The RP Pilots are so disgusted with Local 747 that they are planning on tossing out the ENTIRE worthless local by taking it over themselves.
To the other 9 airlines involved, toss out these overpaid underworked clowns.
Response from Local 747 President Gene Sowell:
This message is from E.E Sowell; President and General Council IBT 747:
Republic Pilots:
I have been informed by various concerned pilots that a group of Republic Airways Pilots are attempting to formulate a candidate slate to run for and take over the Local E-Board positions. Of course, these are democratically held elections and anyone can run for any office. I am, however, concerned that many pilots might buy into a plan being put forth as a selling point without consideration of the facts and problems. This could have disastrous consequences on not only your IBT representation but on all of the pilots that work for the ten airlines that the Local represents.
I have been with this Local since December 1999. While I did not write the bylaws or the Local’s Charter, I am a strong proponent of the Teamster founding fathers who did. This Local was formed as a Local dedicated exclusively to representing cockpit crewmembers from multiple airlines within the Teamsters. This Local is based on diversity of membership. We represent Pilots who are geographically dispersed all over the nation and who operate all around the world, pilots who fly 747s as well as BE1900s. Should any one or two pilot groups attempt to dominate the Local’s E-Board, it would be viewed as a “Hostile Takeover” against the best interests of the crewmembers from the other airlines. Although the Local has never had an E-Board election, it has to date maintained a balanced E-Board comprised of as many crewmembers as possible from different airlines. As you know, the Local is currently constrained by the International’s Constitution limiting the number of E-Board positions to seven.
This Local cannot survive in tact and maintain its global representation if dominated by one or even two airlines. If the pilots of Republic Airways wish to dominate the Local, the pilots from the other airlines would be best served by Republic Pilot’s leaving the Local to form their own. However, I do not think this is in the best interest of the Republic pilots.
Since I cannot participate in your Republic.org web board discussions, I will attempt to address and counter the major questions and assertions made by some of the Republic pilots:
* Move the Local to Columbus, Ohio.
Well, this not only would be disturbing to the well-trained and dedicated Houston staff, it would also be cost prohibitive since the Local has five years remaining on its building lease – requiring over a half million dollars to cover the loss.
* Replace the three business agents with five pilots from the Chautauqua seniority list with full time pay.
I am sure the other airlines representatives would not be reasonable with this, unless of course we had additional business agents from the other nine airlines on flight pay loss as well. The question becomes; where is the money coming from? And it’s not just the money and financial considerations. One of the most important aspects of non-pilots representing pilots is that they are not employed by the corporate entity. Our business agents are free to make demands and threats against your employer that you cannot make, and with objectivity. Consider the other pilot unions (ALPA, APA, etc.). They all have the IBT equivalent of our business agents and they are not pilots. What you don’t need is a pilot business agent that succumbs under employer pressure and is forced back to the line when the going gets rough. Pilot’s involvement in union affairs with pay certainly, but not as a business agent.
* We can hire three specialized attorneys for what we pay our current attorney and save money.
This certainly hits close to home as it is an important salient point. I suppose that is to mean three “specialized attorneys” at $80,000. The short answer is “You get what you pay for.” Unfortunately, you cannot get even a moderately experienced labor attorney for $80,000 in today’s market. Yes, you can get three attorneys that know little or nothing comparatively and will likely bolt for more favorable employment at the earliest opportunity. If that’s what the group desires, it is certain to obtain quantity over quality. If labor specialization is the goal– It’s precisely what you have now. I am specialized in FAA enforcement actions, medical disputes, contract negotiations, labor arbitration and the Railway Labor Act. That saves you money on legal bills. The likely result of hiring a different attorney for each specialization on billables would be to bankrupt the Local in a very short span.
Additionally, as put forth in the last Local magazine, I do not do all the legal work for this Local. I simply don’t have enough time to do it all. Yes, we do have other “specialized attorneys” representing our pilot groups, such as Pat Flynn. The IBT 747 also utilizes Roland and Bill Wilder from Baptist and Wilder, who by the way, are the very same “specialized” attorneys that represent the entire Airline Division, not to mention Local 1108 and Local 1224.
