Republic Pilots Ratify J4j Amendment

[HighFlyerMiami]

September 1, 2005

o: All Chautauqua Pilots

RE: Ratification of Jets for Jobs/LOA#4

In accordance with IBT Local 747 Bylaws, the undersigned hereby certifies the results of the Ratification of Jets for Jobs/LOA#4 as set forth below.

VOTES FOR RATIFICATION 701

VOTES AGAINST RATIFICATION 38

VOID BALLOTS 52

-----

TOTAL BALLOTS RECEIVED 791


Therefore, the proposed Jets for Jobs/LOA#4 is ratified.

Fraternally,

E.E. Sowell

President

 

[BoeingBoy]

I could have sworn someone said that the Republic/CHQ pilots wanted to staple the MDA pilots. Seems not to be true......and by a very wide margin.

Jim

 

[SoldWholeSale]

They want to staple half the MDA pilots, the other half donate their seats in the good name of out sourcing. Of coarse if you listen to yesterdays hotline, the only people who want the Embraer seats more than Wexford, is the U MEC.

"Other issues relevant to the proposed transaction under discussion include:
Equity settlement for AAA pilots (including both stock and stock options) and EMB-190 pay rates (EMB-190 to only be flown at Mainline)"


Seems the folks at MDA are the last single girl left at the prom and the only interest from the losers left is whats up her skirt!

SH

 

[BoeingBoy]

They want to staple half the MDA pilots, the other half donate their seats in the good name of out sourcing.

[post="295914"][/post]​

I'm not sure that the pilots working under the Republic umbrella had or will have a say in whether the Emb-170 transaction is an asset sale or a change of control - that's always been between US ALPA and US management (and now an arbitrator). Seems to me they've just said that whichever way it turns out, they'll accept the J4J's program.

Otherwise, I agree with the rest of what you stated and it's a shame.

Jim

 

[St. Leibowitz]

Two questions:

1) What did the Mid Atlantic pilots propose for seniority integration?

2) Wasn't it the UALPA who concocted this j4j scam in the first place?

 

[USA320Pilot]

SoldWholeSale’s comments are accurate.

In regard to “staplingâ€￾ US Airways pilots to the bottom of the Republic list, my information came from US Airways ALPA MEC officials who have been conducting discussions between the parties.

Meanwhile, do not be surprised if MidAtlantic survives and operates the EMB-190s in the not-to-distant future with a more reasonable contract than the MDA pilot's have now.

Republic may get 28 more EMB-170s, but their approach has poisoned the realtionship with ALPA and could prevent them from operating anything larger that the EMB-170/145 with no more additional aircraft added to their fleet for US Airways Express.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[Rico]

Jim...

The wonderful pilots of CHQ have done nothing more than agree to fly larger aircraft under the cushy deal that JFJ has turned out to be for them. If anything this is even more of a affirmation that they are happy with only half of the MDA pilots getting to keep their current jobs in their current aircraft on their current routes and so on...

That is, as long as the MDA guys ARE stapled to the bottom..., In which every single MDA pilot will be junior to the most recent new hire at Chaushuttle Republiqua...

Junior to the most junior guy there... Hard to call it anything other than a staple job Jim

Let me put it into perspective for you. It would be the same as if in the upcoming America West merger, every single HP pilot was senior to every single U pilot. The U pilots might get to "keep" their positions, but they would be junior to every single HP pilot... Including the most recent HP new Hire.

Now, if that "stuation"was what the AWA ALPA demanded, even though they would now be flying your old aircraft, wearing your uniforms, flying your routes out of your bases, and calling themselves "US Airways"...

Well, what exactly would you call that other than a f-ing staple job...?



Oh, BTW, the other "fun" part, is that the MDA pilots will not be able to bid into anything other than US Airways "Express" flying, whaile everyone else on the property is free to bid into the rapid growth found withg the flying CHQ/SA/REP is doing for United and Delta...

Plain and simple, JFJ was only meant to offer jobs to furloughed U pilots in return for scope relief to allow carriers like CHQ to fly USX RJ's... Not as a replacement for contractual fragmentation protection...

If Republic was buying new aircraft, GROWTH aircraft, and wanted to operate them for USX under jets for jobs that would be TOTALLY different. But they are buying OUR jets, and as such should have to abide with what little fragmentation protection remains.

THAT is what LOA 91 is about.

 

[USA320Pilot]

Rico said: "That is, as long as the MDA guys ARE stapled to the bottom..., In which every single MDA pilot will be junior to the most recent new hire at Chaushuttle Republiqua...Junior to the most junior guy there... Hard to call it anything other than a staple job Jim."

