Shiny Objects Part I.wps

Shiny Objects Syndrome - Part 1
The Devil Went Down To Georgia
(Airline Pilot Version)
THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA, HE WAS LOOKING FOR SOME SCOPE TO STEAL.
HE KNEW ALPA’S IN A BIND, WITH D-P-A JUST BEHIND, AND THEY’D BE WILLIN' TO MAKE A DEAL.
WHEN HE CAME ACROSS PLANES CAUSING SOUTHWEST SOME PAINS, HE HAD AN EVIL THOUGHT
AND THE DEVIL CALLED UP ALPA SAID, "BOYS, LET ME TELL YOU WHAT:”
"I GUESS YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW IT, BUT I’VE GOT SOME SHINY PLANES TO CREW.”
"AND THERE‘S A WAY TO GET MORE PAY, BUT JUST A PROVISO OR TWO.”
"NOW YOU DRIVE A HARD BARGAIN, BOYS, BUT GIVE THE DEVIL HIS DUE;”
"YOU NEED A WIN, ‘CUZ THE MARGIN‘S THIN, AND D-P-A‘S GUNNING FOR YOU."
THE CHAIR SAID, "MY NAME'S TIMMY AND IT MIGHT NOT BE OK,”
"BUT I'LL TAKE YOUR DEAL, OR I’M GUNNA REGRET THE VOTE FOR D-P-A."
TIMMY CRANK UP THE SPIN MACHINE, YOU GOT TO SELL THIS HARD.
'COS GREED’S BROKE LOOSE IN GEORGIA AND A-4-A DEALS THE CARDS.
TAKE THE MONEY, BECAUSE IT‘S ALPA’S ONLY HOPE.
BUT FOR THE PAY, A-4-A GETS YOUR SCOPE.
ALPA DROOLED AT THE SIGHT OF EIGHTY-EIGHT SHINY PLANES.
AND WITH SOME GOOD OL’ DELTA KOOL-AID COURSING THROUGH THEIR VEINS.
“DESPITE BEING SCREWED THE LAST TEN YEARS, WE DESPERATELY WANT TO TRUST.”
THE DEVIL SAID, “WE NEED TO UP-GAUGE OUR LITTLE JETS, ’CUZ FUEL’S A BUST.”
“THERE’S SOME EXTRA CASH IN IT FOR YOU TO BUY SHINY NEW CARS,”
“BUT FOR THAT, YOUR PILOTS WILL HAVE TO FLY CLOSE TO THE F-A-RS.”
R-JS CLOG THE TARMAC, BURN FUEL, BURN.
A-4-A USES THEM TO DROP WHAT WE EARN.
ALPA COLLECTS OUR DUES TO HELP THEM COPE.
MOAK NEEDS TO GET A CLUE.
"SCOPE? WHAT‘S SCOPE?"
THE DEVIL LAUGHED HIS ASS OFF BECAUSE THINGS HAD GONE HIS WAY
HE KNEW HE HAD THE UPPER HAND, DUE TO THE R-L-A
SATAN SAID, "TIMMY, JUST COME ON BACK IF YOU EVER WANT TO SET ME STRAIGHT.”
"‘CAUSE NEXT TIME, FOR FREE, YOU WILL AGREE TO OUTSOURCE THOSE EIGHTY-EIGHT."
AND HE PLAYED,
R-JS CLOG THE TARMAC, BURN FUEL, BURN.
A-4-A USES THEM TO DROP WHAT WE EARN.
ALPA COLLECTS OUR DUES TO HELP THEM COPE.
MOAK NEEDS TO GET A CLUE.
"SCOPE? WHAT‘S SCOPE?"
