Letter Council 23 President
Dear Council 23 Members:
I met with the company yesterday along with Greg Davidowitch, MEC President, Shirley Barber, MEC Secretary Treasurer, and Jeffery Heisey, MEC Central Scheduling Chairperson. To be clear and upfront with you, the 2 hour meeting did not achieve any assurances the company would reconsider their decision to close our Modified Co-terminal. Jane Allen, Vice President of Onboard Service, who spoke for the company, repeatedly stated the arrangement we reached over 2 years ago to keep the base open does not financially work today.
I made several proposals, one and the most logical, to become a Modified Co-terminal of DCA, but they went on deaf ears. They are under the blinding impression that all F/A's must be managed "in-house" to achieve the financial and market goals of the Onboard division. I made the argument that our year-end goals are in line with other domiciles that have management, or even better, and once again that fell on deaf ears.
Simply put, and in my opinion, Jane Allen rejected the supporting data that, we, with "little" management can achieve nearly the same year-end goals of those domiciles that have management 24 and 7. It appears to be nothing more than "top-heavy" United management preservation at its finest. I truly believe Onboard management fear losing their jobs if we continue to show that Modified Co-terminals can succeed with little supervision.
From all information I took away from the meeting, the Modified Co-terminal experiment has concluded for PHLSW. Ironically, even if it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars more to close PHL; pay moving expenses, pay layover hotel expenses, and build less efficient schedules, they will do it to justify their own existence through micromanagement. Once again, we are the pawns of another painful senior management game of United Airlines.
In hindsight, I've always believed if management came back with a second closure notice/decision for us, it would take nothing short of surrendering the Contract to stop them. I'm so very sorry, at least to date, the fight is not going in our favor.
My last goal was to ensure the transition process will achieve the best possible results for us under the circumstances. I requested; first bid choice award to any domestic domicile, vacation retention should you transfer prior to the closure, IST opportunities, and extended BP-3 Pass Travel privileges just to name a few. We should have notice of available domicile openings by the end of next week or just there after, with the bidding process opening at the end of February and closing the middle of March.
The company has closure meetings scheduled (as stated in the Closure Packet cover letter) on February 7th and 16th at the Sheraton Suites, 4101 Island Ave, from 10 am-noon. Greg Davidowitch, MEC President, is planning to be in PHL at the Comfort Inn, Essington PA, on Saturday February 11th from 10 am-1 pm. I will be present at the 2/7 and 2/11 meetings.
I encourage you and every employee that supports our cause to email Jane Allan jane.allen@united.com, Charlie Ahmes charlie.ahmes@united.com and Tony Nicastro anthony.nicastro@united.com with your personal feelings and ANYTHING you desire out of this process should our continuing efforts to remain open prove unsuccessful. They may see us as only numbers, but show them you’re a living breathing human being and their financially baseless decisions are emotionally and physically devastating.
In closing, I though you should know Linda Duffey, EWR/PHL Domicile Manager did or said nothing to support our cause in the meeting. She had only negative comments towards our existence as a Modified Co-terminal. Basically, she stated...it only worked and was successful when Rosemary [Onboard supervisor] was around.
All of us at PHLSW, so very dedicated to the success of our careers, which have worked tirelessly through unimaginable loss, know that is a complete misrepresentation and fabrication. Her disheartening comments sickened me.
I understand many of you never received the closure packet as they only left a few extras behind in the dust. Call EWR and request one be sent to you immediately if you need it.
Please stay informed and help each other. All we have left at this company of any true value is ourselves.
Again, I’m very sorry, but will not surrender hope until the last day.
In Solidarity,
Terry Knoy
LEC President Council 23 PHL (Proud to be Philly)
