CAL EWR B737
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Today is Wednesday, November 21, 2012 and there is one item for your review.
Item One: Tentative Agreement Pro Statement
The following is a reprint of the Tentative Agreement Pro Statement published earlier today by the majority of the CAL MEC Status Representatives who voted in favor of sending the TA to the pilots for your review:
PRO Statement
Throughout the lengthy four party negotiations which culminated in the Tentative United Pilot Contract Agreement, your MEC shared the high expectations of the majority of our pilots. We acknowledge from the start, that it is disappointing that we did not secure equity or full retro pay. It is also disappointing that our hourly pay rates do not catch completely up to Delta's from the start. With that said, we believe that overall, as viewed from the present time to the amendable date, as well as from cover to cover, the Tentative Agreement is Industry Leading. Additionally, while falling short of full retro pay, the lump sum is the highest amount ever achieved by any pilot group in an ALPA contract, and it is dramatically higher than what management believed was acceptable as recently as last July.
The JCBA negotiating environment was difficult on a number of levels. First, the merger required the negotiations to start with two drastically different contracts, both of which are severely concessionary and unsatisfactory. Second, having two distinct MEC's created additional logistical and political issues from the beginning of the process to the end. Third, the National Mediation Board was heavily involved during much of the process. Fourth, the Railway Labor Act is designed to amend and make gradual adjustments to contracts. It was neither designed, nor intended, to merge two drastically different contracts together, while simultaneously recovering from draconian concessions.
Upon first reading, absent any briefings or explanation, the Tentative Agreement leads to many questions, and it can also lead to many assumptions. Because the TA is so lengthy and complex, it is important for every pilot to read the educational materials, view road shows and the TA website, and directly ask for clarification about any sections which he or she continues to find unclear or confusing, rather than simply making assumptions or believing rumors. Questions can be submitted on the Tentative Agreement website www.unitepilotagreement.com
Scope
One of the primary cornerstones of our contract is Scope. In an era of complex joint ventures, Open Skies agreements, and the potential for cabotage and foreign encroachment, Scope governs our careers like no other section of our contract. Scope is about protecting and enhancing United pilot careers, which is much more complex than simply the size of individual regional aircraft used to support our mainline flying. Continental pilots had the same 50 seat RJ limit in 2001, yet Continental was the very first airline to furlough pilots after 9/11, and regional Continental Express flying exploded during the 2000's.
We believe that the Scope contained in the TA is arguably the leading Scope agreement in the Industry, and without equal when compared to other peer Legacy Network Carriers. While our TA closely mirrors Delta in some aspects, it exceeds them in its breadth of protections for our pilots. Additionally, it far exceeds US Airways, and what was recently negotiated at American. Further, the TA Scope provides fixes to the weaknesses in our current CAL Scope and that of UAL.
While we may have deprived the company from outsourced 76 seat jets in the past, that deprivation never rewarded our pilots with the ability to fly them, nor did it afford the company an additional means necessary to generate the revenue we required of them for our increased salary and benefit demands. Industry conditions, competitors and the NMB made it more or less inevitable that scope would have to be modified, if we were to make necessary economic progress in the JCBA.
Knowing our pilots' distaste for UAX 76 seat jets, we secured industry leading provisions related to this change, that would ensure United pilot jobs would be protected. We achieved this by virtue of an Industry Leading block hour ratio, tied to our single aisle aircraft. No other carrier has this level of protection at the present, and for our pilots it starts at Date of Signing.This provision also creates a balance of flying between our single aisle aircraft and UAX operations, something that we did not have at CAL, which allowed our single aisle flying to shrink, while CalEx flying exploded following 9/11. This potential is now corrected, by virtue of this new ratio. It also fixes the problem the UAL pilots suffered, which allowed their 737's to be parked and replaced by regional jets. The only way UAX can grow under the new TA, is for our single aisle flying to grow, and conversely, if we begin to shrink our single aisle flying, so too will UAX. An important part of this is that the Widebody growth we expect to experience in the coming years is exempted from this ratio, so UAX will not be able to grow via mainline Widebody growth.
