Sounds like Fedex and DHL are trying to work out a deal.

Thanks
 

Dear Sapco2,

Thanks for the kind sentiment. Hopefully things will work out well for all of us on both sides of the Atlantic who make their living from those funny yellow packages!

Hey guys, read the date of the article, its Calender Week 6. At that time Zumwinkel was still CEO and rumours were rife. All was supposed to be revealed in March but, due to the turmoil at the top, a wishy washy holding statement came out and more is now expected in May. And, no, DHL cannot afford to give up the US completely, it just needs to stop it bleeding the rest of the company dry.

RT

If the right plan is set into place DHL should do fine in the US market. The people DHL has to worry about is the AAWW management when it comes to bleeding the company dry. A very few AAWW "leeches" could do alot of damage if you let them. Be careful DHL !! VERY CAREFUL !!!!

MEC Jumps Ship!
 

Wow, Bourne (Atlas MEC Chairman ) jumps ship.

If you say so.

Yes, it looks like he has. I believe his good-by video is Here on You Tube.

Dave was one of the few within the upper levels of ALPA that had any level of integrity for the job he was elected to do, despite all of the years of B.S. favoritism for votes council to council at ALPA National that elected the latest President (P).

Maybe he could see the writing on the wall one way or another. Of course, it could have been ALPA National cutting him off at the knees at every turn for a more favored non ACMI council.

Maybe it is the new effort to get rid of ALPA National at Atlas Air for Nationals lack of support? Just got one of their mailings tonight. Pretty convincing info.



USAPA was first, maybe Atlas is next. Time will tell.

Hard to maintain your ALPA position when you are at the center of the Teamsters organizing effort (in violation of ALPA by-laws)...

Wonder if the Atlas membership will follow him over so he (and a couple of others) can get the jobs they really want and Cato is satisfied. Again.

Working together...

Lets see. A pilot group with large numbers of PanAm, TWA and former regional pilots....

I will tell you this. I have not heard one word--not one word--in support of ALPA in the past few days. Not from guys who fought the Eastern battle to the bitter end, not from guys with 20+ years of ALPA committee work, not from guys who were instrumental in getting ALPA onto the Atlas property in the first place. Not one word.

And it is not just Atlas. It was not long ago that the idea of a USAirways, Northwest or United leaving ALPA was unthinkable. Now all of them may be gone in short order. And it all comes down to ALPA's butchering of mergers.

Bottom line.
 

The bottom line at ALPA is that the older guys feel they got sold out on their retirements and the younger guys feel they got sold out on Age 65.

Everyone is a loser with ALPA!

:ok:

I'll tell you this, I am not an ALPA fan. I was at TWA before American and they haven't changed a bit. Trying to play both sides. But to suggest they are favoring one over the other is just plain nuts. Let's see, Polar has an iron-clad scope clause, Atlas does not. Atlas files section 8 charges against the Polar MEC then resigns. Polar goes on strike and get little support from ALPA or Atlas (and don't give me the old line, let me see the names of those who walked the line with us or who refused to cross the line, so far I see a handful). Now the Atlas MEC up and resigns leaving the union, in the middle of several grievances, leaving the section 8 charges in the wind, and Cato happy. Yep you guys have one great council there. Polar, on the other hand has a working MEC, several grievances that support our CBA, nothing more, nothing less, and 100% support from those furloughed and working. Sorry guys, I think Polar has the better deal, no matter what the outcome.
I cannot believe that this will not believe that this will turn into another delaying tactic.

Layinlow - You don't even work for Polar anymore so to debate you is pointless. Your entire post is incorrect - the entire thing. Time to go back to your desk at FedEx - I wonder, are you using company computers to post here? One small point once again - the "iron clad" scope clause hinges on one phrase. That phrase is "complete operational merger." It doesn't look so iron clad to me in light of the structure of the company.

Captvac - well they finally let you back on here. But once again you couldn't be more wrong. I suppose you are crowing about your (lack of) section 8 findings. That's ok. I guess using 800,000 dollars of ALPA money to file a resolution to take flying away from your ALPA brothers, brothers who contributed to that 800k - to actually harm their pilot group is your idea of solidarity. It ain't mine.

Dave resigned because ALPA owes us almost 300K for money our council spent to support the Polar strike. And no matter how many forensic accountings we do (four at last count) they agree that they owe it to us but refuse to pay it.

He resigned because he is getting NO support from ALPA national. They have even cut off all funding to our council. Hard to attend to grievances with no money.

He resigned because ALPA national is allowing Polar to use an outside attorney to drive this whole buggy and when Atlas files a grievance it gets ignored. Or when Dave attempts to talk to Prater he will not even return an MEC chairmans phone calls or e-mails or even registered letters.

He resigned because his constituents gave him a mandate to explore another union (by majority vote) and he didn't like the conflict of interest that this engendered.

He resigned in recognition that he might be part of the issue - the issue of a lack of contract driven by Bobb and Robin that has cost all of us millions of dollars in bargaining power. I wonder if Bobb would have the stones to do that. I doubt it.