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Shiny Objects Syndrome - Part 1
Shiny Object Syndrome - Part I
The Delta-DALPA Tentative Agreement
Anyone that has dealt with pilots for any length of time knows all too well that they,
like everyone else, have many strong points, as well as a few weaknesses. One of the
seemingly universal weaknesses of airline pilots is their propensity to be distracted
by shiny objects. This can come in many forms, but all serve the same purpose of
drawing attention away from the longer-term objectives to the here-and-now. Saving
for retirement, or for a strike fund may not pay off for ten to twenty years, but
blowing five grand on a wrist-watch pays off right now.
All three major airline pilot groups (United, Delta, & American) have recently had
developments commanding their immediate attention. This installment will examine
the recent hoopla over the Delta-DALPA Tentative Agreement.
Delta seems to be firing on all cylinders: profits are way up, pilots are generally
content, acquisition targets abound, and bankruptcy seems to be a distant memory.
Their contract is soon to be open and they have a CEO that “wants to run an airline.”
What more could a pilot want?
How about not having to go through a decade of negotiations, like their peers at
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Shiny Objects Syndrome - Part 1
American, United, and US Airways are doing? How about a bunch of shiny new
airplanes to fly? How about a pay raise?
What’s not to like? As the saying goes, “The devil is in the details.”
Everyone knows by now that DALPA has secured a tentative agreement that will
hike the pay across the board and secure the 88 new airplanes Delta is acquiring from
Southwest. The first reaction across the piloting corps was, “WOW! Look at those
pay rates (shiny objects)!!!” Never mind that the pay still lags what they had going
into bankruptcy; a raise is a raise. Having the ability to bypass the intentional “can
kicking” management is allowed to do under the RLA, while calling it “good faith
bargaining,” is certainly a favorable development.
Self-funding: Not a Two-way Street
The pay rates are a step in the right direction, and should be seen as a “win” for
ALPA, so long as the pay rates are viewed as a stand-alone item. The problem is
they are not a stand-alone item. ALPA had to indulge management in a bothersome
trend that has developed across the industry - “self-funding.”
ALPA had to pay for those new pay tables by agreeing to allowing management the
ability to increase the size of the jets in their regional jet fleet, along with abandoning
profit sharing, allowing more utilization of reserves, and a few other items. The new
“industry standard” in pilot negotiating is forcing pilots to “pay” for enhancements to
their contracts by providing concessions in other areas. As we shall see in the next
installment of “Shiny Objects,” the pilots of American Airlines (and US Airways) are
going to have to “self-fund” the pay raises APA said are part of the new labor
agreement with US Airways management.
We note that this “self-funding” concept was not in play when management used the
bankruptcy system to amend our contracts over the past decade. They didn’t “selffund” the pay cuts by enhancing scope, medical, or retirement. No, they were able to
achieve across-the-board concessions in pay, retirement, medical, scope, vacation,
work rules, scheduling, etc., without any nod toward “self-funding.”
The question remains, “Why do our pilot associations need to “self-fund”
improvements to their contracts?
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Shiny Objects Syndrome - Part 1
They don’t. They only need to do so if they are unwilling to wage a fight through the
RLA process and prepare their membership for a strike. Self-funding is the path of
least resistance, so that’s what they choose, because politicians always choose the
path of least resistance. We should be able to secure net gains, or even across-theboard gains if circumstances allow.
Small Jets = Big Problems
Delta Air Lines, along with all the major carriers operating small jet outsourcing
operations, have a very real problem with their Barbie jets. The 50 seat airplanes are
an albatross around their bottom line, and they desperately need out from under their
small jets. High fuel prices have forced the hand of management, and they need to
send the airplanes to the desert. However, they don’t want to lose the primary reason
for buying those jets in the first place: the ability to whipsaw them against the pilots
of the mainline for purposes of lowering compensation, and as a stop-gap measure to
ameliorate the effects of a work stoppage by the mainline pilots.
The solution is to “up-gauge” the outsourcing
operation to offset the punishing fuel costs of
operating small jets. The larger the jet, the more
efficient the fuel burn per paying passenger. Mike
Boyd, of Boyd Group International made this
prediction almost a decade ago when airline after
airline was involved in a two-fisted grab for small
jets flown by cheap and inexperienced pilots, and
subsequently formed the conga line into federal
bankruptcy court as their costs skyrocketed.
