The Pilots of ALPA - Air Line Pilots Association

THE PILOTS OF ALPA
CommutAir
Pilots Prepared
To Do ‘Whatever
It Takes’ to
Achieve Fair
Contract
By Rusty Ayers, ALPA
Senior Communications
Specialist
CMT at a Glance
Founded: 1989
Number of Pilots: 135
Pilots Joined ALPA: 2008
Headquarters: South
Burlington, Vt.
Pilot Bases: Cleveland, Ohio,
and Newark, N.J.
Operations: CommutAir
flies to 23 cities in the U.S.
Midwest and Northeast and
to Canada under a capacity
purchase agreement with
Continental Airlines
Fleet: 16 Bombardier Dash
8-Q200s
28 Air Line Pilot January/February 2011
At a time when the
regional airline industry
is engaged in the
merger equivalent of an arms
race, CommutAir defiantly
remains small, although it
remains to be seen whether
that decision
will be a
positive one
for its 135
pilots.
The airline is among the
smallest fee-for-departure carriers
with ALPA pilots, flying
16 37-seat Bombardier Q200s
for Continental Airlines. As
many other regional carriers
spent 2010 merging and
expanding their operations,
Cleveland-based CommutAir
faces the same industry challenges
with much less room
for error.
Understaffing and difficult,
often fatiguing flying schedules
are the major challenges
facing the CommutAir pilots
as they approach the second
anniversary of opening negotiations
on their first union
contract. The pilots joined
ALPA in 2008 and began
contract talks under Section
2 of the Railway Labor Act on
Feb. 24, 2009.
“Our bargaining goal has
always been to raise our pilots
to the level of our peers at other
carriers, and management’s
response has been to ask for a
9 percent pay cut that would
make us the lowest-paid small
turboprop pilots in the country
and lower the bar for everyone.
That’s unacceptable, and
we’re not going to let it happen,”
says Capt. Jay Dougherty,
the pilots’ Master Executive
Council (MEC) chairman.
The pilots asked the
National Mediation Board
(NMB) to intervene in
contract talks in December
2010, with the first mediation
session likely to take place
in January. Virtually all the
open items in the airline’s
new pilot contract have been
settled except for the economic
sections. A wide gulf
remains between the pilots’
and management’s expectation
on pay rates, despite
the fact that CommutAir has
remained profitable for the
past few years.
“The advantage of mediation
is that it starts the clock
toward a release and puts the
bargaining timetable under
federal oversight. Our airline’s
agreement with Continental
doesn’t expire for a few more
years. Bringing in the NMB
can expedite the bargaining
process so that our pilots do
not have to wait for management
to renegotiate that
agreement. We’re prepared to
do whatever it takes to win a
fair deal,” Dougherty says.
The CommutAir MEC
has established its Strategic
Planning Committee,
ramped up its Pilot-to-Pilot®
Committee, and plans to
create a Family Awareness
Committee in 2011. Complicating
matters for the
group has been the constant
turnover of pilots, both in the
leadership ranks and among
the pilots flying the line.
“That’s an indication of the
poor quality of life and compensation,
and the situation
has resulted in dire understaffing—some
pilots have
elected to fly in Afghanistan
rather than to stay here,” says
Dougherty, who estimates
30 to 40 percent of the pilot
group has left the airline in
the past 18 months. “There
has been high turnover in
the leadership structure, but
the big positive is that people
continue to step up and do
the work of the union. That’s
inspiring and encourages all
of us to carry on,” Dougherty
says.
The group has responded
when called upon. At its first
informational picket, held in
Cleveland this past October,
one-third of the entire pilot
group walked the line, including
virtually every pilot who
was off work that day.
Capt. Jay Dougherty, the
pilots’ MEC chairman, right,
and other CommutAir pilots
show their resolve at the
Oct. 26, 2010, informa tional
picket at Cleveland Hopkins
International Airport.
They were joined by ALPA
members from 13 other airlines,
speaking to the fact that
nearly 54,000 ALPA pilots,
not just those at CommutAir,
are seeking to improve the
airline industry. These strong
showings of support will only
increase when the pilot group
expands its strategic preparedness
campaign during
2011.
“CommutAir needs to
move beyond its current
reputation as a starter airline.
Pilots who have invested
tens or even hundreds of
thousands of dollars to pursue
this career deserve an airline
where they can make a career
if they want to stay. At the
same time, if pilots choose to
pursue employment at a larger
carrier, they should not have
to sacrifice industry-standard
wages and work rules to do so.
That’s why we joined ALPA,”
says Dougherty, “and that’s
what we will achieve in our
negotiations.”
RUSTY AYERS