USA320Pilot
Veteran
- May 18, 2003
- 8,175
- 1,539
BOS F/O Rep. Update on John Prater Meeting - August 22, 2007
BOS Pilots,
I spent the entire day with John Prater and his group (members of the Rice Committee and the Executive Council) as they discussed the issues with our pilots in the BOS crewroom, and here are my observations:
Pilots:
1. The BOS, and other pilots who stopped in from other bases (PHL, DCA and LGA), were superb ambassadors for our pilot group. To a man, they expressed their dissatisfaction with both ALPA's merger policy and ALPA's supervision of it, and informed Prater and his group of how high the bar would have to be in order for them to be interested in anything coming out of the Rice Committee.
2. Most pilots were extremely skeptical that the West would support what it would take to make any "consensual approach" acceptable to the East.
3. Our pilots, over and over, emphasized that we didn't want anything from the West but to be left alone with all that we had left after 2 bankruptcies, and that was our seniority.
4. Several pilots drew a line in the sand, and told Prater that they simply would not share a cockpit with a pilot from the West, period, end of story, because this award was not just unfair, but immoral. Almost every pilot said that ALPA merger policy must change so that this situation never happens again under the ALPA umbrella.
5. I believe it fair to say that the sentiment of most was best summed up by one of our BOS Pilots when he said to Prater, "if you can't do anything about this award, what good are you to me?"
John Prater and his group:
1. Said that they recognize they have a problem, and that is why the award is neither overturned nor released. To do either, according to Prater, would not be solving the problem, but creating a bigger one.
2. Believes that the answer lies in the Rice Committee, that progress, however slow, is being made, and that eventually they will be able to come up with a solution that will pass muster on both East and West. They acknowledge, however, that no matter what that solution is, it won't please everybody, but that is simply a reality of all mergers.
3. Believes that a single contract with both operations being eventually put together is in the best interest of both pilot groups, both in terms of what we can jointly negotiate now in the JNC process, as well as providing both longer term job and future merger security.
4. Believes that ALPA offers the best alternative to East pilots as their bargaining agent, and doesn't believe that an independent union (several of them, including Prater, had been there and back) would be able to solve these issues any better than ALPA.
5. Believes that Doug Parker has been getting a free ride through all of this, and want to see that end now.
In summary, you would have been as proud of our pilots as I was in that, unrehearsed and uncoached, they delivered the message that you would have wanted them to deliver.
I also believe that John Prater, the Executive Council, the Rice Committee, and ALPA National staff are sincerely attempting to find a solution that both East and West can find acceptable, and fully intend to support us in our fight at the bargaining table for a contract that they too can be proud of.
Finally, let me close with what I personally emphasized to John Prater and his group, which is that separate operations with equivalent contracts immediately solves most, if not all, of this problem, and for them to consider lending their support to the direction that the East MEC has decided to take.
(After all, if there is no windfall to either side, then either side would, by definition, be happy staying on their respective sides, right? And if that's not the case, then there is a windfall, and a windfall award will not see the light of day on the East, no matter how much the Rice Committee pretties it up).
Respectfully,
Garland
CC: MEC
BOS Pilots,
I spent the entire day with John Prater and his group (members of the Rice Committee and the Executive Council) as they discussed the issues with our pilots in the BOS crewroom, and here are my observations:
Pilots:
1. The BOS, and other pilots who stopped in from other bases (PHL, DCA and LGA), were superb ambassadors for our pilot group. To a man, they expressed their dissatisfaction with both ALPA's merger policy and ALPA's supervision of it, and informed Prater and his group of how high the bar would have to be in order for them to be interested in anything coming out of the Rice Committee.
2. Most pilots were extremely skeptical that the West would support what it would take to make any "consensual approach" acceptable to the East.
3. Our pilots, over and over, emphasized that we didn't want anything from the West but to be left alone with all that we had left after 2 bankruptcies, and that was our seniority.
4. Several pilots drew a line in the sand, and told Prater that they simply would not share a cockpit with a pilot from the West, period, end of story, because this award was not just unfair, but immoral. Almost every pilot said that ALPA merger policy must change so that this situation never happens again under the ALPA umbrella.
5. I believe it fair to say that the sentiment of most was best summed up by one of our BOS Pilots when he said to Prater, "if you can't do anything about this award, what good are you to me?"
John Prater and his group:
1. Said that they recognize they have a problem, and that is why the award is neither overturned nor released. To do either, according to Prater, would not be solving the problem, but creating a bigger one.
2. Believes that the answer lies in the Rice Committee, that progress, however slow, is being made, and that eventually they will be able to come up with a solution that will pass muster on both East and West. They acknowledge, however, that no matter what that solution is, it won't please everybody, but that is simply a reality of all mergers.
3. Believes that a single contract with both operations being eventually put together is in the best interest of both pilot groups, both in terms of what we can jointly negotiate now in the JNC process, as well as providing both longer term job and future merger security.
4. Believes that ALPA offers the best alternative to East pilots as their bargaining agent, and doesn't believe that an independent union (several of them, including Prater, had been there and back) would be able to solve these issues any better than ALPA.
5. Believes that Doug Parker has been getting a free ride through all of this, and want to see that end now.
In summary, you would have been as proud of our pilots as I was in that, unrehearsed and uncoached, they delivered the message that you would have wanted them to deliver.
I also believe that John Prater, the Executive Council, the Rice Committee, and ALPA National staff are sincerely attempting to find a solution that both East and West can find acceptable, and fully intend to support us in our fight at the bargaining table for a contract that they too can be proud of.
Finally, let me close with what I personally emphasized to John Prater and his group, which is that separate operations with equivalent contracts immediately solves most, if not all, of this problem, and for them to consider lending their support to the direction that the East MEC has decided to take.
(After all, if there is no windfall to either side, then either side would, by definition, be happy staying on their respective sides, right? And if that's not the case, then there is a windfall, and a windfall award will not see the light of day on the East, no matter how much the Rice Committee pretties it up).
Respectfully,
Garland
CC: MEC
