Labor Problems at the "new" US Airways

[Wiskey Driver]

Yesterday, The Arizona Republic ran a well done article on
For the AWA pilots - please don't forget to vote for the LEC 62 elections. Voting ends in a few days and the leaders we elect will have a huge impact on our careers. (I'm posting this here, because our MEC has decided to shut down the AWA web board).

C73 I agree the people should get out an take an active interest in the voting process because after all it is our futures. Now regarding your comment about the web board and your posting here. You are a regular on this forum so please don't add insult to injury by making that statement. What was done was on the advice of our atty. I do hope that's good enough for you...

WD.

 

[Cactus73]

C73 I agree the people should get out an take an active interest in the voting process because after all it is our futures. Now regarding your comment about the web board and your posting here. You are a regular on this forum so please don't add insult to injury by making that statement. What was done was on the advice of our atty. I do hope that's good enough for you...

WD.

MK82man,

I'm excited about this merger. I think we have some potential to kick some major butt in the future. But don't kid yourself that it is going to be a quick and easy process to get to a merged happy family. Talk to CAL pilots about the warm and fuzzies between the People Express, Frontier, NY Air, and original CAL guys.

As I said in my post, I've had very good actual encounters with AAA folk, except for STL. I was treated like gold by two separate crews on my vacation to Europe.

BTW, be a little careful (no pun to the AAA poster) above Dave O'dell's or anyones expectations. I want a relative seniority type integration too, but there are other factors in ALPA merger policy such as career expectations that will be argued in front of an arbitrator if it goes that far. Dave will want his "expectation" protected and a straight ratio may or may not do this.

PHXFLYR,

No flame bait. There have been some instances as the Republic pointed out and McClelland acknowledged. I assume and hope they are rare. I have a friend on the JS committee here and he says that they had to put out a fire caused by one of OUR pilots on AAA to keep it out of the CPO.

WD,

Sorry about the web board post. It was a cheap shot. But I want all of our guys that get on here to vote. This is our chance to show the AAA guys and management that we are involved in the process and care about our futures.


Sorry to all that I may have offended. It's good to hear that you have had good experiences. Those of us on the 737 have limited exposure to the AAA side as we don't fly east of MKE. But to ignore/deny that there has been and there will be friction is not fair either.

 

[AutoBus]

passed through PHL recently, everyone treated us cactii well, very concerned about getting us out on time with no fowl-ups. They could use a lesson or two on filtering out oversized carry on bags, however..

 

[aa73]

Wrong. Both sides (pilots) know the process is fair. There's no comparison.

As an AA "native" I would agree completely. I'd like to point out that whenever two ALPA airlines merge, if seniority issues cannot be worked out then it is sent to neutral arbitration. No pilot group is allowed to impose an integration that the other pilot group disagrees on. In TWA/AA's case, AA management and the APA forced TWA's pilots to waive their rights to neutral arbitration as a condition of continued employment at AA. Obviously, they were scared that a neutral arbitrator would have imposed something the APA did not want. This was completely out of line, but unfortunately quite common when an ALPA airline merges with a non-ALPA airline (and the non-ALPA airline is the acquiring carrier.)

US/AWA pilots, I sincerely hope yours is not a repeat of what happened to us. Fortunately, the fact that you are both ALPA will prevent an ugly replay. Keep up the professionalism.

73

 

[Green]

Wrong. Both sides (pilots) know the process is fair. There's no comparison.

I don't know about that one. Wish you were right though. Our (AWA) merger committee just sent out a blast email stating that the AAA merger committee will not back down from thier belief that date of hire is the only fair way to integrate. Even worse, they feel that their furloughees once recalled should have date of hire for upgrade, etc. Also they refuse to acknowledge that AWA planned on flying to Hawaii prior to the merger. Looks like they want a piece of that as well.

So looks like they want to screw us about as hard as our Fa's are going to get it. Sounds reasonable to me considering their carreer expectations. We should be happy just to be able to one day wear the same uniforms as these guys....

