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News from ALPA International |
December 1, 2011 |
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ALPA Acts to Block U.S. Export-Import Bank’s Air India Financing Deal |
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The
Air Line Pilots
Association, Int’l (ALPA),
has been granted
permission to intervene
in a lawsuit against the
U.S. Export-Import Bank
to block it from
providing millions in
U.S. taxpayer dollars to
guarantee financing for
Air India to purchase a
large number of
aircraft—a move that
could seriously harm the
U.S. airline industry
and risk U.S. airline
jobs. “At a time when
every U.S. airline
industry job counts, it
is inexcusable that the
U.S. Export-Import Bank
would use U.S. taxpayer
dollars to guarantee
financing that could
give a foreign airline a
significant competitive
advantage and risk U.S.
jobs,” said Capt. Lee
Moak, ALPA’s president.
On November 22, ALPA
filed a motion to
intervene in a lawsuit
brought by Airlines for
America (formerly known
as the Air Transport
Association) that asked
the U.S. District Court
for the District of
Columbia to enjoin the
U.S. Export-Import Bank
from making financial
guarantees for Air India
to purchase new aircraft
until the bank
determines that the
guarantees will not harm
U.S. airlines and their
employees.
Read more.
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EGL MEC Responds to AMR Chapter 11 Filing |
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During the past year,
the American Eagle
Master Executive Council
worked diligently and
collaboratively with
Eagle and AMR management
to develop a plan to
create an independent
and viable American
Eagle. Unfortunately,
American Airline’s
financial situation and
the faltering world
economies have resulted
in this week’s Chapter
11 filing.
Where possible, the
EGL MEC plans to
continue to collaborate
with EGL management in
the reorganization
protecting the interests
of the Eagle pilots
throughout the process.
“We believe it is
entirely possible to
reach a balance between
the goals of a
reorganized Eagle and
the job security that
Eagle pilots deserve,”
said Capt. Tony
Gutierrez, chairman of
the EGL MEC.
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Furloughed ALA Pilots Return to Service |
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For Alaska Airlines’
pilots, this week marked
the end of a period
during which 106 of
their colleagues were
furloughed. The final
five involuntarily
furloughed Alaska pilots
returned to active
service Tuesday after
spending nearly three
years on furlough. The
number would have been
six, but one pilot who
would have returned with
this class elected to
resign.
“I couldn’t have been
happier to welcome back
our furloughed pilots
than I was this week,”
said Alaska MEC chairman
F/O Paul Stuart. “As a
pilot group, we will not
forget the challenges
that our furloughed
pilots faced. Nor will
we forget the way in
which this pilot group
came together to help
one another.”
When Alaska announced
plans to furlough
pilots, the Alaska MEC
and Negotiating
Committee worked to
negotiate programs to
mitigate furloughs.
Those efforts produced
programs that allowed
active pilots to commit
to flying reduced
schedules and reduced
the overall number of
furloughs as a result.
The pilot group voted to
assess itself to cover
the costs of health
insurance premiums for
furloughed pilots. Over
the past three years,
that assessment paid
$585,000 in health-care
premiums; the money
remaining in that fund
will undergo an
independent audit and
will be paid back to the
pilots who contributed
to it.
Read more.
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Single Operating Certificate Marks New Beginning at XJT |
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Last month marked the end of a long, distinguished era for pilots of the former
Continental Express. Now operating under a single certificate with ASA,
ExpressJet, which began as several commuter carriers cobbled together by
Continental Airlines in the early 1990s, is one step closer to completing its
merger with ASA to become the largest, independently owned regional airline in
the United States. ASA management acquired government approval for a single
operating certificate and surrendered the ExpressJet operating certificate to
the FAA on Nov. 17. The surviving certificate of ASA, now ExpressJet, went into
effect on Nov. 18, following ExpressJet’s last “Jetlink” flight, which arrived
in Houston early that morning.
While ASA and ExpressJet are now operating under a single certificate,
several hurdles must still be cleared before the carriers may truly be merged.
Of chief importance is combining the two ALPA pilot groups.
