July 1, 2010
 

Fellow MAG pilots: 

Protecting our pilots is our number one priority. In keeping with this, we have spent the past several weeks working diligently with the company to save pilot jobs. We firmly believe that a furlough mitigation agreement would be beneficial to our pilots and our company, and have tried to balance our pilots’ needs (those who are/will be on furlough, and those who will remain) with the needs of the company for a win-win solution. We would essentially “share the pain” in the short term but receive much larger gains in the near and longer terms.

The company was unfortunately not willing to make this leap with us. Earlier this week, we received a stripped down company response to our proposal that provided little to no benefits for our pilots. All of the quality of life issues, which we believe to be essential for our pilots to even consider entering into such an agreement, were taken out. As a result, our Negotiating Committee today rejected the company’s proposal.

The company was quite willing for the pilots to make sacrifices; however, they were unwilling to provide the necessary quality of life improvements to help lessen the impact of those sacrifices on our pilots. Specifically, our proposal called for a reduction in minimum guarantee with a cap on the number of hours that could be flown in a bid.  In return, it also contained provisions to bolster pilots’ quality of life with more days off for reserves, increased utilization (daily pay/credit), junior assignment restrictions, and an enhanced commuter clause.

There would also be additional pilots on the property to ensure that our operations continued to run smoothly, help our company maintain current business, and position our company to act quickly to take advantage of other opportunities. If, as widely predicted, many mainline and other air carriers step up hiring later this year and through 2011, MAG simply cannot be caught understaffed. Furthermore, if MAG experiences another pilot shortage, we will jeopardize our remaining two codeshares, and with it, our company’s survival. 

As for the costs, a detailed financial analysis showed that our proposal would have saved the company significantly more money than their plan to furlough. While we cannot provide specific numbers due to confidentiality obligations, we can think of more than a million reasons as to why furloughing isn’t the answer.

Now let’s talk about where we go from here. Furlough mitigation is a difficult and emotional issue. Unfortunately, discussions with the company failed to achieve an acceptable agreement. Continuing discussions when the company is clearly not interested in addressing our issues would be wasting valuable time and resources. However, we have advised management that our last proposal remains on the table and remain available to continue discussions. We sincerely hope that the company reevaluates this proposal; it is fair, reasonable, and provides the gains that both parties are looking to achieve.

In the meantime, we will continue working to protect and advance our pilot group through every means possible.

In unity,

  MEC Contact Information

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