Jcba 6/15 + ????
06-15-2012, 01:24 PM
#1
Banned
Thread Starter
Joined APC: Oct 2010
Position: IAH 737 CA
Posts: 690
Jcba 6/15 + ????
FROM THE CHAIRMAN
Unfortunately, as is the case with our merger, the negotiations for a JCBA remain incomplete. Over the course of the past two weeks and more so within the past 48 hours, we were able to lessen the number of remaining open items and narrow the gap between the Company’s position and ours. Still, it has not been enough to finalize the terms of an agreement as we had hoped would be possible. For the most part, the remaining issues to be solved involve Scope, Compensation/Retro and R&I. I know that we came into this round of negotiations with a sincere desire to complete the deal. We made the moves necessary to do so. I could spend a lot of time lambasting management about their behavior and their lack of movement toward a deal, but at this point that would just be wasted words on the page. All who were here this week know that ALPA negotiated in good faith and with the full intent to complete the deal. We go home deeply disappointed but stand ready to finish the job we started.
While we did not reach an agreement in principle (AIP) for the JCBA on June 15, it does not mean we were defeated in our goal of reaching a deal in an expeditious fashion. Like a game that is not yet decided at the final buzzer, we are now heading into overtime. The days that we reserved in advance with the NMB for June 25-29 in anticipation of crafting final language for a tentative agreement (TA) will now be used to help complete bargaining for the JCBA.
Make no mistake – we have no intentions of letting negotiations for a JCBA linger unresolved. All options for helping us reach a deal remain on the table. This includes our request to the NMB on May 11, 2012 for an offer of arbitration, or release. (This letter was followed up with an additional letter to the NMB on May 30, 2012.) Although we remain miles apart on a handful of issues, the progress made since April has positioned us so that the remaining items can be resolved during a 30- day cooling-off period. Creating a real deadline at this time would compel the parties to make the final decisions necessary to reach a conclusion. To ensure that our resolve is firmly understood, a third letter to the NMB, reaffirming out request, was sent by ALPA yesterday at my and Capt. Heppner’s request. In addition, we will begin the process of balloting the membership to ascertain the level of support for a legal withdrawal of services (strike authorization ballot) on Monday, June 25, 2012. Watch for more information about the ballot next week.
I know that this news brings disappointment. I had hoped to report that we had reached an AIP today and to talk about the schedule for converting the terms of the agreement into language for a TA. While that is not the message I have to deliver today, I remain convinced that a deal is within reach. Now, more than ever, it is vitally important that our pilots remain professional and do not attempt to personally influence the pace of negotiations with unauthorized or unlawful actions. The CAL MEC asks you not to take your feelings about the negotiations into our work as pilots – whether it’s unnecessarily calling in sick or fatigued, or, when at work, changing your normal way of operating in the hopes that this will put pressure on the Company. Such activities could delay an agreement while the Company deals with us in court rather than at the bargaining table and give the court an excuse to put mediation or a release on hold. If you would like to express your extreme frustration with management’s apparent willingness to accept yet another delay in reaching a deal, may I suggest that you participate in the strike authorization ballot and consider the message that a high participation rate with a high approval rate will send.
Next week, your JNC will spend their time to regroup so as to be prepared for another intense, focused effort beginning June 25. We remain committed to reaching the right contract for our pilots as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, as is the case with our merger, the negotiations for a JCBA remain incomplete. Over the course of the past two weeks and more so within the past 48 hours, we were able to lessen the number of remaining open items and narrow the gap between the Company’s position and ours. Still, it has not been enough to finalize the terms of an agreement as we had hoped would be possible. For the most part, the remaining issues to be solved involve Scope, Compensation/Retro and R&I. I know that we came into this round of negotiations with a sincere desire to complete the deal. We made the moves necessary to do so. I could spend a lot of time lambasting management about their behavior and their lack of movement toward a deal, but at this point that would just be wasted words on the page. All who were here this week know that ALPA negotiated in good faith and with the full intent to complete the deal. We go home deeply disappointed but stand ready to finish the job we started.
While we did not reach an agreement in principle (AIP) for the JCBA on June 15, it does not mean we were defeated in our goal of reaching a deal in an expeditious fashion. Like a game that is not yet decided at the final buzzer, we are now heading into overtime. The days that we reserved in advance with the NMB for June 25-29 in anticipation of crafting final language for a tentative agreement (TA) will now be used to help complete bargaining for the JCBA.
