MEC Position Report (Chairman and JNC)
03-17-2012, 08:41 AM
#1
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Joined APC: Jun 2008
Position: 737 CAPT
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MEC Position Report (Chairman and JNC)
FROM THE CHAIRMAN
I spent the first part of this week in New York at the JP Morgan conference on aviation, defense and transportation, carrying our message that the merger isn’t complete and won’t be successful until labor, and specifically pilots, are taken care of. I’ve also been talking with the media about this, stressing in interviews with both the Houston Chronicle and the Wall Street Journal that now that the Company’s IT platforms have now been combined, it is time to fully focus on the one large remaining piece of the puzzle – joint labor contracts and most specifically, our JCBA. The fact is that, to date, management has not reached agreement on a single joint contract with any of the organized labor groups. Our point that this merger cannot be considered a success until and unless we actually become one airline (not just a couple of airlines working under one holding company while sharing a common name) was obviously on the minds of the shareholders and institutional investors in attendance at the conference and listening online, because that very topic was the first question for Mr. Smisek following his presentation.
Other main points discussed at the conference included the generally optimistic views for the industry in 2012 as each airline presented mostly positive outlooks for their futures and the future of the industry. Although there will continue to be small reductions in capacity, this is not a garage-sale type approach to ASM management such as we have seen in the past, but rather a disciplined approach to capacity rationalization. It is favorably viewed by the investment community. While the presenters were not openly willing to speculate on possible further merger and acquisition activity, I think it can be said that the general consensus is that there is a possibility of one more major event, leading to an industry structure at our level dominated by three significant alliances (Star, oneWorld and SkyTeam) that are supported by three legacy carriers.
After the conference, I remain convinced that the window of opportunity for successful completion of the JCBA remains open and that we should work to take advantage of it. The industry environment is still favorable, our company is profitable and showing the ability to sustain that profitability and management has cleared the slate of SOC and IT issues, removing those items as excuses to delay. As you will read in the JNC update below, we are continuing to see progress at the negotiating table. There is still much to be done to get the JCBA done and the SLI process completed. However, as I have told a number of reporters and financial analysts, there is no reason not to have the fundamentals of a contract completed within the next several months, and no reason to believe that the entire process cannot be completed near year’s end so that our pilots can work as one pilot group by early 2013. With Delta reporting that it is now reaping the financial benefits of its merger and pressure building on United Continental Holdings, Inc. management to deliver on its merger promises, I believe that management has additional incentive to reach a deal.
Unfortunately, the positives in the negotiating arena can be tarnished by the problems we are experiencing with current day staffing and scheduling issues and concerns for the upcoming summer flying season. We are all too familiar with our management’s inability to properly staff CAL flight operations. We have experienced summer after summer of proof that our management philosophy is to understaff, then hope and pray for good weather and a resilient pilot group. Last year, they even went so far as to falsely claim an illegal job action and threaten legal action, rather than take responsibility for their own actions (or inactions). The fact is that already we are experiencing shortages in some BESs as is evidenced by the almost continual advertisement of voluntary junior manning “opportunities,” involuntary junior manning assignments, reassignment of lineholders and reserve abuses. With these current conditions as a backdrop, as I look at the numbers for the coming summer, I wonder how they plan to blame us this year.
Comparing scheduled block hours for Continental pilots for the summer months (June, July and August) from 2010 to 2012: in 2010, B-737 captains were scheduled to fly 60.9 hours per month. That has increased to 68.4 hours in 2012. Our B-737 first officers went from 58.6 to 64.0 hours, for the same timeframe. It should be noted that these are overall numbers and that since reserves are part of the equation (with zero scheduled block hours), the averages are much lower than what full-month-available lineholders actually flew. To put it another way, based on average daily productivity, our B-737 pilots are flying a day and half more each summer month than they did in 2010. Of course, this is all based on scheduled block hours and we know how fast that can go south when relying on the hopes and prayers strategy that management has chosen.
For those who think that this might be typical of all airlines or a common way to staff a legacy carrier, let’s look at the same period for the A320 fleet at UAL. The UAL A320 captains were scheduled to fly 58.6 hours per month during the summer months in 2010 and saw this increase a whopping 0.2 hours to 58.8 in 2012. UAL A320 first officers were scheduled for 49.1 hours in the summer of 2010 and will be up to 51.6 for the coming summer of 2012.
We will be addressing staffing shortfalls and negotiations at length at the MEC meeting next week here in Houston, among other business topics of importance to the pilot group. If you have the opportunity to attend the meeting, I encourage you to do so. The agenda is posted on the CAL MEC home page.
