CAL EWR B737
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2005
- Posts
- 652
“If you look at the demographics of the base we have about 65% commuters in Newark. Of those 65% there are about rough justice [sic] 200 commuters from Houston to Newark. And if you are going to have a reduction, we didn’t want to force people out of Houston to backfill people that would be reduced here potentially…It’s to try to reduce some commuters…It’s an easier commute, more flights, better weather and fewer delays.” - Captain Fred Abbott, Newark Pilot Meeting, August 12, 2009
Today is Saturday, August 29, 2009 and there are 17 items for discussion.
Item 1: Halloween Comes Early: Low-Level Management Seen Wearing Pilot Costumes
Tom Stivala—famous for helping to ensure that the pilots of Continental remain the lowest-compensated in the industry—was seen flying a widebody Paris trip this past week along with former Negotiating Committee member Bill Karnes and a 28 year-old former intern of Fred Abbott’s—now turned “project pilot” from downtown. Of course, in her new job, she’s still one of Fred’s interns, she just gets paid better.
Bill Karnes is about the only one left from our old Negotiating Committee who hasn’t publicly crossed over—yet. Expect the big news any day now. It will probably come on the heels of the announcement of Dave Zullo’s “conversion”; Fred told us in his EWR meeting that he always looked for “quality” like Stivala and Martin—and Zullo. Karnes will likely bring up the rear.
Note to pilots: you are either union or you are management—there is no in-between and there is no crossing over and coming back. If you work for them, you are on their side, not ours. The union is not the yellow-brick road to a management job and if you think you can walk that path and end up on Smith Street, we will find you out.
Item 2: System Bid Delayed
Yes, we know the System Bid was delayed a day and, yes, management is to blame as usual. However, we made the conscious choice to give management one more day to issue the results for one, simple reason: there are 140-plus pilots hanging on the results of this bid and we wanted to get it right the first time.
We know this doesn’t sit well with many of you—it doesn’t sit well with us, either. Management loves to do these things to us because they can—no other reason—and it is up to every one of us to remember every single slight we experienced at their hands when it comes time to engage in a legal job action to force management to come up with a decent contract.
Item 3: TSA “Enhances” Our Safety at EWR; Expect Massive Delays
The TSA—which long ago forgot why they exist—has been playing musical access points with our EWR pilots; many of us noticed last week that we’d lost our crew line at one of our checkpoints. Now comes the latest indignity: many of us will be selected for even more useless screening via pat downs, hand wanding, and shoe removal—along with demands to see our “papers”, no doubt.
We are somewhat confused as to the reasons for such additional scrutiny for flight crews. Normally when we are selected for strip-search and bag destruction, it is because TSA needs to show they are hand-screening a certain percentage of their victims—and we are easy targets; we can’t complain or we lose our jobs. We do not know if that is the case here—or if our beloved management is involved in this charade.
We will keep digging—the truth is out there.
In the mean time (we seem to say this a lot), plan a normal arrival time at “security”—and let the chips fall where they may.
Item 4: Fresh From Satan’s Forge: Pairing Number E5291G
When we picture the process by which a pairing is modified until it ultimately passes through the entire alphabet at the end, we sometimes think we’ve been given a glimpse of Satan, laughing manically over his red-hot anvil, creating the pairing from hell. We probably aren’t far wrong.
This recent damnation was inflicted upon one of our EWR pilots: E5291G. It began life as a 2-day with a MEX layover. It ended as a 6-day with 31 hours plus 9 hours of deadhead that included such exotic places as EWR, MEX, ATL, IAH, LIR, PHL, and SAP—some of these places more than once. While the pairing itself has disappeared from CCS, the pain inflicted remains.
Scheduling evidently subscribes to the theory that a pilot in the hand is better than 2 on reserve but do they actually look at what they’re doing to us? This pilot was supposed to be off at the end of his 2-day—instead he’s rolled first as a EWR reserve, then as a IAH reserve as he caroms off both bases multiple times during this limit-of-human-endurance ordeal. What family events did he plan and then miss? What alternate arrangements had to be made? Pack for 2, gone for 6. Sounds great.
We are no longer even human beings to management, just part numbers used to the limit then discarded when we can’t function anymore. We have pilots die in their seats as they try to outrace management’s lust for their pay, benefits, retirement, and everything else with which our profession used to reward us.
