SMART UnionMcCOOK, Neb. – Great Lakes Airlines will suspend its flights to and from McCook Ben Nelson Regional Airport in southwestern Nebraska next month.
Commercial air service will be suspended effective April 1 through April 27, Great Lakes Airlines announced Wednesday (March 12). The airline currently offers flights from McCook to Denver and back.
Read the complete story at The Bismarck Tribune.
FORT DODGE, Iowa –
Great Lakes Airlines will end Minneapolis flights from Fort Dodge, the only commercial airline service available at the north-central Iowa airport.
The company said it also is suspending service to Mason City in northern Iowa and in Devils Lake and Jamestown, N.D.; Ironwood, Mich.; and Thief River Falls, Minn. The airline is based in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Read the complete story at Omaha.com.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Monday proposed fining Southwest Airlines $325,000, saying the Dallas-based airline operated a plane that had improper modifications.
The U.S. agency alleged in a statement that the incident, from August 2011, involved the faulty installation of a switch on a Boeing 717 that allows crews to test the plane’s windshield heating system. The plane was operated by AirTran, which Southwest bought in 2011.
Read the complete story at the Chicago Tribune.
If you already read the Aug. 15 article titled “Great Lakes Faces Shortage of Pilots” that was written by James Chilton and published in the Wyoming Tribune Eagle, you may be interested in a broader view of the story.
In response to Great Lakes’ far-flung exertions across the western United States to garner public support through articles of small town newspapers of the communities to which Great Lakes flies, there may be a few things those articles neglected to tell you.
While it is true that the Federal Aviation Administration recently published the final rule increasing the qualification requirements for first officers from 250 to 1,500 flight hours (among other things), it was hardly the unexpected. You may have seen on the news that the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010 included several new rulemakings to ensure the highest level of safety possible for the flying public. That’s right – the Act was created in 2010.
These regulations were quickly imposed following the tragic crash in February 2009 of Colgan Air Flight 3407 in Buffalo, N.Y., in which 50 lives were lost. Back in 2010, other airlines (and most significantly, other regional airlines) immediately began planning for this law and implementing new programs to ensure their compliance with the congressional mandate once it went into effect on Aug. 1, 2013. Great Lakes, however, did not.
Any pilot shortage that Great Lakes is now experiencing is completely self-imposed. In 2012, the company had hired 74 new flight crew members, while during the same time period, 43 members left. This was a net increase of 31 people. In contrast, by this time in 2013, the company has hired 15 new flight crew members, furloughed 25, and 78 members took employment elsewhere. This was a net loss of 88 people. Instead of taking proactive measures immediately following the new law being passed, Great Lakes chose to ignore reality until it was too late.
The company had options to offset the attrition rates and still does. They could pay competitive wages to attract pilots who are just beginning their careers. They could retain pilots by agreeing to the proposed collective bargaining agreement changes that would provide for pay increases, decent benefits and an improved quality of life, thereby enticing qualified individuals to stay.
Instead, in April 2013, Great Lakes Airlines attempted a last minute change in their operations hoping to sidestep the new qualification requirements for pilots by petitioning the FAA for what is known in the industry as a “split certificate.” This would allow the airline to, in effect, run two separate airline operations under the same company name. One operation would fall under the Part 121 certificate, which the airline currently has, and the other would fall under the new Part 135 certificate. Part 121 is what the public generally thinks of when they think of flying – scheduled revenue flights with predetermined departure and arrival times. Part 135 flights are generally considered “on-demand” or charter flights.
The FAA granted the split certificate in June, requiring the airline to physically remove 10 passenger seats from each 19-seat Beechcraft 1900D to comply with Part 135 requirements, thereby reducing the number of available seats on Part 135 routes.
But flights operated under Part 135 are not held to the same federal regulations and safety standards as flights operated under Part 121. This means that the airline would be able to dodge the new law and continue to hire pilots with less than 1,500 hours of flight time, since Part 135 operations are not required to comply with the new ruling.
The new law did not “force the airline to drop 30 pilots” as the company stated. The company simply chose to drop those pilots, some of whom had been flying for the company for over a year, because they were no longer qualified under the new regulations. Should those pilots have been required to get their 1,500 hours at their own expense to continue flying for Great Lakes? Of course not, but the airline required them to do just that. This approach by Great Lakes Airlines was not only unfair to the pilots, but also to the flying public whose service is now being disrupted, while the EAS tax dollars continue to flow into the airline’s pocket .
Prior to Aug. 1, 2013, the SMART Transportation Division had been researching possible solutions to the quickly approaching deadline in an effort to save the jobs of approximately 40 pilots – a full 15 percent of our membership. For months, SMART had encouraged the company to explicitly make the contractual scheduling rules more flexible to allow the lower-time pilots to optimize their opportunity for flight hours. The company has hindered those efforts. Individual pilots networked with ATP Flight Schools, who bent over backwards to offer the airline incredible deals that would have saved the company time and money.
