In case anyone hasn't read this from the latest VARS (I think RiddleEagle18 probably started this post before checking his/her e-mail):
Hello, this is Phil Stasik with your Comair MEC VARS message for Sunday, July 13th, 2008. We have one item of interest.
1) The Comair pilots have faced many difficult challenges in the decades since we joined together to form our union. The initial organizing drive, our fight for our first Working Agreement, every subsequent contract negotiation, the strike of 2001, the post 9-11 concessions and furloughs, and the sham bankruptcy of 2006, have all tested our mettle. Each and every time that things have gotten tough, we’ve stood together in unity, locked arms, and held our ground. We’ve defended our profession, and made history in the process. As the history of our union shows, the fight to defend our pilots never really ends. And so it is today.
Today, your MEC is facing at least three major challenges. The first is the over-arching challenge of protecting your interests as Delta and Northwest dance around the merger table. The second is protecting you from Delta/Comair management’s addiction to the “downsize to profitability” fallacy, and the threats to slash us with furloughs once again. The third challenge is a blatant, union-busting attempt on the part of Comair’s management. It is that third challenge that we’ll focus on today.
To recap the events of the last three weeks:
On Tuesday, June 24th, Comair’s Senior V.P. of Flight Operations, Dave Soaper sent your union a letter stating that he would no longer honor our requests for the union absences that are delineated in our Working Agreement. This was an attempt by our management to prevent your Association from performing the multitude of ALPA duties that are required to monitor contract compliance and to defend Comair pilots and your interests.
ALPA pilot volunteers need union leave to do critical safety work every day. Volunteers also process grievances, oversee the construction of your bid packets, monitor the monthly bid process, and manage the heavy burden of daily scheduling problems. Comair’s team of ALPA volunteers check the hotels that you stay in, advise you about retirement and insurance questions, help solve your aeromedical problems, stand up for you when training issues arise, and so much more! Your union dues assure that these volunteers can do your business both locally and at the national and occasionally, the international level.
It’s important to note that much of ALPA’s work provides both direct and indirect benefits to our company. In the field of safety alone, the symbiosis, for mutual benefit, between Comair and its pilots’ union is undeniable and priceless! Many Comair managers deeply understand the value of ALPA’s contribution to our airline, but Mr. Soaper seems to deny – maybe even resent – that fact.
Our Working Agreement, like every ALPA contract, has provisions that specify the way that ALPA compensates our company for “flight pay loss,” when a pilot is pulled from a leg, a trip, or a line to do ALPA work. The ALPA pilot gets his or her normal paycheck, and we get a bill from Comair (which includes a sizeable “override” fee) that we pay from our budget, which comes from your dues. It’s all been quite routine, and has worked well for decades on our property…until Mr. Soaper cut off the process and has driven all of us to the edge a cliff.
Management’s provocative and unilateral actions are a direct attempt to cut off our ability to run our daily operations, which include enforcing our contract and protecting your rights. We had to respond.
After considering all options, your MEC decided to withdraw all services that ALPA provides to help our airline in its daily operation. This was a very difficult decision for your MEC leadership, because we recognize that it will result in some short-term pain for our pilots and our company. We must plan for the long term.
Now is the time to take a stand against Mr. Soaper’s union busting tactics! This may be the only way to wake-up Delta/Comair’s top management to this man’s long history of disrupting what should be a productive Comair/ALPA relationship.
We have stopped all supportive services for our company, but we have not stopped fighting contract violations or pilot representation issues. We will continue to vigorously defend any pilot in need, as we have always done. Our ASAP program is still operational, and we strongly encourage you to continue to participate. The ASAP Event Review Committee is on hold until ALPA Safety can resume participation, which sadly puts this highly valuable program in jeopardy! We look forward to ALPA Safety’s return to the ERC as soon as the flight pay loss issue is solved.
The background is interesting. During the bankruptcy, Comair management stopped billing the Association for flight pay loss, and didn’t submit an invoice for approximately 10 months. We asked repeatedly for a bill, with no success. Finally, they decided to send us a massive, seven-figure bill that required detailed review to ensure its accuracy. Your MEC Secretary/Treasurer flies a normal schedule, so it has been a very long and difficult job to scrutinize the mass of data. Many, many errors were found! Management had wildly over-billed us, either as a result of careless accounting or perhaps in the hope that we would not catch their errors.
For example, they billed us for all of the bankruptcy settlement road shows and hotel expense, which were their responsibility. This alone, amounts to many tens of thousands of dollars. They have also billed us for things and then expect us to get the documentation to help prove that we owe them the money. This would be like a plumber doing work at your house, then sending you a bill asking what he did! This whole mess shows disregard for standard accounting and business practices, but is a classic example of how Comair management has been conducting itself under Mr. Soaper’s direction.
Your MEC works hard to protect your dues money. We refused to accept this sloppy accounting, and provided a corrected invoice to management.
We had a meeting with our management in March, and came up with a mutual agreement to get this cleaned up in May. Your MEC Chairman, Mark Cirksena and Vice-Chairman, Fred Herman had a meeting with Comair President, John Selvaggio and Dave Soaper in May, at which we presented them with a check for over $700,000. This is a serious chunk of your dues money that we’ve been fighting to protect! Your leaders assured them that ALPA will continue to promptly pay all verifiable flight pay loss invoices in the future as we always have in the past. This was agreeable to all.
Management then implemented the eMaestro crew tracking software on June 1st, in direct violation of our Working Agreement. They refused to give us the program access that ALPA needs to monitor scheduling, assist pilots, and assure contractual compliance. Mr. Soaper and his subordinate Mr. Scott Miller told us that the only way that we would get access to eMaestro would be to agree to its implementation. As you know, we rightfully refused that offer. When his first tactic didn’t work, Dave Soaper then cut off union leave requests in an attempt to further pressure us into eMaestro’s acceptance.
It’s bizarre, but this is the way Comair management works. Provocative, confrontational, sloppy, irresponsible. As we have said before, they are putting our airline at grave risk.
We will meet directly with Comair’s top management next week to find a solution. Comair and ALPA. We must work together for our mutual success.
We do understand that this withholding of our services will have some short- term negative effects on our pilot group and our airline, but we must take strong action now. This is as serious as it gets. As in the past, with your strong support, your union will succeed. Please stay strong and stay tuned.
That’s all for this message. Thank you for calling!