The pilots have been in active negotiations for a joint collective bargaining
agreement (JCBA), a prerequisite for the integration of the two groups, since
May 2011. To date, the parties have reached tentative agreements on 11 of the 33
contract sections/parts and have opened seven others for discussion.
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Canadian Pilot Assistance Workshop Trains Pilot Volunteers |
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The ALPA Canadian
Pilot Assistance Group
sponsored its annual
Canadian Pilot Health
and Rehabilitation
workshop Nov. 14-17 in
Toronto. This training
event is provided for
pilot volunteers who,
like their HIMS
counterparts in the
United States, work with
members who suffer from
chemical dependency.
The event was
moderated by Rev. Brian
Murray, the president of
Humanitas Employee
Assistance Programs, and
ten pilots representing
three ALPA
carriers—First Air,
Jazz, and
Continental—attended.
Canadian Pilot
Assistance is one of
five groups that make up
the ALPA Pilot
Assistance Committee,
which provides
confidential guidance
and help to pilots
having difficulty in any
aspect of their
professional or personal
lives. The
other four groups
include Aeromedical,
Critical Incident
Response Program (CIRP),
Human Intervention
Motivation Study (HIMS),
and Professional
Standards.
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ALPA’s Government
Affairs Department and
Political Action
Committee play vital
roles in influencing
legislative and
regulatory decisions
that determine national
air transportation
policy. Call to Action
programs provide ALPA
members with a chance to
contact their elected
public officials and
voice their opinions . .
. but how familiar are
you with these
Association efforts?
Please take a moment to
complete a
six-question survey
and tell us what you
think about these and
other Government Affairs
issues. We want to hear
from you.
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Stay connected with your
union, your profession,
and your industry by
reading Air Line
Pilot magazine and
watching monthly
episodes of The
FlightDeck.
Read a financial
assessment of the
airline industry,
presented by ALPA’s
Economic and Financial
Analysis Department, on
page 16 of the
December issue of Air
Line Pilot magazine.
On the tenth installment
of
The
FlightDeck,
learn how Emirates
Airlines is expanding its
reach into the United
States.
Remember that both Air Line Pilot
and The FlightDeck
can also be accessed
from the members-only
portion of the ALPA
website at
www.alpa.org.
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• The former Air Transport Association of America has changed its name.
Read the ATA press
release. • In preparation for the upcoming winter storm season, U.S.
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt convened
a forum to find better ways to manage aircraft diversions.
Read the FAA press release.
• Bloomberg’s Businessweek says the Alaska Air Group was picked to
replace AMR Corp. in the Dow Jones Transportation Average, after the parent of
American Airlines filed for bankruptcy.
Read more.
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ALPA’s Constitution and By-Laws and Administrative Manual provide the framework
for the union’s elected pilot leadership to follow in conducting the business of
the Association. To view these two documents, sign onto the members-only section
of the ALPA website, click the e-Library tab, and then click the Administration
link. This page also provides resources like ALPA’s Code of Ethics.
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Feedback & E-mail Address Changes |
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Questions or comments on this FastRead? Give us your feedback at
communications@alpa.org. If you have moved or changed your ISP or e-mail
address, please update your ALPA records. If you don’t, you
will no longer receive the ALPA FastRead and other e-mail bulletins and notices,
and once your postal forwarding order expires, you’ll no longer receive the
magazine and other ALPA mail. You can do it yourself by going to
www.alpa.org and logging
in. Go to “My ALPA” in the menu at the top of the page, and from there, you’ll be
instructed how to make the necessary changes. If you don’t have access to the
members-only section of
www.alpa.org, you can
e-mail your requests by sending them to
membership@alpa.org. Be sure to include your member number or enough other
information so that we can identify you in the membership database, and tell us
what information needs to be updated. Please note that it is not sufficient
just to notify your LEC or MEC of these changes—you should register them with
the ALPA Membership Department in Herndon. Can’t remember your member number
or how to log in? Need information about your ALPA insurance programs? These and
other questions about ALPA services can be answered by contacting
membership@alpa.org. Return to top
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Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l 1625 Massachusetts Avenue NW
| Washington, DC 20036 | 703-689-2270 |
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