USA320Pilot comments: Rico's comments are accurate.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

 

[Rico]

1) What did the Mid Atlantic pilots propose for seniority integration?

All we want is what we have, nothing more.

How hard is that to understand.

It is like no one at CHQ understands what a "fence" is...

Plain and simple, in the 28 E-170's that we ordered and staffed, we wanted to keep our senority order, keep our longevity for pay, vacation, and benefits, and keep our BID POSITION...

In simple a "bubble", in which the MDA pilots would be kept on the MDA planes, and in the current MDA bases... We were not looking to be able to hold some sort of senority to allow us to bid into UAX flying, or Bid into the left seat of the ERJ's, or do anything other than what we are already doing.

CHQ/SA/REP could simply bid around the USX E-170 flying, sticking instead to the UA or DL flying... Attritiion and Recalls would open up new positions to your new hires without putting a single CHQ/SA/REP pilot out of a job, without placing a single current CHQ/SA/REP pilot behind anyone at MDA...

Is it so hard to imagine, your guys had Shuttle America "on the property" for a long time, but they did their own thing, had their own senority, and did not cause you any problems whatsoever... Why would your IBT union have any problems with us doing the same thing (more or less)...?

Quite simple... Greed.

Letting guys "hang around" on the property when they are flying Saabs and you are in a jet is easy. But The chance to snatch up 70 E-170 Captain positions for the small price of putting 140+ MDA pilots out of a job is too juicy to pass up eh...?

Nice... <_<

So now you know what we wanted, and we have a real good idea what your union is trying to grab from us. Too bad, it coulod have been a decent deal for everyone involved if your company and the IBT had just done things differently...

 

[USA320Pilot]

MEC CODE-A-PHONE UPDATE - September 2, 2005

This is Jack Stephan with a second US Airways MEC update for Friday, September 2nd.

The arbitration concerning the sale of the MidAtlantic Division of US Airways to Republic Holdings concluded on Thursday, September 1st, after four days of testimony. It was encouraging to see so many US Airways pilots attend this arbitration in uniform. The Association had five witnesses testify on our behalf. Captains Phil Carey and Gerry McGuckin testified about the negotiating history and the development of the contract language that is in dispute between the Company and the Association. Jeffery Small, US Airways MEC Coordinator, testified about the negotiating history that led up to the Company’s request for additional relief that was granted in LOA 91. Captains Dean Collello and Jack Greenhall testified about the history of MidAtlantic and the potential impact that a System Board decision will have on the pilots of MDA if the System Board deems the sale of MidAtlantic to be an aircraft sales event (the Company’s position) vs. a change in control (ALPA’s position).

The Company had only two witnesses testify, Bruce Ashby and Jerry Glass.

The parties agreed that written briefs will be due on October 6, 2005. Either party may then request a rebuttal brief before October 10, 2005, and then the rebuttal brief would be due on October 20, 2005. The arbitrator will then issue a Statement of Facts, in which he will lay out the positions of both the Company and the Association. An Executive Session of the System Board has already been scheduled for October 26, 2005. We expect a decision from the arbitrator by mid-November.

Complete Story

USA320Pilot comments: US Airways indicated during this week's hearings that it will keep the MidAtlantic Division in place and it is my understanding the company is not transferring CSA's, FSA's, or Mechanics from MDA to Republic.

Meanwhile, if ALPA wins the grievance award US Airways will be forced to honor the ALPA contract and LOA 91, which would require Republic to employ all MDA pilots, accept the terms of their contract, and require LPP/Allegheny-Mohawk seniority integration procedures to apply the pilot integration.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

P.S. Rico is right again.

 

[BoeingBoy]

I think you both missed my point, which I probably could have made clearer...

The Republic pilots (of whichever division) had no authority to decide if the transfer of planes was an asset sale or change of control under US ALPA LOA's - that was between US ALPA & US management and will be decided by the arbitrator.

Republic had already said - in the investment/sale/slot agreement - that they would abide by the US contracts which includes LOA 91. The only question - once the decision to sale the 170's was made by US management - was what part of LOA 91 the transfer of planes would fall under.

If the arbitrator decides for the company, the MDA 170's fall under the J4J's program and the Republic pilots have just agreed to that. All 28 airplanes will be for growth at Republic and the same J4J provisions will apply as at any other J4J carrier.

If the arbitrator decides for US ALPA, Republic is contractually obligated to comply with the appropriate provisions of LOA 91, which includes those fragmentation rights, etc.

