Kenneth E. Bruner
President Telephone (337) 364-4639
OPEIU, Local 107 Fax: (337) 364-4640
2617 Northside Road Suite 300
New Iberia, LA 70563-0953
Fellow Pilot;
I’m Ken Bruner, President of the Air Logistics Pilots Union
Local 107 OPEIU. We at Air Logistics were the first group of pilots
in the United States to form a Union for helicopter pilots under
the Railway Labor Act. After difficult negotiations, our first Contract
was overwhelmingly ratified by the membership in May of 1999. That
initial Contract essentially changed our Industry nationwide. Our
salaries were raised over 40% in the first two years of the contract.
We gained job security; we could not be fired without just cause.
Our benefits were greatly improved; the Company contribution to
our 401k plan doubled and the cost of health care was cut in half.
But more importantly, our initial Contract proved to other helicopter
pilots around the Country that a Union was the only option available
to us that would get our salaries out of the lower middle class,
where they lingered from the very beginning of this Industry, and
into a Professional salaried category, where they should always
have been. Now is the time to set your philosophical or political
opinions aside and put your family and yourself first and vote for
Union representation.
Without a Union, you will continue to deny yourself a better quality
of life that you deserve. The company you fly for is going to tell
you that a Union will financially ruin them. Since Air Logistics
and Petroleum Helicopters have gone Union, their financial status
has improved over the last three or four years, in the case of PHI,
greatly improved.
The company you fly for will probably offer you pay raises, increased
benefits, better working conditions, anything to persuade you not
to vote for the Union. Don’t let these tactics fool you! The
company would never give you these things if you were not already
forcing them to do it. And if the Union is voted down, the company
can just as easily take them away. This is a tactic Air Logistics
used with our mechanics and it worked. After the Union was voted
down by the mechanics, the improved benefits given to them by the
company were taken back. With a Collective Bargaining Agreement,
the company is legally bound to honor it.
Other tactics the company will use to dissuade you are; letters
to your wife with dire warnings of ruination. They will run a misinformation
campaign about Unions and all the horrible things they’ve
done to the Country, anything to throw doubt in your mind.
Most of the pilots of Air Logistics (myself included) have become
over the years politically conservative, which is counter to the
Organized Labor political philosophy. For a group such as us to
seriously consider voting to join a Union required a great deal
of soul searching. Why would we do it? Many of have been in this
business since the Viet Nam thing. We’ve been doing this a
very long time. A long time to watch most of our age group with
similar or lower education levels pass us by economically. A long
time to watch them take vacations we couldn’t afford to take,
or buy homes or automobiles we professional helicopter pilots couldn’t
purchase because we were living paycheck to paycheck. A long time
to watch them send their children to schools we couldn’t put
our kids in. A long time to wonder what the hell is going on in
this Industry? A long time to figure out the only way this Industry
was going to change was for us to force it to change by speaking
united with one voice, that’s what we did at Air Logistics
and Petroleum Helicopters and the pilots at Ft. Rucker, and its
working. Now it’s your turn.
We are fortunate to be associated with the OPEIU. It is a progressive
organization that has put its many resources, both administrative
and financial, behind organizing helicopter pilots in the
United States.
Michael Goodwin, the President of OPEIU has committed millions
of dollars to this effort. Over the past five years I’ve gotten
to know Mike as a sincere, dedicated, good man. I’m proud
to call him a friend. Under his leadership over the past few years
the OPEIU is one of the fastest growing Labor Organizations in the
country. The Professional Helicopter Pilots Association would never
have gotten of the ground without Mr. Goodwin’s and the OPEIU’s
full support. The PHPA was founded by pilots from the first three
Unions OPEIU organized, Local 102 at Ft. Rucker, Our Local 107,
and Local 108 at PHI. The PHPA is well on its way to becoming the
ALPA for helicopter pilots. We are surprised at the rate it is growing.
As a member of your Union, you will automatically become a member
of PHPA. For more information on the PHPA, go to WWW. Autorotate.org
and check it out.
Take some control of your future and send in your ballot today.
Don’t allow the company’s tactical campaign to dissuade
you. Believe me, your company is run by smart people; it will survive
and learn to work with its Pilots Union.
Thank you for time. If I can be of any assistance in any way, my
E-mail address is kebflyer@cox-internet.com.
Ken Bruner
President Local 107 OPEIU
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