHL and use the money to convert the remaining PCs to SFs.

We simply don't know.

 

[hvydriver]

> It is worth noting that the 12 767SF's that have been purchased from Delta and the lone ex American 767SF are being outfitted with satellite communcations.<

It's my understanding that the JCAB won't allow any more ABX 767's to operate beyond the 2 that are there until they get satcoms. Perhaps that is related to additional ANA operations?

 

[erichartmann]

> It is worth noting that the 12 767SF's that have been purchased from Delta and the lone ex American 767SF are being outfitted with satellite communcations.<

It's my understanding that the JCAB won't allow any more ABX 767's to operate beyond the 2 that are there until they get satcoms. Perhaps that is related to additional ANA operations?

That may be all it is. We are supposed to increase the fleet under ANA charter to 5 later this year. Still, even allowing for a spare or two, we are still outfitting more than currently needed. Economy of scale may be a factor. Hete may believe he will need all of the 767SF's so equipped in the future and it may be cheaper per unit to do them all now.

 

[shooter]

> It is worth noting that the 12 767SF's that have been purchased from Delta and the lone ex American 767SF are being outfitted with satellite communcations.<

It's my understanding that the JCAB won't allow any more ABX 767's to operate beyond the 2 that are there until they get satcoms. Perhaps that is related to additional ANA operations?

739AX went to ANA ops this weekend from PANC and is sat comm equipped.

 

[Fightthefuture?]

I am confused about the job protections in our TA. the company can't furlough or surplus us and will guarantee growth through airplane purchases, UNLESS Astar buys an airline with 25 aircraft.

We bought a pig in a poke! We agreed to drop our scope lawsuit-which in my mind means we gave up our most important job protection and for what? For nothing Astar will buy ABX and the furlough protection is gone and so is our scope. If we vote for this TA we will have settled for substandard to average pay, no scope protection and no job protections.

VOTE NO

 

[AV8OR]

I am confused about the job protections in our TA. the company can't furlough or surplus us and will guarantee growth through airplane purchases, UNLESS Astar buys an airline with 25 aircraft.

We bought a pig in a poke! We agreed to drop our scope lawsuit-which in my mind means we gave up our most important job protection and for what? For nothing Astar will buy ABX and the furlough protection is gone and so is our scope. If we vote for this TA we will have settled for substandard to average pay, no scope protection and no job protections.

VOTE NO

Dude. First, you can do what you want, but, you might want to try the DHL017 ALPA message board for this type of thing. But, ...

A. There's no guarantee we're gonna buy ABX.
B. If we were to buy ABX or some portion, there's a variety of scenarios that could play out, that may or may not end up with a furlogh. My guess is though, you would not be furloghed.
C. The scope suit was the "hail Mary pass" to beat all "hail Mary's". As those that have read my posts here can testify, that does not mean I don't think we had a case, it's just that the lawsuit we were a defendant in on Scope in the 9th and the arbitration suit in Cincinnati, couls take years, (an indefinite number of them) to reach conclusion, may or may not end up with a "win", and a "win" could still produce a 55 gallon drum full of jack squat.

Furlough protection and scope are very tight ropes to walk in the end. What you might want to consider is this. Our MEC, made up of a variety of personalities and temperments, our Negotiators, again not made up of a bunch of lock steppers or lightweights, and our Scope Committee co-chairs, both of whom have spent thousands of hours bird dogging and slugging out the ins-and outs of our scope issues and who are VERY well versed in the various scenarios, are all 100% behind our TA. And they have had the opportunity to see more, hear more, read more, and look in the eye of the opponent. Before you vote "NO" to this TA, to all that IS in this TA, in opposition to the, in my opinion, wise and more informed counsel of these individuals, you might want to educate yourself with a phone call or e-mail to one or all of them, and find out what would have been your protection if we had made it an infinite year "no furlogh" clause. OR, where you'll stand in furlogh protection if the TA doesn't pass.

One vote though, it's yours to make. Hopefully it'll pass anyway.

Cheers.

 

[hvydriver]

Just ignore that AV80R. I don't think this "FighttheFuture" is one of us. I think someone is trolling for info.

 

[Box-Hauler]

Not to pry but when are the roadshows to begin, and when will you guys have the whole TA out so people (Astar people) can look it over.

If it is already out please ignore my ignorance.........