Make no mistake – we have no intentions of letting negotiations for a JCBA linger unresolved. All options for helping us reach a deal remain on the table. This includes our request to the NMB on May 11, 2012 for an offer of arbitration, or release. (This letter was followed up with an additional letter to the NMB on May 30, 2012.) Although we remain miles apart on a handful of issues, the progress made since April has positioned us so that the remaining items can be resolved during a 30- day cooling-off period. Creating a real deadline at this time would compel the parties to make the final decisions necessary to reach a conclusion. To ensure that our resolve is firmly understood, a third letter to the NMB, reaffirming out request, was sent by ALPA yesterday at my and Capt. Heppner’s request. In addition, we will begin the process of balloting the membership to ascertain the level of support for a legal withdrawal of services (strike authorization ballot) on Monday, June 25, 2012. Watch for more information about the ballot next week.
I know that this news brings disappointment. I had hoped to report that we had reached an AIP today and to talk about the schedule for converting the terms of the agreement into language for a TA. While that is not the message I have to deliver today, I remain convinced that a deal is within reach. Now, more than ever, it is vitally important that our pilots remain professional and do not attempt to personally influence the pace of negotiations with unauthorized or unlawful actions. The CAL MEC asks you not to take your feelings about the negotiations into our work as pilots – whether it’s unnecessarily calling in sick or fatigued, or, when at work, changing your normal way of operating in the hopes that this will put pressure on the Company. Such activities could delay an agreement while the Company deals with us in court rather than at the bargaining table and give the court an excuse to put mediation or a release on hold. If you would like to express your extreme frustration with management’s apparent willingness to accept yet another delay in reaching a deal, may I suggest that you participate in the strike authorization ballot and consider the message that a high participation rate with a high approval rate will send.
Next week, your JNC will spend their time to regroup so as to be prepared for another intense, focused effort beginning June 25. We remain committed to reaching the right contract for our pilots as quickly as possible.
06-15-2012, 02:17 PM
#4
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2010
Position: Left - Dodge Caravan
Posts: 357
The real news has yet to be announced.
It is time for the NMB to Release us.
Give us a legal way to bring the kind of pressure required to get this overdue contract complete, if we are expected to refrain from bringing our own...
SP
It is time for the NMB to Release us.
Give us a legal way to bring the kind of pressure required to get this overdue contract complete, if we are expected to refrain from bringing our own...
SP
06-15-2012, 02:31 PM
#6
Not retiring avatar
Joined APC: Apr 2010
Position: 777 CAP
Posts: 771
Dear United Pilots,
As you know, we have spent the last two weeks in New York in contract negotiations with United’s management team. Commitments were made by the company that these were going to be “end game” negotiations that would wrap up today.
Despite the fact that we heard reports that a Senior Vice President at United said that CEO Jeff Smisek was telling people “the pilots will not have a contract by June 15th,” we came to the table in good faith for the last two weeks.
It turns out that the company had no intention at all of completing negotiations by June 15 and it is becoming more and more apparent that they have no desire to reach a deal in June. Their apparent strategy is to keep us in a permanent holding pattern so that they can continue to offshore and outsource our jobs. Their latest proposals on Section 1 –Scope are an expansion of that strategy.
Over the last two weeks of negotiations, all we have seen from the company are proposals that do nothing to restore the sacrifices we’ve made to help this company stay in business since September 11, 2001. In fact, many of the proposals would actually take us even further backward in the areas of Scope, Compensation, Retro Pay, and Retirement and Insurance (R&I).
We have been in negotiations for two years since the merger announcement, including more than 15 months of intense negotiations under the supervision of the National Mediation Board. Yet, we are not yet close to a final deal, which is completely unacceptable. CEO Jeffery Smisek and the rest of the executive team are profiting handsomely from their latest raises and bonuses while we are being forced to sit back and watch our jobs being offshored and outsourced.
You know the facts. We have been working hard under bankruptcy conditions since 2003. We have sacrificed our wages, job protections, work rules and pensions in order to ensure the survival of this airline. In 2006, when United came out of bankruptcy, the company got its “fresh start;” yet, we continue to languish under the bankruptcy terms. Clearly, the pilots never got their own “fresh start.”
No one can claim that the United Pilots have not bargained in good faith. The same cannot be said of the company. It is clear that the only way the company will be motivated to negotiate in good faith is to secure a proffer and a “release from mediation” that will create a true clear deadline and time-clock – and the potential for self-help for us after the 30-day “cooling off” period expires. Without the release, the Railway Labor Act (RLA) process will continue to be an endless maze that has no definitive completion date or triggers to create closure, which is exactly what the company wants.
