Update on union at PHI
Bob Barbanes
months of negotiations, the pilots at Petroleum Helicopters Inc may finally be
getting close to a resolution. Formal negotiations broke down in January, 2001
and both sides requested that the National Mediation Board give them a
"release." The NMB did so, and the parties entered into a "30-day cooling off
period."
Currently (3/22/01), members of the company and the union are back in
Washington D.C. for some "informal" talks to see whether an agreement can be
reached before this "cooling off period" expires at midnight, on this
Saturday, March 24th. If not, the PHI pilots will then be legally able to
engage in labor actions up to and including a general strike.
The OPEIU (Office and Professional Employees International Union) has indicated
that they will wage what they are calling "Mayhem." This is a technique by
which selected, random work actions are called by the union on very short
notice. They may target a particular base, or even a particular type or model
of helicopter. The union believes that this type of labor action is much
harder for the company to prepare for and counter, and would cause major
inconveniences for the company and its customers.
"Mayhem" types of labor actions have been ruled legal by the federal
government. The technique was used successfully by flight attendants at Alaska
Airlines, who had been in contract negotiations with their airline for over
three years.
At PHI, the issues which have stalled negotiations are numerous. Chief among
them of course, is money. The union wants a better pay/benefit package than
the company is willing to offer. The company says they can't afford it.
However, a recently announced rate increase by both Era Aviation and PHI may
change the company's offer considerably.
But there are at least two equally important issues on which the union and the
company both refuse to budge: Union Security and Dues Checkoff.
Union Security: There are three types of union shops. In a "union shop," all
represented employees MUST join the union as a condition of employment (Air Log
has this type of shop). In an "agency shop," the represented employees have
the option of joining or not joining, but they must pay an "agency fee" to the
union even if they do not join. In an "open shop," employees are free to
choose whether they want to join or not. If they don't join, no fees are
levied against them.
PHI does not want union membership to be mandatory ("open shop"), AND believes
that represented pilots should not have to pay anything toward the union that
negotiated the contract from which they benefit. The OPEIU contends that if a
pilot benefits monetarily under a contract, then he or she should pay their
fair share.
Dues Checkoff: PHI steadfastly refuses to consider having union dues or agency
fees deducted from the pilots' paychecks. Currently, there are all sorts of
deductions made (401k, credit union loan payments, etc). The company claims
that deducting union dues would be an unreasonable burden on their Accounting
Department.
It should be noted that if a group of workers within a company vote for union
representation, ALL of that particular group are considered "represented" by a
union whether they are members or not. In accordance with the "Duty of Fair
Representation," the union is legally bound to treat non-member and members
alike. This means that non-members can file greivances, and they can request
that the union represent them in a case of wrongful termination or discipline.
Under federal law, there cannot be two separate payscales for members and
non-members, so ALL pilots will benefit from whatever pay and other items the
union can successfully negotiate. However, non-members cannot vote on ANY
union issue, and therefore have no say in how the union is run.
* * *
Okay, strict reporatage is over and now I'll start editorializing.
PHI managers have reportedly told many pilots that if they strike (or engage in
any labor action at all), the company will consider them to have quit and that
employee will be terminated. This would be a flagrant violation of federal
law, which a) permits legal labor actions, and b) prohibits employers from
firing striking workers. But it is typical of PHI's continuing campaign of
threats, terror, intimidation and coersion. OPEIU has vowed that they will
file lawsuits in federal court on behalf of any pilot illegally terminated by
PHI.
A company may replace a striking worker, and that replacement may be considered
permanent. But when the strike is over, the company MUST offer a position to a
striking worker FIRST.
So how will this apply to PHI and its pilots in the midst of a growing pilot
shortage? Most certainly, PHI could take a hard line and permanently replace
any pilot(s) who strike. However, since the company is currently hiring pilots
(and has been, pretty much non-stop for over a year), a striking pilot would
have to be offered a position before any new pilot was hired.
Personally, I feel it would be very, very unwise for PHI to push this issue.
While they may feel that they can cover any walk-outs, I believe they're
deluding themselves. The company simply does not have the extra manpower that
they say is being held in abeyance. And with their bases spread out along the
Gulf of Mexico from Mobile, Alabama to Freeport, Texas, the decision of where
to base spare crews becomes problemmatic. On certain days of the week there
are NO "spare" or unused aircraft in the system at PHI (nor at Air Log or Era
Aviation, for that matter). So even getting these supposed spare crews to the
strike points would be difficult.
And let's just say that on a given Tuesday the company did decide to
permanently replace a group of striking pilots at a given base by utilizing one
or more of the spare/contract/part-time pilots they are supposedly holding in
reserve. What happens on Wednesday when the union decides to strike at another
base? And then again on Thursday? And then again next week?
The question is: How many spare/contract/part-time pilots does PHI have "in
reserve" (that is, put through the company's FAR part-135 training program and
current- and in how many different types of ships)? Exact numbers are hard to
come by, there simply cannot be many. PHI did have a number of pilots who took
"retirement packages" back in 2000, and the company has surely called many/all
of them about part-time work in the event of a strike. Another question that
will have to be answered is: Will these retirees be willing to cross the picket
lines as scabs? Some will, some won't. I know for a fact that some of them
have verbally told the company that they would cross a picket line simply to
have the chance to get current and fly a little again. But they have no
intention of being scabs.
