Negotiating Update (8/26/2024)

Fellow Pilots,

Get It Done – No More “Tactics”

The time for games ended a while ago. Your Negotiating Committee has made every attempt to secure agreements on Sections 14 – Hours of Service, Section 15 – Scheduling, and Section 16 – Reserve, especially during our last two sessions. More often than not, our efforts have been met with indecision, ever-shifting company “needs”, and one-sided provisions well outside of industry norms. We cannot reach an agreement with a company who repeatedly moves the goalposts each time we meet – the same company who repeatedly disparages your Negotiating Committee for being “unprepared” in the recurrent classes they visit. If this is a new wave of “tactics of experienced negotiators” from the Company’s playbook, it’s a losing one.

Friday’s session was nearly a disaster. The day started with management’s usual “two steps back, one step forward” approach instead of building on the progress and momentum from the Columbus session. Your Negotiating Committee did not allow management to undermine our priority – build on prior progress and reach an agreement on these major quality of life sections. As a result, some progress was made and we are now back on track. The parties have agreed to meet for an additional virtual session this week before our in-person sessions in Las Vegas. Management would be wise not to confuse “expeditious” with “desperation”. We are not desperate. Your committee will stand its ground and will not tolerate any time wasting tactics that move us further away from a worthwhile agreement, especially not this late in the process.

Growth and Profitability – The Impact of the “Bloch Award”

In 2020, arbitrator Richard I. Bloch ruled in favor of your Union on the Must Work Day (MWD) arbitration (referred to as the “Bloch Award”). The procedural result is that the company must, before imposing any “must-work days”, honor seniority first as stipulated by our contract – a reversal of their previous non-compliant practice. Consider the following excerpt from the ruling below:

“It is clear, however, that, in solving first for an MWD day, the Company departs from the well-established…practice of considering bid preferences sequentially. Moving Must Work Days to the head of the line for purposes of solving has the clear potential of devitalizing a pilot’s other preference bids…resulting in a junior pilot’s [sic] winning a bid the senior pilot would otherwise have gained.”

The arbitrator found that the Company clearly violated our contract and related practices. In effect, this award forced the company to change its behavior as well as the solver logic in CBI. We believe that this scheduling change has significantly decreased aircraft utilization compared to the ‘pre-Bloch’ era. A more relevant view for pilots is that we believe the Company increased its aircraft utilization (and profits) through contractual non-compliance. The significance of pre-Bloch utilization levels to Allegiant’s future growth potential and profitability cannot be understated. The incoming CEO made clear the company’s need to regain those utilization levels in the most recent earnings call. Growth and productivity gains will only come through a new pilot contract that has the necessary and significant improvements and protections in all areas, especially Scheduling.

Getting It Right – Hidden Dangers of Weak Language

There is no perfect contract – and ours won’t be the first. This is obviously why contracts are amendable and subject to renegotiation within specified timeframes. We are not attempting to “re-write the CBA line-by-line” as is a talking point of management during recurrent classes as of late. Even still, being thorough in our efforts to have strong, robust language in our contract is critically important – and time consuming. For pilots, the most frustrating part during negotiations is the length of time it takes to reach agreements. The most frustrating part after negotiations is weak contract language that offers little protection against the company’s creative interpretations. Management will attempt to exploit your frustration and “negotiations fatigue” to lower your expectations. They will also exploit weak language to their benefit (and your frustration) post-ratification. Weak language gives the company the upper hand because “fly it and grieve it” is the default rule. Strong language that limits management’s ability to deny your rights under the CBA is well worth the effort. Consider the following language from our own Bloch award.

“Allegiant claims the Union’s silence in response to these repeated proffers should be seen as acceptance. There are situations wherein fact finders have concluded that one party’s silence should, under the specific facts of the case, be considered acceptance.”

“Silence should be considered acceptance”. This puts your union in a position where grievances must be filed out of caution and a matter of course. It is important to your Negotiating Committee that our new contract doesn’t become a grievance machine. For each individual section, it is important that our position is clear and well understood at the bargaining table. It does take time, and we appreciate your support in getting it right. We do as much work as we can away from the bargaining table so that we maximize our opportunities to get to the right agreement as fast as possible.

Misinformation and Rumors – Nothing More to Say

The story continues. The information that certain managers share with recurrent classes regarding negotiations now borders on ridiculous. Giving merit to any of what you hear is likely a complete waste of time. Consider the source; the usual culprit of misinformation has never been materially involved in contract negotiations. At this stage, it is advisable to avoid conversations with management entirely. Their repeated attempts to undermine the negotiations process will continue to be documented. We ask that you continue to report these instances to negotiations@apa2118.org. Thank you to those pilots who have previously taken the time to do so.

From the Desk – Captain Jay Killen, Pilot Negotiator

Greetings. We have received numerous emails/phone calls inquiring why it takes so many hours of preparation and in-room negotiations when we have been at this for over three years. The short answer is, a lot of our time is spent problem solving and presenting different ways to bridge the gap between where the Pilot Surveys tell us to be and what the company is offering. Taking those ideas, vetting the consequences, writing ironclad language, and reviewing the data to ensure that the ideas work for both sides takes a significant amount of time. Each new idea from either side needs to go through this process.

In Columbus, the NC saw a pathway to get an agreement in an expeditious manner and spent more than 20 hours over two days to prepare an offer/counteroffer to the company that would wrap up sections 14, 15, 16, and PBS and pave the way to completing an industry standard CBA. We continued those discussions on Friday and will hopefully complete them next week in Las Vegas, if not sooner. The Columbus session, not without its ups and downs, was the most productive of any I have seen in my 2.5+ years in the room. There is a pathway forward and we’ll get there. If you have any questions, please reach out to me or any other member of the committee. Thank you!

Closing Thoughts

We are entering the week the same as we always are, ready to get to an agreement that is worthy of your vote as soon as possible. We also enter the week with zero tolerance for any ineffective company bargaining “tactic” that moves us further away from an agreement. Our pilots are undeserving of anything less. Thank you for your continued support.

In Unity,

Captain Joshua Allen
Negotiating Committee Chairman

Captain Jay Killen
Pilot Negotiator

Captain J.R. Lynch
Chief of Staff

Captain Jim Cole
Recording Analyst