2015 Pilot Discussion.

[nevergiveup]

I didn't think any man could talk so much!

 

[CactusPilot1]

I didn't think any man could talk so much!

Wye River is boring. Looking back at USAPA is like watching a Jerry Springer re-run.

Romance at USAPA Headquarters

Leadership at USAPA

Introduction

In a previous Compass Correction, entitled DECISIONS, DECISIONS, our readers were informed that Mike Cleary had fired USAPAs General Counsel, Lee Seham. We received many e-mails asking why and how this decision might affect our pilot group going forward. The coalition has been trying to get this information for you, but our union leadership has been not very responsive to our requests. So, we will share with you what we do know.

Background

When the founders of USAPA hired Lee Seham as their attorney, they were confident, after exhaustive research, that they had hired one of the countrys eminent lawyers and labor law firms. Lee Seham came on board, and he immediately understood the struggles a new union would have to overcome.

One of those struggles was destined to be startup finances. To his credit, Lee agreed to work for half pay thats right half pay! If we won the election then we would pay him the rest with the new dues money coming in. Lee Seham, true to his word, did this and when our new union had a lawsuit (Addington) and dues Boycott (the west pilots) Lee Seham put us on a payment plan and worked with our new union for his legal fees. Lets be perfectly clear we have received excellent legal advice and our attorney had us on a manageable payment plan. Try that with most legal firms today!

Lee Seham never let us down!

As USAPA matured, we were faced with the Addington Lawsuit. Addington was a direct assault on the DOH provisions of the unions Constitution and By-Laws. Lee Seham gave great legal advice and defended our union, in court, before Judge Wake in PHX. Lees legal strategy set the stage to take that ruling to another, more labor friendly court, the 9thCircuit Court of Appeals in SFO where he argued and won a published decision for USAPA. This win which the Supreme Court decided not to hear was a big win for USAPA.

Lee Seham has done everything he has told USAPA he would do. He has provided excellent counsel for our union. His hourly rate has been 250 bucks an hour. He stays at the crew hotels, with the BPR, and his expenses are in line with USAPA UOM guidelines.

I first met Lee in the summer of 2007 as USAPA was being formed. I have had a great deal of contact with him and believe that his integrity and honesty are beyond reproach. He is a true believer in his work and if you have had an opportunity to listen to him speak you know that he is dedicated to his craft, the law, and to supporting his client.

Steve Bradford first USAPA President

Every USAPA pilot owes Lee Seham and his firm their thanks.

Present day

President Mike Cleary has Fired Lee Seham (as General Counsel) -Fired! Terminated!

Here at the Compass Correction we were very surprised. We decided to do some research and determine why the President of USAPA, without BPR approval, decided to fire Lee Seham as our General Counsel.

The Girlfriend

Lee Seham had an attorney working in his firm that had been doing legal work for USAPA. This female attorney started dating the USAPA VP Randy Mowrey. One of his clients, an Officer of a labor union, was dating one of his staff members who was closely involved in legal work for the client the labor union a big problem!

(A new law firm for USAPA, ODwyer and Bernstien, have said it is not a problemEven though they are lawyers and they are not directly involved, they do not know the entire history and they do not know all the details. It is a real problem for another firm to say there is no ethical problem when the principles of the firm involved say there is. We believe that it is not a call for outsiders to make.)

The Seham attorney who is romantically involved with USAPA VP Randy Mowrey has stopped working for Lee Seham. The details of her separation from the law firm Seham, Seham, Meltz, and Petersen are not known as they are covered under confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.

There are many rumors out on the line, and good information has been hard to come by. The situation brings up more questions than answers, but we have been able to learn several things.

At an earlier BPR meeting, Randy Mowrey read a statement that stated the ongoing relationship between USAPA and Lee Sehams firm was dependent on how Lee Seham treated his former staff attorney, who is now romantically involved with USAPA VP Mowrey.
Mike Cleary and Randy Mowrey were upset with Lee Seham when the BPR sought his legal advice over the alleged altercation between Randy Mowrey and Sec/Treas Rob Streble.
Mike Cleary did not consult with Lee Seham prior to filing the NY lawsuit against US Airways for status quo violations this past May 2011. Mike was not happy when Lee advised against the NY lawsuit and that it undercuts USAPAs interests.
We also believe that Lee Seham advised USAPA the union was exposed to the preliminary injunction that was just decided by Judge Conrad in NC. We understand that Sehams law firm was not consulted in the unsuccessful defense of this injunction action.
We can all read into what has happened.

The romantic relationship has become more important, than keeping one of the best Railway Labor Act attorneys in the country an obvious conflict of interest! The ego of Mike Cleary and his controlling nature have both been threatened when Legal has advised against his legal strategy. We all know that Mike Cleary, and only Mike Cleary (in his own mind), knows best.

