phpa – local 102 – professional helicopter pilots
TRANSCRIPT
Dedicated to the proposition that a career in aviation is not something you do, it’s something you survive!
The Official Newsletter of the Professional Helicopter Pilots Association
President
Mark Souza
PHPA Local 102
Vol. 17, Issue 02
COMMO CHECK! Feb 2017
PRESIDENT’S CORNER Members,
As we move into March there are a few things HOT on the agenda. I know many are up-
set about supervisors doing our work. The company has certainly been blindsided by the
unusually high attrition since September. We are very concerned about our work being
done by supervisors. We are very concerned about making the needed production. Of
course our job is to produce the very best helicopter pilots possible. How much overtime
are we missing or how much would we work if its offered? How much will it cost us to
fight them on the issue vs. reward? We want to be good stewards of the responsibilities
of what we’re here to do. The company gets paid, in a cost plus type of contract, a per-
centage of our salary’s to manage the contract and the peripherals. There is no reason
for them to not put more IP’s to work. More IP’s means more money to them. The major-
ity of the MOI instructors are teaching 72’s. That should end in late March/early April.
Then they will immediately start training replacements. We are looking for this to drag
on until probably the end of May. Based on the language from the arbitration from 2002,
our attorney thinks we could seek back pay (it would be a fairly small number) and if the
Army approves it or forces the company through penalties to offer/force feed overtime.
But either way supervisors would no longer be doing our work. So, what’s the best plan
to have the best overall outcome for the membership as a whole? We are weighing many
options and working with the company to try to resolve this the best way possible.
Grievance 16-01 is closed unless someone has information that someone has an issue
with their EOB showing their life insurance benefit is less than it should be.
Next, membership drive and UNUM benefits: We have scheduled representatives from
UNUM to be at the union hall at 08:30 -16:30 on March 27th, 28th, 29th, and March 30th
from 08:30-13:00 to meet with all existing members and prospective members for expla-
nation and enrollment purposes. There will be presentations and catered food on Mon-
day March 27th at 10:00, 13:00 and 16:00. There will be 30 minute time slots outside of
that to sign up to meet with the reps to go over the insurance products, enroll and up-
date beneficiaries. Please call Andrea soon (334-598-4121) as meeting slots will
fill up fast. This is an OPEN ENROLLMENT window. How to Schedule a Meeting?
Please phone Andrea as soon as possible to schedule a time to meet with a benefit coun-
selor. There are a limited number of time slots available.
Please note: Enrollment is through payroll deduction and coverage is portable (except
long term disability) upon leaving URS and/or retiring at the same price and benefit lev-
el! Spouse and children are eligible for UNUM coverage.
Presidents Corner
1 2 3
November Minutes
4 5
Treasurer’s Report
6
Vice President’s Note 7
Office Manger’s Spot 8
Page 2 C O M M O C H E C K !
Presidents Corner (Continued from page 1)
1. Comprehensive Critical Illness Insurance – We all know fellow PHPA members, family, neigh-
bors, church members, etc. of all ages who have suffered serious health conditions. This insurance pro-
vides life time benefits and multiple lump sum tax free payments for: heart attack, bypass surgery,
stroke, cancer, carcinoma in situ, benign brain tumor, permanent paralysis, coma, blindness, major or-
gan failure, kidney failure and occupational HIV. All members actively at work may enroll for GUAR-
ANTEE ISSUE coverage equal to $10,000 and $5,000 for spouse! You will not be turned down at
this enrollment only! All pre-existing conditions benefit reductions and benefit waiting periods are
also being waived! The potential benefit payout is $125,000 per $10,000 of coverage issued. Members
can apply for coverage up to $50,000 per diagnosis! We strongly urge members to consider a minimum
amount of at least $10,000. There aren’t any exclusions for aviation claims (i.e. paralysis, coma, blind-
ness, etc.). Idea: benefit payments can be used to provide tax-free dollars on top of the 50% disability
income you would receive under the UNUM LTD plan. Members and spouse can each receive a $75 an-
nual health screening test reimbursement!
2. Whole Life Insurance – this benefit provides a guaranteed level premium for life, with guaranteed
cash and paid up values. All members actively at work have been approved for GUARANTEE ISSUE
coverage. You will not be turned down at this enrollment only!
3. Accident Expense Insurance (NEW & IMPROVED) – this updated benefit provides dollars to
help offset non-medical and medical expenses we all face in the event of an accident (falls, sports, hunt-
ing, boating, around the house, vacation, children activities, travel, etc.). Covered items have increased
40% and pay you tax-free dollars after a covered accident. A $300 daily hospital sickness benefit
can be added without any medical questions at this enrollment only! Members and spouse can
each receive a $50 annual health screening test reimbursement!