While the phrase, “it’s just not right” comes easily to mind, it’s more than that: we work for a management who would use us for 30 years and more—and then discard us as we near retirement after first stealing the money we planned to live upon after we can no longer work. It is not entirely their fault, however—if we are sheep, we should expect to be shorn. Would they try the same with a wolfpack?
We’ll soon find out.
Item 5: ALPA PAC
From Captain Bill Sablesak:
Are you helping to row? Is your oar in the water?
Although we at CAL ALPA are presently going through some very turbulent waters (CAL reduction bid; CAL reduction of EWR base; possible additional furloughs; furlough mitigation efforts; reduced flying lines; downgrades; etc.; etc.) the rest of our industry and world continue to turn. Many of us are angry and frustrated to levels never seen before. So, what can we do as individual pilots?
One fairly easy way to help is to support and/or join the ALPA Political Action Committee (PAC) which, believe it or not, has had some recent victories.
Just last week, the Department of Transportation (DOT) reversed a misguided ruling of several years ago that allowed a foreign air carrier (Air Canada) to conduct charter flights within the United States for several National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. The DOT reversed their ruling and revoked Air Canada's authorization to conduct these flights directly as a result of ALPA PAC's massive lobbying effort.
ALPA "National" has also been strenuously and vocally objecting to proposals to health care reform that include taxing our health benefits. It appears that this flawed idea has run its course but the ALPA Government Affairs department remains vigilant to ensure that any health care reform bill will not tax our hard fought/bargained for health benefits.
There have also been a few key Administration appointments that should prove beneficial to CAL ALPA pilots. The Senate has confirmed Ms. Debbie Hersman as Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and retired TWA Captain Harry Hoglander to the National Mediation Board (NMB). Both Hersman and Hoglander are experienced experts who have a long history of working together with ALPA.
Finally, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) reached a tentative labor agreement for the union's more than 20,000 members. Details have not been released yet but NATCA says that the new contract should be "very good" to air traffic controllers. Of course, Air Traffic Controllers have been working under an imposed contract since Labor Day 2006 and had hoped the new administration would negotiate towards more friendly terms.
So, despite your many frustrations and concerns with CAL at the local level, you can see that ALPA "National" is actually accomplishing quite a bit of good behind the scenes at the macro-level.
Please get your oar in the water and help row.
SUPPORT ALPA PAC
In Solidarity,
Bill Sablesak
ALPA PAC Steering Committee
I
Today is Saturday, August 29, 2009 and there are 17 items for discussion.
Item 1: Halloween Comes Early: Low-Level Management Seen Wearing Pilot Costumes
Tom Stivala—famous for helping to ensure that the pilots of Continental remain the lowest-compensated in the industry—was seen flying a widebody Paris trip this past week along with former Negotiating Committee member Bill Karnes and a 28 year-old former intern of Fred Abbott’s—now turned “project pilot” from downtown. Of course, in her new job, she’s still one of Fred’s interns, she just gets paid better.
Bill Karnes is about the only one left from our old Negotiating Committee who hasn’t publicly crossed over—yet. Expect the big news any day now. It will probably come on the heels of the announcement of Dave Zullo’s “conversion”; Fred told us in his EWR meeting that he always looked for “quality” like Stivala and Martin—and Zullo. Karnes will likely bring up the rear.
Note to pilots: you are either union or you are management—there is no in-between and there is no crossing over and coming back. If you work for them, you are on their side, not ours. The union is not the yellow-brick road to a management job and if you think you can walk that path and end up on Smith Street, we will find you out.
Item 2: System Bid Delayed
Yes, we know the System Bid was delayed a day and, yes, management is to blame as usual. However, we made the conscious choice to give management one more day to issue the results for one, simple reason: there are 140-plus pilots hanging on the results of this bid and we wanted to get it right the first time.
We know this doesn’t sit well with many of you—it doesn’t sit well with us, either. Management loves to do these things to us because they can—no other reason—and it is up to every one of us to remember every single slight we experienced at their hands when it comes time to engage in a legal job action to force management to come up with a decent contract.
Item 3: TSA “Enhances” Our Safety at EWR; Expect Massive Delays
The TSA—which long ago forgot why they exist—has been playing musical access points with our EWR pilots; many of us noticed last week that we’d lost our crew line at one of our checkpoints. Now comes the latest indignity: many of us will be selected for even more useless screening via pat downs, hand wanding, and shoe removal—along with demands to see our “papers”, no doubt.