DALPA wrote about how there will be a net drop in the amount of small jets Delta
will be able to utilize, but failed to highlight how increasing the average size of the
outsourcing aircraft makes the outsourcing operation more viable - a detriment to the
mainline pilots, but a boon to the R-J pilots ALPA represents. Crowing about
securing the grounding of all but 125 50-seat jets is like wanting credit to secure the
next sunrise - it was going to happen anyway. DAL management secured a
concession for something they would have to do, with or without an agreement. This
can only be seen as an unqualified “win” for management at the expense of the future
flying at Delta mainline.
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Shiny Objects Syndrome - Part 1
Now, Delta has the ability to extend the viability of their outsourcing, as AMR is
forcing through the bankruptcy process, and CUH is likely trying to force this in its
negotiations, which is why it is dragging out.
It’s The Viability, Stupid.
DALPA misses the mark when it talks about reducing the amount of R-J aircraft and
calling it a win. Yes, the amount of lift generated by DAL’s outsourcing operation
will be reduced, but it will become more viable. This is the danger, as it is the lack of
viability of the outsourcing operation that ALPA and APA originally thought would
constrain the R-J threat. They never thought airlines would absorb the high CASM
and poor customer satisfaction to the point of bankruptcy - but they did, and our
profession teeters on the brink of destruction for that miscalculation.
It appears that we have not learned our lesson.
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Viability is what is desired by management, as a viable outsourcing operation carries
greater leveragability than an unviable operation, regardless of the size. Two
thousand Gulfstream IV aircraft are a lot less viable to a part 121 common air carrier
than half a dozen B-777s. A forward thinking pilot union should fear the outsourcing
of B-777s more so than the Gulfstream jets, even though the 777 outsourcing
represents fewer pilot job losses. The airline has no external pressure to help the
pilots recapture the 777 flying, but they know the small jets are not suitable for the
type of flying Delta does and economics will eventually dispose of the small jets.
The same principle works with the up-gauging of the R-J fleet. While the fleet is
smaller, it now approaches the ability to stand on its own, and relieves DAL of the
pressure to subsidize small-jet lift. This relief allows DAL to pack a heavier punch at
the next negotiation, since its flank is covered with respect to the viability of the
outsourcing operation. If DAL were constrained in the larger R-Js, economic
inevitability would ground the smaller jets. To gain viability, they would have to
dramatically shrink the R-J lift.
15 years ago, would DALPA (or any other major pilot association) have signed off on
an outsourcing operation with an average seat capacity of 68? Of course not, but that
is what ALPA and DAL have cooked up, and they expect pilots to agree, because
they are mesmerized by some modestly impressive pay tables and a worthless
statistic about how fewer R-J aircraft will be in operation.
Clearly, the pilot associations have the leverage to take back ground from the
outsourcing operations, as customer dissatisfaction, fuel pricing, and a dearth of new
pilots are forcing the issue. The goal of management’s coordinated efforts across the
industry is to prevent us from exercising that leverage. They need to frustrate pilots
with the RLA (United), force the issue in bankruptcy (American), or distract them
with shiny objects (Delta). They can keep the hard limit of 255 of the 51+ seat R-Js,
while allowing fuel to force the 50 and under jets to the desert. This is a scope
victory and DALPA does not need to do anything to achieve it.
DALPA is snatching defeat from the gaping jaws of victory - a fine tradition of our
pilot associations.
If Delta pilots refuse to allow the up-gauging of the outsourcing operation, and
secure the upper end of the flying for their mainline, they will command future
negotiations, since management will lack a viable option to go around them. By
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Shiny Objects Syndrome - Part 1
caving in, as they have done, they are risking Delta having tremendous leverage.
Should the economy recess, the next scope concession would be to outsource those
88 B-717s.
That is the price of short-sighted goals.
