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This is an interesting letter. What's the pilots' take on these Part 91 international flights?
San Salvador Maintenance Flights Debacle
As you are all aware TWU 550 and the Company have been attempting negotiation of the Dispatcher function involved with the San Salvador operation. This has been a contentious issue that has all of us deeply concerned about the safety and adequate training of this operation as well as the dispatcher’s responsibility, authority, and liability. The Company is presently planning on operating these flights without properly training the dispatchers for international operations, yet the pilots will be flying these flights following all applicable rules for international operations. Why would Southwest operate these flights under a single level of safety (CFR Part 91) rather than the dual level of safety (CFR Part 121) as we do for all of our flights today? The answer is to exclude the additional safety measure provided by the Flight Dispatcher for San Salvador operations.
Most recently TWU 550 has been focused on protecting the members from being placed in harm’s way regarding career and certificate. Since the Southwest Airlines Dispatch Inspector has refused to respond, calling this a labor dispute, and the Southwest Airlines ATOS Manager has claimed you are not liable, but he wouldn’t put his name on the release, we felt the urgency for answers warranted action. Does this seem to you that there is an appearance that the Local FAA (that has daily direct dealings with Southwest Airlines over Safety issues) continues to have a cozy relationship which recently cost the Company millions of dollars in fines? The TWU 550 assembled a series of questions, gathered from your email traffic, regarding dispatcher’s liability and hand delivered them to the Southwest Airlines Certificate Management Office. The document is posted below for your viewing. We were told it has been forwarded to the right folks, assured that any valid safety concerns will be addressed with the carrier, and were told we will hear back from the FAA before the proving run on June 9, 2009. We can only hope that we will receive these answers in writing from the FAA before the proving run.
In an attempt to negotiate the changes to the Contract to allow for San Salvador operations, the money to settle the negotiation has been a bone of contention with some of you and the TWU 550 Board understands this, but has a responsibility to future negotiations. Should we allow our contract to be altered to add new duties that require additional qualification and work rules and not negotiate pay rules that are a standard, could prove to be detrimental in future negotiations. This has been witnessed in recent history in dealings with the Company. The last proposal from TWU 550 had further concessions regarding the number of people to be qualified for International operations and reduced the signing bonus request and spread out payments over 1 ½ years. The Company sent notice to us rejecting our proposal citing the gap between us was too wide to bridge (Impasse), and our request to train all Dispatchers was not necessary. This was surprising given our offer was not for all dispatchers to be trained. We only asked for those who wanted to be trained. On Thursday, I met with Mike Ryan (VP Labor and Employees Relations) and made a last attempt to resolve this prior to the proving flight on Tuesday June 9, 2009. I explained the membership concerns are more for the training, safety and risk involved by operating these flights without proper international training. I offered more concession on the number to be trained and requested a mere pittance for a signing bonus. He told me he was not the one to decide on our proposal, but would present it? He called today to say the proposal was rejected.
Lastly, TWU 550 will be filing for mediation on Monday.
Fraternally,
Mike Connor
President TWU Local 550
This is an interesting letter. What's the pilots' take on these Part 91 international flights?
San Salvador Maintenance Flights Debacle
As you are all aware TWU 550 and the Company have been attempting negotiation of the Dispatcher function involved with the San Salvador operation. This has been a contentious issue that has all of us deeply concerned about the safety and adequate training of this operation as well as the dispatcher’s responsibility, authority, and liability. The Company is presently planning on operating these flights without properly training the dispatchers for international operations, yet the pilots will be flying these flights following all applicable rules for international operations. Why would Southwest operate these flights under a single level of safety (CFR Part 91) rather than the dual level of safety (CFR Part 121) as we do for all of our flights today? The answer is to exclude the additional safety measure provided by the Flight Dispatcher for San Salvador operations.
Most recently TWU 550 has been focused on protecting the members from being placed in harm’s way regarding career and certificate. Since the Southwest Airlines Dispatch Inspector has refused to respond, calling this a labor dispute, and the Southwest Airlines ATOS Manager has claimed you are not liable, but he wouldn’t put his name on the release, we felt the urgency for answers warranted action. Does this seem to you that there is an appearance that the Local FAA (that has daily direct dealings with Southwest Airlines over Safety issues) continues to have a cozy relationship which recently cost the Company millions of dollars in fines? The TWU 550 assembled a series of questions, gathered from your email traffic, regarding dispatcher’s liability and hand delivered them to the Southwest Airlines Certificate Management Office. The document is posted below for your viewing. We were told it has been forwarded to the right folks, assured that any valid safety concerns will be addressed with the carrier, and were told we will hear back from the FAA before the proving run on June 9, 2009. We can only hope that we will receive these answers in writing from the FAA before the proving run.
In an attempt to negotiate the changes to the Contract to allow for San Salvador operations, the money to settle the negotiation has been a bone of contention with some of you and the TWU 550 Board understands this, but has a responsibility to future negotiations. Should we allow our contract to be altered to add new duties that require additional qualification and work rules and not negotiate pay rules that are a standard, could prove to be detrimental in future negotiations. This has been witnessed in recent history in dealings with the Company. The last proposal from TWU 550 had further concessions regarding the number of people to be qualified for International operations and reduced the signing bonus request and spread out payments over 1 ½ years. The Company sent notice to us rejecting our proposal citing the gap between us was too wide to bridge (Impasse), and our request to train all Dispatchers was not necessary. This was surprising given our offer was not for all dispatchers to be trained. We only asked for those who wanted to be trained. On Thursday, I met with Mike Ryan (VP Labor and Employees Relations) and made a last attempt to resolve this prior to the proving flight on Tuesday June 9, 2009. I explained the membership concerns are more for the training, safety and risk involved by operating these flights without proper international training. I offered more concession on the number to be trained and requested a mere pittance for a signing bonus. He told me he was not the one to decide on our proposal, but would present it? He called today to say the proposal was rejected.
Lastly, TWU 550 will be filing for mediation on Monday.
Fraternally,
Mike Connor
President TWU Local 550