united airlines pilots lax ghetto letter
TRANSCRIPT
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7/31/2019 United Airlines Pilots LAX Ghetto Letter
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Jeffery A. Smisek
President and CEO
United Continental Holdings, Inc.
The United Building - HDQPO
77 West Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60601
Date 5/21/12
Dear United Management,
As you know, the United Airlines pilots made numerous sacrifices following the tragedy of
September 11, 2001 to help the company stay in business. Between 2003 and 2005, the
average pilot has taken over a 42% paycut. Weve lost all of our ESOP stock and pensions
as a result of the bankruptcy and on top of that, there are currently 1,437 furloughed pilots.
What have you done to restore the sacrifices that the pi lots made after September 11?
Nothing other than making things even worse by offshoring and outsourcing our jobs.
More than half of Uniteds domestic flights are currently being outsourced to regional carriers.
To add insult to injury, youve drastically increased your salaries and bonuses. The CEO
alone tripled his salary that $10.4 million raise in 2011 could have put 193 furloughed pilots
back to work.
The United pilots are deeply concerned by managements priorities and believe that you are
completely out of touch with the real issues that are impacting pilots and passengers on a
daily basis. We have been working under a 9-year old bankruptcy contract because United
management isnt concerned about what we need to do the best job for United customers.
That is exactly why management is keeping the pilots in a holding pattern when it comes to
our negotiations so that our jobs can continue to be offshored and outsourced.
As the management team of a major carrier, United management knows as well as anyone
that the regional carriers that United is contracting with do not require the same level of
training and experience for pilots as larger carriers like United. Uniteds decision to offshore
and outsource U.S. jobs is not in the best interest of passengers, pilots or our company. It is
no wonder that Portfolio Magazine recently named United the 2012 Worst. Airline. Ever.
Again. Our customers deserve better.
Today, the pilots of United formally invite the United management team to join us at LAX this
week, where a group of us will show you first-hand some of the challenges we are faced with
under our 9-year old bankruptcy contract. We think that if you put yourselves in our shoes
United Pilots Master Executive Council9550 W. Higgins Rd. Suite 1000
Rosemont, IL 60018
www.theunfriendlyskies.org
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected] -
7/31/2019 United Airlines Pilots LAX Ghetto Letter
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for a day, you will begin to understand the impact of your offshoring and outsourcing strategy
on pilots.
As part of our meeting, we would like to take you on a tour of Lot E at LAX, or as we like to
call it the LAX Ghetto, which is where many professional pilots sleep at night in motor
homes to save time and money so we can get to our jobs. Many of us spend weeks at a
time at the ghetto away from our families so that we dont have to spend our off hours
traveling to and from the airports where our next shift is scheduled. We welcome you to
spend the night with us as large aircraft land over our heads all hours of the night and
morning. We believe that by seeing this for your own eyes, you would better understand
why the pilots are so frustrated by your outsourcing strategy and the fact that you continueto reward yourselves with millions of dollars in bonuses every year.
We propose meeting with you at LAX on Thursday, May 24 at 11am. Some of the pilots who
regularly stay at the ghetto have offered to give up their pillow and bed for the evening so
that United executives can spend the night. We look forward to showing you the ghetto and
giving you an opportunity to see for your own eyes how pilots are faring as United
management collects its bonuses.
Sincerely,
United Pilots
United Pilots Master Executive Council9550 W. Higgins Rd. Suite 1000
Rosemont, IL 60018
www.theunfriendlyskies.org