And who might that be?
And who might that be?
Yes, after several phone calls and internal message board posts from our pilots about it, the AirTran ALPA MEC put out a statement yesterday on our message board about the letter (which actually happened several weeks ago, shortly after the PA was signed, which is what I figured), detailing how it came up, what the letter said, and how it was received.
The AirTran ALPA MEC received a pleasant letter back from MV stating that yes, it had been a wording error in the initial press release after the Process Agreement was signed. That's all ALPA really wanted, to make sure that SWA management agreed with the Process Agreement for what happens after arbitration in the same way ALPA interpreted it, which the MV reply letter clearly states that they do.
Yes, the letter asked for a public retraction. No, ALPA didn't get it. My personal opinion: ALPA then knew better than to push their luck, had what they needed legally by written mutual agreement of what happens after arbitration concerning the integration process, and decided not to further rock the boat. End of story. Should ALPA have written the letter? Absolutely. Would I have asked for a public retraction in the initial letter? No. But I don't get a vote.
However, methinks that MV got about as upset about that letter as BJ did at SWAPA over the grievance regarding the nose art sticker; both were probably a little annoyed and that was likely the end of it, but as always in "the turbine turns", both stories seem to have taken on a life of their own at our respective companies.
Most people dismiss rumors of "excessively angry management" as just rumor unless said management goes on the public record about it, just as SWA guys have about the BJ "nose art angst" rumor. I would think that both MV and BJ are probably much more even-keeled guys than that, it's just business after all, but I could be wrong... it's happened before.
Just another slow news day...
Just wanted to make sure you weren't referring to me... I wouldn't want to assume the worst of someone I've never met.
Just wanted to make sure you weren't referring to me... I wouldn't want to assume the worst of someone I've never met.
I figured you weren't referring to me anyway, what with all the positive letters of commendation in my PRIA file from the V.P. of H.R. on down to the Chief Pilot's office here at AAI for everything from flying skills to professionalism to customer service.
Thankfully the 3 senior managers responsible for the only blip on my entire flying record at ANY job are either gone, soon to be gone, and/or likely returning to the line when the integration is complete, but I just wanted to make sure before I responded.
You have yourself a great day out there, mkay?
Ummm,,, it's not about what I posted. They don't have to believe me... they heard it directly from the horse's mouth on our internal forum before they came over here and read what I reposted for our esteemed future SWA coworkers, so please don't think they're just responding based on what I said alone.
Actually, the Vice Chair responded for him (he does all our web board communicating for the MEC), and the pilots are pretty broadly supporting the letter. I'm still trying to figure out why so many of the SWA pilots are trying to instill discourse between the AAI pilots and ALPA. It's just not going to happen and only aggravates people.
I doubt the MEC is going to release much of anything. They've pretty much gone into information lock-down mode since the SLI started, and there's honestly just not enough angst about it among our pilot group. To us, it's a non-issue between ALPA and SWA management. It was addressed by the pilot group. The MEC answered. There doesn't seem to be any animosity out of it from SWA management, seeing as they just sent all of us SWA coins and a very nice letter to go along with it well AFTER the letter in question was written and responded to by MV, so the VAST majority of the pilots are still content to let the process work as agreed.
Not worried about it. Just trying to clarify who you were referring to.