4. Beneficiary Restatement! – If you are insured under any life insurance through UNUM, we
strongly urge you to make an appointment to register updated primary and secondary beneficiary desig-
nations with a benefit counselor.
5. Term Life Insurance – You may apply for additional coverage during this time period. All mem-
bers actively at work have been approved for GUARANTEE ISSUE coverage. You will not be turned
down at this enrollment only!
6. Long Term Disability - You may apply for coverage during this time period.
To view short videos, brochures and learn more about these benefits please Ctrl + Click and visit:
http://pages.unum.com/lp/[email protected]?XMPieSourceJobID=153627
Please review the information with your family prior to visiting with a benefit counselor.
We are asking every member to make time to come by the union hall between 0830 hours and 1630
hours March 27, 28 and 29 or on March 30 between 0830 hours and 1300 hours to either enroll or waive
UNUM benefits available during this enrollment period and to update your beneficiary designation. I
highly encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity. This is an opportunity for nonmembers
to become members. We are waiving the first month’s dues and initiation fees for anyone who joins in
March. Anyone who attends the first day briefings will receive a ticket for door prizes, and attending a
scheduled meeting will get another ticket. We will draw after each briefing for $50.00 gift cards to Out-
back Steakhouse, Texas Roadhouse, or Olive Garden (3 cards per briefing). And you will be entered in an
end of week drawing for a grand prize of a 50-quart Yeti cooler, a second prize of a 20-quart Yeti cooler
and a third prize of a Yeti tumbler. Since we are catering the Monday seminars please call the office and
Let Andrea know if you plan to attend and which briefing. We don’t want to pay for food that’s not eaten
or run out. We need members, we need union participants. Encourage everyone to attend so we can meet
with them and let them see that their union wants them to be counted. Please help us and give us an
RSVP for Monday, help yourself and family by scheduling a 30 minute slot with the folks from UNUM.
Page 3 C O M M O C H E C K !
Presidents Corner (Continued from page 2)
Survey results were light and variable. If you didn’t get a survey check with the office as to why. If you
don’t care then that’s ok too. I want to represent all of you as a whole, I’m asking for your communica-
tion.
We have several MOA’s coming up to vote on right away. The first one is an MOA to insure our BCBS
stays in affect regardless of the contractor. I intend to run this vote from 06:00 March 8th through 18:00
March 9th. We have an agreement with the company now that will allow DONSA’s to be charged to ei-
ther your SL balance or VAC balance, if you choose not to work. Unfortunately, a NPD would run into
too many issues with all of the peripheral benefits that would not be paid.
Thanks,
Mark
Page 4 C O M M O C H E C K !
GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
JANUARY 12, 2017
The meeting was called to order at 6:30 PM by President Mark Souza. All E-Board members were pre-
sent. There were 20 members present.
Recording Secretary: The December meeting minutes were read by Jim Guy and the minutes were ap-
proved as read.
Secretary-Treasurer: The December Treasurer’s report was read by Jock Spencer and the report was
approved as read. There are 208 members out of 321 total. That is approximately 63% membership.
Trustees’ Reports:
Primary Division: Bill Haaren reported that DES has been giving a lot of check rides, some are grading
these rides NOT using the ATM as standards. They are using the RFM and it has created some issues
but is being resolved.
Advanced Division: Mel Strobel had nothing to report.
BWS Division: Don Presgraves had nothing to report.
Trustee at Large: Matt Hedger mentioned that the AF Division has two simulator briefing rooms. Next
week they will be briefing at Cairnes then driving to the simulator. This could create a possible liability
issue with the Company. If an IP has a problem with this then they should plan to ride the bus from
Cairnes to the simulator. Mileage will not be paid if there is a bus available.
Vice-Presidents Report
Al Hauenstein had nothing to report.
Old Business
Arbitration: The arbitration has been completed and we were not successful. The arbitrator put out a 31-
page finding. The ruling pointed out that the RFP states that the Contractor will work on DONSA’s. The
CBA says that we will work if the Army says we do. Although the ruling was not in our favor, we still
made some headway and the fight is not over.
Bridge Agreement 16-02: The MOA has been written and approved by both lawyers. There will be a vote
using Election Buddy that will start on the morning of January 16th until 6:00 pm on January 17th. All
members will get an email that will include the MOA and allow you to vote yes or no.
Office Manager: Our office manager has sent out test emails and it is going very well. There are still a
very small number of members that we are working on but we are almost 100%.
Truth with Medical/FAA: Remind all our members that they need to be truthful when filing out their
Medical forms for their Flight Physical. Don’t try and hide anything from them. The FAA can access
your driving records as well as some medical records.
