FedEx Guys: wear your hat next week!!

[Los1]

Guys/gals:
Unfortunately I have a trip next week, while everybody else is at the rally in MEM...
but i will wear my hat during the trip!!!
Will you?
Los1
One more day of retro pay!!!

 

[klhoard]

.
.
.
I've got my hat. . . . Fedex kindly paid for it last month. . .
.
.
.
See y'all there. . . .
.
.
.

 

[SWPA Pilot]

I wasn't around last time, but it seems like most everyone is solid behind the union leadership. What do you think the turnout will be like for the rally?

Negotiating commitee - Keep up the good work!

 

[TonyC]

The membership was pretty solid 7 years ago - - the failure was leadership. Today, we have every reason to be confident in the organization, the process, and the personalities at the helm.


I look forward to a very impressive turnout Thursday.


Mind you, I anticipate the heat will be turned up in retaliation. It won't be blatant, but subtle. Our goal is to educate. Bringing attention to our cause won't automatically bring sympathy. Expect unsolicited advice from friends and neighbors. Expect your wives' friends at work to question her heritage because of those selfish, egotistical FedEx pilots. Expect all sorts of outlandish reactions. Don't fade, though, from the pursuit of our goals. Remember this: there is absolutely nothing we are asking for that is not both reasonable and hard-earned. Get used to brushing off the naysayers because you know better.


Los - I think I like your idea. Other pilots seeing your hat would probably get the message about where YOU stand. It's doubtful anybody outside the Company would care, or even notice, but it could certainly bolster the "confidence in each other" that is sometimes so hard to build.

So many times we have difficulty trusting the proverbial "other guy" we don't know so well. Yeah, I know what I'll do, and I know what my best friend will do, but what about that "other guy"? "I hear" that so-and-so will stab me in the back, and then there's that loud-mouthed ignoramus that says we're doomed to failure. With all that noise rattling around, it's hard to stay focused and remain confident. Just remember though, to that "other guy" you doubt, you're probably HIS "other guy." He doesn't know what you'll do at crunch time, but you do. So there we have two guys that plan on steering the correct course, but neither of them trusting the other. It's time for us to get over that junk. Remember, also, that the loud-mouth has a well-established track record of being dead wrong.


Maybe your display, Los, will help. Let's call our block reps and see if we can't make this a widespread display. It's too late to get the word out to everybody in time - - many weeklong pairings begin this weekend, many commuters are already headed for work, and there's simply not enough lead time. Still, every little bit helps. Be encouraged by the guys that do, but don't condemn the guys that don't - - they may not have gotten the word. For every hat you see, there's one less "other guy" to fret about. Spread the word!









.

 

[TonyC]

SPC Message: June 23 Negotiations Unity Demonstration

Well, I should have read yesterday's e-mail...


SPC Message: June 23 Negotiations Unity Demonstration

Fellow Crewmembers:

As you know, we have rescheduled the Negotiations Unity Demonstrations
for next Thursday, June 23. In addition to marking the passing of the
one-year anniversary of the amendable date of our current contract and
our rejection of management's unsatisfactory "2.3 percent offer," that
date is also significant because it is the day when FedEx Corporation
announces its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2005 financial results. All
indications are that those dollar figures, as opposed to management's
negotiating proposals, will once again be very impressive.

How much revenue, profit, growth, and stability do we have to provide to
our corporation before management recognizes and acknowledges our
contribution to the incredible success that FedEx has enjoyed over the
last six years? What you have identified as our negotiating goals are
not anywhere near being over the top. They are actually very realistic
and in the big scheme of things, they don't cost that much. We only want
recognition for being such an integral part of an operation that
generates the impressive earnings you will see on June 23rd. That
recognition should come in the form of management at least acknowledging
our legally afforded opportunity to voice our points and concerns with
regard to scope, work rules, health care and retirement security. What
we are asking is that they sit down at the table and actually NEGOTIATE
with us instead of pretending, as evidenced in the last Negotiations
Updates (05-03 and 05-04), that we essentially don't exist.

We must continue to remember that the National Mediation Board, the UPS
negotiations, articles in the Commercial Appeal, or any other outside
influences will not solve our situation. The only effective solution is
for all FedEx crewmembers to stand up together for our legal rights and
let our management know that we are serious in our quest for a fair and
equitable solution to our contract. The first overt step in that
direction will be the Unity Demonstrations next Thursday.

