Sorry 717, but your information is INCORRECT. In fact, GROSSLY incorrect.
The meeting you refer to (of a week-and-a-half ago) that was SUPPOSED to have ALL four parties in attendance to discuss the TA turned out to be pointless.
Representatives were there from Eagle ALPA and Eagle management. AMR sent one guy (lower level guy who shall remain nameless) and the APA was missing.
Our MEC attempted for an hour to get answers and information.
AMR guy - spent much of the time on his cellphone and was unable to provide answers to specific questions.
AMR Eagle - Believes the TA will be implimented as is and any greivance will be denied. Also claimed to have no information on specifics (it must be noted that Eagle management does not make these decisions and are only "yes" men when it comes to acting on AMR's decisions-they work for AMR).
APA -no info there as there was nobody to ask.
After an hour it was pointless to continue, so our MEC left.
AMR and I suppose the APA can then say Eagle ALPA "walked out" of the discussions, thus implying they were the "unreasonable" ones.
During the following week, our MEC made NUMEROUS attempts through several channels, including a call by Duane Woerth to at least make contact with the APA.
Results ?
ZIP, NADA, NOTHING, ZERO, ZILTCH, RETURN TO SENDER - ADDRESS UNKNOWN, ALICE DOESN'T LIVE HERE ANYMORE.
Get the picture ?
Anybody else on this thread see a problem here ? Smell a rat ?
So at the urging of Congressman Martin Frost, AMR arrainges a hasty meeting for last Thursday for the four parties. Through a series of questionable tactics (cancel, reschedule, oh sorry, we forgot to tell you, but we'll tell everyone else you just did not show), AMR is almost successful in holding the meeting without the Eagle ALPA MEC present, which is what they want to do in an effort to divide the pilots against their leadership. AMR initially wanted this to be the first step "greivance" hearing and without ALPA it can be denied. AMR can then attempt to better show down the road that our MEC was "uncooperative" in the process, giving more weight to AMR on the issue.
AMR Eagle sends flight dept. management reps to the ORD crew room (with less than 24-hour e-mail notice) to "answer questions" on Wednesday the day before this meeting, which is really a subterfuge for management to damage our MEC, saying ALPA has refused to show for a meeting the next day. Problem is, ALPA was not notified of the rescheduling of this meeting. Our MEC got wind of the rescheduled meeting and said that they would definitely be there. When they showed the next day (last Thursday), surprised management had to scramble their strategy and the meeting suddenly changed from a first-step greivance discussion to an "informational" meeting.
What happened at the meeting ?
Not surprisingly, AMR and Eagle management had little to offer again and basically said that once the mainline "master shuffle" is complete at the end of the month, they'll have a better idea of how it will impact Eagle. There were some half-hearted indications that AMR was interested in ideas and proposals from our MEC and negotiating commitee on ways to mitigate the damage to our pilots and prevent any legal chllanges to the clear violation of our contractual rights. As a result, our MEC will present several proposals to AMR this week in an effort to do just that.
The only comments by the APA involved the beliefs that the labor groups should "work together".
The APA "screw" Eagle ?
The "Small Jet Agreed Terms" proposal devised by the APA is dated March 29, 2003.
It took many months to formulate, finalize and draft that letter.
What that means is that since the beginning of this year AT THE SAME TIME the APA was representing to the general public (via billboards) and us that our groups interests were cohesive and parallel, they were already plotting to raid our 70-seaters, most ALL future 50-seat captain seats AS WELL AS permit and ENCOURAGE outsourcing of our future flying to operators who would agree to J4J.
717, either you are hienously naive or living in denial.
The APA has forever proven themselves untrustworthy.
Looking out for your pilots is one thing. But, the APA's actions have scraped the bottom of the barrel.
As far as most Eagle line pilots are concerned, the APA will recieve the same look and consideration as the parents of teenagers would give Charles Manson.
