Pilot Commentary: Standing Up to Management to Protect Pilots and Their Families

By Capt. Wesley Reed (FedEx Express), Chairman, ALPA Strategic Preparedness and Strike Committee

ALPA has a vast network of pilot volunteers who work tirelessly on behalf of their fellow pilots to advance the airline piloting profession. As chairman of the Association’s Strategic Preparedness and Strike Committee (SPSC), I want to especially thank those volunteers who support negotiation efforts in the strategic preparedness, Pilot-to-Pilot®, Family Awareness, and communications arenas, as well as ALPA’s eight national SPSC members who work alongside master executive council (MEC) volunteers to help achieve our pilots’ goals.

Together, we strive to carry out ALPA’s strategic plan with respect to SPSC work by strengthening our cadre of pilot volunteers through recruitment, retention, and training and by enhancing the tools and resources we use to advocate on behalf of our members.

Our efforts to support ALPA pilot group contract negotiations have proven that while it takes a lot of moving parts to achieve a new collective bargaining agreement, success typically hinges on two key ingredients: effective communications and solid pilot group unity. Informed and engaged members provide leverage that pilot leaders and negotiating committee members can use to be effective at the bargaining table and beyond.

While some managements work productively with union leaders for the good of the airline and the pilots, others present challenges that make our work more difficult. They can astound us with their disregard for the significant role that professional pilots play in making our airlines successful. How does the SPSC team stand up to such managements and protect pilots, their families, and the profession? They do it through deliberate planning, innovative brainstorming, vigilance, and constant collaboration with pilot leaders and our union’s professional staff.

Every two years, ALPA holds an SPSC summit/workshop, bringing together MEC leaders, pilots, and staff who work to support contract negotiations across pilot groups to help them stay up to date on important issues, share expertise, debate solutions, and hone new skills. This year’s workshop is themed “Charting Course in Changing Skies” and will be held November 14–15 in ALPA’s Herndon, Va., Conference Center, and I urge all SPSC, Pilot-to-Pilot, Family Awareness, and communications committee chairs and volunteers to attend. There is much at stake as we strive to protect and enhance our work rules, quality of life, and the profession.

Many of our airlines are making record profits, yet they look to trim costs by cutting pilot wages and benefits. In addition, some managements attempt to create dissension in our ranks by increasing discipline, implementing heavy-handed decisions, and putting company profits before safety.

These tactics by some managements aren’t the result of reactionary, rushed efforts—they’re well-planned and coordinated to make our lives difficult while flying the line, working in the union office, and defending members at the chief pilot’s desk. These managements want us to lose faith in each other instead of focusing on our true bargaining opposition—top company management. We must not let them.

At the SPSC workshop, we’ll delve into these topics and focus on how we can strengthen communications with our members, and indirectly with management, to make them more aware of these kinds of management tactics and how ALPA is fighting back. For example, I believe that every union communication should focus on explaining how we’re working to protect members—and to take the extra step to point out with facts how the company is either cooperating or standing in our way. Pilots are smart individuals, and we simply need to provide them with all of the facts so they better understand union and management actions in context. We can do better in this area, and we will.

Plan to attend the upcoming SPSC summit/workshop if you work in negotiations support in any way. I hope that all of our pilot groups will participate and share ideas and experiences as we use ALPA’s strategic plan to chart a successful SPSC course in our constantly changing skies and strengthen our stand against management threats.

Together, we can achieve our goals. 

This article was originally published in the November 2017 issue of Air Line Pilot.

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