Building Security: The building is now covered inside and out as well as a security door that allows our
Office Manager to see who is at the door and decide whether to let them in or not.
Trustee Nominations: Nominations were opened for the three new trustee positions. The only new nomi-
nation was for the Primary position. Justin Watson was nominated and accepted. Because all three posi-
tions were uncontested the new Trustees will be Abraham Swisher for Trustee at Large, Lee Murphy for
Advanced Division, and Justin Watson for Primary Division.
Page 5 C O M M O C H E C K !
January Minutes (Continued from page 4)
New Business
Scholarships: The 2017 scholarship program is beginning. There will be (5) $1000 awards this year. You
can pick up the forms at the Union hall or they can be emailed to you. These applications need to be
postmarked by 31 March.
LTD: We are hoping to have Jeff Luther here by the end of February to pitch the Heart & Cancer poli-
cies as well as having an open enrollment period for the LTD. New members will have a 90-day window
to enroll in the LTD plan and current members have until March 31st to enroll. We are on the verge of
losing our plan because of the excessive use by our retiring members. This has been abused in the past
and we need to get control of its use. One thing that has helped us keep our coverage is allowing Unum
to sell these other policies to our members.
CAE Contract: There have been protests filed by AECOM and DOSS Aviation challenging the awarded
contract to CAE. We cannot be in any contact with CAE until these are resolved. This could go on for an
extended period. The contract that CAE won over Flight Safety has been contested for the last 22
months.
Negotiations Survey: Abraham Swisher and Bill Haaren are putting together a survey for our member-
ship to help us with the upcoming negotiations. Mark would like any suggestions that you have. You can
fill it out online via email or print it out, fill it out and drop it off anonymously to the Office Manager.
From The Floor
The subject of CAE came up as it relates to our 401K, etc. We are currently considering our options deal-
ing with these issues. We have not changed Companies since 1987 so there is a lot for us to research. We
are starting the process now because we don’t know who will be at the other side of the table come nego-
tiation time. The E-Board with the help of OPEIU are preparing as much as we can.
A member mentioned that he could receive paper copies of his account information from Merrill Lynch
without having to pay anything. (This topic came up a couple of months ago.)
A member asked if they could apply for a position with CAE. Up until now you could have but because
the contract is being contested CAE cannot offer any open positions. You can still apply but there are no
positions available.
The topic of membership numbers came up. The E-Board will have a special meeting within two weeks
to discuss this. We will put together a list of benefits available to members and attach it to the Union
letter that was drafted last year. We will also discuss offering a discounted membership for a short time
to try and increase our numbers.
The winner of the raffle took home $38 tonight.
There being no new business the meeting adjourned at 7:43 PM.
James W. Guy
Recording Secretary
Page 6 C O M M O C H E C K !
Page 7 C O M M O C H E C K !
VICE PRESIDENT'S NOTE
By Alan Hauenstein
Wow, it's March already, looks like this year will be full of lay-off notices. The company is on exten-
sions for about the next six months so you can expect lay-off notices every few weeks, DELTEK pay
codes changing monthly, and no paper towels in the bathrooms.
For all members this week is the monthly meeting at 6:30 pm on Thursday. So here is
your invite to join us for pizza and soft drinks. Then we will have conversations concerning your union.
Remember we are gearing up for negotiations with the company to start in the summer. What would
you like to add to the mix? Hope to see you Thursday.
On a side note: if you own a Remington Model 700 rifle do you know it is on recall? The
trigger is bad and when you "push" the safety to OFF it may fire. Go to the website and check to see if
yours is on recall.
FLY SAFE…..
Page 8 C O M M O C H E C K !
CHECKLIST
Your next general membership meeting will be 9 March 2017, 630pm at the union hall.
MEETING AGENDA
1. Meeting called to order.
2. Officer Reports.
3. Old Business.
4. New Business.
Office Manager’s Spot
Hello Members!
The deadline to submit your PHPA/OPEIU Local 102 Scholarship applications is com-
ing up for eligible candidates: Hand delivered applications must be at the PHPA
office by COB 31 March, 2017. Mailed applications must be post marked by 31
March, 2017 and received at the PHPA office by 6 April, 2017!
Our office hours are Monday-Thursday 8:30-4:30
and Friday: 8:30-12:30
(334)-598-4121
Thank you,
Andrea
Next General Membership Meeting:
Thursday, March 9 at 6:30 pm
Pizza and soft drinks will be served
PHPA, OPEIU LOCAL 102
354 S . DALEVILLE AVE.
PO BOX 427
DALEVILLE, ALABAMA 36322
PHONE: 334-598-4121
FAX 334-598-1620
E-MAIL: LOCAL102@PHP A.NET
WWW.PHPA.NET