* Why don’t we have our own Business Agent exclusively for the Republic pilots?
Answer: You do, and more. I’ve been working on this one for the last year. Nothing happens overnight , unfortunately, as it takes dedication and oversight...and it takes money. In anticipation of future growth, the Local hired an additional business agent last year (Deanna Cline) to take the work load off of your primary business agent, Tiffany Moline. Four accounts (Arrow Air, Gulfstream, USA 3000 and North American) were transferred last year from Ms. Moline to Ms. Cline. Ms. Cline is now up to speed on these accounts and has assumed the business agent responsibility from Ms. Moline for Kalitta and Regions Air, leaving Ms. Moline as the exclusive business agent for Republic. It should be noted that much of Ms. Moline’s workload is the result of Republic Holding’s willingness to push the limit on contract language that was considered sovereign at the date of signing. This over-reaching will have consequences for the corporate entity during the next negotiation cycle…which is so crucial to this pilot group. One only needs to compare the amount of grievances and arbitrations generated by Republic management’s CBA application and interpretation to other IBT 747 collective bargaining within the Local to understand the problem is not the Local’s negotiation skills.
In addition to your dedicated business agent, and as represented in the Local’s magazine, the Local has also hired a Consulting Business Agent, Mr. Tim Maloney, to work for the Local. As many of you know, Mr. Maloney was the former Chautauqua Captain Representative and a member of the Chautauqua’s last negotiating team. He is a great asset to the Republic Pilots.
* Why don’t we have an office in Indianapolis?
You will, as already announced in our magazine. It will hopefully be operational by the end of this year. This office, of course, will be a satellite office, exclusively for the Republic pilots. Do any of our other airlines have their own office? No. The Local cannot afford multiple satellite offices for the other smaller airline groups due to the minimal revenues that are generated individually.
* Why do our EXCO members have to work on their off time without flight pay loss?
Not true. Where do you think the money from you assessment accounts goes? It goes for flight pay loss for your EXCO members to do union business. Now, the Local certainly doesn’t have enough money to get five council members off full time for a whole month. The Republic Executive Council meets once a month and has done so since the last contract negotiation and with pay if there was a scheduled conflict.
To the other 9 airlines involved, toss out these overpaid underworked clowns.
Response from Local 747 President Gene Sowell:
This message is from E.E Sowell; President and General Council IBT 747:
Republic Pilots:
I have been informed by various concerned pilots that a group of Republic Airways Pilots are attempting to formulate a candidate slate to run for and take over the Local E-Board positions. Of course, these are democratically held elections and anyone can run for any office. I am, however, concerned that many pilots might buy into a plan being put forth as a selling point without consideration of the facts and problems. This could have disastrous consequences on not only your IBT representation but on all of the pilots that work for the ten airlines that the Local represents.
I have been with this Local since December 1999. While I did not write the bylaws or the Local’s Charter, I am a strong proponent of the Teamster founding fathers who did. This Local was formed as a Local dedicated exclusively to representing cockpit crewmembers from multiple airlines within the Teamsters. This Local is based on diversity of membership. We represent Pilots who are geographically dispersed all over the nation and who operate all around the world, pilots who fly 747s as well as BE1900s. Should any one or two pilot groups attempt to dominate the Local’s E-Board, it would be viewed as a “Hostile Takeover” against the best interests of the crewmembers from the other airlines. Although the Local has never had an E-Board election, it has to date maintained a balanced E-Board comprised of as many crewmembers as possible from different airlines. As you know, the Local is currently constrained by the International’s Constitution limiting the number of E-Board positions to seven.
This Local cannot survive in tact and maintain its global representation if dominated by one or even two airlines. If the pilots of Republic Airways wish to dominate the Local, the pilots from the other airlines would be best served by Republic Pilot’s leaving the Local to form their own. However, I do not think this is in the best interest of the Republic pilots.
Since I cannot participate in your Republic.org web board discussions, I will attempt to address and counter the major questions and assertions made by some of the Republic pilots:
* Move the Local to Columbus, Ohio.
Well, this not only would be disturbing to the well-trained and dedicated Houston staff, it would also be cost prohibitive since the Local has five years remaining on its building lease – requiring over a half million dollars to cover the loss.
