RichardFitzwell
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2001
- Posts
- 347
Airline of the Year for 2001??
This is the latest email sent to me concerning CAL...
Furlough Numbers to Increase
Proving once again that the public message and the facts don’t match,
management informed your Negotiating Committee Tuesday morning of further
furloughs within the pilot group, in an effort to reduce the Flight
Operations budget by approximately $10 million for 2002.
Management indicated that they would announce a new system bid later this
week, with plans to furlough an additional 100 Continental pilots –
approximately 50 March 1 and the balance April 1. Continental Express
management has indicated their furlough numbers would be in excess of
Continental’s. These new furloughs come on top of the 826 previously
furloughed Continental and Continental Express pilots.
“While the Company is trumpeting supposed successes on Wall Street, the
realities of ‘working together’ are being borne once again
disproportionately by the pilots of Continental and Continental Express,”
stated CAL ALPA MEC Vice Chairman John Prater, “This comes at a time when
the Company is reporting record load factors, improved revenues, and
recalling flight attendants, gate agents and ramp workers.”
Since the events of September, your Negotiating Committee has presented
various detailed cost saving proposals, from early retirements, COLAs,
reductions in line values and other staffing changes that, by management’s
own estimates, could have saved over $25 million, only to have each of these
proposals rejected.
In contrast, management at Delta, Northwest and United have all “worked
together” with their ALPA representatives to mitigate the number of
furloughs. Various industry standard contractual provisions at these
carriers reduce the number of junior manning events, reduce the ability to
flex pay caps and line divisors prior to the furlough of pilots and make
non-flying lines of time with reduced (55 hours) pay values a viable
alternative to furloughs. The impacts of these contractual provisions are
significant to providing job security. For example, Delta, with twice the
number of pilots, has furloughed approximately the same number of pilots as
Continental. Northwest, which has approximately the same level of pilot
staffing as Continental, has furloughed less than half the number of pilots.
Both of these carriers have reduced their flight schedules by the same
percentage as Continental.
Continental management is aware of these proactive solutions, but believe
they know how to run a better airline. In fact, they have worked
unilaterally over the past 6 to 8 weeks on micro-managing the staffing
levels based on the flexible provisions of Contract ’97, but have only been
willing to discuss the details of their final staffing plan just before the
bid is supposed to be issued.
Adding to the sense of finality, neither the Senior VP of Operations,
Captain Debbie McCoy, nor Senior VP of Human Resources and Labor Relations,
Mike Campbell, attended the Monday meeting. Only vague suggestions to meet
after the bid is issued were offered by the members of management present.
Management is clearly counting on the pilot groups’ distress over their
reduction in pay status to result in a willingness to accept higher line
divisors during summer months, increased junior manning levels, increased
utilization of reserves, and to tout this forthcoming bid as an “increase”
in flying. In fact, the forthcoming bid represents approximately 20% less
staffing than the 02-07 bid. Management’s ability to successfully operate a
record holiday schedule, given our lack of contractual provisions to
mitigate furloughs, makes the decision to resume the furlough of pilots all
the more attractive from an accounting standpoint. The decisions of
management would appear to be a return to the “bean counter” mentality of
the 1990s.
Management’s consolation to the next group of furloughed pilots is, “They
will be out the shortest time period.” Management indicated no recalls would
occur before 2003 at the earliest, and there was no guarantee that these
furloughs would be the last, as two of the “queens of the skies – the
B-777s” are being removed from the schedule and parked for the remainder of
2002.
More information will be provided when the final bid numbers become
available. Based on the initial estimates, the senior furloughed pilot will
be from the August 1998 Continental class. That individual may be able to
hold RJ Captain until the subsequent CALEX reduction bid, which may reflect
the removal of the remaining turboprop aircraft from the CALEX system.
-- END --
This is the latest email sent to me concerning CAL...
Furlough Numbers to Increase
Proving once again that the public message and the facts don’t match,
management informed your Negotiating Committee Tuesday morning of further
furloughs within the pilot group, in an effort to reduce the Flight
Operations budget by approximately $10 million for 2002.
Management indicated that they would announce a new system bid later this
week, with plans to furlough an additional 100 Continental pilots –
approximately 50 March 1 and the balance April 1. Continental Express
management has indicated their furlough numbers would be in excess of
Continental’s. These new furloughs come on top of the 826 previously
furloughed Continental and Continental Express pilots.
“While the Company is trumpeting supposed successes on Wall Street, the
realities of ‘working together’ are being borne once again
disproportionately by the pilots of Continental and Continental Express,”
stated CAL ALPA MEC Vice Chairman John Prater, “This comes at a time when
the Company is reporting record load factors, improved revenues, and
recalling flight attendants, gate agents and ramp workers.”
Since the events of September, your Negotiating Committee has presented
various detailed cost saving proposals, from early retirements, COLAs,
reductions in line values and other staffing changes that, by management’s
own estimates, could have saved over $25 million, only to have each of these
proposals rejected.
In contrast, management at Delta, Northwest and United have all “worked
together” with their ALPA representatives to mitigate the number of
furloughs. Various industry standard contractual provisions at these
carriers reduce the number of junior manning events, reduce the ability to
flex pay caps and line divisors prior to the furlough of pilots and make
non-flying lines of time with reduced (55 hours) pay values a viable
alternative to furloughs. The impacts of these contractual provisions are
significant to providing job security. For example, Delta, with twice the
number of pilots, has furloughed approximately the same number of pilots as
Continental. Northwest, which has approximately the same level of pilot
staffing as Continental, has furloughed less than half the number of pilots.
Both of these carriers have reduced their flight schedules by the same
percentage as Continental.
Continental management is aware of these proactive solutions, but believe
they know how to run a better airline. In fact, they have worked
unilaterally over the past 6 to 8 weeks on micro-managing the staffing
levels based on the flexible provisions of Contract ’97, but have only been
willing to discuss the details of their final staffing plan just before the
bid is supposed to be issued.
Adding to the sense of finality, neither the Senior VP of Operations,
Captain Debbie McCoy, nor Senior VP of Human Resources and Labor Relations,
Mike Campbell, attended the Monday meeting. Only vague suggestions to meet
after the bid is issued were offered by the members of management present.
Management is clearly counting on the pilot groups’ distress over their
reduction in pay status to result in a willingness to accept higher line
divisors during summer months, increased junior manning levels, increased
utilization of reserves, and to tout this forthcoming bid as an “increase”
in flying. In fact, the forthcoming bid represents approximately 20% less
staffing than the 02-07 bid. Management’s ability to successfully operate a
record holiday schedule, given our lack of contractual provisions to
mitigate furloughs, makes the decision to resume the furlough of pilots all
the more attractive from an accounting standpoint. The decisions of
management would appear to be a return to the “bean counter” mentality of
the 1990s.
Management’s consolation to the next group of furloughed pilots is, “They
will be out the shortest time period.” Management indicated no recalls would
occur before 2003 at the earliest, and there was no guarantee that these
furloughs would be the last, as two of the “queens of the skies – the
B-777s” are being removed from the schedule and parked for the remainder of
2002.
More information will be provided when the final bid numbers become
available. Based on the initial estimates, the senior furloughed pilot will
be from the August 1998 Continental class. That individual may be able to
hold RJ Captain until the subsequent CALEX reduction bid, which may reflect
the removal of the remaining turboprop aircraft from the CALEX system.
-- END --
