APA INFORMATION HOTLINE
This is Captain John Darrah, APA President, with the APA
Information Hotline for Friday, August 15.
SUPPLEMENT W GRIEVANCES: After our first round of furloughs in
the fall of 2001, we filed three grievances against management
concerning their application of Supplement W for our furloughees.
The Eagle MEC likewise filed a grievance against their management
on one related issue. These grievances were arbitrated in the
spring and summer of 2002 and after final attempts to reach a
settlement with Arbitrator Kasher in Atlanta at the end of last
month, we received his award on Wednesday. You can find it on
the APA Web Site in the "Headliners" section accessible from the
Member Home Page.
Since Wednesday we have been working with management to begin the
implementation of Supplement W as defined by Mr. Kasher's award,
which requires that all new CJ Captain positions be bid by
American Eagle pilots before allowing furloughed American
Airlines pilots the possibility of attaining those positions.
Furloughed American Airlines pilots have rights to displace any
American Eagle pilot that has elected to be a flow-through pilot
to American and who has an American Airlines seniority number
junior to them or who has not met the requirements for achieving
an American Airlines seniority number. The number of CJ Captain
positions that our furloughees will be able to receive will
depend on how many pilots are ultimately furloughed by American
and how many of our furloughees bid for an American Eagle CJ
Captain position. The fewer furloughs we have and the more
junior the CJ Captain bids go, the less positions we will
receive. Until we are able to accurately estimate the number of
pilots to be furloughed and which furloughees will actually bid
for these positions, we will not know the final number of
American Eagle CJ Captain positions our furloughees will attain.
The majority of these positions will be ERJ Captain positions on
the Embraer.
Several pilots are asking whether we will get any CJ Captain
jobs. We will still have access to CJ Captain positions for our
furloughees through the displacement of current CJ Captains at
American Eagle. Right now there are approximately 130 CJ
Captains at American Eagle that do not have an American Airlines
seniority number. All of these Captains will be displaced, as
will those current CJ Captains with seniority numbers junior to
our furloughees.
Pilots are also asking about the status of the CRJ. Arbitrator
Kasher's ruling will prohibit our furloughees from displacing
Eagle pilots from the CRJ if they are an Eagle rights pilot or
have a seniority number senior to our furloughees, but we
continue to have rights to negotiate bringing the current and
optioned CRJ70s to American Airlines. We have asked management
for a meeting to begin discussions on this issue.
Also, there has been some misunderstanding that Arbitrator
Kasher's award changes our contractual agreement with regard to
future aircraft of greater than 50 seats. This award does not
change the agreement, which stipulates that the original CRJ70s
that have been ordered and optioned at American Eagle will
continue to fly at American Eagle unless we can do it cost
competitively at American. However, all other aircraft ordered
by AMR of greater than 50 seats belong to American Airlines
pilots.
We anticipate meeting with management next week and we will
provide you with additional information then.
That's it for today. Thank you for calling.
This is Captain John Darrah, APA President, with the APA
Information Hotline for Friday, August 15.
SUPPLEMENT W GRIEVANCES: After our first round of furloughs in
the fall of 2001, we filed three grievances against management
concerning their application of Supplement W for our furloughees.
The Eagle MEC likewise filed a grievance against their management
on one related issue. These grievances were arbitrated in the
spring and summer of 2002 and after final attempts to reach a
settlement with Arbitrator Kasher in Atlanta at the end of last
month, we received his award on Wednesday. You can find it on
the APA Web Site in the "Headliners" section accessible from the
Member Home Page.
Since Wednesday we have been working with management to begin the
implementation of Supplement W as defined by Mr. Kasher's award,
which requires that all new CJ Captain positions be bid by
American Eagle pilots before allowing furloughed American
Airlines pilots the possibility of attaining those positions.
Furloughed American Airlines pilots have rights to displace any
American Eagle pilot that has elected to be a flow-through pilot
to American and who has an American Airlines seniority number
junior to them or who has not met the requirements for achieving
an American Airlines seniority number. The number of CJ Captain
positions that our furloughees will be able to receive will
depend on how many pilots are ultimately furloughed by American
and how many of our furloughees bid for an American Eagle CJ
Captain position. The fewer furloughs we have and the more
junior the CJ Captain bids go, the less positions we will
receive. Until we are able to accurately estimate the number of
pilots to be furloughed and which furloughees will actually bid
for these positions, we will not know the final number of
American Eagle CJ Captain positions our furloughees will attain.
The majority of these positions will be ERJ Captain positions on
the Embraer.
Several pilots are asking whether we will get any CJ Captain
jobs. We will still have access to CJ Captain positions for our
furloughees through the displacement of current CJ Captains at
American Eagle. Right now there are approximately 130 CJ
Captains at American Eagle that do not have an American Airlines
seniority number. All of these Captains will be displaced, as
will those current CJ Captains with seniority numbers junior to
our furloughees.
Pilots are also asking about the status of the CRJ. Arbitrator
Kasher's ruling will prohibit our furloughees from displacing
Eagle pilots from the CRJ if they are an Eagle rights pilot or
have a seniority number senior to our furloughees, but we
continue to have rights to negotiate bringing the current and
optioned CRJ70s to American Airlines. We have asked management
for a meeting to begin discussions on this issue.
Also, there has been some misunderstanding that Arbitrator
Kasher's award changes our contractual agreement with regard to
future aircraft of greater than 50 seats. This award does not
change the agreement, which stipulates that the original CRJ70s
that have been ordered and optioned at American Eagle will
continue to fly at American Eagle unless we can do it cost
competitively at American. However, all other aircraft ordered
by AMR of greater than 50 seats belong to American Airlines
pilots.
We anticipate meeting with management next week and we will
provide you with additional information then.
That's it for today. Thank you for calling.