* Replace the three business agents with five pilots from the Chautauqua seniority list with full time pay.
I am sure the other airlines representatives would not be reasonable with this, unless of course we had additional business agents from the other nine airlines on flight pay loss as well. The question becomes; where is the money coming from? And it’s not just the money and financial considerations. One of the most important aspects of non-pilots representing pilots is that they are not employed by the corporate entity. Our business agents are free to make demands and threats against your employer that you cannot make, and with objectivity. Consider the other pilot unions (ALPA, APA, etc.). They all have the IBT equivalent of our business agents and they are not pilots. What you don’t need is a pilot business agent that succumbs under employer pressure and is forced back to the line when the going gets rough. Pilot’s involvement in union affairs with pay certainly, but not as a business agent.
* We can hire three specialized attorneys for what we pay our current attorney and save money.
This certainly hits close to home as it is an important salient point. I suppose that is to mean three “specialized attorneys” at $80,000. The short answer is “You get what you pay for.” Unfortunately, you cannot get even a moderately experienced labor attorney for $80,000 in today’s market. Yes, you can get three attorneys that know little or nothing comparatively and will likely bolt for more favorable employment at the earliest opportunity. If that’s what the group desires, it is certain to obtain quantity over quality. If labor specialization is the goal– It’s precisely what you have now. I am specialized in FAA enforcement actions, medical disputes, contract negotiations, labor arbitration and the Railway Labor Act. That saves you money on legal bills. The likely result of hiring a different attorney for each specialization on billables would be to bankrupt the Local in a very short span.
Additionally, as put forth in the last Local magazine, I do not do all the legal work for this Local. I simply don’t have enough time to do it all. Yes, we do have other “specialized attorneys” representing our pilot groups, such as Pat Flynn. The IBT 747 also utilizes Roland and Bill Wilder from Baptist and Wilder, who by the way, are the very same “specialized” attorneys that represent the entire Airline Division, not to mention Local 1108 and Local 1224.
* Why don’t we have our own Business Agent exclusively for the Republic pilots?
Answer: You do, and more. I’ve been working on this one for the last year. Nothing happens overnight , unfortunately, as it takes dedication and oversight...and it takes money. In anticipation of future growth, the Local hired an additional business agent last year (Deanna Cline) to take the work load off of your primary business agent, Tiffany Moline. Four accounts (Arrow Air, Gulfstream, USA 3000 and North American) were transferred last year from Ms. Moline to Ms. Cline. Ms. Cline is now up to speed on these accounts and has assumed the business agent responsibility from Ms. Moline for Kalitta and Regions Air, leaving Ms. Moline as the exclusive business agent for Republic. It should be noted that much of Ms. Moline’s workload is the result of Republic Holding’s willingness to push the limit on contract language that was considered sovereign at the date of signing. This over-reaching will have consequences for the corporate entity during the next negotiation cycle…which is so crucial to this pilot group. One only needs to compare the amount of grievances and arbitrations generated by Republic management’s CBA application and interpretation to other IBT 747 collective bargaining within the Local to understand the problem is not the Local’s negotiation skills.
In addition to your dedicated business agent, and as represented in the Local’s magazine, the Local has also hired a Consulting Business Agent, Mr. Tim Maloney, to work for the Local. As many of you know, Mr. Maloney was the former Chautauqua Captain Representative and a member of the Chautauqua’s last negotiating team. He is a great asset to the Republic Pilots.
* Why don’t we have an office in Indianapolis?
You will, as already announced in our magazine. It will hopefully be operational by the end of this year. This office, of course, will be a satellite office, exclusively for the Republic pilots. Do any of our other airlines have their own office? No. The Local cannot afford multiple satellite offices for the other smaller airline groups due to the minimal revenues that are generated individually.
* Why do our EXCO members have to work on their off time without flight pay loss?
Not true. Where do you think the money from you assessment accounts goes? It goes for flight pay loss for your EXCO members to do union business. Now, the Local certainly doesn’t have enough money to get five council members off full time for a whole month. The Republic Executive Council meets once a month and has done so since the last contract negotiation and with pay if there was a scheduled conflict.