We are somewhat confused as to the reasons for such additional scrutiny for flight crews. Normally when we are selected for strip-search and bag destruction, it is because TSA needs to show they are hand-screening a certain percentage of their victims—and we are easy targets; we can’t complain or we lose our jobs. We do not know if that is the case here—or if our beloved management is involved in this charade.
We will keep digging—the truth is out there.
In the mean time (we seem to say this a lot), plan a normal arrival time at “security”—and let the chips fall where they may.
Item 4: Fresh From Satan’s Forge: Pairing Number E5291G
When we picture the process by which a pairing is modified until it ultimately passes through the entire alphabet at the end, we sometimes think we’ve been given a glimpse of Satan, laughing manically over his red-hot anvil, creating the pairing from hell. We probably aren’t far wrong.
This recent damnation was inflicted upon one of our EWR pilots: E5291G. It began life as a 2-day with a MEX layover. It ended as a 6-day with 31 hours plus 9 hours of deadhead that included such exotic places as EWR, MEX, ATL, IAH, LIR, PHL, and SAP—some of these places more than once. While the pairing itself has disappeared from CCS, the pain inflicted remains.
Scheduling evidently subscribes to the theory that a pilot in the hand is better than 2 on reserve but do they actually look at what they’re doing to us? This pilot was supposed to be off at the end of his 2-day—instead he’s rolled first as a EWR reserve, then as a IAH reserve as he caroms off both bases multiple times during this limit-of-human-endurance ordeal. What family events did he plan and then miss? What alternate arrangements had to be made? Pack for 2, gone for 6. Sounds great.
We are no longer even human beings to management, just part numbers used to the limit then discarded when we can’t function anymore. We have pilots die in their seats as they try to outrace management’s lust for their pay, benefits, retirement, and everything else with which our profession used to reward us.
While the phrase, “it’s just not right” comes easily to mind, it’s more than that: we work for a management who would use us for 30 years and more—and then discard us as we near retirement after first stealing the money we planned to live upon after we can no longer work. It is not entirely their fault, however—if we are sheep, we should expect to be shorn. Would they try the same with a wolfpack?
We’ll soon find out.
Item 5: ALPA PAC
From Captain Bill Sablesak:
Are you helping to row? Is your oar in the water?
Although we at CAL ALPA are presently going through some very turbulent waters (CAL reduction bid; CAL reduction of EWR base; possible additional furloughs; furlough mitigation efforts; reduced flying lines; downgrades; etc.; etc.) the rest of our industry and world continue to turn. Many of us are angry and frustrated to levels never seen before. So, what can we do as individual pilots?
One fairly easy way to help is to support and/or join the ALPA Political Action Committee (PAC) which, believe it or not, has had some recent victories.
Just last week, the Department of Transportation (DOT) reversed a misguided ruling of several years ago that allowed a foreign air carrier (Air Canada) to conduct charter flights within the United States for several National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA) teams. The DOT reversed their ruling and revoked Air Canada's authorization to conduct these flights directly as a result of ALPA PAC's massive lobbying effort.
ALPA "National" has also been strenuously and vocally objecting to proposals to health care reform that include taxing our health benefits. It appears that this flawed idea has run its course but the ALPA Government Affairs department remains vigilant to ensure that any health care reform bill will not tax our hard fought/bargained for health benefits.
There have also been a few key Administration appointments that should prove beneficial to CAL ALPA pilots. The Senate has confirmed Ms. Debbie Hersman as Chair of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and retired TWA Captain Harry Hoglander to the National Mediation Board (NMB). Both Hersman and Hoglander are experienced experts who have a long history of working together with ALPA.
Finally, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) reached a tentative labor agreement for the union's more than 20,000 members. Details have not been released yet but NATCA says that the new contract should be "very good" to air traffic controllers. Of course, Air Traffic Controllers have been working under an imposed contract since Labor Day 2006 and had hoped the new administration would negotiate towards more friendly terms.
So, despite your many frustrations and concerns with CAL at the local level, you can see that ALPA "National" is actually accomplishing quite a bit of good behind the scenes at the macro-level.
Please get your oar in the water and help row.
SUPPORT ALPA PAC
In Solidarity,
Bill Sablesak
ALPA PAC Steering Committee
I