Culpae poena par esto

[imacdog]

Saying the fraction model is broken when there is some contraction and furloughing is like saying the airline model is broken when the airlines furlough. It's just stupid.

 

[Vinny]

More Information

Here is the latest negotiating report. I had to break down into several parts because of its length. Please share with everyone.

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COMPANY CONTINUES TO LOSE MONEY
MANAGEMENT’S FIX? 8&6!

Pilots Forced to Fly a Month for Free!
[FONT=Garamond,Garamond][FONT=Garamond,Garamond]
Your Negotiating Committee assembled in Austin, TX on Monday evening, February 11, 2013, to resume bargaining with management for our first collective bargaining agreement ("CBA"). We had high hopes on continuing with the progress we experienced during the last several months.
When we met with the Company’s negotiating team on Tuesday morning, February 12, they informed us they wanted to brief us on the state of the business. What we were told echoes what CitationAir President Terry Clark stated during his very brief Friday informational calls later in the week: CitationAir continues to be a financial drain on the Textron/Cessna balance sheet. Management’s much-heralded new business model—abandoning fractional ownership and jet cards in favor of managed aircraft and charters—isn’t working out exactly as planned.
The Company’s lead negotiator stated Textron and Cessna have given management a limited amount of time for CitationAir to stop the financial bleeding and reach a breakeven point. That requires finding additional ways to cut costs, since the revenue stream was not panning out as management had hoped.
Management stated they were examining all facets of the expense side of the ledger: The Company was going to continue to shrink; the number of airplanes would be reduced; the staff in all departments—including pilots—would be trimmed; and, other cost savings measures would be introduced.
We were informed there is currently a shortfall in the number of pilots necessary to satisfy current customer demand. That was no surprise to us, since you have been telling your Union representatives for months that aircraft are sitting around underutilized and un-crewed. It is apparent to your representatives that management’s decision to furlough too many pilots, coupled with a steady stream of resignations and attrition, as your Brothers and Sisters leave the Company for other opportunities, was the root cause of this pilot shortage.
[/FONT][/FONT]

 

[Vinny]

Part 2

Company representatives explained that, as pilots leave and airplanes are parked, costs are reduced—but not by enough. So, management must devise a way to rapidly reduce costs further without hampering the Company’s ability to meet customer demand. Consequently, the pilots and their schedules became management’s target of choice for cost cutting.
The Company’s negotiating team presented their analysis of the impact of the following possible schedule types: 13 days on and 2 days off; 9 on and 5 off; 8 on and 7 off; and finally, 8 on and 6 off. They listed the relative savings in relation to the negative impact on pilot quality of life that would result from implementing each schedule type. Management had concluded that the 8&6 Schedule would be the most palatable and least disruptive replacement for our current 7&7 Schedule, even though it would not generate the greatest savings. It was a [FONT=Garamond,Garamond][FONT=Garamond,Garamond]fait accompli[/FONT][/FONT]—management had already made up their mind to implement the 8&6 Schedule on March 1st before we even walked in the door!
Going to an 8&6 Schedule will require a pilot to work an additional 26 days each year and spend that many less days at home with family. When asked about compensation, management said they had no intention of increasing a pilot’s annual salary to compensate for working those extra 26 days. That’s a whopping 14.3% increase in a pilot’s time on the job and away from home—almost one more full month on the road each year for absolutely no increase in pay. Effectively, management insists you work 26 days per year for free!
The Company’s team was quick to let us know they could make this change without our approval. We were informed the Company experienced a high amount of Day-8 overtime costs in 2012 and the 8&6 Schedule would significantly reduce that expense—especially since pilots will now work the 8th day for free! Additionally, if a pilot is required to work into the 9th day under the 8&6 Schedule, overtime costs would be less, since the Daily Overtime Rate will be 14.3% less than it is today, due to the diminished value of your Daily Rate. (To determine 8&6 Daily Rates, divide the current annual salary rate by 208.71, instead of 182.)
So, the question for your negotiators became, "Since management had already made up its mind to implement the 8&6 Schedule before any of us got to Austin, what, if anything, did they expect from your Union?" First and foremost, they wanted our understanding of the Company’s plight, which they hoped would initiate a collaborative effort to help the pilots appreciate the necessity of this draconian change. They seemed to welcome our intent to come up with ways to identify other cost savings opportunities that might be used to minimize the economic impact of the new schedule. However, we knew we were entering these negotiations with our hands tied behind our collective backs, since CitationAir’s pilots are currently "at-will" employees without a contract and management does not necessarily need your Union’s agreement to implement this schedule change.
Nonetheless, your negotiators informed the Company’s team of the following:
1. We requested a copy of the Company’s balance sheet to be analyzed by the IBT Economic and Contracts Department in Washington, DC, subject to a strict confidentiality agreement.
2. We requested certain other economic data in order to assess the economic impact of the 8&6 Schedule.
3. We would be comparing our cost analysis with the approximate cost savings the Company stated the 8&6 Schedule would yield. If we concluded the Company was understating the value, we expected the pilots to recover that differential in the form of additional compensation. Consequently, we would be proposing pay scales that would reflect any differential identified by our analysis.
4. We would be proposing certain work rules designed to prevent the Company from abusing pilots by forcing them to work a 9th day on the 8&6 Schedule, as they do today when pilots are forced to work an 8th day on the 7&7 Schedule. Under your Union’s proposal, the "go-home" day on the 8&6 Schedule would be just that—the Company would be required to comply with that intent and get a pilot back to his base before midnight.
5. We would be proposing language to address certain other pilot duty-day concerns, such as "crew rot" in the hotel or FBO and excessively long duty days, with minimum rest in between.

