West Crews

[snapthis]

Sure, I'll take a fine Bordeaux with your cheese, fly guy and Pi. I've had my fill of your East Coast whine and Pennatentary State College values. Your rust belt airline and union are going to be buried soon. Not soon enough for me.

I'm glad this embarrassement known as US Airways and USAPA will be in the ashheap of history in the near future.

That's binding, I don't give a damn if you like it or not.

 

[EastUS1]

That's binding, I don't give a damn if you like it or not.

Sounds like a purely personal problem. If you feel some perverse need to do so: Go cry yourself some huge, crocodile tears, puff out your mighty, self-styled "spartan" chest, and wait , ever-so-patiently, to see just how many people actually care. My best guess would be that pretty much no one does.

 

[snapthis]

Anyone know what's going on with Phoenix pilots ? they are offering incentive pay every day this month and there seems to be a shortage everyday from looking at the PRAS sheets , flights are delayed due to the standby shifts , is this another blunder by our wonderful management team ?
The word from our analysts is that Phoenix is overstaffed , then why is there this mess ?

Message from 238199: 31JUL13...320 CA and 320 FO red flagged trips are in
Open Time today.

Message from 238199: 01AUG13...Red flag trips for 320 CA s are available
in Open Time.

Page 1 of 1
Message from 209427: CA/FO 320 RED FLAG TRIPS AVA....!! THANK

Message from 238199: 02AUG13...Red flag trips are available in Open Time
for 320 CA and 320 FO.
01Augl3 1626
Page 1 of 1

Back to the question. Who makes the decisions on pilot staffing? There are West pilots waiting to be recalled. Scheduling posts the messages above.

Where does the buck stop? Who's desk?

Maybe Captain Bular? Could he be the decider? Maybe his hands are tied.

"Senior Vice President Flight Operations/InFlight
Captain Ed Bular is US Airways’ senior vice president, flight operations. Bular oversees the airline’s flight operations, flight training, simulator engineering, flight technical publications and contract training. Prior to his current role, he held the position of vice president, flight operations, from 2002 to 2006.

Bular began his aviation career in the Air Force and flew T-37s, T-38s, T-33s, A-7s, B-52s and KC-135s. He hired on as a line pilot with USAir in 1980, and has subsequently held the positions of check airman; designated FAA examiner; manager, flight training; assistant chief pilot; senior director, flight operations and vice president, flight operations. Bular has been flight qualified on the Boeing 727, 737, 757 and 767 as well as the McDonnell Douglas DC9, and is currently qualified to operate the Airbus A330."

Recall our pilots who held positions prior to the acquisition. 1800 East pilots were recalled who were not flying at the time of the merge now have jobs, certainly you can find positions for West pilots to return, especially when schedulers are screaming for pilots.

The executive team link:

http://www.usairways.com/en-US/aboutus/pressroom/executivebios.html

 

[Keroseneuser]

Recall our pilots who held positions prior to the acquisition. 1800 East pilots were recalled who were not flying at the time of the merge now have jobs, certainly you can find positions for West pilots to return, especially when schedulers are screaming for pilots.

I see that 1800+ number tossed around by a lot of west pilots on here to try to bolster their seniority fight claims. True, the east had 1800+ furloughed, but only a fraction of those actually accepted recall. Never counted them on the list but the number I have seen is only about 500 came back. However I do agree with you if the west is that short of pilots they should recall the furloughed guys. The fact that they are not doing that seems to hint at their plans for PHX post AA merger.

 

[traderjake]

However I do agree with you if the west is that short of pilots they should recall the furloughed guys. The fact that they are not doing that seems to hint at their plans for PHX post AA merger.

It hints that the company plans on combining the East and West lists per the Nicolau Award soon.

The lastest East permanent bid supports my view.

 

[Keroseneuser]

It hints that the company plans on combining the East and West lists per the Nicolau Award soon.

Ah yes, that must be it. Lets hire and train a bunch of new guys on the east and keep the west guys on the street because any day now we will be using the NIC. Also since the NIC will be placing those furloughed west guys in the left seat there is no need to go ahead and bring them back to the right seat for a bit, after all some of them have probably not flown in 4 years so no need to train them as lowly F/O's. Just have them get a fresh medical come by the sim for 3 takeoff's and landings and we will just pop them into the PIC position of a 320. I see now, makes perfect sense.

 

[traderjake]

Lets hire and train a bunch of new guys on the east and keep the west guys on the street because any day now we will be using the NIC.

The days of the East being the cheaper labor are coming to an end, so is separate ops.

