That’s Our Job

I would like to wish you and your family a safe and enjoyable Labor Day holiday weekend. As working men and women, we should mark this occasion by reflecting on our service as professional pilots for American Airlines. Labor Day celebrates the contributions of our country’s working men and women — that’s us.

As part of reflecting on our service, allow me to explain what’s meant by “That’s Our Job.” We all know who the leaders are on the flight line. As professional pilots, we’re responsible for the safe operation of every flight — for guaranteeing strict adherence to established flight procedures. We must do our jobs correctly the first time and every time — and yes, we are held accountable, as we should be.

Just as pilots must do our jobs correctly the first time and every time, there is only one acceptable outcome in the upcoming merging of the flight operations of American Airlines and US Airways: a seamless execution that provides our valued customers with safe, uninterrupted service. APA has repeatedly sought to remove the barriers to achieving that outcome, but so far management has paid little heed to our concerns.

Who holds management accountable? Management has made clear that it plans to do whatever is necessary to get to a single flight operations system on October 1 as cheaply as possible, including systematically and deliberately violating our contract. The list of shortcuts and omissions management has amassed en route to single FOS is long. A partial sampling: slipping the PBS implementation timetable; and declining to allocate programming resources to items that benefit us, such as properly scheduling last leg deadhead, the proper Recovery Obligation process, cross-division out-of-base makeup, proper in-base makeup, and a proper display of the premium and over-guarantee lists.

APA has your back regarding fatigue issues and contract violations. We remain ready and willing to enter into a productive working relationship with management, and we are committed to achieving success as pilots for a premier global airline.

So, who holds management accountable?

As your bargaining agent, that’s APA’s job. We will remain steadfast in our efforts regarding management’s responsibilities to you, our passengers, and our airline.

In Unity,

Captain Dan Carey
APA President