 

[Vinny]

Part 3

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6. We would be addressing management’s ability to contact pilots when they are in rest.
7. We would be proposing sick leave and vacation rules that accommodate the 8&6 Schedule.
8. We would be identifying areas where we believed there was corporate waste and we expected the pilots to receive credit for any projected savings, as applicable.
The Company’s team expressed an interest in receiving our ideas, with the caveat that management’s stated cost savings goal for the pilots was fixed. With that in mind, your negotiators went to work developing a comprehensive proposal to be presented to the Company the next day in the form of a binding Letter of Agreement ("LOA").
Our first action was to request Master Executive Council ("MEC") Chairman Capt. John Hassell to convene a special telephone meeting of the CitationAir Pilots MEC. Remember, each of these gentlemen is a fellow CitationAir pilot who will also live and work under the 8&6 Schedule, just like you. During that meeting your negotiators fully briefed the MEC on the Company’s intentions. We asked the MEC for guidance on how best to proceed, including the possibility of attempting to persuade the Company to implement some other schedule type other than 8&6. Other options included attempting to obtain the targeted cost reduction solely from wages, or from some combination of schedules and wages. By the time the call ended, your negotiators had received clear direction from your MEC on how to proceed.
Most of Wednesday, February 13, was spent in caucus. Your negotiators diligently analyzed the Company’s data using a very sophisticated computer model and put together the attached Schedule LOA. Additionally, we finalized a counter-proposal to the Pilot Professional Standards LOA proposal we had received from the Company in December 2012. Meanwhile, the Company’s team worked on responses to the open Aviation Safety Action Program ("ASAP") Policies and Procedures LOA that has been on their side of the bargaining table for over a year. Throughout the day the parties met several times and exchanged ideas and answered questions regarding the 8&6 Schedule and its consequences. Both parties also exchanged their respective counter-proposals for the Pilot Professional Standards LOA.
Because management’s goal for the pilots’ share of Company-wide savings represents the lion’s share of the total, your negotiators attempted to reduce the pilots’ exposure by finding potential savings hidden in other nooks and crannies of the Company’s operations and expenses. The following items, which potentially could save many hundreds of thousands of dollars each year, were presented by your Union for management’s consideration:
1. Eliminate unnecessary mid-year First Officer training that is not required by the FARs.
2. Eliminate the policy for First Officers to get an FAA First-Class Physical two times per year.
3. Introduce more crew basing options in an effort to save money on travel expenses.
4. Reduce unnecessary senior and middle management and support staff at 3 American Lane.
5. Reduce the Orlando Training Department Facilities and staff.
6. Reduce the number of Check Airman (Currently 30 Check Airman are assigned to just over 200 pilots).
Additionally, at past bargaining sessions we identified the poor quality and frequent replacement of uniform items as a significant waste of Company resources.
Just before dinner your Negotiating Committee presented the Schedule LOA to the Company’s team. Our analysis concluded that management had, indeed, undervalued the economic impact of the 8&6 Schedule on the projected 2013 pilot payroll by approximately 2.5%. Consequently, we increased the 2013 annual pay scales by 2.5% to provide partial compensation for the 8&6 Schedule. This did not impact management’s stated savings goal in the least.

