ExpressJet Pilots Reach Tentative Agreement

[100/hour/5y]

Release #04.042
October 6, 2004

ExpressJet Pilots Reach Tentative Agreement

Houston, TX – After more than two years of intense negotiations with management, ExpressJet (dba Continental Express) pilot representatives, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), announced today that they have reached a Tentative Agreement on Contract 2002.

"It’s taken more than two years to reach this point, but our pilot negotiators secured substantial improvements to the current contract in the areas of compensation, job protection, work rules, and scope," said Capt. Mark Leneski, chairman of the XJT Master Executive Council, a unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l. "The determination and sacrifices of our pilots and their families made this Tentative Agreement possible."

Pilot representatives unanimously and firmly endorsed the Tentative Agreement, and recommended that the pilots vote "yes" on the upcoming ballot of the membership.

Contract negotiations between the pilots union and ExpressJet management have been ongoing since July 2002. Pilot representatives and negotiators will conduct roadshows for the ExpressJet pilots this week in all three hubs.

During contract talks with management, ExpressJet pilots and employees garnered ExpressJet the award of Airline of the Year in 2003.

ExpressJet pilots safely transport more than 50,000 passengers to more than 130 destinations daily on a growing fleet of state-of-the-art Embraer jets. These destinations range from St. Johns, Newfoundland, to Acapulco, Mexico, including the Caribbean. ExpressJet Airlines is the sole provider of small jet service for Continental Airlines in that company’s hubs in Newark, Cleveland and Houston, and is the largest small jet operator in the world.

ALPA is the world’s oldest and largest pilot union, representing 64,000 airline pilots at 43 airlines in the U.S. and Canada. www.alpa.org.

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ALPA Contact: Gordon Shattles
Office: 281-987-3636
Cell: 713-397-5689

 

[100/hour/5y]

Rates coming out friday in PDF...
Hearing 5 Year CA 3% lower than Comair... But with profit sharing and everything else W2 will be best in industry...

Big no vote based on what I have seen so Far....

My Buddy Just had his PC and the talk at the training center is about us getting USAIR 170's... emb higher up's... came to training center last week and gave us a deal for all of USAIR's 170 sitting at the plant for 1 million more than XR's..

 

[100/hour/5y]

from calalpa site....


XJT MEC Special Update

October 6, 2004



Dear Fellow Pilot:

We are pleased to announce that your ExpressJet Negotiating Committee [NC] reached a Tentative Agreement [TA] with XJT management earlier today. This afternoon, after careful review of the final sections and language, the XJT MEC firmly and unanimously endorsed this TA.

The TA is the result of two years and three months of intense bargaining and extremely hard work by our NC. Backed by the resolve of this pilot group, we persevered despite numerous setbacks to our work lives and the industry, including the terror attacks of September 11, industry revenue that has fallen $15 billion dollars since 2000 - despite passenger levels that are as high as they were in 2000 - and oil prices that closed yesterday at more than $50 a barrel.

In this environment, we've made substantial improvements in the four 'cornerstone' areas of the contract. If ratified, the new contract will:

make landmark improvements to scope by binding the holding companies to our job security provisions;

enhance scheduling/work rules, including long call/short call reserves, more guaranteed days off each bid period for all pilots, and vastly improved trip trading opportunities;

gain much better benefit provisions that result in shorter waiting periods for health coverage and Company contributions for retirement without pilot contributions; and

provide superior W-2 compensation [including leg-by-leg pay], which, when measured objectively by Wilson Center polling, meets the objectives of the majority of XJT pilots.

In response to the key goals voiced by XJT pilots, full retroactive pay for all pilots at industry leading rates and worth $30 million has been achieved. In addition to retro, pay rates and

miscellaneous increases in the contract's first year alone are worth another $30 million. The term of the contract was limited to four years despite Company proposals for a duration of five years. And, just as important, we refused repeated management demands for modification of our vacation system and training on days off.