The SMART Transportation Division approached Congress and the FAA to request a short extension “grandfather clause” to allow the affected pilots the ability to continue flying under the old regulations in order to achieve the required hours. Congress indicated that they would have agreed, pending a forthcoming collaborative letter from the airline. The company refused to write the letter.
So, where does this leave you? Pure and simple, Great Lakes’ pilots need your help. Contact your mayor and town council. Your airport manager, your congressional representative, your senator. Your local newspaper, your local television station, your favorite blogger. Your best friend’s cousin who knows a “guy.” Give them the link to this ruling.
Tell them that you don’t think it’s right that Great Lakes Airlines uses loopholes to avoid legislation. Tell them that you don’t think it’s right that the pilots at Great Lakes Airlines are working for less than minimum wage. Tell them that you don’t think it’s right that Great Lakes Airlines substitutes the Part 121 service that they agreed to provide to your EAS community with a Part 135 service because YOU, the flying public, will have fewer seats available, a less-experienced flight crew, and less frequent service while the Airline will continue to receive EAS taxpayer funding.
Tell them that you don’t think it’s right that the pilots at Great Lakes Airlines are required to work more grueling schedules, under more difficult conditions, with less sophisticated equipment, into more challenging environments, while working for lower wages and under rest rules that provide for less sleep than pilots at any other airline in the country.
Tell them that you don’t think it’s right that Great Lakes Airlines profits off the backs of hundreds of hardworking employees, just like you, who do the right thing and come to work every day, just to make sure that your family gets home safely.
Maybe you didn’t know about this. Now you do.
Tell them.
See these related items on www.utu.org: A tired pilot is a tired pilot, regardless of plane and Inside the secret world of tired pilots.
TELLURIDE, Colo. – A small passenger airplane skidded to a halt on the Telluride Regional Airport runway on Sunday afternoon after part of its landing gear failed, but no injuries were reported.
The Great Lakes Airlines two-engine Beechcraft 1900 was flying in from Denver with around 10 passengers and two pilots on board. As the aircraft approached TEX at around 1 p.m., warning lights went off, indicating that landing gear on the left side of the plane near its wing had failed to lock, according to the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office.
Read the complete story at the Telluride Daily Planet.
Of importance to UTU-represented Great Lakes Airlines pilots and flight attendants, Congress has scrapped an attempt by conservatives to eliminate the Essential Air Service program.
Great Lakes Airlines is the largest recipient of Essential Air Service grants, which helps keep flights operating to 120 communities in 35 states. Such assistance is seen as crucial to the economies of rural communities.
Congress has changed a provision of the program to require that Essential Air Service routes average at least 10 passengers daily and that no new communities be added to the program.
After 53 fruitless mediated bargaining sessions stretching over almost three years between United Transportation Union-represented pilots and Great Lakes Airlines, the union has asked the National Mediation Board to declare an impasse in the talks, release the parties from mediation and make a proffer of binding arbitration.
Great Lakes Airlines pilots are members of United Transportation Union (UTU) Local 40 in Denver.
Great Lakes Airlines is based in Cheyenne, Wyo., and serves 48 of its destinations with assistance from federal subsidies provided by the congressionally created Essential Air Service program. The airline is the nation’s largest provider of Essential Air Service and those federal subsidies assure air service to communities in rural areas that are without easy access to the nation’s transportation network.
In seeking the release from mediation and a proffer of binding arbitration, UTU International President Mike Futhey told the NMB that despite the 53 mediated bargaining sessions in which the UTU has sought to bargain in good faith, “the airline has refused even to discuss an acceptable offer, thus creating an impasse.”
Airlines, as railroads, are governed by the Railway Labor Act (RLA), which puts the National Mediation Board (NMB) in control of negotiations until such time as the NMB determines there is an impasse and releases the parties from mediation. If either side rejects a proffer of binding arbitration, the Railway Labor Act provides for a series of cooling-off periods, during which the White House may appoint a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) to make non-binding recommendations for a settlement.
If the sides cannot reach a voluntary settlement based on those recommendations, or if a PEB is not appointed – and PEBs are rare in stalled airline negotiations — then either side becomes free to engage in self-help, which could include a work stoppage by pilots.
UTU International Vice President John Previsich, who is assigned to assist in the negotiations, said, “Self-help from either party is not UTU’s desired outcome for this process as it would have a significant negative impact on the Essential Air Service provided by Great Lakes Airlines. The UTU’s desire is that the parties reach a mutually satisfactory agreement and avoid any interruption to the Essential Air Service.”
From the onset of negotiations with Great Lakes Airlines in October 2009, the UTU has presented evidence that the current contract – which the UTU seeks to amend under provisions of the RLA – is substandard in terms of working conditions and wages that daily puts pressure on Great Lakes pilots whose highest priority is to fly passengers safely.