 

[Vinny]

Part 4

The attached charts show current 7&7 Daily Rates, along with the Company’s and the Union’s proposed 8&6 Daily Rates. The Company lines reflect a 14.3% cut from current Daily Rates, while the Union lines reflect two things: (1) rationalization of pay rates for junior Captains and First Officers to eliminate what would become a "B-Scale," if the Company ever recovers from its tailspin and once again hires new pilots; and, (2) an 11.5% reduction for active pilots, which includes the compounded effect of a 2.5% increase in current annual salary as a partial offset for the extra 26 days on the road. Due to the recent furloughs, there are no Captains with less than 9 years longevity and no First Officers with less than 7 years. So, rationalization of the pay rates for the junior years has no economic impact at this time.
The Schedule LOA was explained in detail to the Company’s team, as well as the rationale behind the concepts we offered. Management quietly received the Schedule LOA and asked only one or two minor questions. It was apparent to your negotiators that the Company’s team had already received their marching orders from people higher up in the management hierarchy. Thereafter, agreement was reached on the Pilot Professional Standards LOA, which ended bargaining for the day.
Thursday morning, February 14, opened with the parties meeting across the bargaining table to sign the Pilot Professional Standards LOA. Next, the Company’s team delivered their first counter-proposal to the ASAP Policies and Procedures LOA that your Union had proposed in December 2011. After a discussion that clarified the intent of some of the provisions, agreement was reached on this LOA, which was then formally signed by the parties. This companion ASAP document is very significant: In addition to defining a number of administrative requirements for the ASAP program at CitationAir, this LOA makes it clear that management will not "attempt to assign discipline or an evaluation ([FONT=Garamond,Garamond][FONT=Garamond,Garamond]e.g., [/FONT][/FONT]oral check, line check, proficiency check) to a pilot in response to the events(s) referenced in an ASAP report if [certain] conditions are met;" primarily, acceptance of the report by the ASAP Event Review Committee ("ERC").
Normally, the achievement of these two LOAs, which are now in full force and effect, would be something to cheer about. However, it is hard to celebrate when faced with the unwelcome changes in quality of life that the 8&6 Schedule will bring to the pilots. Nonetheless, having a formal professional standards relationship between management and the pilots, coupled with protection from discipline for operational deviations, so long as a pilot files an ASAP report that is accepted by the ERC, is incredibly important.
Late in the morning, just before management’s representatives left for the airport to return home, they responded to your Union’s proposed Schedule LOA. Without going into much detail, they rejected the entire document out-of-hand as being unworkable or unacceptable, even though they could not demonstrate that it negatively impacted their cost savings initiative in any manner. Their "killjoy" message: Management wants the 8&6 Schedule without any restrictions preventing them from continuing their habit of keeping you on the road against your will.
CitationAir pilots already know that a tour under the existing 7&7 Schedule frequently becomes 8 on and 6 off due to forced overtime. But, at least you get paid a full premium for that extra day at work. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind, whatsoever, that the 8&6 Schedule is going to result in a significant number of tours that end up 9 on and 5 off. As previously mentioned, if the Company does keep you on the road for 9 days, the Daily Overtime Rate for being forced to work that 9th day, after working the 8th day for free, will be 14.3% less than it is today. Management has figured out how to take advantage of you in more ways than one.
To justify their position on compensation, management stated that CitationAir’s pilots are "significantly overpaid" in comparison to pilots at the Company’s competition, even after you are forced to work 26 more days per year for nothing! Management does not view either Netjets or Flight Options as their competitors, but they did not provide a list of who the "real" competition might be.

 

[Vinny]

