SlumTodd_Millionaire
Most Hated Member
For those interested in the latest at SouthwestTran, here's the the latest update from our MEC Chairman:
Fellow Southwest Pilots,
Yes, I just did that, and for good reason. We are all Southwest pilots.
I know what you’re thinking, so before you start sending me nasty e-mails threatening my dog, let me explain.
Think back to the SWAPA Round-ups and the presentations made during the road shows for the seniority integration agreement. The overriding theme was that when we had an SIA, and after the Date of Corporate Closing (DOCC) and after the Single Operating Certificate (SOC) was granted, that we would be Southwest pilots and treated as such. However, the reality doesn’t look like what we expected.
We don’t feel like Southwest pilots. Or at least we don’t feel like we think Southwest pilots should feel, and that’s not good. It’s not good for us; it’s not good for the Company.
We are all too familiar with the history of the seniority integration process, and the contentiousness that it brought. There were many arguments, even among close friends, and many scars from that engagement. At times it felt like civil war.
Eventually, with a transition plan in place, things began to settle down. Despite our future loss of seniority, I think we began to move on. There were a few small improvements to our quality of life: reduced insurance costs, a kinder-gentler scheduling department, new leadership in the training department, and Rob Amsler in the Chief Pilot’s Office. It was just a morsel of the Southwest culture.
But then, as it often seems to do, the other shoe dropped. Southwest announced the B-717 sublease tentative agreement with Delta.
In an instant, all of the goodwill and trust that management had worked to cultivate with our pilots vanished. Gone. Kaput. On top of that, some of the messaging from SWAPA on the day the B-717 deal was announced was read by many of our pilots as gloating.
Can these problems be fixed? I hope so — and believe so — not for only for our sakes, but for the sake of our Company.
First of all, we are all Southwest pilots. It is time that we are recognized as such. There is only one master seniority list, and our names are on it, intertwined with our friends and colleagues across the partition. We are not in a “pool” waiting for a seniority number — we already have one; we fly Southwest owned and leased airplanes with a different paint scheme; and, our corporate address is no longer Orlando, Florida — it is Love Field, in Dallas, Texas, the home of our company, Southwest Airlines.
The MEC has tasked our Negotiating Committee with engaging the company to ease the burden of this transition on our pilots — the Southwest pilots represented by ALPA. Yesterday, the NC started that process by meeting with management in Dallas. The conversation was wide-ranging and overall could be described as fairly productive. To continue our talks, we are making arrangements to schedule a follow-up meeting in the coming weeks.
On Monday, Captain Jim Gallagher and I will join ALPA executive administrator Capt. Tim Canoll and ALPA Directors Bruce York and Jon Cohen in Dallas for a meeting with SWAPA to move forward the process of transferring representation. While I believe the events of the past few weeks demonstrate the benefit of ALPA to our pilots, it is in the long-term interest of all Southwest pilots to have a single voice, regardless of the color of the airplane they are flying. It is also important that SWAPA recognize that former AirTran pilots will soon comprise almost a quarter of their membership, and it is to their benefit to consider the impact of their actions and statements on the future of the organization in a post-SOC world.
I spent most of this week meeting with the MEC, discussing these issues. For a while, we were joined by Southwest Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven as well as Southwest Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer Bob Jordan. We shared with them all of the feedback that you have given us over the past few weeks, both good and bad. We were brutally honest and I think they appreciated it. I also think they now understand that there is a unique opportunity for the Company to demonstrate the values for which it is famous, not the least of which is its commitment to its employees.
Having spent four years in Missouri, the “Show Me State,” I learned a good deal about Midwestern values and skepticism. True character is displayed through action, not words. This is the time for Southwest management to show me, and you, that we are all an integral part of the team. I trust that they will.
I’ll see you at the airport.
Capt. Jim Morris, Chairman
Your ATN Master Executive Council
Yes, I just did that, and for good reason. We are all Southwest pilots.
I know what you’re thinking, so before you start sending me nasty e-mails threatening my dog, let me explain.
Think back to the SWAPA Round-ups and the presentations made during the road shows for the seniority integration agreement. The overriding theme was that when we had an SIA, and after the Date of Corporate Closing (DOCC) and after the Single Operating Certificate (SOC) was granted, that we would be Southwest pilots and treated as such. However, the reality doesn’t look like what we expected.
We don’t feel like Southwest pilots. Or at least we don’t feel like we think Southwest pilots should feel, and that’s not good. It’s not good for us; it’s not good for the Company.
We are all too familiar with the history of the seniority integration process, and the contentiousness that it brought. There were many arguments, even among close friends, and many scars from that engagement. At times it felt like civil war.
Eventually, with a transition plan in place, things began to settle down. Despite our future loss of seniority, I think we began to move on. There were a few small improvements to our quality of life: reduced insurance costs, a kinder-gentler scheduling department, new leadership in the training department, and Rob Amsler in the Chief Pilot’s Office. It was just a morsel of the Southwest culture.
But then, as it often seems to do, the other shoe dropped. Southwest announced the B-717 sublease tentative agreement with Delta.
In an instant, all of the goodwill and trust that management had worked to cultivate with our pilots vanished. Gone. Kaput. On top of that, some of the messaging from SWAPA on the day the B-717 deal was announced was read by many of our pilots as gloating.
Can these problems be fixed? I hope so — and believe so — not for only for our sakes, but for the sake of our Company.
First of all, we are all Southwest pilots. It is time that we are recognized as such. There is only one master seniority list, and our names are on it, intertwined with our friends and colleagues across the partition. We are not in a “pool” waiting for a seniority number — we already have one; we fly Southwest owned and leased airplanes with a different paint scheme; and, our corporate address is no longer Orlando, Florida — it is Love Field, in Dallas, Texas, the home of our company, Southwest Airlines.
The MEC has tasked our Negotiating Committee with engaging the company to ease the burden of this transition on our pilots — the Southwest pilots represented by ALPA. Yesterday, the NC started that process by meeting with management in Dallas. The conversation was wide-ranging and overall could be described as fairly productive. To continue our talks, we are making arrangements to schedule a follow-up meeting in the coming weeks.
On Monday, Captain Jim Gallagher and I will join ALPA executive administrator Capt. Tim Canoll and ALPA Directors Bruce York and Jon Cohen in Dallas for a meeting with SWAPA to move forward the process of transferring representation. While I believe the events of the past few weeks demonstrate the benefit of ALPA to our pilots, it is in the long-term interest of all Southwest pilots to have a single voice, regardless of the color of the airplane they are flying. It is also important that SWAPA recognize that former AirTran pilots will soon comprise almost a quarter of their membership, and it is to their benefit to consider the impact of their actions and statements on the future of the organization in a post-SOC world.
I spent most of this week meeting with the MEC, discussing these issues. For a while, we were joined by Southwest Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer Mike Van de Ven as well as Southwest Executive Vice President & Chief Commercial Officer Bob Jordan. We shared with them all of the feedback that you have given us over the past few weeks, both good and bad. We were brutally honest and I think they appreciated it. I also think they now understand that there is a unique opportunity for the Company to demonstrate the values for which it is famous, not the least of which is its commitment to its employees.
Having spent four years in Missouri, the “Show Me State,” I learned a good deal about Midwestern values and skepticism. True character is displayed through action, not words. This is the time for Southwest management to show me, and you, that we are all an integral part of the team. I trust that they will.
I’ll see you at the airport.
Capt. Jim Morris, Chairman
Your ATN Master Executive Council