In closing this week, I want to remind our captains to please ‘make the walk’ to ensure that no jumpseaters are left behind. The Company’s changeover to a single IT system is still not running as smoothly as hoped and we are hearing about significant variances in gate agent familiarity with the system. Please read the Jumpseat Committee report below and help your fellow pilots as much as you can. Have a good weekend and Fly Safe.
JNC (CO-CHAIRMEN CAPTS. DAVE OWENS (CAL) (photo), PHIL OTIS (UAL))
This week, your JNC continued to meet with management in Baltimore under the supervision of the NMB mediator. Negotiations centered on the JCBA Scheduling sections (Sections 5, 20 and 22). Using the mediator’s suggested small group format for these negotiation sessions has generated more progress than we have seen in the past. Progress continues to be made in reducing the number of open Scheduling items. While our stated goal during the last three weeks in Baltimore was to close all of the issues remaining in Scheduling prior to our departure, we have a number of topics that must be addressed. Given the fact that our progress has been significant, the JNC and management will continue this process when we resume negotiations in Chicago the week of March 26 in an effort to close the remaining issues. Additionally, when discussing the interaction of Sick Leave with Scheduling issues, we were able to solve the remaining open issues in Section 13 – Sick Leave and have now achieved an agreement in principle (AIP) on this section.
Next week, the JNC will be meeting with our respective MECs in Chicago and Houston. The JNC will also attend the ALPA Flight Time/Duty Time Conference in New Orleans. This meeting will provide insight on the new changes in scheduling regulations provided by the new FAR 117.
The JNC and management will continue negotiations in Chicago starting on Monday, March 26. The JNC will be joined that week by both the CAL MEC and UAL MEC Retirement and Insurance Committee subject matter experts as we prepare to begin discussions with management on Section 24 – Retirement and Insurance.
As always, please stay connected to the process by reading updates from the MEC and your local council representatives.
I spent the first part of this week in New York at the JP Morgan conference on aviation, defense and transportation, carrying our message that the merger isn’t complete and won’t be successful until labor, and specifically pilots, are taken care of. I’ve also been talking with the media about this, stressing in interviews with both the Houston Chronicle and the Wall Street Journal that now that the Company’s IT platforms have now been combined, it is time to fully focus on the one large remaining piece of the puzzle – joint labor contracts and most specifically, our JCBA. The fact is that, to date, management has not reached agreement on a single joint contract with any of the organized labor groups. Our point that this merger cannot be considered a success until and unless we actually become one airline (not just a couple of airlines working under one holding company while sharing a common name) was obviously on the minds of the shareholders and institutional investors in attendance at the conference and listening online, because that very topic was the first question for Mr. Smisek following his presentation.
Other main points discussed at the conference included the generally optimistic views for the industry in 2012 as each airline presented mostly positive outlooks for their futures and the future of the industry. Although there will continue to be small reductions in capacity, this is not a garage-sale type approach to ASM management such as we have seen in the past, but rather a disciplined approach to capacity rationalization. It is favorably viewed by the investment community. While the presenters were not openly willing to speculate on possible further merger and acquisition activity, I think it can be said that the general consensus is that there is a possibility of one more major event, leading to an industry structure at our level dominated by three significant alliances (Star, oneWorld and SkyTeam) that are supported by three legacy carriers.
After the conference, I remain convinced that the window of opportunity for successful completion of the JCBA remains open and that we should work to take advantage of it. The industry environment is still favorable, our company is profitable and showing the ability to sustain that profitability and management has cleared the slate of SOC and IT issues, removing those items as excuses to delay. As you will read in the JNC update below, we are continuing to see progress at the negotiating table. There is still much to be done to get the JCBA done and the SLI process completed. However, as I have told a number of reporters and financial analysts, there is no reason not to have the fundamentals of a contract completed within the next several months, and no reason to believe that the entire process cannot be completed near year’s end so that our pilots can work as one pilot group by early 2013. With Delta reporting that it is now reaping the financial benefits of its merger and pressure building on United Continental Holdings, Inc. management to deliver on its merger promises, I believe that management has additional incentive to reach a deal.
Unfortunately, the positives in the negotiating arena can be tarnished by the problems we are experiencing with current day staffing and scheduling issues and concerns for the upcoming summer flying season. We are all too familiar with our management’s inability to properly staff CAL flight operations. We have experienced summer after summer of proof that our management philosophy is to understaff, then hope and pray for good weather and a resilient pilot group. Last year, they even went so far as to falsely claim an illegal job action and threaten legal action, rather than take responsibility for their own actions (or inactions). The fact is that already we are experiencing shortages in some BESs as is evidenced by the almost continual advertisement of voluntary junior manning “opportunities,” involuntary junior manning assignments, reassignment of lineholders and reserve abuses. With these current conditions as a backdrop, as I look at the numbers for the coming summer, I wonder how they plan to blame us this year.