That is why yesterday, Continental MEC Chairman Captain Jay Pierce and I have once again asked the NMB to grant a "release" so we can move forward to a fair contract after nine years of sacrifices. ALPA President Captain Lee Moak, who has already made two separate requests for a release from the NMB, has also asked the NMB for a third time to grant a release. Click Here to read Captain Moak’s letter.
In the meantime, we must not allow ourselves to be baited into premature self-help, which would give the company an excuse to drag us into court and gain even more leverage over our negotiations. We will remain professional and responsible in all our dealings at work. As we have stated before and will continue to state, now is not the time to for us to act out our frustrations or take actions to impact the operation. We do not want any pilot to jeopardize himself, the Association, or the MECs' Strategic Plan. We must maintain the Status Quo until we are released by the NMB and the 30-day Cooling Off period has expired.
We remain committed to getting a deal done under the RLA process through negotiations but see absolutely no contradiction in using that very same process to push for a release that will set a final deadline for closure and success.
We are United.
Captain Jay Heppner
Chairman, United MEC
As you know, we have spent the last two weeks in New York in contract negotiations with United’s management team. Commitments were made by the company that these were going to be “end game” negotiations that would wrap up today.
Despite the fact that we heard reports that a Senior Vice President at United said that CEO Jeff Smisek was telling people “the pilots will not have a contract by June 15th,” we came to the table in good faith for the last two weeks.
It turns out that the company had no intention at all of completing negotiations by June 15 and it is becoming more and more apparent that they have no desire to reach a deal in June. Their apparent strategy is to keep us in a permanent holding pattern so that they can continue to offshore and outsource our jobs. Their latest proposals on Section 1 –Scope are an expansion of that strategy.
Over the last two weeks of negotiations, all we have seen from the company are proposals that do nothing to restore the sacrifices we’ve made to help this company stay in business since September 11, 2001. In fact, many of the proposals would actually take us even further backward in the areas of Scope, Compensation, Retro Pay, and Retirement and Insurance (R&I).
We have been in negotiations for two years since the merger announcement, including more than 15 months of intense negotiations under the supervision of the National Mediation Board. Yet, we are not yet close to a final deal, which is completely unacceptable. CEO Jeffery Smisek and the rest of the executive team are profiting handsomely from their latest raises and bonuses while we are being forced to sit back and watch our jobs being offshored and outsourced.
You know the facts. We have been working hard under bankruptcy conditions since 2003. We have sacrificed our wages, job protections, work rules and pensions in order to ensure the survival of this airline. In 2006, when United came out of bankruptcy, the company got its “fresh start;” yet, we continue to languish under the bankruptcy terms. Clearly, the pilots never got their own “fresh start.”
No one can claim that the United Pilots have not bargained in good faith. The same cannot be said of the company. It is clear that the only way the company will be motivated to negotiate in good faith is to secure a proffer and a “release from mediation” that will create a true clear deadline and time-clock – and the potential for self-help for us after the 30-day “cooling off” period expires. Without the release, the Railway Labor Act (RLA) process will continue to be an endless maze that has no definitive completion date or triggers to create closure, which is exactly what the company wants.
That is why yesterday, Continental MEC Chairman Captain Jay Pierce and I have once again asked the NMB to grant a "release" so we can move forward to a fair contract after nine years of sacrifices. ALPA President Captain Lee Moak, who has already made two separate requests for a release from the NMB, has also asked the NMB for a third time to grant a release. Click Here to read Captain Moak’s letter.
In the meantime, we must not allow ourselves to be baited into premature self-help, which would give the company an excuse to drag us into court and gain even more leverage over our negotiations. We will remain professional and responsible in all our dealings at work. As we have stated before and will continue to state, now is not the time to for us to act out our frustrations or take actions to impact the operation. We do not want any pilot to jeopardize himself, the Association, or the MECs' Strategic Plan. We must maintain the Status Quo until we are released by the NMB and the 30-day Cooling Off period has expired.
We remain committed to getting a deal done under the RLA process through negotiations but see absolutely no contradiction in using that very same process to push for a release that will set a final deadline for closure and success.
We are United.
Captain Jay Heppner
Chairman, United MEC
06-15-2012, 06:19 PM
#9
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Feb 2007
Position: 767/757 Capt.
Posts: 129
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