 

[Keroseneuser]

The days of the East being the cheaper labor are coming to an end, so is separate ops.

I agree with that statement. That has been known since Feb of this year. That is why as Snap stated, the fact that they have not recalled the west guys seems odd. My guess is since none of the remaining west guys took the recall east, and if they had ALL would be on the bus or left seat of 190, their choice, that the company figures they are not going to want anything that involves flying out of an east base. I think the company has written them off in the same category as the 1200 east furloughees that did not accept recall. They figure when they do recall them to an east base post merger that most won't take it. Quite frankly any of the west furloughed guys that did not accept a recall to the east especially after the AA merger announcement is either 1. Flying in a good job that they intend to stay at or 2. Idiots. If I were one of those guys I would not be betting my chance at a career with the largest airline in the world on the assurance from AOL that "NIC is it" If nic is not it, and who knows how this mess will all play out, the guys that refused the recall east are probably going to be swinging in the wind.

 

[Reed Richards]

I said before the Company wants the 190 in PHX. That does not mean they would have to move 190s from the East, but opens up possibilities of other aircraft being acquired and put there. I take as fact that the 190 counts towards min block hours West in the MOU. The MOU also will allow the mixing of metal. I now understand they can mix Check airman. For example a West C/A could give an East pilot a check and vice versa. No problem there at all, at least for me. What concerns me is I now hear (and this is rumor only) that the Company believes they can mix and match East and West pilots. The bidding systems really do not promote that, but what if a West crew member calls in sick in CLT, they put an East pilot in the seat to replace him? No problems seen in my cockpit, it would be non-issue to me, and that does not mean I accept it is legal under the MOU. I simply don't know. But there will be problems. Compare and contrast. Talk amongst yourselves. 300 words or less on my desk. RR

 

[Pi brat]

That's binding, I don't give a damn if you like it or not.

So, do you believe in keeping contracts that you agreed to?

 

[Pi brat]

It hints that the company plans on combining the East and West lists per the Nicolau Award soon.

The lastest East permanent bid supports my view.

Can you expand on this, as I don't see it in the latest bid.

Also, did you see the crew news where Captain Gay asked if the Nicolau would be used at POR and Kirby said, without hesitation "No." Are you saying this because you think Judge Silver will force it?

 

[snapthis]

So, do you believe in keeping contracts that you agreed to?

Do you understand the term binding when used in arbitration?

 

[Pi brat]

Do you understand the term binding when used in arbitration?

Sure, and it has thwarted USAPA's attempts at a DOH SLI. But, we ALL agreed to something different, didn't we?

Answer the question.

 

[snapthis]

Sure, and it has thwarted USAPA's attempts at a DOH SLI. But, we ALL agreed to something different, didn't we?

Answer the question.

Do you need a reminder of the title of the thread? WEST CREWS

As a West crew member, I have been posting info related to scheduling and the availability only to get side-tracked by your continuous attempts of deflection which is typical of USAPA supporters like yourself.

I attended the entire Addington Trial. I watched as East management sat with their USAPA buddies while the President of USAPA ignored his Phoenix domicile rep and the West pilots the association claims to represent. Who's in control of the Union? East pilots. Who's at the top of pilot management, East pilots. Who gets furloughed?

WEST CREWS, hence the title of this thread.

Here's a well written piece on USAPA by Dominick McCutcheon

My Opinion
US Airline Pilots Association -- Labor Breaking An Agreement With Itself​

Today’s greatest threat to organized labor is not management, but one of labor’s own threats to itself, the US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA). USAPA hopes to set a precedent in labor history as a union that arbitrarily chooses which binding agreements it will honor, regardless if such agreements were made with management, or its own members. If left unchecked, USAPA could jeopardize the integrity of any future arbitrated decisions (no matter with whom they are made), and create a divisional tactic within labor’s bargaining process where it will not be management, but the union who whipsaws labor against itself. Sadly, USAPA, who represents the pilots of US Airways, was created specifically to abrogate agreements, and intimidate its minority members into submission. Within such a union, there can be no unity, only tyranny. USAPA is a threat to the health of organized labor.

Before the creation of USAPA, a previous bargaining agent represented the pilots of US Airways. When a dispute arose between a majority and minority group of these pilots, both groups agreed to their then-bargaining agent’s policy of settling the dispute by use of an arbitrator. In a twist of irony, the majority had years ago co-authored the bargaining agent’s policy of using arbitration to settle such a dispute, yet it was only after the arbitrator rendered his decision that the majority complained of their own policy being “flawed.”