While we would have liked to have reached higher levels of compensation early in this Agreement rather than later on, our decision to recommend the TA to you is based on our belief that the agreement, when considered as a whole, establishes the XJT pilots as leaders for 50-seat aircraft W-2 compensation, work rules and benefits.

The decision is also underpinned by our concern that we will not achieve the right to strike over the near term, and that the improvements that have been bargained, especially the full and industry-leading retro pay, are perishable if airline industry economics continue to deteriorate.

Your determination and support for the negotiations process have enabled us to achieve this result. You will have plenty of time to review the language of this Agreement and discuss with reps and the NC the thinking and strategy that leads us to this point. There will be time to ask questions and get answers. You have the final word at the end of the contract ratification process.

We will post a schedule for the first round of road shows immediately. If you aren't able to attend those scheduled next week, please look for additional road shows scheduled later in the month.

Hard copies of the TA will be mailed to all pilots at their addresses of record and PDF copies will be e-mailed to those pilots on our blastmail list. Please make sure that your contact

information is up-to-date with ALPA by contacting the XJT ALPA office at 281-987-3636, or by logging on to the website at www.calalpa.org.



Capt. Mark Leneski

XJT MEC Chairman



F/O Jeremie Brown

XJT MEC Vice Chairman

 

[100/hour/5y]

smoking crack...

 

[nonstop]

NO to this TA.

YES to progress! woohoo!

 

[SLFLYHI]

NO to this TA.

YES to progress! woohoo!

Whatever....I'm voting a big fat YES to this TA and I'm going to do everything in my power to convince everyone I know to do the same. This is great news for our pilot group and congratulations to our NC, and especially Neal Schwartz, for their tireless hard word.

EVERYONE VOTE YES!!!

Steve L.
IAH FO

 

[DoinTime]

Whatever....I'm voting a big fat YES to this TA and I'm going to do everything in my power to convince everyone I know to do the same. This is great news for our pilot group and congratulations to our NC, and especially Neal Schwartz, for their tireless hard word.

EVERYONE VOTE YES!!!

Steve L.
IAH FO

You haven't even see it yet.

 

[WolfManPack]

Yes but when will we know what the fine print says?

Any clue how long it will be before we see the specifics. I noticed that there will be a pdf file emailed to the pilot group with the actual TA but there was no indication on how long it would take to get that out to everyone.

 

[nonstop]

Whatever....I'm voting a big fat YES to this TA and I'm going to do everything in my power to convince everyone I know to do the same. This is great news for our pilot group and congratulations to our NC, and especially Neal Schwartz, for their tireless hard word.

EVERYONE VOTE YES!!!

Steve L.
IAH FO

Wow, we're all doomed. You are a weak, weak man.

What's your motovation? To be competitive? I've got news for you, whatever we sign today, Skywest can lower their pay just enough to underbid us tomorrow. Is that your rational?

 

[100/hour/5y]

ExpressJet's pilots reach tentative work agreement
Wed Oct 6, 2004 06:36 PM ET
NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Pilots for ExpressJet Holdings Inc. (XJT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , a provider of regional jet service for Continental Airlines (CAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) , have reached a tentative employment agreement after two years of negotiations, the pilots union said on Wednesday.



"It's taken more than two years to reach this point, but our pilot negotiators secured substantial improvements to the current contract in the areas of compensation, job protection, work rules and scope," said Capt. Mark Leneski, chairman of the XJT Master Executive Council, a unit of the Air Line Pilots Association International, in a statement.

Among improvements, first officers will make about 70 percent of captain pay, said Gordon Shattles, a spokesman for the ALPA union. Shattles was not immediately able to give comparative figures for the previous contract.

Discussions on work rules, vacation days and training during days off were also settled agreeably, said Shattles, without giving more details.

The latest pilot contract is comparable to that of Delta Air Lines' (DAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Comair subsidiary, which is considered one of the best in the industry for benefits and work rules, Shattles said. Shares of ExpressJet closed up 29 cents at $10.91 on Wednesday.