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News from ALPA International |
April 12, 2012 |
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PCL Pilots Protest Egregious Pay Discrepancies |
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The pilots of
Pinnacle Airlines,
represented by the Air
Line Pilots Association,
Int’l, expressed their
anger and frustration
over their employer’s
failure to accurately
and timely issue their
pay by informational
picketing in front of
Pinnacle Airlines’
headquarters in downtown
Memphis on Wednesday.
Not only are the pilots
being shortchanged on
payday, they are also
having to wait an
extraordinarily long
period of time for the
company to finally
rectify the pay errors.
“Since February 24,
2012, we have received
copies of hundreds of
payroll discrepancy
reports,” said Capt. Tom
Wychor, chairman of the
Pinnacle MEC. “In some
cases, thousands of
dollars are owed, and
pilots go weeks without
receiving the correct
pay—or even any response
from the company
whatsoever.”
The event brought
public pressure and
scrutiny to bear on
Pinnacle’s payroll
mismanagement. According
to Wychor, one pilot
reported a pay
discrepancy discovered
in his February 16
paycheck, and after
sending nine e-mails
that went unanswered,
the company finally
acknowledged the error
and has stated it will
make the correction in
the pilot’s April 16
paycheck, two months
after the pay was due.
Wychor attributes the
ongoing payroll issues
to inadequate testing of
a new payroll software
system, communication
issues between
departments (Crew
Scheduling, Human
Resources, and Payroll),
and combining three
payroll systems
(Pinnacle, Mesaba, and
Colgan) into one system
without proper
oversight. “It’s
apparent from the large
number of affected
pilots that the failures
within the pilot payroll
group are massive and
widespread.”
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ALPA to Commerce: Financially Strong Airlines Good for Labor |
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“The
best thing for a labor
union is a strong
company,” said ALPA
president Capt. Lee Moak
at the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce on April 12,
where he championed
ALPA’s call for decisive
policy action to
position U.S. airlines
to better compete in the
global marketplace.
Moak presented ALPA’s
perspective on the
importance of airline
industry economics and
leadership, as part of a
panel titled “Working
Together” at the
National Chamber
Foundation’s 11th Annual
Aviation Summit in
Washington, D.C.
“We need a level
playing field or U.S.
airlines will lose their
ability to compete,”
cautioned Moak. ALPA’s
president emphasized
that the U.S. airline
industry needs the U.S.
Department of
Transportation to
advocate on its behalf
on issues ranging from
U.S. domestic taxes to
the European Union’s
applying its emissions
trading scheme to U.S.
airlines. “With
globalization and Open
Skies agreements come
responsibility,” he
said, underscoring the
U.S. airline industry’s
need for leadership in
Washington to compete
internationally.
During the panel,
Moak also pointed to the
unfair financing
practices of the U.S.
Export–Import Bank as
one example of a policy
reform immediately
needed to prevent U.S.
airlines from having to
compete at a
disadvantage against
foreign airlines and
risking airline industry
jobs.
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Known Crewmember Implementation Plans |
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ALPA hosted a
briefing yesterday in
Washington, D.C., to
discuss upcoming
implementation plans for
the Known Crewmember
program (KCM).
ALPA president Capt.
Lee Moak and Airlines
for America (A4A) Sr.
Vice President Dave Berg
opened the meeting by
emphasizing that the
program’s success thus
far is largely due to
the coordination of the
airlines, government,
and our union.
The most encouraging
news is that, after
several months of
behind-the-scenes work,
KCM site surveys are
scheduled at eight
additional
airports—Denver (DEN),
Las Vegas (LAS), Salt
Lake City (SLC), Newark
(EWR), JFK New York
(JFK), LaGuardia (LGA),
Washington, D.C. (DCA),
and Philadelphia (PHL).
Read more.
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ALPA Conducts Accident Investigation Training |
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ALPA’s Accident
Investigation Course
(AI2) was held this week
in Herndon, Va.
Twenty-four pilot
volunteers from 15 ALPA
pilot groups, as well as
representatives from
NATCA and an airline
safety department,
learned about U.S.,
Canadian, and ICAO
accident investigation
procedures.