And then there is the little matter of The Customers. It's not like PHI pilots
are making license plates, and if they strike, the manufacture of license
plates just stops and nobody really cares. If PHI pilots don't fly, then the
customers don't fly. No matter WHAT the company says, customers are GOING to
be inconvenienced while PHI scrambles to match up crews (who will fly) with the
uncovered aircraft and fill all the resulting holes in the schedule. Heh-heh,
you should hear customers scream right now when we have a delayed take-off due
to morning fog. Or when an aircraft is down for unscheduled maintenance. The
very idea that these same hyper, demanding, unreasonable customers will now
concede and make allowances for delays or cancelled crew-changes is
preposterous. Add to this the fact that they might have to ignore or waive
some of their minimum-requirements- which is laughable.
Either way, this is not a good situation. PHI's attitude toward the union has
been anything but cooperative from the very beginning. Their sole intent, it
seems, is to break the union. But I believe that they have seriously
underestimated the resolve of their pilots. While the margin of victory in the
election was slim (around 52-54% for the union), it would be a fatal mistake
for the company to deduce that the level of participation and support was still
only at that level. Time will tell.
What happens in the next couple of days will be interesting indeed.
"The dignity of the craft is that it creates a fellowship."
Antoine de St. Exupery
Rick Troxell
Given the current level of activity in the GOM, and the decreasing numbers
of helicopter pilots, I think that you guys have an excellent chance of
prevailing. (Unless Ms. Suggs would rather destroy her company than
compromise.) I've followed your pilots' forum with interest and I can't see
the logic to managements' refusal to negotiate items that don't cost them
one red cent.
OPEIU certainly hasn't bankrupted LSI or Air Log. Good luck with "Mayhem".
If I was a PHI middle manager or PR executive I would be very nervous right
now.
ax57
Walter Hawn
Oh the "company" may have money in the bank and a plan to operate, but
will it make them more money? Will it make their service easier to
sell? Do customers remember your failures longer than your successes?
Everybody loses, except the pilots lose less- there's not a nickels
difference in compensation, operator to operator. There's not going to
be a more adversarial operator and that's a big factor in my view.
Imagine having your aircraft grounded and having to tell Lead you need
some other plan for your customer when the Head Shed views you, the
pilot, as a bigger problem than a maintenance defect.
"Real Pilots, by God, can fly with a little problem like that!"
"That helicopter was fine this morning when you took it!"
"It isn't broken if you don't write it up."
"What's wrong with the weather?"
"The job's not done right if the paperwork isn't done right."
"Lafayette gets holidays because pilots (and others in field bases) only
work 7 days out of 14"
Comments recalled from my PHI days, as I sit here drinking coffee from
my "Christmas bonus". Which, in a perverse sort of way, warms my heart
more than cash would ever have. Mrs. Suggs visited every base to hand
this piece of crap out, because to her, at that time, the people in the
field weren't just an annoying, squeaky wheel. Bad habits can be
learned with sufficient instruction.
180 Walt
He who sacrifices his conscience to ambition burns a picture to obtain
the ashes. -Chinese Proverb
Bob Barbanes
(snip)
>...Comments recalled from my PHI days, as I sit here drinking coffee from
>my "Christmas bonus". Which, in a perverse sort of way, warms my heart
>more than cash would ever have. Mrs. Suggs visited every base to hand
>this piece of crap out, because to her, at that time, the people in the
>field weren't just an annoying, squeaky wheel.
LOL Walt, I still have my "mug instead of a hug" Christmas bonus, too! You
know, I remember when they were handed out (NOT by Mrs. Suggs at our base).
Some pilots smashed them against the tarmac, which I thought was very
disrespectful. Me, I keep mine prominently displayed as a reminder of the
disrespect management showed me over the years. Not coincidentally, it resides
right next to my OPEIU coffee mug, which they gave me simply for being a nice
guy :-)
And yes, sadly, I've heard all of the things you quoted, and more. It IS funny
how, when there's a maintenance problem, many times it is ALSO a pilot problem,
as if it's the PILOT's fault the ship is broke or the wx is bad. The attitude
you sometimes find wafting out of the Lead Pilot's office is "If you were a
real TEAM PLAYER, this wouldn't be a problem." Oh, they'll never SAY that
directly (anymore, thankfully), but it is there still, unspoken. Especially at
bases like Boothville on a particular schedule. Old, crusty guys like me just
write it up or shrug and walk away, but I've seen young, new-guys succumb to
the pressure and take-off with problems or in weather that I might or might not
have. I've flown in some pretty bad, shitty weather, sure. Then again, I've
stayed comfortably and safely on the ground in seemingly great weather when we
knew that bad squall lines were a-coming.
I've heard quite enough "Man, I'll never let them get me to do THAT again!"
stories at PHI to last a lifetime.
Bob -retired and happy- Barbanes
Pensacola, Florida
Jedi
We see the exact same problems here at Ft. Rucker with student training and
flying the syllabus.
Jedi
snip
Micbloo
>>this piece of crap out,
Mmmm, is she related to the ex-owner
of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team
Marge Schott??
:O)
Gerard
Stan Gosnell
<3ABF4558...@worldnet.att.net>:
>Comments recalled from my PHI days, as I sit here drinking coffee from
>my "Christmas bonus". Which, in a perverse sort of way, warms my heart
>more than cash would ever have.
IMHO, the "hugging & mugging" incident did more than any other single act
to insure the approval of the union. For years, the company had promised
to take care of us when it made money. It made money, & we got a cheap
'made in Taiwan' coffee cup. My wife didn't believe it, & kept looking in
the mailbox for the bonus check. We all felt insulted, & I don't think she
ever realized the bad feelings that deal caused. She spent many times more
money than the cups cost just on the travel.
RB
Bob Barbanes
>Mmmm, is she related to the ex-owner
>of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team
>Marge Schott??
No, but she oughtta be!