Check out Doug's letter to USA320Pilot.
Frickin' hilarious!!!!!
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Cxxx,
Thanks for your note. I appreciate your concerns for our Company and your colleagues and am thankful for your commitment and service to US Airways.
Let me start by just clarifying some quotes that you attribute to me, not so much because it changes your arguments, but because I want to be clear on what I’ve said so we have a common basis for discussion. First, during our earnings call I did not say “the right thing to do is to pay everybody the sameâ€. It happens to be a point that I don’t disagree with – I do think the right thing to do is get everybody on one contract and therefore have them paid the same, but I definitely don’t think the right thing to do is further divide our workforces by having two separate contracts. I pulled the transcript of the earnings call and that’s the point I made. In response to a question about how expensive our offer to our pilots was, I said, “We would happily sign the contract and sign the deal that we’ve offered. Even though it does increase our expenses, it’s the right thing to do to get all of our people to work together and when you do that, you have to obviously pay everybody the same.†That’s the key point – from the Company’s perspective, the right thing to do is to get everybody on one contract and working together instead of fighting each other and we’re willing to work hard and spend money to make it happen because that’s “the right thing to doâ€. That objective has been complicated significantly by the seniority integration dispute and now we need to all work together to figure out how to address that issue too – more on that later in this note.
Next, I definitely did not say that the Company “budgeted $122 million at this time (for pilot contract improvements)â€. Our budget contains nothing close to that amount because we built it at the beginning of 2007, when we were hopeful that we could reach a joint pilot contract for much less than our current offer. Back in May, in an effort to energize the joint negotiations and get to a joint contract, we put an offer on the table that we believe is extremely fair. This proposal is so expensive to the Company that we were required to disclose to investors our estimated increase in annual expenses back in May, right after we offered it. We estimated that it would increase our expenses by $122 million per year. That, as I said, is much more than we “budgeted†and we’re not willing to spend it if it doesn’t result in pulling our team closer together. My quote on the call was consistent with this message – in response to a question I simply confirmed that our proposal “as we disclosed, would increase the Company’s expenses by $122 millionâ€
Having clarified those points, the more important point is what is the Company doing to resolve the current situation between our pilots? First, we are also concerned. I do not like the rhetoric that is flying between the two groups and I worry that people are taking increasingly hardened positions that can’t be sustained. The Company’s view is solid and consistent – we are not interested in engaging in negotiations with one group of pilots without the other group present. That will only continue to drive a wedge between the two groups – plus drive all sorts of divisive issues in the future as new aircraft types and flying come on line and we have to decide which contract to fly it under. We are, however, very interested in having discussions with both groups present with a goal of reaching a joint contract.
Please understand that I do not think a joint contract necessarily means immediate seniority integration. I have talked to enough US Airways pilots to know that such a proposal would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get ratified. I happen to believe that if we could get everyone together at the negotiating table, we could work something out that meets everyone’s needs – though both sides would need to move some from their increasingly hardening positions. I am hopeful that the Rice Committee will facilitate some creative solutions and do so quickly. I know we have some ideas that we have shared with ALPA and I’m sure they have many more of their own. For now, we are staying close to the situation but continuing to let ALPA manage it. It is my understanding that the Rice Committee hopes to have recommendations/solutions by around Labor Day. I hope that is the case – if it goes much past that, the Company will probably request a mediator be added to our JNC talks, which the Transition Agreement allows either party to do. I’d rather not do that without the full support of both MECs and I am optimistic that we won’t have to, but if this goes on for much longer, I think it would be the best next step for all of us. In the meantime, we will continue to work through joint negotiations, where we continue to make some progress while we ignore the enormous elephant in the room.
Lastly, Cxxx, you raised some concerns about safety that I need to address. Safety is always our first priority and we are ensuring that it remains so thanks to a very diligent safety department, a first class flight operations department, the FAA and an extremely professional group of pilots. From even before the merger was finalized, our teams went to work to ensure the highest levels of safety were in place throughout the merger process by putting in place industry best practices: incremental changes, AQP training, threat and error management and feedback through SOAs, AQP, FOQA data, etc. I am told this was not done with previous mergers which did contribute to the problems experienced by US Airways in the 1990’s that you reference.
Our extensive data and analysis (FOQA, ASAP, Event Reports, AQP, SOA) does not reflect a degradation in safety or any negative trends in the level of safety. Given the current issues facing the pilot group, our Flight Operations Standards Board (FOSB) is actively monitoring the level of safety through the Flight Data Analysis Group (FDAG). FDAG has representation from Flight, Training, Safety, ALPA and the FAA and this group also actively analyzes the data referenced above to ensure there is no degradation in safety or any negative trends. Furthermore, AQP recurrent training was designed to reinforce the changes introduced during the merger integration training. We will continue to ensure that safety remains our highest priority at US Airways and are comfortable that all of the appropriate safeguards, processes and monitors are in place and believe that we are now an industry leader in this regard. If you continue to have questions or concerns about cockpit safety, though, I would encourage you to raise them with Capt. Paul Morrell, our VP – Safety and Regulatory Compliance.
Thanks again, Cxxx, for your note to me. I know that you care very much about US Airways and that you are concerned about the current state of pilot relations, as am I. I also know that some of what I’ve said here is probably not what you wanted to hear, but I trust you understand the points. We simply have to figure out a way to get our pilots talking to each other about solutions instead of drawing untenable lines in the sand. I know that it may seem “impossible†for any agreement to be reached between the parties at this point, but that’s because they aren’t talking to each other. I remain confident that once we get people in a room together working on solutions, solutions will happen. Until that time, we need to all keep focused on doing our jobs professionally and taking care of our customers. Thanks again.
dp
DO ALWAYS keep the good sense/wisdom to enjoy/experience evey moment...it passes FAR too soon, cliche...but for a proper reason.