Mike Cleary and Randy Mowrey know the pilots will not sit still and watch Lee Seham get fired over a girlfriend and legal advice that Mike doesnt like. So they have to cook up a valid reason. And that is why we are hearing that Lee Seham was terminated for overbilling.

Bottom Line

1. Cleary fired Lee Seham without BPR approval no debate no research no vote no resolution.

2. Cleary has hired replacement legal counsel at 400 bucks an hour!

3. The actions by Cleary (and Mowrey) have placed this union in legal jeopardy our ongoing legal cases (worked by Seham) are now in danger of losing the original legal architect such as our seniority dispute with the west and the declaratory judgement filed by US Airways.

The slanderous accusations of overbilling made by Cleary and Mowrey have exposed this union to a lawsuit.

There has been no proof provided to the pilots not from Cleary, not from Mowrey, not from any union Officer or BPR member THERE HAS BEEN NO PROOF of overbilling by Seham. NONE!

In fact, the PHL Chairman has refused to answer questions regarding this matter in writing what does he have to hide?

So, what is this really all about?

Its about sex. Its about egos! Its about using their union office to protect their personal life and personal agendas, even if it costs the union membership a lot of money. But, that is not their concern its not their money.

Pilots and USAPA members its time to start paying attention. The USAPA ship is sinking fast and these leaders will take you down with them Count on it.

http://compasscorrectioncoalition.com/2011/10/25/romance-at-the-usapa-headquarters/

 

[Claxon]

I guess you don't have to wear a tie since your union was tossed out. No more extortion supplementing your income. How's the fundraising going at Planet Fitness?

Things could not be better! How is that Push For Justice going? That " Justice" is kind of like the Work Will Set You Free program another set of zealots dreamed up around 1939.
Nobody else is buying your idea of a guy with 17 years non furloughed time going behind your new hires. There is no justice in that.
The AA guys have had a lot of pilots on the streets, and a misguided bunch of 2004 hires are not messing with them.

 

[EastCheats]

Things could not be better! How is that Push For Justice going? That " Justice" is kind of like the Work Will Set You Free program another set of zealots dreamed up around 1939.
Nobody else is buying your idea of a guy with 17 years non furloughed time going behind your new hires. There is no justice in that.
The AA guys have had a lot of pilots on the streets, and a misguided bunch of 2004 hires are not messing with them.

Things could not be better!


From the Court Clerk:

Full docket text:
Case reassigned to District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr no longer assigned to the case. This is your only notice - you will not receive

 

[CactusPilot1]

Things could not be better!
From the Court Clerk:
Full docket text:
Case reassigned to District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr no longer assigned to the case. This is your only notice - you will not receive

Good news indeed. They get to be in front of him again in 2015.

US District Court Grants US Airways Preliminary Injunction Against Pilot Union
gavel 3.jpg

It took a little longer than some people had anticipated, but this afternoon U.S. District Court Judge Robert Conrad granted US Airways a preliminary injunction against the airlines pilot union, US Airlines Pilot Association (USAPA).

As you may recall, US Airways sought the injunction in August, when it claimed that the pilot union had been involved in actions to deliberately slow down and/or disrupt the airlines operations.

Judge Conrad apparently agrees.

In his ruling, USAPA and its members are now prevented from permitting, instigating, authorizing, encouraging, participating in, approving, or continuing any interference with Plaintiffs airline operations, including, but not limited to, any slowdown, strike, work stoppage, sick-out, work to rule campaign, or any concerted refusal toperform normal pilot operations in violation of the RLA, pending a hearing on the permanent injunction.

Conrad instructed the organization very clearly as to how and what they now need to communicate to its members.

USAPA was ordered to report to court no later than 5 p.m., on Oct. 4, what methods it has used to comply with the court order.

For those of you who are legal eagles like I am, click here for a .pdf of the complete TRO document.

I think you will agree that Conrad has read the union the proverbial riot act. Not a whole lot of positives in this order for the union. Not surprisingly, however, given how strong the airlines initial complaint was, as we noted last month in PlaneBusiness Banter.

 

[EastCheats]

On July 17, 2007, Judge Conrad was nominated by President George W. Bush to a controversial North Carolina seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated by Judge James Dickson Phillips, Jr. in 1994.

The NYC Bus Driver is going to be in tears.

 

[EastUS1]

I’ve written many times about the US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA), and it’s never been in a good light. This week, the group which represents the pilots at US Airways has once again topped itself by taking out a full page ad in USA Today talking about how US Airways is unsafe. Though there are other groups in the running, I think USAPA has demonstrated that it is the most ineffective, poorly run union group out there. For Cranky Jackass Awardthe misguided representation it provides its pilots, USAPA gets the Cranky Jackass award. This has been a long time coming.

