October 20, 2008
To our Fellow Colgan Pilots-
We are writing today to inform you that ALPA has filed for a representation election with the National Mediation Board! In just a couple short months, with all of your help, we were able to collect cards from a strong majority of the pilot group – from all bases, all levels of seniority, all seats and equipment and all backgrounds. We thank you for your support.
We are now entering the second stage of the process: the investigation.
The National Mediation Board will soon contact Colgan management for a list of all “Flight Deck Crew Members”, along with signature samples for every pilot. They will use this list and compare it to the cards we have collected to ensure that we have met the minimum 35% + 1 threshold. The NMB will never disclose to Colgan management the number of cards that were submitted, or which pilots signed a card. We expect this part of the process to take approximately four weeks.
Following the card count, we will move to the election process. All Colgan pilots will be able to cast their vote for ALPA by telephone or Internet. The voting instructions, which will include your unique personal identification number (PIN) and voter identification number (VIN), will be mailed to your home address, /as provided by Colgan management./ If you have not updated your address recently, or will be moving in the next few weeks, we urge you to contact ******* ASAP at ********* to update your mailing address! It should take two to three weeks to prepare the voting instructions for mailing.
Finally, we have the election period, which will last for three weeks.
In order to certify ALPA as our bargaining representative, we need to collect votes from 50% + 1 of all /eligible/ voters. That means that forgetting to vote, or even failing to vote because you never received your voting instructions, will be counted as a NO vote!
As we move through the process, your Organizing Committee will be reaching out to all pilots to update you when the election is ordered, and to confirm that all pilots have received their voting instructions.
We also want to let you know to start looking for more emails from
colgan-fastread@ames.alpa.org <mailto:colgan-fastread@ames.alpa.org>.
During the election campaign we will be utilizing ALPA’s blastmail capabilities to ensure we keep the pilot group updated about events we will be hosting and other developments in the campaign.
We thank you again for all of the questions you have asked about representation by ALPA, and the support of all of you who have signed a card. We are confident that we will win the election, but only if we all work together and stay informed, just like we will need to do when we are ALPA members.
If you have any questions about ALPA or the election process, please do not hesitate to contact any of us on the (growing) list below.
In unity,
First Officer Elliott Isaacs
On behalf of the Colgan Pilots ALPA Organizing Committee
Captain John Antoniades
Captain Brian Oakes
Captain Mark Atchue
First Officer Charles Poston
Captain Benjamin Bray
Captain Mark Que
First Officer Steven Delamar
Captain Vincent Rainaldo
Captain Scott Gates
Captain Tom Reeder
Captain Matt Green
First Officer David Schwartz
Captain Corey Heiser
Captain Mark Segaloff
First Officer Nathan Hillard
Captain Sidney Smith
First Officer Geoffrey Huppe
First Officer Brett Smithling
First Officer Elliott Isaacs
Captain Michael Wheeler
First Officer Kyra Ko
First Officer Mitchell White
Captain Ronald Laurenzo
First Officer Carla Widman
Captain Matthew Malone
First Officer Todd Yero
Captain Timothy Newkirk
Captain Rizwan Zahid
Captain Barry Nomann
Captain Joe Zuffoletto