Part 5 of 5

The meager increase in annual pay we proposed as partial compensation for the extra 26 days per year on the road only serves to reduce from 14.3% to 11.5% the effective pay cut the 8&6 Schedule brings. Nonetheless, management viewed any amount of compensation for pilots working 26 more days per year as a wholly undeserved "raise." Their position was insulting, to say the very least.
Your negotiators asked the Company’s team to tell us, specifically, item by item, if they were going to implement any of the cost savings measures we had identified. Their response to each item varied from "no" to "we will look into it." Of course, under their concept and opinion of what you are worth to the Company, should any of the Union’s suggestions be implemented and actually save the Company money, pilots are not going to receive any additional compensation.
It was obvious to your negotiators that management has concerns about how the pilots will react to the 8&6 Schedule. They apparently were attempting to obtain your Union’s assistance in calming the masses. Your negotiators made it clear we had no interest in helping them out of their dilemma unless they were willing to adopt adequate work rule protections and some measure of economic recognition for those extra 26 days on the road. Regrettably, they made absolutely no attempt, whatsoever, to even begin to negotiate over any of your Union’s proposals or concepts. Senior management obviously views CitationAir’s pilots as indentured servants, with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide, who haven’t yet been driven to the breaking point.
So, what’s the next thing in store for the CitationAir pilots? In some respects that’s up to you and just how willing you are to continue to allow management to take unfair advantage of your skills, professionalism and dedication. Maybe CitationAir will still be around in a year; maybe not. We know that many pilots who were strong supporters of forming a Union have given up because they are convinced the Company and their jobs have entered the "hospice" phase of their once glorious existence. Even if that is a correct assessment of what the future has in store, there is no better time to join forces than right now. Otherwise, nothing at all stands between the pilots and management, as they continue to decimate our ranks and brutalize our quality of life. You can roll up into a ball and passively wait for management to close the doors, or you can fight for what’s right and fair for whatever length of time the Company stays in business. But you can’t wage a successful fight if you are alone. That’s why the CitationAir pilots voted to form a Union in the first place.
If you want to have a few good laughs during these stressful times, dig out some of the anti-union propaganda published during the organizing campaign by the senior management of the day. Read very carefully the cult-like, feel-good rhetoric they spewed forth attempting to convince you they valued and appreciated your service. Remember their catchy slogan, "CitationAir: Where you belong." A lot of pilots fell for that story line. We wonder how many of those same pilots still believe in that dribble, given how Textron/Cessna/CitationAir is treating them now. Are you still feeling the love?
The time has come to make your Union stronger, not weaken it by failing to maintain or obtain member-in-good-standing (MIGS) status. Your Union, which is you and your fellow pilots—all of you—needs your support, your participation and your dues to remain a viable institution. It may be true that, without a CBA, the Union has limited ability to prevent management from unilaterally changing things, like they are doing with the 8&6 Schedule. However, your negotiators are, indeed, steadily nibbling away at securing that CBA. A CBA—and only a CBA—once obtained, will put an immediate halt to management’s unilateral actions. The stronger your Union, the faster we reach that goal. Had the CitationAir pilots organized a year or two earlier and not fallen for management’s hollow promises and fallacious arguments, we would probably be working under a CBA by now. Management would have needed our consent to make any changes to pilot wages, working conditions and benefits.
If CitationAir does cease to exist in a year or two, at least the pilots who joined and supported their Union to the very end will have gone out standing tall and straight with their boots on. They may have lost their jobs, but they will not have lost their dignity and self-respect. On the other hand, the shutdown of the Company may not be pre-ordained. If senior management ever figures out how to market their product and increase revenue so the Company survives, just think of the possibilities and security a CBA will provide for all of our families and us.

 

[pilotyip]

Saying the fraction model is broken when there is some contraction and furloughing is like saying the airline model is broken when the airlines furlough. It's just stupid.

The airline model of living off first class passenger revenue was broken in 2001 and BK changed the way they operate. They are in their new model now. Will Fractionals be able to move away from first class passenegers? Again only time will tell, the administartion attitude towards the private jets will have an impact upon there operation.

 

[gret]

Curious...what are the backgrounds of the individuals on "Your Negotiating Committee" and how did they get on the committee?

What I read is that the company is giving it a shot at staying in business...if it doesn't work...very bad news. One of those deals that produces no winners. Mgmt isn't concerned about a union at this point, they just want to see if the company can survive. Bad for everyone involved.

The extra 26 days a year isn't very sporty, but it may be a moot point.

Did the "Your Negotiating Committee" really expect that Cessna was going to enter "a binding Letter of Agreement ("LOA")" with them?

 

[Turbinehead]

Hate to break it to you Vinny but you might have named this thread shaeden freude.

Nobody really cares about the plight of grossly overpaid pilots who cannot get more water out of the stone. You are overpaid at 7 and 7 according to NBAA norms and you are still overpaid at 8 and 6. Sorry but the facts are the facts.

So sorry to hear of your troubles but - thats life Vinny.

 

[imacdog]

Overpaid at 7/7? Now that's a funny one.