 

[Green]

You know one more thing to consider is that the ual-aaa merger was killed by one thing alone, the ual pilots. Apparently when the merger was announced the AAA line pilots started talking about how they were looking forward to bidding the 747, getting based out west, etc. This scared the ual guys who eventually sunk the deal.

I tend to think that the average line guy at AAA wants to make sure they don't do ANYTHING to kill this deal because it is their last hope. So they play nice in public, saying we need to be fair and everything. However, once we've reached the point where the merger is consumated, now, the gloves come off and they'll fight like h#ll for date of hire.

 

[PHXFLYR]

Green,

I wouldn't get too bent out of shape reading about what the AAA Merger Committee wants. The ARBITRATOR will decide how this abortion with wings gets pieced together senority wise, not the AAA merger commitee. or ours for that matter.

PHXFLYR

 

[jetalc]

AirTran pilots did it just after 9/11, when they agreed to a 60 day pay rollback, in exchange for a guarantee of no furloughs for the newhires.

Frontier did it also right after 9/11. 10% paycut in exchange for not furloughing. Pretty cool.

 

[AA717driver]

AWA MEC shut down the message board?

That must be in the ALPA play book. The TWA MEC did just that at a time when the rank and file could have shared information and debated the issue of the merger with AA. That debate could have resulted in different players with a different outcome.

Watch your backs, Cacti, your MEC may be up to something.TC

 

[stb]

Sad but my opinion, AWA saved the anchor of the Titanic from a row boat.

Good Luck!

 

[TWA Dude]

I don't know about that one. Wish you were right though.

You're confusing several issues. First of all, AWA and USA are actually negotiating which was something the APA had no interest in nor did they need to do during AA-TWA. Second, USA is obviously presenting a hardline bargaining position. Good for them! We're effectively doing the same thing. Either we'll eventually come to a compromise deal or the arbitrator will impose one. Draginass' mistaken opinion was that people aren't getting along with each other on a large scale. Of course there'll always be a couple of hotheads here or there but there isn't the whole-sale denigration of a pilot group uttered by high-up union officials that we heard during AA-TWA. So my point is don't confuse issues at the bargaining table with how we're getting along with each other.

 

[captainjack]

deleted

 

[PHXFLYR]

.........

 

[AWAJS]

Since the rumors are flying I'll get involved in this one.

Cactus73,

There have been some issues but we've been able to keep them out of Dan's office. Believe it or not, they seem to start with our guys not USA's.

If you are one of those guys jumpseating out of PHL please play nice. If you are asking for a free ride to work, it probably isn't a good time to tell the Captain that he should be thankful that we came in to save the day for them.

Just take a seat and read your paper.

If you have any issues, please DO NOT go to Dan's office, call us on the committee or call your reps.

We are having a national meeting next month so if you have any specific airline issues, let us know.

 

[BeCareful!]

I don't know about that one. Wish you were right though. Our (AWA) merger committee just sent out a blast email stating that the AAA merger committee will not back down from thier belief that date of hire is the only fair way to integrate. Even worse, they feel that their furloughees once recalled should have date of hire for upgrade, etc.

Green,

It seems like it's difficult for you guys to see the other side of the coin. Pilots at all carriers behave like barbarions when the word "merger" is uttered.

As an example, what if you guys were to buy JetBlue? You and everyone in PHX would be screaming DOH, DOH, DOH. Just as likely, JB guys would be wanting slots.

The point is, it's not personal. People just want the best for their families and careers. Seems like you guys are having trouble with that.

 

[Doug Parker]

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Hey BeCareful,

Have you guys not learned anything from past mergers?




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[BeCareful!]

Hey, BossMan......

Yeah, we have.

Have you?

 

[Doug Parker]

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Yeah, I have.......the MEC (AAA) that asks for everything and gives on nothing gets screwed in the end in arbitration. So keep it up, it'll only help us out.



Enjoy the CRJ, you might be there for a long, long time.............


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[BeCareful!]

Gosh, sounds like you're trying to hurt my feelings

Merry Christmas.

Oh, sorry.....that might not be PC. If it offends you then.....great

haha

 

[Doug Parker]

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I prefer Happy Kwanzaa, but I'll accept your holiday greeting regardless.






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