Well July flew by (pun intended)! Ton of union work as we had our quarterly MEC (Master Executive Council) meeting and are getting ready to enter contract negotiations. Also as previously mentioned we’re now doing InterIsland overnights which are kind of strange but I’m enjoying them. I basically just flew weekends this month.
7/1-3: OFF
7/4: HNL-LIH-HNL-OGG-HNL-OGG-HNL-OGG
7/5: OGG-HNL-OGG-HNL-OGG-HNL-OGG-HNL
7/6-7/9: OFF
7/10: HNL-OGG-HNL-OGG-HNL-OGG
7/11: OGG-HNL-LIH-HNL-LIH-HNL
7/12: OFF
7/13-16: MEC Meeting
7/17: HNL-ITO-HNL-LIH-HNL-ITO
7/18: ITO-HNL-OGG-HNL
7/19-21: Union
7/22-23: OFF
7/24: HNL-OGG-HNL-OGG
7/25: OGG-HNL-LIH-HNL-OGG-HNL
7/26-28: OFF
7/29: HNL-KOA-LIH-HNL-KOA-HNL
7/30: Union
7/31: OFF
Hi Adam, thanks for posting - how does a Pilot get involved with the union - is it by election or appointment? Is this considered volunteer or paid time? Finally, where does the union business take place and are some of these meetings virtual?
It’s both. The union committees (and there are committees for virtually everything you can think of from Scheduling and Grevience to Uniforms and Crew Meals) are entirely staffed by volunteers. The pilot Reps and Officers however are elected by the pilots.
The Union policy manual states volunteers should neither profit nor be harmed financially for the work. With that in mind the majority of the day in and day out is unpaid as you can do most work whenever. However if there are meetings that require attendance you’ll prebid those days off and be compensated for them. Also if something pops up and there’s a trip the Union will “buy” the trip from the company so you can be off.
Finally all the Unions are required to maintain an office to conduct business. While some of the committee work can and is done virtually, most of the meetings, negotiations and grevience work takes place in the office.
I used to be involved in one of the smaller committees for our union at Continental Airlines. Getting involved was as simple as sending an email when the committee put out that they were looking for new volunteers. I ended up being the vice chair of the committee. It involved a fair amount of work on my days off. Most of our meetings were over the phone, but we did have a few unperson meetings a couple of times per year.
To becoming a union representative, one needs to stand for election and be elected.