He resigned because ALPA national is going down fast - they don't want cargo pilots in their group. Not Polar, not Atlas. They want to be a legacy passenger airline union. Fine with us - we will go away. But wait they say - we NEED your dues money so we can pay Polar's attorney - hmmmmmmm........

I call on Bobb to have the same sort of integrity that Dave has shown.

What about Bobb?

Just a little perspective here.

Atlas total annual ALPA council union budget is around $230K and has about 700 pilots. All Atlas grievances are done by in house ALPA contract administrators (lawyers) by ALPA National funding mandate. Atlas just recently received more budget cuts from National. All travel expenses were recently stopped. Previously agreed upon payment from ALPA National for expenses during our sympathy for Polar have gone unpaid. An amount in excess of the Atlas councils annual budget.

Polar on the other hand was approved (by most likely President Prater himself due to its amount) $800k just for an outside lawyer one years billings which is outside normal ALPA guidelines. $800K for an outside lawyer before we even mention Polars normal budget for their council of @170 crewmembers. Looks like someone has a buddy in high places that don't like ACMI guys and an Executive Administrator from Northwest who has an interest in getting the DHL flying back to NWA.

Looks like ALPA National could get hit with a Duty of Fair Representation lawsuit (DFR) here.

Probably easier and quicker to just decertify ALPA since we have so many fair weather friends there and it looks like that is going to happen.

http://atlasforteamsters.com

Sorry
 

:ok:Sorry Whale, I have no dog in this fight, and I am new to this forum, but it seems ya'll rolled the dice and lost so your trying to move your game to another table. So sorry, enjoy your battle stars the Polar crew members won for you!

hmmm.... well lets examine my "loss." I am a Captain at a growing airline with expanding flying, airplanes on order, a huge route structure, and based where I want to be based.

And the Polar guys - down to 5 airplanes by fall. Everyone based in ANC by September. Very small and shrinking route structure and limited or no opportunities to upgrade with possible furloughs in June.

You're right I lost....

But lets think about this for a min. If we had NOT had the Robbobin show, we all would have been merged and BOTH groups as ONE would have been negotiating for a contract well over a year ago - in an expanding or growing economy. Instead we are BOTH losers because of the robobbin pride effect. We are both going to be (together anyways I might add) negotiating for our pay raises and new contract in the current economy.

So tell me again who lost and who won? Seems to me that boobroobin created a situation where there are NO winners - except the company who must be dancing an Irish jig when they think about it. The ONLY loss is to ALL crewmembers both Polar and Atlas.

Thanks Bobb
Thanks Robin
Thanks Mark

from those you have royally screwed.

Got to thinking about it a little. If ALPA does as they did with USAPA and AWA, they will declare that the Atlas and Polar groups as a single carrier to try and counter the decertification vote by combining them and keep the dues paying Atlas membership they have turned their backs on but still want their money. 170 Polar to 700 Atlas crewmembers.

Wouldn't that be contrary to the current Polar wants and desires of not merging and give credence to an arbiter to the fact that there is a merger happening? I think ALPA is hurting for money now and any money coming in would dictate financial decisions versus the politically purchased votes from certain councils for the current ALPA president. ALPA is really bleeding out financially now. It was in the red a few months after Prater took over. It has only gotten worse by magnitudes since then.

On something more thread oriented. Heard that there might be some 737's coming on at DHL flown by Astar and then the ABX DC-9's will be pickled. Anyone heard this one?

So you are saying that if ALPA declares single carrier status, which they are likely to do, then the arbitrator will have no choice but to see this as a "complete operational merger."

Interesting.

How Dare You!
 

I earned my battlestar and I wear it with pride. I put it all on the line for you. However, I'm starting to ask myself, " what for? " I'm not asking for anything in return and don't expect to see any of those " beers for life ". What I never expected is this foul tasting, misdirected, vitriol for my troubles.

Gritty
Better reread the relevant law on single carrier status. ALPA can't "declare" single carrier status for anyone. They can "apply" to the NMB for single carrier status as the representaive of a particular labor group and go through the hearing process to prove their case. The other labor group involved can agree or disagree. A reading of the recent TWA/American single carrier proceedings before the NMB pretty well sums up the whole process.

Whale
I think you misunderstood the intent of my post. First, I still work for Polar, albeit in furlough status but that is not the point. OK, I am furloughed and I doubt very seriously if the job will ever come back. However, I am very comfortable with my MEC. When things got rough, he didn't resign "out of the blue", he hung in there. So things haven't turned out as well as some had hoped; so what. I have noting but praise for my council, not only for what they have done, but for what they are trying to do.
That was the intent. Now, what are you going to do? You have to, first find a replacement, get him or her up to speed, defend your grievances, fight for the merger you so desperately want, and fight with management at every turn. That is a mighty tough road to plow my friend. While you still have two probably capable council members, you have to admit, it is the Captain's position that drives the ship, and right now it sounds like you are rudderless, I hope not.
As for finances, I have no idea why national did what you say they did, but it makes no difference now, it is done. Resigning with no warning, to me, is not the way to go. I hope Bourne reconsiders.