We believe that a huge win for our pilots in this TA is to contractualize the acquisition of our “gap in gauge” aircraft (this is reflected in the New Small Narrowbody Aircraft requirement). Whether or not the company chooses to extend their options that will trigger this purchase remains to be seen, but if they do, it will trigger a landslide of additional protections for our pilots. These include the purchase of the new aircraft, tightening of the block hour ratio and the immediate reduction of 50 seat aircraft, with no mechanism for their return. If they choose not to take that path, then they will operate at a strategic and numerical disadvantage to DAL, and we will still have our block hour protections.
Management used large Q400 turboprop aircraft to exploit our current Scope provisions. TA Scope limits large turboprops, because they are counted just the same in the limits and ratios as jets are.
Another new restriction and limitation in the TA Scope is that 80 percent of all UAX flying must be less than 900 statute miles.
The TA codeshare provisions came from our CAL book and have been effective for the last seven plus years, by requiring reciprocity in all such arrangements. TA Scope also corrects a problem that was brought to us by the UAL scope section, by requiring the company to fly its own aircraft in the market on joint ventures. The Aer Lingus JV made an example of the weakness of current UAL book Scope. In essence, under TA Scope, the company cannot receive revenue from these arrangements if they are not also generating revenue from our flights, using our pilots.
This TA also takes what we learned from our current merger situation, and codified the bulk of the protections from our contract and those negotiated in the Transition and Process Agreement. While we don’t foresee another round of big mergers in our future, this TA will ensure that we will be sitting at the table having already achieved the protections we would want at that time, should such an event occur. It also strengthens our fragmentation language, by encompassing our Guam operations, which were essentially left on the outside of our contractual protections existing in our current Scope section.
There are new furlough protections in this Scope TA that were not previously available to our pilots. As a brief overview of these protections, they include the 76 to 70 seat conversion requirement if a single current seniority list pilot is furloughed (a tremendous economic disincentive for the company to furlough), a staffing formula that must be met prior to a furlough, two separate merger no furlough protections, and a requirement for job opportunities in the event of a fragmentation.
Finally, the Retained Management Rights clause in our current and past contracts' Scope sections has been removed from the entire contract. This clause has been cited by management in various arguments and System Boards.
When looking at TA Scope in its entirety, we believe that it is Industry Leading, and that it also provides improved job protections for our pilots, over andabove our current Scope protections.
Item One: Tentative Agreement Pro Statement
The following is a reprint of the Tentative Agreement Pro Statement published earlier today by the majority of the CAL MEC Status Representatives who voted in favor of sending the TA to the pilots for your review:
PRO Statement
Throughout the lengthy four party negotiations which culminated in the Tentative United Pilot Contract Agreement, your MEC shared the high expectations of the majority of our pilots. We acknowledge from the start, that it is disappointing that we did not secure equity or full retro pay. It is also disappointing that our hourly pay rates do not catch completely up to Delta's from the start. With that said, we believe that overall, as viewed from the present time to the amendable date, as well as from cover to cover, the Tentative Agreement is Industry Leading. Additionally, while falling short of full retro pay, the lump sum is the highest amount ever achieved by any pilot group in an ALPA contract, and it is dramatically higher than what management believed was acceptable as recently as last July.
The JCBA negotiating environment was difficult on a number of levels. First, the merger required the negotiations to start with two drastically different contracts, both of which are severely concessionary and unsatisfactory. Second, having two distinct MEC's created additional logistical and political issues from the beginning of the process to the end. Third, the National Mediation Board was heavily involved during much of the process. Fourth, the Railway Labor Act is designed to amend and make gradual adjustments to contracts. It was neither designed, nor intended, to merge two drastically different contracts together, while simultaneously recovering from draconian concessions.
Upon first reading, absent any briefings or explanation, the Tentative Agreement leads to many questions, and it can also lead to many assumptions. Because the TA is so lengthy and complex, it is important for every pilot to read the educational materials, view road shows and the TA website, and directly ask for clarification about any sections which he or she continues to find unclear or confusing, rather than simply making assumptions or believing rumors. Questions can be submitted on the Tentative Agreement website www.unitepilotagreement.com
Scope
One of the primary cornerstones of our contract is Scope. In an era of complex joint ventures, Open Skies agreements, and the potential for cabotage and foreign encroachment, Scope governs our careers like no other section of our contract. Scope is about protecting and enhancing United pilot careers, which is much more complex than simply the size of individual regional aircraft used to support our mainline flying. Continental pilots had the same 50 seat RJ limit in 2001, yet Continental was the very first airline to furlough pilots after 9/11, and regional Continental Express flying exploded during the 2000's.