Only after they thought the arbitrator’s decision was unfair, and their own policy flawed did the majority attempt to renege on their binding agreement with the minority. When the previous bargaining agent overseeing the process insisted the majority honor its agreement, the majority sought another way to break its agreement. With greater-numbers of 2-to-1 being its only advantage, the majority called for a representational election, and easily voted-in USAPA in April 2008. The minority group was conscripted into USAPA, therefore denying them the oversight protections of their previous bargaining agent. Without any minority input, USAPA, operated only by the majority, drafted a constitution and by-laws that advantaged the majority at the expense of the minority. USAPA wrote its own solution to the previous dispute, a “proposal” that – if implemented – secured jobs for the minority, but had the potential to put out of work roughly 80% of the minority Phoenix-based US Airways pilots. Yessir, USAPA was a union born of the majority, by the majority, for the majority, and to heck with the minority who keeps its word.

USAPA’s secret agenda – as evidenced by a smoking-gun letter later submitted in a federal courtroom - was to abrogate the agreement the majority made with the minority. By voting-in USAPA, the majority pretended to feel justified in reneging because (get this) it was the previous bargaining agent, not USAPA, who facilitated their binding arbitration agreement with the minority. Yet USAPA still wanted to benefit from agreements made between the majority and others, even though the previous bargaining agent too, had facilitated those agreements. On one hand, the majority theorized they should no longer be held to previous agreements because they had changed their bargaining agent, yet on the other hand, the majority felt they should be entitled to the favorable results of other agreements despite the fact that they had changed their bargaining agent. In this way, USAPA hoped to live the best of two worlds by picking and choosing which agreements it would honor, depending on if the agreement was favorable, or unfavorable to the majority. Meantime, USAPA ignored the voices of its minority pilots… except when the minority spoke against USAPA.

Minority pilots who dared to opine unfavorable of USAPA were dealt with swiftly and seriously. Within its first two months, USAPA used it legal firm (Seham, Seham, Meltz & Petersen, LLP) to bring charges of RICO (usually reserved for mobsters or other organized crime) against 18 of its minority pilots. USAPA made a public display of the 18, hoping to squelch any further dissention by taking the defendants to court not once, but twice. In both instances the case against the 18 defendants were dismissed with prejudice, yet to this day USAPA refuses to drop the charges against these 18 pilots whose only “offense” was to speak out against USAPA. Perhaps as a result of this message I will become RICO defendant number 19.

With USAPA’s failure to acknowledge its agreement with the minority, the minority was left with no other choice but to pool together its resources and bring forth a federal case against USAPA alleging its violation of duty of fair representation (DFR). In its defense, USAPA called as star witnesses majority Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, and First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, of the infamous Hudson River ditching of US Airways flight #1549. Prostituted by USAPA leadership, Sully and Skiles were coaxed into traded in their integrity for fifteen minutes of courtroom fame. Even though they knew a binding agreement – a promise - was being broken with their minority peers, both Sully and Skiles testified of their staunch support for USAPA, and its agenda. The jury was not impressed with USAPA, Sully or Skiles, else it might have deliberated more than four hours before finding USAPA in violation of DFR. Unfortunately, a federal court of appeals later agreed with USAPA that the claim for DFR was not yet ripe. The minority case against USAPA was dismissed, but not before the court of appeals warned USAPA that it would be found “…under pain of an unquestionably ripe DFR suit” if USAPA continued to ignore its agreement with the minority. Oddly enough, USAPA never referenced in any of its legal updates to US Airways pilots the critical part of an “…unquestionably ripe DFR suit.” Responsible for censoring such critical information are majority pilots USAPA President Mike Cleary, Vice-Chairman Randy Mowrey, and Communications Chairman Scott Theuer. (Theuer, who was called by USAPA as a witness, urged the court to pronounce his last name like "sewer", except with a lisp). One aviation publication has dubbed this trio as recipients of its monthly “Real Men of Genius.”

Today, the majority and minority pilots are locked in a virtual stalemate. The majority USAPA is afraid to make a move that would make unquestionably ripe the case of DFR, and the minority is held hostage because they don’t have the votes to recall or otherwise re-direct USAPA leadership.

Other unions be warned, USAPA is a parasitic virus that hopes to disguise itself amongst those unions who are honorable and healthy. However, USAPA hopes actually to destroy these other unions by infecting the process of future arbitrations, or any other agreements that a majority can decide will feed only itself, if even at the expense of starving the minority.

Dominick McCutcheon
Conscripted Member of USAPA

 

[Pi brat]

You are a west crew memeber, are you not? It's a simple question, why the dodge?

I've found Dom to one of the angriest AFOs.