Hello folks, this is Tom Nicholson with the EB Hotline for Saturday,January 7th. _______________________________________________________________________This week saw the Company take a benign aircraft incident in Houston andescalate the incident into a full blown disciplinary hearing completewith threats of termination of employment. These threats came aftermanagement representatives refused to follow the contract and attemptedto pressure the crew into providing statements without the benefit ofUnion representation or information sharing between the company and theunion as required by contract. The crew is still awaiting word onwhether or not the Company will follow through on threats to disciplineor terminate. Should this crew in fact be disciplined, UPS System Chief Pilot J Barneswill establish an entirely new Company standard for what the Companyperceives as acceptable levels of risk crewmembers may take in routineline operations. Should Chief Pilot Barnes move to a new standard forevaluating judgment calls in line operations-the Association will advisecrews, in detail, on how best to meet any new Company expectations. _______________________________________________________________________ The System Chief Pilot has also been active with a letter threateningtermination of a Pilot-In-Command for the exercise of his Captain'sauthority with regard to a jumpseat issue. This threat by CaptainBarnes is in direct violation of Captain's authority under the FARs andin violation of commitments made by UPS VP for Flight Operations RickBarr to the FAA in October of 2003 and again in July of 2005. Inresponse, the Association has sent a letter to the FAA asking that theAgency issue a cease and desist order to UPS. The Association is askingthat the letter of warning be withdrawn and that UPS stop issuing anywritten or verbal warnings or cautions to PICs exercising theirauthority under the FARs. The FAA has promised to rule on the legalityof Barnes' letter by the end of next week - stay tuned._______________________________________________________________________ System Chief Pilot Barnes has also scheduled a disciplinary hearing inSDF next week due to a crewmember calling fatigue. The Association willnot tolerate a corporate culture that pushes pilots to fly fatigued orsick. This hearing will be closely monitored and the results will beshared with the FAA and the pilot group - again, stay tuned._______________________________________________________________________ On a different note, IPA General Membership Meetings were held in SDF onFriday with an estimated 650 crewmembers in attendance. Referencingcontract negotiations, the loud and overwhelming message from the groupwas a strong-"as long as it takes." We are prepared to fight thisbattle as long as it takes to secure an agreement that reflects thevalue IPA members contribute to the success of the operation. We willset no artificial time lines. The only time line will be one thatconcludes in an agreement that corrects fundamental deficiencies in theareas of scope, scheduling, pay, pension, and benefits. The pilot group is being tested. We are being tested by UPS. We arebeing tested by the NMB. Having been denied a release, will the groupnow stampede to accepting a second class agreement? If yesterday'smeetings provide any indications, all observing these negotiationsshould now have their answer. We are convinced-as is Wall Street andUPS' shippers-that the UPS/IPA labor dispute is becoming increasinglybitter and, without resolution, will eventually end in a release frommediation. _______________________________________________________________________ Also this week IPA moved to call the Company's bluff. The UPS PRmachine likes to tout the generosity of the Company's proposals in thesetalks. Also, the Company continues to delay the process and string outnegotiations by stating that their current proposals do not reflecttheir true bottom line and that there is more room for the Company togive. We have simply asked the Company to place their best "bottomline" offers in writing and make them publicly available to all 2,700crewmembers. Should the Company refuse to do so, we believe the NMBwill grow weary of what is simply a stall and delay tactic thatdisrespects the process._______________________________________________________________________ Most importantly, as the process to an agreement continues to be workedby all parties, IPA members should be vigilant in avoiding personalconflict with other members. Remember, the person you may havedisagreements with now may be your best ally on the picket line in thenear future. We are one IPA family and we must always treat everymember with care and respect._______________________________________________________________________ Pilot meetings will be held in MIA next week on 10 January, at 6:00 PM. _______________________________________________________________________ Well folks, that wraps it up from here for this week. The next EBHotline will be on Saturday January 14th. Until then fly safe, beprofessional and remain united.