We believe that the Scope contained in the TA is arguably the leading Scope agreement in the Industry, and without equal when compared to other peer Legacy Network Carriers. While our TA closely mirrors Delta in some aspects, it exceeds them in its breadth of protections for our pilots. Additionally, it far exceeds US Airways, and what was recently negotiated at American. Further, the TA Scope provides fixes to the weaknesses in our current CAL Scope and that of UAL.
While we may have deprived the company from outsourced 76 seat jets in the past, that deprivation never rewarded our pilots with the ability to fly them, nor did it afford the company an additional means necessary to generate the revenue we required of them for our increased salary and benefit demands. Industry conditions, competitors and the NMB made it more or less inevitable that scope would have to be modified, if we were to make necessary economic progress in the JCBA.
Knowing our pilots' distaste for UAX 76 seat jets, we secured industry leading provisions related to this change, that would ensure United pilot jobs would be protected. We achieved this by virtue of an Industry Leading block hour ratio, tied to our single aisle aircraft. No other carrier has this level of protection at the present, and for our pilots it starts at Date of Signing.This provision also creates a balance of flying between our single aisle aircraft and UAX operations, something that we did not have at CAL, which allowed our single aisle flying to shrink, while CalEx flying exploded following 9/11. This potential is now corrected, by virtue of this new ratio. It also fixes the problem the UAL pilots suffered, which allowed their 737's to be parked and replaced by regional jets. The only way UAX can grow under the new TA, is for our single aisle flying to grow, and conversely, if we begin to shrink our single aisle flying, so too will UAX. An important part of this is that the Widebody growth we expect to experience in the coming years is exempted from this ratio, so UAX will not be able to grow via mainline Widebody growth.
We believe that a huge win for our pilots in this TA is to contractualize the acquisition of our “gap in gauge” aircraft (this is reflected in the New Small Narrowbody Aircraft requirement). Whether or not the company chooses to extend their options that will trigger this purchase remains to be seen, but if they do, it will trigger a landslide of additional protections for our pilots. These include the purchase of the new aircraft, tightening of the block hour ratio and the immediate reduction of 50 seat aircraft, with no mechanism for their return. If they choose not to take that path, then they will operate at a strategic and numerical disadvantage to DAL, and we will still have our block hour protections.
Management used large Q400 turboprop aircraft to exploit our current Scope provisions. TA Scope limits large turboprops, because they are counted just the same in the limits and ratios as jets are.
Another new restriction and limitation in the TA Scope is that 80 percent of all UAX flying must be less than 900 statute miles.
The TA codeshare provisions came from our CAL book and have been effective for the last seven plus years, by requiring reciprocity in all such arrangements. TA Scope also corrects a problem that was brought to us by the UAL scope section, by requiring the company to fly its own aircraft in the market on joint ventures. The Aer Lingus JV made an example of the weakness of current UAL book Scope. In essence, under TA Scope, the company cannot receive revenue from these arrangements if they are not also generating revenue from our flights, using our pilots.
This TA also takes what we learned from our current merger situation, and codified the bulk of the protections from our contract and those negotiated in the Transition and Process Agreement. While we don’t foresee another round of big mergers in our future, this TA will ensure that we will be sitting at the table having already achieved the protections we would want at that time, should such an event occur. It also strengthens our fragmentation language, by encompassing our Guam operations, which were essentially left on the outside of our contractual protections existing in our current Scope section.
There are new furlough protections in this Scope TA that were not previously available to our pilots. As a brief overview of these protections, they include the 76 to 70 seat conversion requirement if a single current seniority list pilot is furloughed (a tremendous economic disincentive for the company to furlough), a staffing formula that must be met prior to a furlough, two separate merger no furlough protections, and a requirement for job opportunities in the event of a fragmentation.
Finally, the Retained Management Rights clause in our current and past contracts' Scope sections has been removed from the entire contract. This clause has been cited by management in various arguments and System Boards.
When looking at TA Scope in its entirety, we believe that it is Industry Leading, and that it also provides improved job protections for our pilots, over andabove our current Scope protections.