You should know that this activity is both entirely legal and sanctioned
by the Railway Labor Act. It will not be informational picketing in the
classic sense (i.e., marching with square corners, everyone holding
signs, etc.). It will be a gathering of a large number of our pilots, in
high visibility locations, that will illustrate that we stand together
behind our Negotiating Committee in their efforts to represent our
interests. If you are unable to participate because you are on a trip,
we understand. However, if you actively choose to just not participate,
realize that you are effectively supporting the other side of the table.
And those people are not on your side. Management is actually hoping
that you will not join with your fellow pilots because that will provide
them with the small divisions in the crew force that they are actively
trying to cultivate for future reference. As we have said, we have seen
this all before and management is doing it again because it has been
historically effective for them. Do not let them be successful this
time.

Additionally, if you are a little uncomfortable participating in this
type of activity now, we will almost guarantee that you will be much
more uncomfortable with a management lock-out threat, actual self-help
picketing, or even just a "With or Without You"-type red letter. By
standing united now, and investing a little time and perhaps minor
discomfort, you will be actively trying to preclude those future, much
more uncomfortable, possibilities. (And, by the way, they can't do it
without us - if they could, they already would be doing so.)

We have scheduled events during the middle of the day so that those of
you who are day-turning, on reserve, jumpseating, or deadheading in/out
or that live in the Memphis area will be able to participate.

Please wear your uniform with I.D. and bring your hat (with an emblem)
if you have one - we will be outside and it will probably be sunny and
hot.

For those of you who live locally or have a crash pad here, we ask that
you plan on meeting at 0945 at the Showplace Arena parking lot (next to
the Agricenter) just south of Walnut Grove Road on Germantown Parkway.
(See attached map or check the ALPA website.) Carpooling is encouraged.
We will provide round-trip coach bus transportation to the
demonstrations which will last from 1100-1300. Spouses are also
encouraged to attend but for safety reasons, no children please.

For those of you who will be transiting MEM while day turning,
jumpseating or deadheading, there will be pilots in AOC on Thursday
morning to direct you to transportation.

We will get all working pilots and jumpseating crewmembers back to the
hub for their flights. To ensure pilots are back to the hub for early
show times, we will have buses running every 10 minutes to take pilots
back to the hub, plus we will have two buses in reserve if there are any
breakdowns. Pilots with early show times will have priority. The return
of pilots to the hub for work will be the highest priority at the
conclusion of the events.

Additionally, for those of you who will be unable to attend due to work
schedules that will keep you away from MEM, we ask that you wear your
hats on your trips that day thru IND, OAK, EWR, LAX, ANC, SFS, AFW, etc.


Finally, if you are in training that day, either as an instructor or
going through ITU or recurrent, please wear you uniforms as a show of
solidarity.

If you are not out of town or flying a trip, please plan on joining us
in support of our Negotiating Committee.

Fraternally,

Captain Whitey Drossel
First Officer Wes Reed
SPC Co-Chairmen

I like it!






.

 

[RAC396]

When the Union restores the vacation longevity they gave away in the parking lot last time I will buy two hats,one for my head,ond one to cover something else.

 

[TonyC]

When the Union restores the vacation longevity they gave away in the parking lot last time I will buy two hats,one for my head,ond one to cover something else.

I can't imagine what else you'd want to cover with a hat...


I take it you were a Professional Instructor? I am quite familiar with the vacation longevity issue. For the benefit of those who are not, allow me to briefly explain. Prior to "The Agreement," a FedEx Employee who was transferred to a Crewmember position form any other job in FedEx Express, be it handler, courier, Professional Instructor, whatever, carried his years as a FedEx employee with him in order to determine vacation earned. If a pilot had been a Professional Instructor for three years, and then got a Crewmember position, he had three years towards vacation accrual. After the implementation of "The Agreement," all that time was forfeited. There was even a brief spurt of hiring just prior to the implementation to allow several internal hires to be grandfathered.

So, future internal hires were denied the benefit that was given to previous internal hires, and the biggest insult was born by the guys that were working as internals on the day "The Agreement" took effect, May 31, 1999.

What did pilots GET in return for what they GAVE UP in this deal? Nothing.

