LOA 81 - Immediate Small Jets Questions and Answers April 19, 2002
This information was circulated by ALPA Council #148 (BWI)
Q. What does this agreement do for me, a protected pilot facing furlough?
A. Your job has been retained through a modification of the parity review award. A portion of the parity award will be used if necessary after a new staffing analysis is completed and a decision on the Force Majeure/Minimum Flying grievance is issued. You have also regained your furlough protection, and no additional furloughs can take place unless a new force majeure event occurs.
Q. What does this agreement do for me, a furloughed, non-protected pilot?
A. This agreement creates at least 280-560 jobs at US Airways Express carriers at first-year Captain rates, applicable to the jet equipment flown, regardless of seat position. The Company may utilize its Potomac Air certificate, with the Company not objecting to ALPA as the representative of the Potomac Air pilots. At least one half of the vacancies generated by the small jets placed at US Airways affiliate carriers will be provided to furloughed US Airways pilots. At Potomac Air, all vacancies will be filled by non-protected pilots.
Q. What does this agreement do for me, a protected pilot who was not threatened with furlough?
A. The terms of the agreement state that no additional furloughs will take place unless a new force majeure event occurs. This also means that there will be (additional) pilot coverage available to the Company, especially for First Officers. This should mean less POTA provisions being used by the Company. Your MEC has received numerous studies on the competitive effects of small jets on US Airways and recognizes the economic benefit these aircraft can provide US Airways Express and mainline operations. The revenue that the small jets are expected to generate can only help the Company’s financial position if they approach the government for a loan guarantee, which will help ALPA's position. The MEC's concerns on additional small jet authority are focused on pilot job protections. The process in reaching this agreement is also a first step to a more productive and effective relationship with management, which may improve our pilot group's ability to achieve future objectives.
Q. What does the Company get out of this agreement?
A. The Company is authorized to operate an additional 70 small jets, at a 50-seat maximum and a maximum GTOW of 65,000 pounds. Ramp-up operations can begin quickly. This brings the total number of small jets that the Company is allowed to operate under US Airways’ code to 140. There are no operating restrictions beyond the current Contract and LOA 79.
Q. How will the parity adjustment be applied?
A. As required by LOA 47, you will receive the full parity review award by May 1 and you will be paid the full parity adjustment in cash. Then, we have to wait for the decision of the Force Majeure/Minimum Flying grievance to be issued and the new staffing analysis to conclude. If any or all of the 287 pilots are not retained through those means, a portion of the parity money will then be used to retain these positions. Therefore, if it is needed, an adjustment will be made to the parity award after September 1. We will have exact numbers once parity adjustments are calculated; initial estimates are from 1-6 percentage point parity award reduction. So, as an example, if the parity award is determined to be a 14 percent increase and 6 percentage points of that is used to retain the protected pilots, you will get an 8 percent parity award increase, as cash, after September 1, instead of the 14 percent you were receiving up to that point.
Q. Why didn’t the MEC get all 'four corners' it said it required in return for an SJ agreement?
A. While the MEC didn’t get all four corners, it was able to get two: retain the protected pilots on the mainline, and a Jets for Jobs program that will generate 280 to 560 jobs (or more depending upon staffing requirements) at small jet carriers for furloughees at first year’s Captain’s pay. The two corners not achieved in this agreement are a recall schedule for all furloughed pilots and a minimum size for the mainline. This agreement is an interim step and these other two corners remain negotiating objectives. The Company still wants hundreds of SJs, and will be coming back to negotiate with ALPA. The MEC determined that helping our protected pilots who have been on our seniority list since 1989 and 1990 (many of whom had already endured a 7-year furlough) was a worthy achievement, as well as providing some relief to our non-protected pilots through the Jets for Jobs program. ALPA did not get everything that it was seeking from this agreement, and neither did management.
Q. Why didn’t the MEC send this agreement out for membership ratification like it said it would?
A. Management required the agreement to be MEC-ratified by April 18, and was first presented to the Negotiating Committee on April 11. After discussions with our financial and economic advisors, the MEC felt that ratification by the Company’s terms was a legitimate position and necessary for the MEC to secure the mainline jobs: The Company said that it was under a strict deadline and that the delivery positions for small jets would have been eliminated. The protected pilots would have been furloughed absent any agreement. If the agreement was not ratified by April 18, their jobs would not have been secured. The MEC wanted to assist the Company in gaining the revenue that will be needed to begin to stabilize the Company this summer. In turn, the revenue produced may help us gain a more favorable footing if the Company approaches the employees for ATSB concessions.
Q. Does this agreement still allow ALPA to continue with the Force Majeure/Minimum Flying and route transfer grievances?
A. Yes, and one of the terms of this agreement is that the Company has committed to an expedited schedule in which to present and complete the Force Majeure/Minimum Flying case grievance. The Company and ALPA are seeking to secure a decision on this arbitration no later than August 1, 2002.
Q. What if some of the protected pilots are retained anyway under an arbitrator’s force majeure decision and/or at the conclusion of the staffing analysis?
A. The parity review award will not be adjusted until after the staffing analysis and Force Majeure/Minimum Flying grievances are complete. If the Company retains all 287 pilots after the completion of the staffing analysis or after a force majeure grievance decision is issued, then a portion of the parity award will not be used to cover any excess. If the arbitration decision for the Force Majeure/Minimum Flying grievance and the staffing analysis do not retain all of the protected pilots, a portion of the adjustment to pilot compensation awarded by the parity review will be designated as funds that will be used to retain up to 287 protected pilots who are not retained as a result of those two events.
Q. What could be the outcome of the joint pilot staffing analysis?
A. After the Company and ALPA conduct this joint review, and if this analysis determines that some or all of the protected pilots are not excess, it will decrease or eliminate the need to modify the parity review award to retain those jobs.
Q. How long will LOA 81 be in effect?
A. It’s concurrent with the Contract, which becomes amendable on January 3, 2003.
Q. What has changed from the original proposal management gave to ALPA on April 11?
A. The MEC directed the Negotiating Committee to work with management to modify the proposal to retain all furlough-protected pilots on the mainline.
Q. Why did the MEC use parity review cash instead of changing work rule/productivity provisions to retain the protected pilots?
A. The Company and ALPA recognized that it could cost much more for a productivity adjustment to retain 287 pilots. It would be necessary not only to have to cover the cost of the productivity decrease through additional pay for less productivity, but also cover the expense of additional staffing to fill the resultant vacancies.