Airline Division Week In Review-February 5, 2012

Tentative Agreement Reached for the Pilots of Cape Air
Capping off a process that returned the IBT to the property by a wide margin, on February 2^nd, the Airline Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced that they had reached Tentative Agreement on a four-year contract for the pilots of the carrier.
IBT Airline Division international representative Captain Scott Hegland noted, “One year and ten months since negotiations resumed, I have the pleasure to announce that a Tentative Agreement has been reached between the IBT, representing the Cape Air Pilots and Cape Air Management. These negotiations have been a high water mark in my many years of negotiations. Never before have I been party to such a collaborative effort by all the parties involved.
“We are enormously pleased with the hard work of both parties in reaching this accord, said Dan Wolf, CEO of the airline. This agreement is fair to our pilots and to the airline and is representative of the employee-oriented company that we are,” added Wolf.
“I cannot adequately express how grateful I am to the people involved in getting the Cape Air pilots their first contract,” said Captain Marilyn Rhude, Cape Air Executive Council Chairperson, who added, “Through countless hours of research, discussions, debates and compromises we have sculpted a tentative agreement of which we can all be proud.”
The agreement provides detailed rules governing all aspects of the employment relationship, including schedules, pay and base bid rights for the airline's 160 pilots based throughout the U.S, including the Caribbean and Micronesia. The contract is the first to be written and agreed to by the parties.
Scott Hegland added, “My thanks to Captain David Bourne, Director of the IBT's Airline Division, for his never ending commitment to the Cape Air Pilots and to see his vision of a "new approach" to Labor/ Management relationships. His steady leadership and progressive ideals have become the benchmark in the Airline Division’s negotiations throughout the industry.”
Captain Rhude noted,"This was a pretty big learning curve for many of us and we would not have been as successful without the guidance, knowledge and patience that our IBT partners brought to the table. I am especially grateful to Teamster Airline Division Director David Bourne, who ensured we always had the resources necessary to get the job finished and to CEO Dan Wolf and his negotiating team, who met us at the table with open minds, a willingness to create a solid and fair first contract and the mutual desire to preserve that which makes Cape Air unique. This is an endeavor in which I am honored to have been a part."
“This is a great airline working with committed partners in the IBT. A mutually-beneficial contract was created by both of these strong teams,” said Dan Wolf.
Wolf and IBT Airline Division Director David Bourne are expected to participate in some of the meetings to discuss the new contract with pilots beginning February 6, 2012.
The contract will be presented to the airlines pilots in a series of base meetings in the next three weeks and then will be subject to a ratification vote by the pilots in late February.  The aim of both sides is to have a new contract in place by March 1, 2012.

Horizon Mechanics Turn Out for PDX craft meeting.
Craft Meetings were held on February 2^nd in Portland for the Horizon (QX) mechanics. The meeting was hosted by Business Agent Dave Saucedo and Chief Steward John Cox.
In response to questions from the floor; Local Union 986 Principal Officer and Secretary Treasurer, Chris Griswold gave a financial presentation explaining how the Local allocates its funds. Along with a reading of the local Profit and Loss statement, Griswold answered questions from the members and encouraged them to visit the Department of Labor website to view the Local's finances. Said Griswold, "we are completely transparent with our finances and want our members to know where their money goes."
TAMC Chairman Chris Moore did a brief presentation on the recently implemented License ProtectionProgram and the value it provides to all Teamster Aviation Mechanics.
Dave Saucedo and John Cox covered Local QX maintenance issues, including a major victory this week when the Teamsters showed their power by shutting down a proposed attendance policy change before the company was able to enforce it. Dave Saucedo, who was responsible for the behind the scenes work that thwarted the program said, "The ability to stop this policy change is just another example of how the Local Union, working in concert with the Teamster Airline Division, was able to work swiftly and firmly to protect the interests of our members."

NetJets Dispatchers Hold “Meet and Greet” to Learn about Benefits of Membership
On Wednesday February 1^st the NetJets Negotiating Committee and Stewards met with Local 284 Secretary/Treasurer and Business Representative Paul Suffoletto and International Representative Captain Paul Alves from the Teamsters Airline Division. Also in attendance were members of the Technician's Negotiating Committee to also lend their support for upcoming negotiations.
Alves described to the group the processes and dynamics that will take place during the course of the negotiations. The discussion continued with emphasis on the first order of business to negotiate an interim protocol agreement with the Company to insure a smooth transition to an eventual tentative agreement. He made it very clear that solidarity and unity are critical to the process and also made it clear to the group that the International and the Airline Division would provide every support needed to achieve a solid contract.
The group emphasized the importance of regaining "merit raises." Captain Alves described this Companys action on the merit raises as not the way to treat a highly skilled, invaluable work force.
“I can't tell you how reassuring it was to know that not only will Captain Alves be helping us,” said Negotiating Committee member Fred Larkins. In additional to his help, we will also have IBT Representative Traey Liggett, a former United Airlines pilot to assist us along with the various departments and experts from the International. We are most grateful to have their skills and expertise. The Negotiating Committee is working hard to develop a strategy that includes an Interim Agreement to be the first order of business that we hope to have signed in the near future. The negotiations process will take us all eventually out from the unprotected world of being “at-will” employees to the protected world of “contracted” employees, a key for our future success,” Larkins concluded.