Under the current contract with Great Lakes Airlines, pilots are among the lowest paid of any scheduled passenger airline in the United States.
On Great Lakes Airlines, a first officer can expect to make less than $15,000 in the first year.
The carrier’s latest offer provides that first officers will continue to make less than the flight attendants with whom they are working. In addition, the airline proposed a reduction of 15 percent in the monthly guarantee for all pilots.
These pilots are professionals with extensive training and expertise, and some of them are paid less than entry-level retail and food service jobs.
Difficult negotiations with Great Lakes Airlines are not rare. Great Lakes Airlines flight attendants, now represented by the UTU and also members of UTU Local 40, were in negotiations with the airline for 10 years (initiated prior to the selection of UTU as their bargaining representative in 2009) before a new agreement was reached and ratified.
The UTU-negotiated contract for flight attendants is the only ratified agreement the carrier has received with any labor organization since the first contracts were negotiated in the 1990s.
The pilots fly 30-passenger Embraer and 19-passenger Beechcraft aircraft, serving airports in Arizona, California, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, and with crew bases in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
The local hosts its own website, www.faircontractnow.com
By RICK JOHNSON
Colorado State Legislative Director
Safety is job number one for UTU-represented pilots employed by Great Lakes Airlines.
Yet their current contract with the carrier is substandard in terms of working conditions and wages that daily puts pressure on their ability to fly passengers safely.
The image of airline pilots earning high wages and access to company-paid top-flight hotel rooms does not apply to our Great Lakes brothers and sisters.
Under the current contract with Great Lakes Airlines, pilots are the lowest paid of any scheduled passenger airline in the United States.
On Great Lakes Airlines, a first officer can expect to make less than $15,000 in the first year. These pilots are professionals with extensive training and expertise, and some of them are paid less than entry-level retail and food service jobs.
Imagine a pilot on food stamps, or having to sleep in passenger lounges in airports. Don’t imagine. Just ask a Great Lakes pilot.
Their UTU Local 40 has been in negotiations with Great Lakes management for more than two years, with negotiations locked-down in difficult mediation under provisions of the Railway Labor Act, which also applies to airline workers.
Local 40 flight attendants, also represented by the UTU, recently ratified a new agreement, but negotiations dragged for – yes – 10 years! The pilots are hoping to reach an equitable settlement with Great Lakes Airlines more quickly.
In a recent poll of pilots, 97 percent supported a job action, but that is not possible until the National Mediation Board releases the parties from mediation.
Based in Cheyenne, Wyo., and with hubs in Albuquerque, N.M.; Denver; Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Phoenix, Great Lakes Airlines serves 48 of its destinations through federal subsidies provided by the congressionally created Essential Air Service program. The airline is the nation’s largest provider of Essential Air Service.
The pilots fly 30-passenger Embraer and 19-passenger Beechcraft aircraft.
UTU members can help their brothers and sisters at Great Lakes Airlines by contacting city council members in the cities Great Lakes serves, and by contacting members of Congress.
The message is straight forward: For the safety of the flying public, pilots on Great Lakes Airlines deserve a contract that provides for a livable wage and appropriate accommodations at layover points to ensure they receive undisturbed rest.
To contact your congressional lawmaker on behalf of our brothers and sisters at Great Lakes Airlines, click on the following link:
www.contactingthecongress.org/
Then select your state, click on the names of your senators and representative, and you have the information needed to send an email or fax, or make a phone call.
JAMESTOWN, N.D. — Great Lakes Airlines crews represented by the UTU will soon be flying in and out of Jamestown.
The Department of Transportation selected Great Lakes Airlines to provide air service to Jamestown Regional Airport through the Essential Air Service program, which partially subsidizes flights to small communities with federal funds. The airport reported record passenger boardings in 2011.
Great Lakes is tentatively scheduled to take over from Delta Air Lines, the previous EAS provider, March 12.
Great Lakes will offer 18 round-trip flights per week between Jamestown and Minneapolis, using 19-seat Beech 1900 planes.
The UTU represents pilots and flight attendants at the airline, who are members of UTU Local 40 at Denver, Colo.
UTU-represented pilots and flight attendants at Great Lakes Airlines received good news with the announcement that the carrier would be taking over service in North Dakota and Minnesota from Delta Air Lines.
Delta had been serving Devils Lake, N.D., but switched from turboprop aircraft to regional jets. The airport’s runway is not long enough for the jets to land in windy weather, so Great Lakes’ turboprops, and crews, won the business.
Delta also had been serving Brainerd, Minn., and Great Lakes will also be taking over that service.
Dates of the takeovers have yet to be announced, but officials at both Delta and Great Lakes said they were cooperating to make the changeover as seamless as possible.