Cape Air, CAPA, and the IBT

T

T Dawg

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Does anybody know more about this?

37 NMB No. 9 - 62 –


NOTICE TO PILOTS OF CAPE AIR (HYANNIS AIR SERVICE, INC.)

After an investigation conducted by the National Mediation Board (Board), in which Cape Air (Hyannis Air Service, Inc.) (Cape Air), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), and the Cape Air Pilots Association (CAPA) had the opportunity to present statements and evidence, the Board found that Cape Air’s conduct interfered with, influenced, or coerced employees' choice of representative in an election conducted pursuant to Section 2, Ninth, of the Railway Labor Act (RLA).

Accordingly, the Board authorizes a second election by Telephone Electronic Voting (TEV) and Internet Voting among Cape Air’s Pilots. The list of eligible voters will consist of those eligible to vote in the first election, with the exception of those who have left the craft or class. A copy of this Notice will also be mailed to all eligible voters with the election materials. During the election period, the Investigator will be available to immediately investigate any further allegations.
Section 2, Fourth, of the RLA allows employees the right to select representatives without carrier influence or interference.

Cape Air is not permitted to influence, interfere, or coerce employees in any manner in an effort to induce them to participate or refrain from participating in the upcoming election.

For questions concerning this Notice or compliance with its provisions, communicate with the National Mediation Board at legal@nmb.gov.




A buddy of mine over at Cape Air sent this to me. He said that a lot of guys he knows are sorry they bought into this in-house union. This just struck me because I have never seen anything like this before. Does anyone know what’s going on?
 
Not sure of the details, but this is actually pretty rare. Management interference that is severe enough to warrant NMB action is almost unheard of in pilot representational elections. I'd be curious to hear exactly what management did. Must have been pretty bad.

In general, in-house unions are worthless at best and disastrous at worst. SWAPA works because of the company, the IPA works because UPS can't seem to stop making billions of dollars no matter what the economy does. Other than that, in-house unions are all pretty much failures. As much as I despise the IBT, they're better off with them than they are independent.
 
Todd,

You know me man. . .so I'll just get this out there now, so that you can say it under friendly conditions instead of the usual zealouts you might soon encounter. . .

Since you provided examples, SWAPA / IPA, and the conditions in which they are successful, would you mind expounding on why in-house unions are failures and worthless?

Figured I'd just ask it for all the ones who will jump on the opportunity to fire a warning blow.
 
It comes down to two issues:

1. Money; and
2. Experience

In-house unions are just incapable of producing enough money to support the infrastructure needed for a viable pilots' union. The largest independent union is the APA at American, which pulls in roughly $18 million in annual dues revenue. By comparison, ALPA has a budget of $95 million for next year. Now, ALPA is obviously supporting a lot of pilot groups on that amount of money, but economies of scale make a huge different. Even the APA's $18 million can't produce the same resources that ALPA can bring to the table. ALPA has roughly 60 attorneys on staff, for example. The APA has about a half dozen. With those numbers, it's impossible to have an attorney that specializes in every issue. With ALPA, if I have a pilot that fails a drug test, we have an attorney to go to that specializes in nothing by substance abuse issues. The APA simply can't do that, and will never be able to. They just can't produce enough revenue for it.

The second issue, experience, is also something that just can't be created out of thin air. ALPA works so well because most of the staff has been with ALPA for over 15 years. In other words, they've "been there, done that." No matter what issue comes up, someone on staff has dealt with it before. With a smaller organization, you just don't have that wealth of experience, and you can't produce it out of thin air.

There are many others reasons, but those are the big two.
 
Before this happened, CAPA was actually doing things for the pilot group, i.e. an ASAP program and CAHIMS. They are also working on getting a new base bidding system in place.

I am not entirely sure of what management did, but the general feeling toward IBT is animosity among the group.
 
Any union or representation called the international brotherhood of teamsters sounds strange to begin with. Why are pilots generally republican but seem to love unions - seems conflicting to me, but I guess the scale of management FUBARs can still need to be planned for.

Alex.
 
My comments are based on my experience with the Local 747 before the Trusteeship. I'm certain that management at Cape Air have realized how easy the old local was to deal with. IMO, any other representation would have been better for a pilot group. Yes, by statistics, the odds are against you, going solo. However, I can tell you that anything was better for the pilots than the old local. If the CAPA is giving the company a hard time at all, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Cape Air management actually doesn't mind being blamed for the oust of IBT. They probably want them back, but don't realize that the current local is more solid. Even RAH's COO said that the 747 used to be much more flexible. I'm betting that Cape Air doesn't mind one bit what is happening. It doesn't do anything to balance the pilot group in the near future and buys management time to get their act together.
 
ahw01 said:
Why are pilots generally republican but seem to love unions - seems conflicting to me
Click to expand...

Because no matter how much many deny it, at the end of the day, pilots are still skilled labor. It was more conflicting earlier when pilots actually made white collar wages. I don't think it's conflicting at all now. I was talking to a guy that works at a Ford plant. He makes more in a week than I do in two, and I'm a regional captain.
 
Where's the almighty ALPA on this one? Aren't they interested in representing the guys and gals at Cape vs an "in house" union or those truck drivers?

-mini
 
ATN_Pilot said:
Not sure of the details, but this is actually pretty rare. Management interference that is severe enough to warrant NMB action is almost unheard of in pilot representational elections. I'd be curious to hear exactly what management did. Must have been pretty bad.

In general, in-house unions are worthless at best and disastrous at worst. SWAPA works because of the company, the IPA works because UPS can't seem to stop making billions of dollars no matter what the economy does. Other than that, in-house unions are all pretty much failures. As much as I despise the IBT, they're better off with them than they are independent.
Click to expand...



100% of my dues go to issues that directly impact me and my pilot group. It's not wasted on pilots groups I have no interest in. Alpa has been so effective in "taking it back" :sarcasm: :D Even with a labor friendly administration. Fedex alpa rode our coattails and actually hurt our negotiating position due to alpa's lowball offers that UPS threw back in our face.

Alpa sucks. I can see why Skywest pilots resist alpas overtures. It's amusing reading all the colgan pilots here that think alpa is going to wave it's magic wand and suddenly make that ****hole a prime place of employment.
 
I don't blame ALPA, I blame the government. Unions have their purpose and are helpful but our negotiating leverage is so crippled by the RLA, it's laughable.
 
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