Examples illustrating why the grievance procedure works

“If we get a union in, it will keep incompetent pilots on the job.” It seems every organizing drive we know of, someone trots out this lame homily as an excuse to not vote for a union. We have such a passion for excellence that this claim, as inaccurate as it is, still gives us cause to reflect on what we are doing. A look at the other OPEIU helicopter unions should put the issue to rest. We cannot predict how you will handle this when you form your own union, but we believe you care as much about professionalism as we do. The experience of the existing unions is a good example of what will happen in your own union.

All the collective bargaining agreements are available on the Internet, and there is no point in going into excruciating detail on what they say. However, all contracts under the Railway Labor Act are required to have a procedure for handling grievances. The procedure must provide for a System Board of Adjustment (SBA) which is a panel made up equally of management and your own representatives, and all contracts provide for binding arbitration if your SBA cannot reach agreement. So how does it work in practice? A few examples should illustrate.

In one case, we had a pilot who the company alleged had unnecessarily endangered his passengers, and whose employment they terminated. In the case of terminations, our agreement permits us to skip the lower levels of the grievance process and go to the last step before the SBA. Despite the fact that we believed the company had a strong case, and might be justified, the union has a duty of fair representation under the law. Further, investigation often reveals other information not previously known, and that is sometimes mitigating. Nevertheless, in this case our Director of Operations would not overturn the termination and the union appealed his decision to the SBA. Now, as I mentioned above, the system board is composed equally of management and local union representatives. At PHI, we have a panel of four and we had selected two line pilots we felt would be fair and objective, and who we knew to have high professional standards. After both sides had presented their evidence, the two union representatives on the board voted to uphold the company’s position and sustained the termination of this pilot. If the board reaches agreement, the issue stops there. (Incidentally, if only one pilot had agreed, board decisions only require a majority vote, and the issue would still have stopped with the board decision).

In another case, we had a pilot who was distracted by his customer while performing a governor check, and who had an N1 overspeed. The pilot was given time off without pay, and the union filed a grievance alleging that the company’s actions were unnecessarily harsh. We went through the whole grievance process and finally came to the system board of adjustment. We were able to demonstrate that there were mitigating circumstances, and additionally, just prior to this incident another pilot had had an overtorque for which he got only a letter of reprimand. Our members of the system board agreed with the union, and the system board was evenly split over the issue. We appealed the issue to the American Arbitration Association and an arbitrator was selected to hear the case. However, before the hearing could be convened, the union and the company agreed to settle the issue by downgrading the punishment to a written reprimand. The pilot’s back pay was restored and the union agreed to help the company find ways to reduce the occurrences of over-limits incidents. Something we want anyway.

The point of all the above is this: When you are organized, you decide what it means to be a professional pilot. The people you pick will determine reasonable professional standards and apply them. Why would they foster incompetence? Even so, the important point is they will be people you pick, and the issues will be heard in a fair and unbiased forum. No more ‘my way or the highway.’ Remember too, having such as system is required. You cannot, not have this in your agreement.

Foster incompetence? Not here, and not where you are either.

All the best,

Stephen D. Ragin, Union Pilot
President, OPEIU Local 108
The CareFlite Pilots Association
The PHI Aircrew Association