You may already know the story. USAPA was created when the US Airways “East” (pre-merger US Airways) pilots didn’t like the seniority agreement that was decided upon in binding arbitration (yes, “binding” is apparently a loose term) with the US Airways “West” (pre-merger America West) pilots. So they marched off and voted in a new union, casting off the arbitration result. The West pilots didn’t like that (it’s been working its way through the courts), but they didn’t have the numbers to prevent the move. You can read more of the history here. In short, USAPA has done absolutely nothing good for its members, but it wrongly likes to blame US Airways management for its failings.

And that brings us to USAPA’s current strategy . . . try to burn down the company and apparently put all of its members out of a job.

The latest shameful tactic is the taking out of a full page ad in USA Today claiming that US Airways is unsafe. Let’s see. You work for an airline that pays your salary with revenue that comes in the door, and now you’re going to turn around and try to shut off that revenue by falsely claiming your airline is unsafe? Simply pathetic. It’s such a blatant negotiating tactic, but how will the general public react? That’s unclear, though this hasn’t received much press at all considering all the more important “real” news in the aviation world in the last week.

The ad itself used a single pilot incident that happened on June 16 to show the supposed danger of flying the airline. Apparently there was a flight scheduled to cross the Atlantic from Philly that evening and there were a couple of mechanical issues. There are some mechanical issues that aren’t considered crucial to be fixed, and that appears to be the case here, but the captain refused to fly the airplane and then, according to the union, she was escorted out of the airport by corporate security. The next crew refused to fly the airplane as well. Over the next couple hours, some maintenance work was done and the airplane went on its way with a third crew.

This is why the union says US Airways is an unsafe airline. It says the airline is intimidating its pilots and pushing them to fly even if it’s not safe. Then if they refuse, it has security remove them. Sounds bad, right? Too bad it’s a crock.

Now, regarding the mechanical incident itself, I don’t know whether the captain did the right thing by refusing to fly the airplane. I do know that the FAA found US Airways did nothing wrong. Here’s the statement:

The Captain simply chose to exercise her pilot-in-command authority of not accepting an aircraft. Our information indicates that US Airways followed their approved MEL procedures, and all maintenance procedures were followed in accordance with the operator’s approved maintenance program. We found no violations of Federal Aviation Regulations.

That being said, if a captain doesn’t feel comfortable flying an airplane, then it’s his or her right to deny it. The problem arises when that privilege is abused just to delay or cancel flights without good reason. I’m not saying that happened here. I don’t know, and frankly, it’s not central to my point. I have no problem in theory with her walking away from the flight.

But why would security come escort the captain from the airport? USAPA wants you to believe it’s because she refused to fly the airplane. Not quite. According to US Airways, “the Captain was escorted out of the airport by corporate security (after being released from duty) not for her refusal to fly but for her comments made to customers regarding the safety of the aircraft.” Unfortunately, I don’t know details about what she said to the passengers, but it was apparently highly inappropriate. See more in this a.net discussion. I would have had her carted off the airplane as well.

In reality, there is nothing pointing to US Airways being unsafe but rather more evidence of the airline having good safety practices. It recently passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit, for example. But that won’t stop the union from trying to sully the airline’s reputation. (Get it? Sully? I crack myself up.)

In the end, USAPA simply wants to damage US Airways as if this will somehow convince the airline to throw a ton of money at the union and solve all its problems. Unfortunately, the union needs to solve its own problems regarding seniority before it can even be ready to talk to management, and it doesn’t seem any closer to doing so. I feel really bad for those pilots who never even wanted this union to represent them in the first place. This whole thing is simply pathetic and more than worthy of the Cranky Jackass Award.

[Thanks to Johosofat for the excellent Cranky Jackass Award]

 
There you have it APA folks. As incredibly insane as it is; there's actually a group of people in PHX so amazingly stupid that they cheer for injunctions against their own work group, lick managment's shoe soles at every opportunity, and even make their best efforts at back stabbing and undermining their "fellow pilots" on a continuing basis.
 
"(Get it? Sully? I crack myself up.)" One simply couldn't make this kind of infantile lunacy up....

 

[Metroyet]

Things could not be better!
From the Court Clerk:
Full docket text:
Case reassigned to District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr no longer assigned to the case. This is your only notice - you will not receive

OUCH!!!! Not to worry. I'm sure that "supreme confidence" will win the day. so, when is the bake sale to pay for all of this?

 

[Metroyet]

There you have it APA folks. As incredibly insane as it is; there's actually a group of people in PHX so amazingly stupid that they cheer for injunctions against their own work group, lick managment's shoe soles at every opportunity, and even make their best efforts at back stabbing and undermining their "fellow pilots" on a continuing basis.

