Airline Division Week in Review February 18, 2012

Cape Air Pilots Briefed on First Tentative Agreement
Members of the Cape Air ExCo and Negotiating Committee spent the week crisscrossing their system, meeting with membership to discuss their first Tentative Agreement. “With the structure of our airline, our crews are scattered quite a bit,” said ExCo Chairman Captain Marilyn Rhude. “Consequently, we want to get out in our system and give our pilots the opportunity to sit face to face and have their concerns addressed.”
Turnout has been good according to Rhude, although there were some misconceptions. One of the biggest was status quo. “While we wish it were the case, the “status quo” provisions of the RLA only apply to a group that already has a contract,” said Rhude. “In our case, while the company did not make take and arbitrary actions during our discussions, they did implement some long planned changes that gave the appearance of violating what was believed to be the status quo. While we did not fall under the provision, it nonetheless caused some confusion. We were fortunate enough to have solid support from the Airline Division while we were negotiating and were able to offset those changes,” she continued. “The good thing is that as our pilots begin to do the math, they see that over the life of the contract, they will be better off under the contract rates than under the previous program,” she concluded.
Meetings continue this week with stops in Baltimore and Albany, while part of the team heads out to brief pilots in their most distant base, Guam.
ExpressJet Negotiations Continue
Negotiations resumed on February 15^th, with the Federal Mediator. A number of new proposals on four previously agreed to sections of the contract were made by management. The union made counter proposals on Health and Safety, with no agreement yet reached.
Commenting on the new proposals from management, Business Agent Bob Luciano said, “These sections have already been agreed. We will however, in good faith, review them and will respond appropriately.”
“We did make counter proposals on Health and Safety, however, nothing was finalized,” Luciano went on to say. “We are reluctant to say we reached tentative agreement, because the term does not seem meaningful to the company and we feel it’s important to note that the new proposals all involve eroding our current contract and at least one goes to the heart of how overtime is calculated. Nonetheless, our committee is committed to working to obtain the best agreement we can, for our members,” he concluded.
Negotiations resume on March 1^st, in Baltimore, when the company will make an updated financial presentation.
Airline Industry News
Governmental and Regulatory
President Barack Obama signed a $63 billion bill into law that will fund the Federal Aviation Administration through 2015. Observers say the funding will speed up progress on a plan to replace the nation's outdated air traffic control system… Southwest can start using AirTran jets in its fleet once it receives federal approval, which is expected to be granted March 1…
Air Canada and its pilots union have agreed to an extended mediation period of six months, averting a strike by the pilots.
Airlines and Industry
The AMR Retirees Pension Protection Corp. has filed a motion for inclusion  on the committee of unsecured creditors for the AMR Corp. bankruptcy…Boeing said there will be room for "new competitors to be successful" in aircraft manufacturing over the next 20 years.
United Airlines and Continental Airlines are moving closer to officially becoming United as the merger of the carriers continues to proceed…A United Nations panel is calling for tougher inspections and detailed labeling of air shipments of lithium batteries following two incidents in which aircraft were destroyed when freight shipments burst into flames.