Is This TA To Benefit Delta Pilots or ALPA?
Why would DALPA go the “self-funding” route when Delta Air Lines is tallying
massive profits and the pilot contract is becoming amendable? Certainly, the fact
that an entirely new PWA has been negotiated in seemingly record time, shows that
somebody really needed something - and fast.
We think both parties, DALPA and Delta, needed an agreement, but for different
reasons, and that DALPA was the most desperate. Why would a pilot association
conduct negotiations in such a quick manner, while caving on scope? Certainly,
Delta can afford a net-gain by the pilot contract, so why the sudden urge to conclude
negotiations before they are even open?
DALPA referenced how long negotiations have taken
at American, United, and US Airways, and that is
certainly a factor. Securing pay increases today is
preferable to having to go into a period where
management can use the RLA to shift the discussion to
times where pilot leverage isn’t as acute. While this is
a concern, DALPA faces a unique challenge, and is one
where the future of the largest and oldest pilot
association hangs in the balance.
The answer is the effort by Delta Pilots Association
(DPA) to collect enough cards to decertify ALPA as the representative for Delta
pilots. DPA is close enough to make ALPA nervous, and had ALPA fumbled its way
through the upcoming negotiation, there would likely be enough dissatisfaction to tip
the scales in favor of DPA.
This has dire consequences for ALPA as a national entity. If Delta pilots decertify
ALPA, then United pilots would be right behind them, as they wouldn’t want to be
the sole funding source for the outsourcing operations ALPA represents. FedEx,
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Shiny Objects Syndrome - Part 1
Alaska, and Hawaiian would likely be on
their way out of ALPA, consigning it to
insignificance. It would only live to
represent the R-J operators. The “major”
pilot associations (DPA, APA, SWAPA, IPA,
USAPA, and UAPA (the UAL pilots)) would
likely form a very large and powerful
confederation that would have economic and
political power dwarfing what remains of
ALPA. The dynamic in Washington would
no longer be ALPA throwing its weight
around as the “largest” pilot association, even though it is engaged in the zero-sum
game of representing “major” pilots and “regional” pilots. The new paradigm would
be the confederation of major pilot associations seeking their own agenda, at the
expense of the agenda sought by ALPA and the regional pilot associations. The
battle lines would clearly be drawn, rather than blurred, as they are today.
There is no doubt as to the outcome of that fight.
ALPA is in the fight for its survival, which is why the new TA for DALPA has
transitory gains in pay while giving up near-permanent concessions in scope. Both
entities engaged in a game of getting what they want at the expense of the rank-andfile pilots: DAL got to breathe life into its outsourcing operation, while DALPA
appears relevant in the face of a decertification effort, hoping to distract pilots with
shiny objects.
We believe DALPA is trying too hard with its “shiny object” strategy. In its May 24,
2012 “Negotiator’s Notepad,” DELTA MEC crows about the massive pay increases
this new TA brings when compared to other airlines. This graphic is very misleading,
as it is trying to blur the distinction between the pay increases that have already been
realized, and those that are part of the TA. It also fails to account for other airlines
realizing gains in contract negotiations. Eventually, they will be forced to jettison
scope to attain parity with the new “industry standard” set by Delta pilots.
In many ways, the graphics in the 5/24/12 publication show the problems inherent
within the RLA, and that the only way to get timely adjustments in working
conditions and compensation is to throw scope to the wind, as DALPA has done with
this TA.
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Cui bono? The various airline trade associations, such as the A4A.
This isn’t something to brag about. Any collection of warm bodies can attain a new
contract if they give their counterparts just about everything they want in exchange
for something that is easily taken away when the economy turns. Does DALPA
actually believe they will be able to secure these pay hikes when their peers are
trailing by several dozen percentage points, and the economy recesses?