The "fellow pilots" you're referencing are the scum of the Earth. Let's talk about undermining fellow pilots scab.

 

[EastUS1]

The "fellow pilots" you're referencing are the scum of the Earth. Let's talk about undermining fellow pilots scab.

 
"(Get it? Sully? I crack myself up.)" One simply couldn't make this kind of infantile lunacy up....Nor yours Metro. Carry on.
 
"But why would security come escort the captain from the airport? USAPA wants you to believe it’s because she refused to fly the airplane. Not quite. According to US Airways, “the Captain was escorted out of the airport by corporate security (after being released from duty) not for her refusal to fly but for her comments made to customers regarding the safety of the aircraft.” Unfortunately, I don’t know details about what she said to the passengers, but it was apparently highly inappropriate."
 
"Unfortunately, I don’t know details about what she said to the passengers, but it was apparently highly inappropriate." Just keep licking management's shoe soles kids, and sell out your fellows every chance you get, even when doing so brilliantly brings an injunction down on yourselves as well. You're clearly not the sort of people that are even capable of ever doing otherwise, and "I don't know details" shouldn't ever trouble such great minds as "you'se" anyway...

 

[EastUS1]

Good news indeed. They get to be in front of him again in 2015.

US District Court Grants US Airways Preliminary Injunction Against Pilot Union
gavel 3.jpg

It took a little longer than some people had anticipated, but this afternoon U.S. District Court Judge Robert Conrad granted US Airways a preliminary injunction against the airlines pilot union, US Airlines Pilot Association (USAPA).

As you may recall, US Airways sought the injunction in August, when it claimed that the pilot union had been involved in actions to deliberately slow down and/or disrupt the airlines operations.

Judge Conrad apparently agrees.

In his ruling, USAPA and its members are now prevented from permitting, instigating, authorizing, encouraging, participating in, approving, or continuing any interference with Plaintiffs airline operations, including, but not limited to, any slowdown, strike, work stoppage, sick-out, work to rule campaign, or any concerted refusal toperform normal pilot operations in violation of the RLA, pending a hearing on the permanent injunction.

Conrad instructed the organization very clearly as to how and what they now need to communicate to its members.

 
Take note APA. This was apparently "Good news indeed." for the PHX crowd.
 
"Unfortunately, I don’t know details about what she said to the passengers, but it was apparently highly inappropriate." Watch your backs with these delusional fools. They "apparently" don't even have to have the slightest clue of what they're ranting about to do their best to back stab their "fellow pilots"...and will cheerfully, unquestioningly, and even enthusiastically take management's side at every turn. I must honestly say that I've never before in my entire life encountered any such group of people.

 

[EastCheats]

Take note APA. This was apparently "Good news indeed." for the PHX crowd.
 
"Unfortunately, I don’t know details about what she said to the passengers, but it was apparently highly inappropriate." Watch your backs with these delusional fools. They don't even have to have the slightest clue of what they're ranting about to do their best to back stab their "fellow pilots"...

Take note, we finally have a union again. So long...fake union.

Take note...we have some who can't let go..

AWE

 

[EastUS1]

Take note, we finally have a union again. ....

 
I thought it only fair to warn them about what they're getting in return, and the proven "quality" of some new members they'll have to be ready for, of course. Say what "you'se" wish to feebly try to "justify" your pathetic BS, but your group's previous actions speak far louder than any words you might offer. Heck, even the current postings speak volumes.
 
I'm doubtful that any attempts you now make to lick APA's shoe soles will much benefit "you'se"...but I'll properly note your "heroic" efforts there, which I'm certain require "a lot of courage"...

 

[Metroyet]

I thought it only fair to warn them about what they're getting in return., and the proven "quality" of some new members they'll have to be ready for, of course. Say what "you'se" wish to feebly try to "justify" your pathetic BS, but your group's previous actions speak far louder than any words you might offer. Heck, even the current postings speak volumes.
 
I'm doubtful that any attempts you now make to lick APA's shoe soles will much benefit "you'se"...but I'll properly note your "heroic" efforts there, which I'm certain require "a lot of courage"...

USAPA =SCABS...'nuff said.

 

[EastUS1]

USAPA =SCABS...'nuff said.

 
No need to reach too deeply into the vast intellectual resources of "sparta".  I've little doubt "you'se" have already, fully impressed all concerned there.
 
One must reasonably imagine that it will take "sparta" no time into the SLI arbitration for the APA to "=SCABS" as well. "You'se" are pretty much, just one-trick-ponies, "apparently" without the slightest ability to even momentarily burst outside your tiny bubbles of purely infantile, "It's ALL about MEEE!" narcissisim.