The air safety
representatives who
attended this week’s
course were instructed
by members of the
Accident Investigation
Board and the Human
Factors and Training
Group, as well as ALPA
staff from the
Engineering and Air
Safety, Legal, and
Communications
departments. This course
curriculum prepares
pilots to serve as ALPA
coordinators or
investigative group
members in an
investigation for a
member pilot group
anywhere in the world.
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Cargo Conference Next Week |
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ALPA is sponsoring a
one-day conference on
all-cargo operations
April 17 in Washington,
D.C., titled “Air Cargo
Safety and Security:
Closing the Gaps.” This
important event will
feature congressional
and other government and
aviation industry
leadership to highlight
numerous safety- and
security-related
differences inherent in
all-cargo operations and
identify ways to remedy
these challenges.
The keynote address
will be delivered by
Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.),
who transported cargo as
a former Northwest
Airlines pilot. Cravaack
serves on the U.S. House
of Representatives’
Transportation &
Infrastructure Committee
and Homeland Security
Committee. The agenda
also includes the acting
administrator of the
Federal Aviation
Administration, the
chairman of the National
Transportation Safety
Board, and several
senior representatives
from government and
industry.
The conference will
be held in the historic
Blue Room of the Omni
Shoreham Hotel. The
agenda and registration
information are
available at
cargoconference.alpa.org.
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Stay connected with your
union, your profession,
and your industry by
reading Air Line
Pilot magazine and
watching monthly
episodes of The
FlightDeck.
Learn five ways you
can help advance ALPA’s
Pilot Partisan Agenda on
page 24 of
the
April issue of Air Line Pilot magazine.
On the 14th
installment
of
The
FlightDeck, find
out what’s happening
with the European
Union’s emission trading
scheme.
Remember that both Air Line Pilot
and The FlightDeck
can also be accessed
from the members-only
portion of the ALPA
website at
www.alpa.org.
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We Want Photos from the Line |
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The ALPA Facebook page
is getting a facelift
using your photos. Send
your best pictures—taken
in accordance with FARs,
CARs, and company
policy—from the airport
or in the sky, and you
could see them posted on
the
We Are ALPA Facebook
page and
on The FlightDeck.
Submit your quality
images to
photos@alpa.org.
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• According to the Seattle Times, Boeing has announced details on how it
plans to accommodate larger and heavier engines on the forthcoming 737 MAX while
still meeting ambitious fuel-efficiency goals.
Read more.
• The Canada Newswire reports that Transport Canada took its first step in
implementing a 10.7 percent budgetary cut by releasing 33 employees.
Read more.
• Wired says Hawaii spent $75,000 to purchase a drone to conduct aerial
surveillance over Honolulu Harbor, but the Federal Aviation Administration
refused to give the state permission to fly the equipment because of the
harbor’s proximity to the Honolulu International Airport.
Read more.
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On this day in 1961, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to
orbit the Earth. Return to top
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Feedback & E-mail Address Changes |
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Questions or comments on this FastRead? Give us your feedback at
communications@alpa.org. If you have moved or changed your ISP or e-mail
address, please update your ALPA records. If you don’t, you
will no longer receive the ALPA FastRead and other e-mail bulletins and notices,
and once your postal forwarding order expires, you’ll no longer receive the
magazine and other ALPA mail. You can do it yourself by going to
www.alpa.org and logging
in. Go to “My ALPA” in the menu at the top of the page, and from there, you’ll be
instructed how to make the necessary changes. If you don’t have access to the
members-only section of
www.alpa.org, you can
e-mail your requests by sending them to
membership@alpa.org. Be sure to include your member number or enough other
information so that we can identify you in the membership database, and tell us
what information needs to be updated. Please note that it is not sufficient
just to notify your LEC or MEC of these changes—you should register them with
the ALPA Membership Department in Herndon. Can’t remember your member number
or how to log in? Need information about your ALPA insurance programs? These and
other questions about ALPA services can be answered by contacting
membership@alpa.org. Return to top
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Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l 1625 Massachusetts Avenue NW
| Washington, DC 20036 | 703-689-2270 |
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