We would like to point out that the proposed 2015 pay scales for Delta still fall short
of the minimum pay scales proscribed by OPERATION ORANGE’s “Fair Treatment
of Experienced Pilots Act - Part 2,” in every aircraft type. Having a legislated
minimum wage prohibits another race to the bottom the next time the economy stalls.
Save Our Scope!!!
Our goal is not to cast stones for the sake of casting stones. We are very concerned
that pilots across the industry are being distracted by “shiny objects” and are losing
sight of what management is trying to do. The 30 year war on airline pilot
compensation and working conditions is by no means over. Management is unified
in their goals of attaining, one way or another, the scope clauses of the major pilot
groups. They must have this control if they are to outsource us from our careers. By
having an alternate avenue of providing pilot labor, they can keep us pinned down.
We will highlight the problems at the other two major airlines and how scope is the
primary driver of what management is doing (bankruptcy for AAL and stalling for
UAL). The boards-of-directors and laws have not changed, so the battle still needs
to be fought with 2003-2011 in mind.
OPERATION ORANGE is a growing collection of pilots seeking to change the laws
governing pilot negotiations and bankruptcy proceedings. By changing the laws, we
can finally achieve parity at the bargaining table. Please take the time to read our
legislative draft called the “Fair Treatment For Experienced Pilots Act - Part 2.” That
proposal changes the way we would negotiate under the RLA.
Delta pilots would not have to fear a 7 year negotiation, and the accompanying
stagnation. Our amendment to the RLA forces release from mediation at the 36
month mark from the effective date of any new pilot working agreement.
Management would be forced to acquire pilot labor at the prevailing rate, rather than
stalling for better times.
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It also has many other features, such as a complete rewrite of the new Part 117
fatigue regulations, minimum pay, minimum rigs, mandatory premium pay for hightime flying, whistleblower protection for pilots reporting fatigued or sick, limiting
judicial interference with labor disputes, domestic code share limitations, etc.1
Your career will be far more secure with a change in the legislation and regulations
governing pilot contracts, than opting for business-as-usual. The piloting profession
has been destroyed over the past 30 years because the laws are engineered to that
end. Change the law, and change your profession.
Please write, call, fax, and visit your elected representatives.2 You will attain much
more by uniting with other pilots to change the law, than you ever will by working
within a broken system.
We encourage all Delta pilots to examine OPERATION ORANGE and take a
leadership role in securing a genuine future for our profession. Please do not be
distracted by ALPA and DAL waiving shiny objects. They have their own agendas.
For more information, please visit www.OPERATIONORANGE.org.
1
2
www.operationorange.org/FTFEPAfulltext.pdf
Please see www.operationorange.org/phase3.pdf for instructions on how to lobby Congress for legislative change.
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Shiny Objects Syndrome - Part 1
Comparing Delta TA and
OPERATION ORANGE
Hourly Rate of Pay
Captain
DAL 2015
B747 / B777
$270.25
B767-400ER / A330 $255.27
B767 / B757
$226.21
B737-800/700
$216.92
A320 / A319
$209.30
MD-90/88
$205.56
B717 / DC9
$195.19
50 to 76 seat R-J
No Minimum
First Officer
DAL 2015
B747 / B777
$184.58
B767-400ER / A330 $174.35
B767 / B757
$154.50
B737-800/700
$148.16
A320 / A319
$142.96
MD-90/88
$140.40
B717 / DC9
$133.31
50 to 76 seat R-J
No Minimum
Pay Rigs
Op Orange
Minimum
$300.00
$300.00
$300.00
$225.00
$225.00
$225.00
$225.00
$225.00
Op Orange
Minimum
$200.00
$200.00
$200.00
$150.00
$150.00
$150.00
$150.00
$150.00
Op Orange
Minimum
Duty Period Minimum 2.0000
4.5000
Duty Period Average
5.2500
5.7500
Duty Period Credit
0.5000
0.5000
Rotation Credit
0.2857
0.3000
Paid as
Deadhead
2.00 - 5.25
Duty Period
DAL
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