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Who really is the "scab"?
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Every American Eagle pilot, irrespective of their belief in what opportunity and rights were embodied in Letter 3, now needs no further evidence to conclude that ALPA and management have been conspiring for years against the American Eagle pilots.
What ALPA and management did on Friday, February 19, 2010 was to declare war on the senior American Eagle pilots.
Do not be naive and believe that the actions of ALPA and management were solely directed towards the "flow-through" pilots. This was a full frontal assault on the rights and privileges of seniority. You may have escaped this assault but your turn will come.
The ALPA and management revised interpretation of Letter 3 is laughable and will not stand the scrutiny of a court.
This is just another attempt at removing senior pilots from the Eagle property.
1. There was the Longevity Initiative that failed.
2. There was the "early retirement with no money" initiative in the last Amendment Round that failed,
3. There was the AA/AE Management Four-Party Settlement Proposal of October 19, 2007 that failed. ALPA and management, who now believe that Letter 3 contains an "up or out" provision, were prepared to pay pilots $30,000.00 to transfer to AA.
ALPA and management have failed three times to remove senior pilots from the property and have now agreed to a revised interpretation of Letter 3. Even a drunk on hallucinogenic drugs would not be able to find the words "up or out" or any vaguely similar wording in Letter 3/Supplement W.
It is ludicrous for ALPA to contend that "the MEC extensively researched the history of Letter 3, Paragraph III.F, and determined that the negotiating intent was that Eagle pilots who did not claim Eagle Rights by the completion of IOE had thereby made a decision that could only be altered if a hardship existed".
ALPA contends, as does management that the negotiating intent of Letter 3 was the "up or out" policy but both parties forgot to insert language to that effect in the body of Letter 3. Furthermore, neither ALPA nor management stated the "up or out" policy in any of the Letter 3 Arbitrations. In fact, crack ALPA attorney Wayne Klocke told Arbitrator LaRocco in FLO-0903 that ALPA was not requesting the transfer of American Eagle pilots to AA, ALPA was only asking for more AA seniority numbers.
ALPA and management are convinced that "based upon the language of Letter 3/Supplement W, the bargaining history, the past practice of the parties under Letter 3/Supplement W, and prior arbitration decisions under Letter 3/Supplement W." supports their revisionist wishful theories.
The American Eagle pilots who have an AA seniority number need to close ranks against ALPA and management.
What every American Eagle pilot needs to understand is that we do not know the truth. ALPA Eagle MEC members have signed numerous confidentiality agreements with management so the objectives of ALPA and management are completely secret.
While ALPA and management are flailing about threatening to fire pilots who do not want to transfer to AA, not one American Eagle pilot who wants to transfer to AA, has been allowed to transfer, in spite of the arbitration rulings by LaRocco and Nicolau.
If ALPA and management believe that the "up or out" theory was the intent of Letter 3, why did ALPA/AMR management/APA ask Arbitrator Nicolau to allow the 4 parties to negotiate the remedy after he ruled that American Eagle pilots should have transferred to AA in June 2007?
If "up or out", what was the remedy supposed to achieve.
ALPA and management have prohibited pilots from transferring to AA even while hundreds of American Eagle pilots have the right, and are willing, to transfer.
To defend the entitlements and rights of the senior American Eagle pilots to transfer to AA or to decline transfer to AA under Letter 3 I propose the following multi faceted call to arms.
1. The legal defense of the rights of the pilots,
2. A public relations campaign and
3. A legislative (Congress and House of Representative) action.
The legal defense is self-explanatory.
The public relations campaign should initially be an advertisement, in a widely circulated national newspaper, describing the actions of ALPA and management as follows:
The creation of a hostile work environment for the American Eagle pilots with AA seniority numbers.
The discrimination against the senior pilots (ageism)
The firing of senior experienced pilots which compromises safety. (Colgan Air)
The public relations campaign above could be undertaken by a PR firm and if any pilot, supporting the defense of the senior American Eagle pilots, has family members working for, or owning, a PR firm, please email the information to me at gavin@aepa.org
The legislative action should initially be a letter writing campaign to the Chairman, Byron L. Dorgan, of the Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety and Security of the US Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee as well as Chairman, Jerry F. Costello, of the Subcommittee on Aviation of the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. This initial legislative action should be followed by a group of senior Eagle pilots visiting the US Senate and House of Representatives to further explain the actions of ALPA and management to the Chairman of the Sub Committees mentioned above.
The senior pilots need to understand that ALPA and management are relying on the fact that individual pilots will not be able to afford to defend themselves and will just give up fighting this egregious assault on their contractual rights and livelihood.
The following statement by ALPA is very telling:
"The MEC will also request that any pilot who wants to present an opposing or supporting view on this issue be given a voice in this arbitration."
Who does ALPA believe will represent the pilots in the arbitration when ALPA is the bargaining representative of the senior American Eagle pilots and has been sucking dues money from the senior pilots for twenty years?
Being a senior airline captain carries with it some responsibility. Sometimes, as in this case, that responsibility requires the setting of a standard that insures passengers have confidence in the safety of our profession, even when the apparent actions of our management and union do not. Also, if not we, then whom, will stand up for our profession to insure that seniority means stability and the rights to make professional decisions without fear of a management/union cabal to rid themselves of "undesirable" elements of their employees/members?
If the current action of this union, supported by management, is designed to appease junior members of our group, who, if not us, will protect - by our very actions today - those same junior members from a similar attack on their professional livelihoods when they replace us?
The simple truth is that we, as senior airline captains, have allowed the tail to wag the dog on our property for far too long.
It is time that we stood up together, for our passengers, co-workers, and profession, before our industry devolves into an insecure, unstable and unsafe environment that is surely unworthy of the efforts of those who came before us to secure what we stand now on the verge of allowing to be taken from us.
Please join us in this campaign to save our profession from those who seek to destroy it.
Pilots who wish to join this effort to protect the contractual rights of the senior American Eagle pilots should send an email to administrator@aepa.org.
It is imperative that the names and contact information of the pilots who support this defense action is known so that a vote can be held to elect a pilot governing body to coordinate the defense of the pilots that ALPA and management wish to harm.
Once again, do not legitimize the illegal actions of ALPA and management by applying for a hardship and subjecting yourself to kangaroo arbitration. Allow an attorney to speak for you in a Court of Law.
It is interesting that ALPA and some junior American Eagle pilots have begun to refer to the senior American Eagle pilots, who do not wish to transfer to AA 13 years after being promised that they would transfer in 5 years, as scabs.
Junior pilots still have the job they signed on for, first officers. Some have even benefitted by upgrading to a captain position. A job they had no guarantee would ever be available. No senior pilot is trying to take a first officer's or junior captain's job but first officers and junior captains are trying to take senior captain's jobs.
Who really is the scab?
American Eagle management and ALPA have created a hostile work environment at the airline and as such, have willingly and knowingly compromised safety.
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Posted on Tuesday, February 23, 2010
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