Subject: Retention and funding of legal services to challenge proposed changes to our pension plan
Greetings.
Our MEC's April vote to accept management's plan for targeting our pension funds and against providing for membership ratification of this significant policy change shows how out of step this MEC is with a large proportion of the pilot group.
The R&I committee is currently considering which of several management options to select for implementation. If this is all on the up and up, then why are these choices not being made clear to the pilot group and why are the specific effects on individual pilots being obscured?
Many pilots have suggested that we look into legally challenging the unprecedented money grab inherent in ALPA's stated targeting goals. Taking that to heart, I invested considerable effort in researching the options and retained a legal firm, using my personal funds, that is top notch, well respected and able to work with us. The firm is: Lewis, Feinberg, Lee, Renaker and Jackson, P.C. (Lewis) You can visit their website at: www.lewisfeinberg.com.
In early May, 2007, I put out an appeal to several hundred pilots for contributions to create a legal fund. Moving forward with researching our legal options with Lewis was contingent on the commitment of NWA pilots to step up, put our resources together and fund the legal work. Response from the pilot group to that initial appeal has been strong. With that show of commitment, I have moved forward and instructed Lewis to initiate formal legal inquiry into the pilots' pension fund at NWA.
While the initial response has been good and the number of pilots pitching in continues to climb, we need to continue reaching out and broadening the circle of pilots willing to act.
Toward that goal, this letter is a request that you contribute $150 into an account that has been established for this purpose. The money in that account will be used solely to pay Lewis and to meet incidental costs incurred by the Steering Committee, which currently includes Eric Danfelt (CA SEA) and myself. Any amounts that remain in the account after conclusion of the work by Lewis will be returned to you on an equal basis.
The goal of this legal research is to see if we can turn up any legal means by which to challenge the targeting of our pension funds. The most likely issues revolve around age discrimination as defined by ERISA. If we find such grounds, we will likely bring them first to the attention of NWA and ALPA and attempt to resolve them at that level. If that were to be unsuccessful, we would consider initiating a lawsuit.
It is important for you to note that we are engaging Lewis only to obtain advice and representation regarding our legal rights in connection with our pension issues at NWA. This does not mean that Lewis will necessarily litigate on our behalf - that would require both the finding of sufficient grounds as well as a separate arrangement with Lewis. This engagement is to begin legal research and may include communicating with ALPA, NWA and/or administrators of our plans. This does not infer one way or the other as to whether we will find sufficient cause to actually litigate on these issues. But it is the first step to getting our house in order if we are to go that route, whether such litigation would be on ERISA issues or on issues of fair representation by ALPA.
**********************************************************************************
We would prefer to see our union leadership return to providing fair representation to all seniority levels and negate the need for such independent legal oversight. The prevailing philosophy in our MEC of improving this contract for some at the expense of others does not bode well for the solidarity that we need to effect real contract repair. But, so far, those points have fallen on mostly deaf ears in our MEC. Perhaps the show of resolve represented by such legal action can pave the way for our MEC finding their way back to acting in ALL pilots' best interests.
***********************************************************************************
So, we are willing to keep working on defending our collective interests if you are. One thing is for sure: we'll have no case unless we work together and step up to the plate here.
Please make your check out to "NW Pilots' Legal Fund"for the amount of $150 and send it to:
The NW Pilots' Legal Fund
PMB 349
14241 NE Woodinville-Duvall Road
Woodinvillle, WA 98072-8564
If you have any questions, feel free to contact myself at 206-406-4141 or Eric Danfelt at 480-767-2007.
One more thing. We are sending this letter out Bcc for privacy. Please feel free to forward this appeal to whoever you think may be interested. This is going out to a fairly large number of pilots, but we do not have everyone's email.
Regards,
Michael Tanksley
CA - ANC
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment