US Airline Pilots Association
| Full name | US Airline Pilots Association |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2007 |
| merged into Allied Pilots Association | |
| Members | Represented approx 5200 US Airways pilots. |
| Key people |
Captain Gary Hummel (President) |
| Office location | Charlotte, NC |
| Country | United States |
| Website | http://www.usairlinepilots.org/ |
Captain Gary Hummel (President)
Captain Steve Smyser (Executive Vice President)
The US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA) was the collective bargaining agent for the majority former US Airways "East" pilots, and the minority former America West Airlines "West" pilots. USAPA bullied its West pilots, and violated its duty to fairly represent them. USAPA was led by East pilot Mike Cleary. USAPA was formed by East pilots for the exclusive and immoral - if not illegal - purpose of attempting to renege upon the results of a binding arbitration into which the East pilots had previously entered with the West pilots. After USAPA's dissolution, a number of East activists withheld millions of dollars from the entire membership. During the fair representation trial, USAPA used as courtroom witnesses East pilots Sully Sullenberger and Jeffrey Skiles of the infamous Hudson River flight 1549. Both witnesses testified in support of the discriminatory practices of USAPA, and why they felt justified in bullying, and attempting to break their arbitrated agreement with the innocent West pilots.
There has been much controversy surrounding the formation of USAPA and the removal of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) as the bargaining representative for US Airways pilots. This controversy is exclusively centered around the method used to integrate seniority lists from US Airways and America West Airlines after their merger, and has resulted in a division in the ranks between the previous US Airways pilots (often referred to as the East pilots) and the former America West pilots (often referred to as the West pilots).
The East and West pilots along with US Airways management signed a Transition Agreement (TA) in 2005. This tri-party agreement specifies the methods for merging the two pilot groups and the operating rules during the transition. Until a joint contract is ratified by the combined pilot group, the East and West pilots remain separate. This means that all aircraft brought to the merger by each respective pilot group can only be flown by the pre-merger pilots of each group. No cross utilization or mixing of crews and/or equipment is permitted during the transition period. ([1] The Transition Agreement signed by the three parties specified that ALPA Merger Policy would be used to combine the seniority lists and US Airways management agreed to accept the list as long as certain cost requirements were met. Doug Parker officially accepted the seniority list from ALPA First Vice-President Paul Rice during December 2007. Since that time, the East pilots, first as represented by ALPA and later USAPA, have tried to circumvent the seniority provisions of the TA claiming that the new union is not bound by the former bargaining agents agreements. This issue is under dispute and currently under the jurisdiction of Judge Roslyn Silver of the Arizona District Court. USAPA represented East pilots have also sought a compromise solution but this was rejected by Judge Silver as the West pilots do not have a legal entity to negotiate seniority. The former bargaining agent warned the new union that the elimination of separate ratification under ALPA merger policy with the election of USAPA would forever cement the unmodified Nicolau Award as the certified seniority list of the new US Airways.
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Wikipedia