I know that it would have been nice if the Republic pilots had refused to fly the MDA 170's unless our folks got what they wanted, but that's a little like saying that the AWA pilots should demand a date of hire integration just because most of the US pilots want it. Ain't gonna happen. You can call it greedy or whatever, but that's the way it works. Given that they had both their management and ours saying that it's an asset sale, they could (and probably did) say the same about the MDA pilots.

Jim

 

[BoeingBoy]

Republic may get 28 more EMB-170s, but their approach has poisoned the realtionship with ALPA and could prevent them from operating anything larger that the EMB-170/145 with no more additional aircraft added to their fleet for US Airways Express.

Regards,

USA320Pilot

[post="295957"][/post]​

And who said this less than 3 weeks ago....

"In my opinion, I believe MDA will not be sold due to ATSB guidelines, less need to obtain additional cash, and Republic CEO Brian Bedford "nickel-and-dimeing" US Airways-America West. Reports indicate the MDA ALPA - Republic IBT pilot issues may have contributed to the EMB-170s not being transferred to Republic, but this issue is secondary to the primary points listed above."

"In addition, I understand both Bruce Lakefield and Doug Parker are perturbed with Brian Bedford and Republic "nickel and dimeing" US Airways, which could cause other repercussions. In my opinion, US Airways may reject some or all of the Chautauqua flying and replace EMB-145s with other Large RJs that have a lower CASM."

Or this 2 weeks ago....

"I believe Republic and the IBT has once again "shot them self" in the foot. Basically it could be too little too late to get Large RJ EMB flying from US Airways."

Jim

 

[ClueByFour]

SoldWholeSale’s comments are accurate.

In regard to “staplingâ€￾ US Airways pilots to the bottom of the Republic list, my information came from US Airways ALPA MEC officials who have been conducting discussions between the parties.

[post="295957"][/post]​

Would those be the same folks who demanded DOH for all MAA pilots in the first sit-down?

Let's at least try for fair and balanced, eh?

 

[HighFlyerMiami]

Yeah, and then there is US Airways' statement today:

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia today entered an order that will allow US Airways Group, Inc. to close on its previously announced plans to sell certain Embraer regional jet aircraft and slot assets to Republic Airways Holdings. Upon closing, the transaction, expected to occur within the next two weeks, will provide US Airways with approximately $100 million in cash.

This after the court permitted US Air to clarify that the deal includes all Republic subsidiaries.

 

[USA320Pilot]

BoeingBoy:

Instead of trying to prove people wrong and misrepresenting information, why don’t you focus on making the new US Airways a better place during your last year before retirement.

The information I presented came from Doug Parker when he flew on recent US Airways flights and he spoke to US Airways pilots who I directly talked with, the America West MEC and Negotiating Committee Chairman, and US Airways ALPA officials. Events change and it can occur in one-day, one-week, or even two-weeks. Could that have happened here?

I believe they did here. As I said before, US Airways and Republic had a singed agreement and US Airways had two choices: find a way to get Republic to back out of the deal or ask the court to reject an agreement the debtor previously asked the court to approve. Neither one way easy and in the end it appears the MDA-Republic agreement could proceed.

Regardless, here is some public information that you could have obtained too, but conveniently left out. How can that be?

-- On August 12, AWA ALPA Negotiating Committee Chairman Mark Burdick said, “This week your Negotiating Committee continued negotiations with the company on the transition agreement in Washington, DC. They did respond with their own version, which we all believe showed considerable interest in moving on some non-economic issues. They even opened the door for discussion of mainline pilots flying the EMB-190/170 aircraft.â€

-- Then on August 19, AWA ALPA MEC Chairman JR Baker said on the code-a-phone, "This week both MEC’s have been meeting with the company at our ALPA offices to continue working on securing a Transition Agreement. Items we are discussing include many of the areas that the company and ALPA need to understand as we work to merge the contracts and seniority lists. Of particular concern is protection of flying for both sides and securing and bringing in-house the E-190 flying. There also may be an opportunity to capture the E-170 flying.â€

Your actions are typical of the “so called†darksider, who is a bitter and angry pilot with an "ax to grind" due to industry changes. As Wayne Gretzky said, “Look for where the puck is going, not where it has been“ because I believe it serves no useful purpose to look back. It's always better to look through the windshield instead of looking at the mirror while you're trying to discredit the messenger.

By the way, I believe if you’re going to try to discredit people with misrepresenting information by not providing all of the facts at your disposal, you may need to get a little thicker skin and not be so snesitive.

Let me leave you with a quote from Helen Keller, which I try to live my life by. "Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows."

Regards,

USA320Pilot