Unfortunately, the same question can be asked, and the same answer returned, for many, many provisions of the contract. In a word, it is PUNITIVE. We were punished for acting like a union -- if only for a brief period of time. We had the audacity to take a strike vote! Our profit sharing payments were withheld and delayed, we had to wait almost 6 months for the CBA to even go into effect, we lost money on Int'l Override, I could go on and on and on. Some may argue, but I contend that the "negotiations" that took place after that "parking lot deal" were nothing more than dictation sessions where The Company dictated the terms, and the shell of a negotiating committee left behind dutifully took notes like secretaries from the steno pool. I don't mean that as a personal insult to any of those folks, but they effectively had NO negotiating capital at that time. What power they had previously enjoyed had been robbed by the actions of a few.


Everybody who was here then has their own pet complaint about the contract we live under today. I have my own pet complaints. I voted against it, but guess what? We have to live with it.

There are some things that we gave up in this contract that we'll never get back, and the vacation longevity for internal hires is one of them. I don't like it, but I don't like professional instructors working without seniority numbers, either. In the process of negotiations, generally something has to be given up in order to get something back. I can't think of many things we have to sacrifice. It's just a reality we have to deal with.


Now's the time to put our pet gripes aside and pitch in together to get the best contract we can get THIS TIME around. We will never get a better contract by being divided into our own little "pet gripe" groups. You might imagine that, as outspoken as I am, I have a few of my own. I'm putting those aside in the interest of us all coming together and demanding what we deserve. I challenge you to do the same.

Don't qualify your support - - "I'll support the union IF..." is exactly what the Company wants to hear. When you divide yourselves based on pet isssues, you do the Company's work for them. "Divide and conquer" is not just a nutritious breakfast cereal.

No ifs, buts, or whens... I support the union.

Go buy the hat!





.

 

[RAC396]

Nicely said Tony.I support the Union,I am there at every meeting.I would be there on thursday if I were In town.Its the refusal of the union to address the situation that bothers me.If it were wide body Capts that were affected things would be diferent.

 

[klhoard]

Guys/gals:
Unfortunately I have a trip next week, while everybody else is at the rally in MEM...
but i will wear my hat during the trip!!!
Will you?
Los1
One more day of retro pay!!!

.
.
.
How are you going to get your headset on?? ;-)
.
.
.

 

[Los1]

check out Gregory Peck in the movie "12 O'Clock High"

He looks almost as cool as I will look when I am flying w/ my headset
on top of my hat over the pacific...(i know, I know...Peck is 8th AF over Germany, but you get the point!!!)
see ya
Los1

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

What very cool and exciting time! If I was in Memphis, I'd show up in my (non FedEx) uniform with MY hat and support the FedEx pilots.

It would just make me giggle if I could take a FedEx jumpseater to this event.

I can't imagine why any FedEx pilot would not want to show up. As one of many you can be a wallflower and see what it is all about. Or you can be in the mosh pit (Tony C.?) doing some radical stage dives!!

This is the American Labor Movement fellas. There is nothing liberal, pinko commie about it. So get it out of your heads. This is about a group of Americans standing up like men (and women) for thier rights. Thier right to take care of their familes and propser. Is there anything more American?


Now...lets talk about the hat.

It is very interesting to see the FedEx guys encouraging the hat. Seeing a FedEx pilot with a hat is like a B727 engineered without the center engine!

Why do these freight dogs want to wear thier hats?

Back in the golden days, Pan Am made sure thier pilots stayed at the best intercontinental hotels, never carried thier bags and looked sharp in uniform. I asked one pilot leader why we don't wear hats? His reply, 'I think it is to rebel against management'.

But today we don't wear our hats out of personal convienence. It is bothersome, annoying and the crowd doesn't do it anyway. I mean, the last thing a pilot wants to do is walk into the crewroom and be questioned or even joked about his lid.

If you look at the June/July issue of Air Line Pilot magazine, (I know, I know, the most expensive magazine in the world ) on the cover, TSA pilots looking to be recognized wearing hats, page 5, the Never Forget Never Quit logo, pilots wearing hats, page 7 the safety logo, silloulettes of pilots in hats, page 21 the Midwest Pilot profile, a picture of a hat and now the FedEx pilots...

Whenever ALPA or a company wants to "sell" the image of pilots it includes hats. When Independence Air ran ads with crewmembers, the pilots (actor/model) wore a hat.

It is not about you and me. It is about us. Let's sell us.

What do we want out of this lost career that is now just a danm job. Who is going to restore this profession? Are we going to wait for management? The government? If we are going to sell ourselves to the public so that we have leverage at the negotiating table (this is what FedEx is doing) we have to be noticed and recognized. What will be our indicator? Our ties? Union pin? Shoulder boards? PNT bag?