Teamsters Join With Other Unions, Call for a “Clean” FAA Reauthorization Bill
Joining with seventeen other labor unions, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters added their voice in the call for Congress to pass a clean FAA Reauthorization bill this past week.
In a press release dated January 30^th, the unions, the UAW; Communications Workers of America; Association of Flight Attendants-CWA; International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers; American Federation of Government Employees; International Association of Machinists; Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen-IBT; Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees-IBT; Brotherhood of Railroad Signalmen; Service Employees Local 32BJ-National Conference of Fireman and Oilers; Sheet Metal Workers; United Steelworkers; Teamsters; American Train Dispatchers Association; Transportation Communications Union-IAM; Amalgamated Transit Union; United Transportation Union; UniteHere. In the joint statement, the unions said:
“We remain strongly committed to passage of a clean FAA Reauthorization bill. An aviation safety and security bill is no place to impose unrelated and controversial labor provisions that will ultimately serve to harm both airline and railroad workers. The proposed Railway Labor Act changes would drastically rewrite a statute that was crafted by labor-management cooperation and has not been changed for over 75 years without the agreement of both employer and employee representatives. Airline and rail workers would suffer significant losses as contracts are jettisoned, collective bargaining rights are cut and legal hurdles will be placed in the way of gaining a voice at work. 
A rewrite of long standing labor law deserves proper and due consideration through the normal deliberative process. Acting otherwise directly conflicts with the non-partisan recommendations of the 1994 Report of the Dunlop Commission on the Future of Worker-Management Relations. This is particularly true of this law which was uniquely created through labor and management negotiations. Unilaterally changing that law without labors input and without due deliberation threatens to unravel its carefully balanced goals of labor stability and uninterrupted commerce.  
Rewarding the House Republican Leaderships desire to rewrite decades of long standing labor law in a flash by inserting an unrelated and controversial labor provision in a much needed aviation safety and security bill, without notice, hearing, or debate, sets an extremely dangerous precedent. We urge the Senate to delete the provisions of the bill that would amend the RLA and pass the clean FAA Reauthorization that all concerned recognize this country sorely needs and supports.”
Parent Company of World Airways, North American Airlines Files for Bankruptcy

On Sunday, Global Aviation Holdings Inc., the parent company of World Airways, Inc., North American Airlines, Inc. and other subsidiaries, filed voluntary petitions to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York. During the restructuring, the Company and its subsidiaries will continue to operate as normal, without interruption.
Airline Industry News

Government and Regulatory
House and Senate aviation leaders have approved a $63 billion four-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration, which includes compromises on several difficult issues…Congress will require the Federal Aviation Administration to mandate automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast "in" equipment for some aircraft by 2020…Rep. Tom Graves, R-Ga., plans to introduce a bill to overturn a Department of Transportation rule  that requires airlines to include taxes and fees in advertised fares.

Industry and Labor
U.S. airlines are concerned that customers could face sticker shock as taxes and fees are now included in airline fares… AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, reported a loss of $904 million for December after filing for bankruptcy Nov. 29. The loss included write-downs to Boeing 757 aircraft, as well as reorganization costs. However, AMR Corp. ended 2011 with $4 billion in available liquidity…Delta Air Lines is considering making an offer for US Airways, sources say. Delta, the second-largest U.S. airline by traffic, is also said to be studying the merits of a merger with American Airlines.
Republic Airways Holdings plans to spin off or sell subsidiary Frontier Airlinesin six to 12 months…
Investment firm Manning Napier, the third-largest shareholder of US Airways, has been buying more shares as the carrier trims capacity. The firm held 5.2% of US Airways stock as of Oct. 1… American Airlines parent AMR Corp. has unveiled its plan of action to save $2 billion in annual costs by cutting 13,000 jobs and seeking union approval to drop its traditional pension plans.
The Cleveland Volcano in Alaska could discharge an ash cloud, which could interrupt air travel over the region.