Comparing scheduled block hours for Continental pilots for the summer months (June, July and August) from 2010 to 2012: in 2010, B-737 captains were scheduled to fly 60.9 hours per month. That has increased to 68.4 hours in 2012. Our B-737 first officers went from 58.6 to 64.0 hours, for the same timeframe. It should be noted that these are overall numbers and that since reserves are part of the equation (with zero scheduled block hours), the averages are much lower than what full-month-available lineholders actually flew. To put it another way, based on average daily productivity, our B-737 pilots are flying a day and half more each summer month than they did in 2010. Of course, this is all based on scheduled block hours and we know how fast that can go south when relying on the hopes and prayers strategy that management has chosen.
For those who think that this might be typical of all airlines or a common way to staff a legacy carrier, let’s look at the same period for the A320 fleet at UAL. The UAL A320 captains were scheduled to fly 58.6 hours per month during the summer months in 2010 and saw this increase a whopping 0.2 hours to 58.8 in 2012. UAL A320 first officers were scheduled for 49.1 hours in the summer of 2010 and will be up to 51.6 for the coming summer of 2012.
We will be addressing staffing shortfalls and negotiations at length at the MEC meeting next week here in Houston, among other business topics of importance to the pilot group. If you have the opportunity to attend the meeting, I encourage you to do so. The agenda is posted on the CAL MEC home page.
In closing this week, I want to remind our captains to please ‘make the walk’ to ensure that no jumpseaters are left behind. The Company’s changeover to a single IT system is still not running as smoothly as hoped and we are hearing about significant variances in gate agent familiarity with the system. Please read the Jumpseat Committee report below and help your fellow pilots as much as you can. Have a good weekend and Fly Safe.
JNC (CO-CHAIRMEN CAPTS. DAVE OWENS (CAL) (photo), PHIL OTIS (UAL))
This week, your JNC continued to meet with management in Baltimore under the supervision of the NMB mediator. Negotiations centered on the JCBA Scheduling sections (Sections 5, 20 and 22). Using the mediator’s suggested small group format for these negotiation sessions has generated more progress than we have seen in the past. Progress continues to be made in reducing the number of open Scheduling items. While our stated goal during the last three weeks in Baltimore was to close all of the issues remaining in Scheduling prior to our departure, we have a number of topics that must be addressed. Given the fact that our progress has been significant, the JNC and management will continue this process when we resume negotiations in Chicago the week of March 26 in an effort to close the remaining issues. Additionally, when discussing the interaction of Sick Leave with Scheduling issues, we were able to solve the remaining open issues in Section 13 – Sick Leave and have now achieved an agreement in principle (AIP) on this section.
Next week, the JNC will be meeting with our respective MECs in Chicago and Houston. The JNC will also attend the ALPA Flight Time/Duty Time Conference in New Orleans. This meeting will provide insight on the new changes in scheduling regulations provided by the new FAR 117.
The JNC and management will continue negotiations in Chicago starting on Monday, March 26. The JNC will be joined that week by both the CAL MEC and UAL MEC Retirement and Insurance Committee subject matter experts as we prepare to begin discussions with management on Section 24 – Retirement and Insurance.
As always, please stay connected to the process by reading updates from the MEC and your local council representatives.
03-19-2012, 07:59 AM
#3
Gets Weekends Off
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Joined APC: Jun 2008
Position: 737 CAPT
Posts: 1,905
Listening to a couple of the earnings calls since the merger the investment community and financial reporters usually ask a few of these questions implying "when are you guys actually going to get your labor issues resolved?"
03-19-2012, 08:14 AM
#4
Keep Calm Chive ON
Joined APC: Feb 2008
Position: Boeing's Plastic Jet Button Pusher - 787
Posts: 2,086
Not having listened to the call that you cite above, I'm sure there was some terrific "Texas Two-Step" all the way around that topic.
03-20-2012, 06:41 AM
#5
Gets Weekends Off
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Joined APC: Jun 2008
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Of course there was to include "fair to the employees and fair to the company" mantra. (i.e. "We think it's only fair that since we give these people jobs we get to keep all the extra money.")
03-31-2012, 06:34 PM
#7
Gets Weekends Off
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Joined APC: Jun 2008
Position: 737 CAPT
Posts: 1,905
Sorry wxman I am not sure what you are talking about expect maybe the FT/DT conference? If it is what you mean, I couldn't possibly know since I wasn't there.
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