UNITY: A Routine Update – July 15, 2025
| July 15, 2025
MAJOR HIGHLIGHTS |
|
GENERAL UPDATESIntroducing Unity! A Routine Union Update Welcome to the first installment Unity! Unity is a new, routine update series from Local 2118 that will be your regular source for select union business, committee updates, and timely need-to-know information to keep you informed and engaged. You can expect monthly updates on the business of Allegiant Air pilots on the 3rd Tuesday of every month, with plans to increase to a bi-weekly frequency on the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays as the Communications Committee continues to expand. Your input is crucial as we rebuild our Union with Allegiant Air pilots out front and center. If you have suggestions or any other feedback please reach out to Captain Rob Skiles, Communications Committee at rskiles@apa2118.org. Your input helps strengthen our communication and our unity. Safety First: Defending the Fatigue Program The Company has dramatically increased Section 18 investigatory meetings related to pilots calling out fatigue, with apparent intent to pursue discipline. They also appear to be circumventing the review procedures outlined in the Fatigue Risk Management Program (FRMP) manual. Let’s be clear: safety is our primary responsibility as pilots. Each pilot has an individual responsibility to manage their rest — but they also have a regulatory duty to determine our fitness for duty before each flight. The Colgan 3407 tragedy taught us a painful and important lesson: don’t fly fatigued. The fatigue program exists to ensure flight safety, not as a runway to management intimidation and punitive action. The Union is on guard against management’s attempt to weaponize the fatigue program. No pilot should fear reprisal for appropriate use of the fatigue program. Your Union will defend every pilot’s right to make that call, when appropriate, without intimidation or arbitrary discipline. If you feel unfairly targeted or witness to any attempt to undermine safety, please file an ASAP report immediately and discuss the event with a Union representative immediately. Safety First: Reducing Cockpit Distractions We are continuing to see a rise in avoidable unfavorable situations and incidents, and pilots have raised concerns about repeated distractions on the flight deck. Management tone-deaf push to have pilots “continuously monitor” telephones and electronic devices seeks to add additional unnecessary distractions to critical pre-flight planning periods. What’s worse, management claims that these new distracting obligations are necessary to maintain operational control of a flight. Besides being a unilateral change to the status quo and a CBA violation, it presents an obvious safety risk. Your preflight preparation time is not the Company’s inbox. The FAA is clear: operational control is strictly limited to the initiation, conduct, and termination of a flight. Allegiant management has no authority to increase the scope of operational control to fit their desire to keep you on a leash. Monitoring your phone for calls from your Regional Chief Pilot or Crew Services about flight assignments and random matters not related to your flight are clearly not within the scope of operational control. Section 21 of our CBA gives Captains the final authority for safety — full stop. Use it, when necessary, to take command of your flight deck and limit non-operational distractions. This is your legal and contractual right — and it’s your duty. Please file an ASAP report immediately and notify your Union representative if you have safety related or contractual concerns. Management Rejects Bonus Payout Predictably, management has rejected the Union’s July 8th, 2025 demand that the accrued retention bonus monies be paid immediately as owed to our pilots. This is directly contrary to numerous documented statements, including from the Chief Pilot and the Chief Operating Officer, that they “would love to pay” the bonus immediately, but “the Union wouldn’t allow it.” Another glaring example of management’s outright dishonesty and bad faith dealings with the pilots that they claim to value. Volunteers Needed: Rebuilding Our Union Together The heartbeat of our union is volunteerism. Our strength comes from the active participation of pilots like you. We need talented individuals who are willing to volunteer their skills and time for positions within the union. If you have skills that you believe will benefit our Union, we ask you to reach out and help us rebuild. This is your opportunity to join the Allegiant Air pilots in helping to rebuild and strengthen our local union. If you’re interested in getting involved, we have a short survey where you can sign up to volunteer for a committee. |
Committee UpdatesStrategic Preparation Committee (SPC) The SPC is here to successfully prepare our pilot group through a strike and back to work afterwards. We have been working this week on finishing the Strike Handbook. It has been completed for now and sent in for legal review. After any amendments we hope to get this out to the pilot group in the next couple weeks. Meanwhile we have been building up our infrastructure. Each base now has its own SPC Base Captain who will be in charge of all SPC activities at each base. They are in the process of assigning SPC Base Reps to each and every pilot on the seniority list. Once this is done, these Reps will be trained and will start to reach out to you to introduce themselves. They will be your main point of contact for all things strike related. We will then begin testing our processes we have built which will include mock strike calls and our ability to verify each of you. We are 107 strong at this time but still would like more volunteers from LAS and IWA. We strongly believe you should have a trusted local pilot you can turn to in order to get information. If you believe the same and would like to help pilots in your base, please email spc@apa2118.org with your interest and we will contact you. In Solidarity, Captain Aaron Adrian Negotiating Committee The NC will be providing management with a comprehensive proposal this week. The company rejected the offer to meet in person to clarify any of their questions on the proposal. Please look for an update for more details regarding the comprehensive proposal and strategy moving forward. We would also like to clear up some confusion about the last Retention Bonus update email. The communication regarding the Retention Bonus was mistakenly released as with an incorrect Negotiating Committee footer; there were multiple updates being worked on simultaneously and the communication was mislabeled. MOUs are ultimately the purview of Union leadership. Regardless, the Negotiating Committee fully supports the immediate payment of the Retention Bonus. Thank you for your support while we fight for a contract worthy of this pilot group. In Solidarity, Captain Josh Allen UPCOMING EVENTS July 15th, 2025 – Trustee Webinar July 28th, 2025 – Mediation Session (Virtual) |