The hat carries more recognition and tradition than anything else I can think of. It represents everything we want out of this profession.

Of course I don't LIKE it. It messes up my hair, its sweaty and puts rack burn marks in my forehead.

The UPS and FedEx pilots are going to bridge these awlful concessionary times with better times. They need all the support they can get. They've got mine.

FedEx/UPS pilots; show 'em how its done and give 'em he1l!!






One of the dark truths at the heart of free-market capitalism: the unblinking willingness of those in power to crush--physically and spiritually--those who work.

 

[TonyC]

Nicely said Tony.I support the Union,I am there at every meeting.I would be there on thursday if I were In town.

Glad to hear that!

Its the refusal of the union to address the situation that bothers me. If it were wide body Capts that were affected things would be diferent.

You hit the nail on the head - - it's got to effect a large fraction of our members or it won't get anybody's attention. We'll get together over a cold Diet coke some afternoon and I'll give you the rest of my list of contract shortcomings. PDO bump somebody on my crew (I surmise you're a current 727 Flex?) and I can wear your ears out with complaints. But if we want to keep this thing moving in the right direction, we'll keep our disagreements to ourselves and show the Company an absolutely unified front.

ONE MORE DAY OF RETRO PAY !​

.

 

[Goose17]

I'll be there, negative hat.

I don't have one and I use Fred's uniform allotment to buy uniforms I actually wear.

None-the-less, I will be there.

Goose17

 

[Rock]

I'll be there, negative hat.

I don't have one and I use Fred's uniform allotment to buy uniforms I actually wear.

This whole exciting hat thing reminds me of a story floating around a few years ago about a Northwest pilot. Apparently, he discovered a way to access porn movies for free in his hotel room in Amsterdam. He even videoed it to show the rest of his crew when they got back to their 747 the next day. As a joke (and before any passengers were boarded), he popped the video into the aircraft's video system so that it would play throughout the aircraft. Of course, it quickly attracted the crews' attention, but as they stared at the video monitors, they realized something this clever porn fan hadn't. While he was videoing his free porn, the television screen was reflecting his image. He was naked except for his pilot hat, and was joining the action he was watching in his own little way.

Ever since hearing that story, I've never looked at hats the same way.....

 

[Goose17]

Now that is freak'n funny!

Goose17

 

[TAZ MAN]

Don't you FEDEX guys have your own forum to bring this kind of discussion?

If not you really need to start one.

May I suggest www.Pprune.org.

Good luck anyways.

 

[Murdawg5]

I Forgot my "UNITY HAT"..

Sorry guys... But I unitentionally forgot my hat, as well as my Bulldawgs baseball cap... I'm on a long three week trip away and left it at home... But, On my prior tip (a cancelled DH to TPE) I got put into substitution and assigned a ANC-NRT-ICN/ DH ICN-PVG/PVG-ANC RFO pairing instead... I was so pissed, that I had no other recourse but to wear my hat, which I did to many questionable looks from everyone from the ramp agents to maintenance.... I dubbed it my "UNITY HAT"... Unless anyone else has any better suggestions, I'd like to propose that from now on, we call our hats "UNITY HATS" for support of our negotiating committee and our fellow pilots.... I won't foget my "UNITY HAT" on my next trip...

Take Care,
Murdawg5

 

[klhoard]

Don't you FEDEX guys have your own forum to bring this kind of discussion?

If not you really need to start one.

May I suggest www.Pprune.org.

Good luck anyways.

.
.
.
No. . . just don't look here. . . .
.
.
.

 

[DaveGriffin]

This whole exciting hat thing reminds me of a story floating around a few years ago about a Northwest pilot. Apparently, he discovered a way to access porn movies for free in his hotel room in Amsterdam. He even videoed it to show the rest of his crew when they got back to their 747 the next day. As a joke (and before any passengers were boarded), he popped the video into the aircraft's video system so that it would play throughout the aircraft. Of course, it quickly attracted the crews' attention, but as they stared at the video monitors, they realized something this clever porn fan hadn't. While he was videoing his free porn, the television screen was reflecting his image. He was naked except for his pilot hat, and was joining the action he was watching in his own little way.

Ever since hearing that story, I've never looked at hats the same way.....

It was an ex-Patrol guy.

 

[Hugh Jorgan]

I'll wear my Jimmy-hat if that helps.