November 1, 2015 ARW Pay Day Hotline

Abdullah Bawagad Elected as Scheduling Chairman

By ARW MEC

Last month at the MEC Meeting, LGA CA Abdullah Bawagad was selected by the MEC to serve as your Scheduling Chairman. Please direct your Scheduling concerns, comments, and questions to Abdullah at (828) 371 4229, or abdullah.bawagad@alpa.org.

ARW P4P Liaison Needed

By ARW MEC

There is a current vacancy to be filled on ARW ALPA’s Pilots for Pilots (P4P) Committee. The P4P Liaison’s duties and responsibilities are:

· responsible for working with the MEC Officers and Membership Committee Chairman in order to assess situations where the occurrence of catastrophic events may affect ARW pilots and implementing an action plan to reach out to potentially affected ARW pilots in order to assess their well-being.

· The ARW MEC P4P Liaison is additionally responsible for coordinating with ALPA National in order to support ARW pilots and their families who have been affected by hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, river flooding, and other widespread disasters by determining eligibility and facilitating assistance available from the ALPA Emergency Relief Fund (AERF) for immediate, extraordinary expenses incurred as a result of these devastating events.

· The P4P Liaison will also work to encourage contributions to the AERF and craft messages and activities specific to the ARW pilot group in order to encourage participation and awareness of the P4P mission and availability of the AERF.

If you’re interested in volunteering for this important program, please send an email to thorne.saylor@alpa.org.

ORF CIC Trail Cleanup Nov. 3

By Robbie Fogelsanger, CIC Chairman

We adopted a Trail! The ORF Community Involvement Committee is proud to announce our participation in the City of Virginia Beach Parks and Recreation Adopt-A-Programs. We have adopted the Marshview Park Trail, part of the new Marshview Park complex under development in Virginia Beach. The park is located near Birdneck Road and Norfolk Ave.

This is a great opportunity for Air Wisconsin pilots and family to continually enhance the environment and the appearance of our community. The Marshview Trail is 1/4 mile long and we are responsible for collection of litter on 8-10 feet of each side of the trail. The Adopt-A program is a commitment of two years and a minimum of 6 cleanings per year. All supplies are provided by the city.

Our first litter cleanup event will be held on Tuesday, November 3rd at 3 PM. The cleanup should take approximately 1 hour. Our meeting location will be the parking lot next to the tennis courts off Marshview Drive. Please email or text CIC Chair Robbie Fogelsanger if you plan on attending. Hope to see you there!

Uniform Committee

By Dan Shtarker, Uniform Committee Chairman

As we begin to wrap up the year, take a moment to look at your uniform pieces and evaluate what you may want to replace before the end of the year. The approved items for reimbursement are listed on page 7-18 of the FOM, which states “Air Wisconsin will reimburse the following uniform pieces purchased through an approved uniform vendor: overcoat, blue uniform jacket, shirt, pants, tie, hat, epaulets, stripes, and alterations. Outer Marker Crew Shop is not an approved vendor.”

On Jan. 1, the Company will credit $260 to your uniform bank. However, section 18.C.4 states that the maximum accrual in a pilot’s uniform bank shall not exceed 2 years’ full accrual. This means that if you have a uniform bank that has a balance of $520 (2 years of accrual) there will be no money credited to your account. If you have a balance lower than $520, your uniform bank balance will be brought up to the 2-year accrual or the maximum amount per year of $260, whichever comes first. If you want to take full advantage of the yearly credit, your balance needs to be below $260, and all expenses need to be submitted by Dec. 31, 2014.

If you choose to allocate funds for direct bill to one of our three approved vendors you must do so by Dec. 31, 2014. Checking your current balance and allocating funds can be done directly through CCS. Follow these steps to check uniform bank balance CCS > Pilot Forms > Pilot Uniform Bank. Current balance will be displayed on the right hand side. If you decide to allocate funds to one of the approved vendors you will need to do the following: CCS > Pilot Forms > Pilot Uniform Bank Allocation > Click on any name you see > Pilot Uniform Direct Bill Vendor Election window will open. Follow the steps and click submit.

If you have any questions on direct bill or how to submit expenses on the Air Wisconsin T&E system, or any other related questions; please contact me at 732-646-1823 or Dan.Shtarker@alpa.org.

Hotels & Cabs

By ARW MEC

We would like to take a moment to request some assistance from our crew members. Many of you are likely familiar with the debacle that is the EWR hotel transportation system. If you've not yet had the pleasure of seeing this first hand, here is a quick rundown. The Newark Port Authority does not allow hotel (or any) commercial vehicles to pick passengers up curbside at the terminal in EWR. Therefore, passengers have to ride a tram over to a designated "hotel van terminal" if you will and await pickup there. Unfortunately, our contracted hotel only runs to this location every thirty minutes (on the :20 and :50 of every hour). So crews are ending up in situations where they arrive at the "hotel terminal" and just miss our hotel's shuttle, forcing them to either ride the tram back to the main terminal for a cab or wait nearly :30min for another shuttle - in violation of our contractual guarantee of a ride to the hotel within thirty minutes OF BLOCK INTO GATE and also delaying them up to an hour and sometimes more to get to the hotel.

We have advised the Company of the issue and requested a contracted cab service to the hotel to alleviate the issue. Unfortunately, the Company doesn't feel the added cost to them is worth our wait times. That said, we ask that you pay close attention to your timing upon arrival into EWR. With shuttle times at :20 and :50, if you know your overall wait time from block in to gate to transportation to the hotel will exceed :30 min, please do not take the tram to the shuttle location. Instead, call scheduling and explain the situation and take a cab. Expense the cab cost with the Company, and you WILL be reimbursed; the company has stated such. We understand the hesitation to do this, and the added effort involved with filing the expense report, but we need your assistance to demonstrate the need for cab service. Not to mention you'll be saving yourselves time and getting more rest time at the hotel.

One final note while on the subject of cabs and hotel transportation on ALL of our RONs: please be cognizant of your arrival times and be firm with hotels on a regular basis. If we don't hold the hotel accountable to the contract they agreed to, we open ourselves up to deteriorating service. Call the hotel as soon as possible after block in and note the time. If the van hasn't arrived after 15-20 minutes, call them back and check on the whereabouts of the van. Also advise the front desk of your intention to take a cab at the :30 min mark. If the van is not there at :30 min, take the cab. Call scheduling and provide your call times to the hotel. Most of the time, the hotel will cover the cost of the cab. If they do not, then pay for it yourself, expense it, and it will be reimbursed to you.

R&I Committee: Healthcare Premiums Down in 2016

By Rich Clarke, Retirement & Insurance Chairman

Health care expenses have risen on average about 10% annually over the last several years, so it is very exciting to be able to report that for 2016 your medical insurance premiums will drop a whopping 9.4%. This is exciting news to be sure, and bucks the national trend which is still seeing premiums rise year over year. This year may be an anomaly primarily due to a much-reduced utilization of medical care by the pilot group in 2015, but it is exciting news nevertheless. Keep your fingers crossed that it's not a one-time occurrence, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Air Safety Organization

By ARW MEC

Please click the link https://youtu.be/AQDkbvB4r0o to find out more about ALPA’s Air Safety Organization. What it is, who they are, and why it’s important to you and your career. On November 5, ALPA is hosting an ASO Symposium at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC.

In addition to remarks from NTSB Chairman Chris Hart, and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, the ASO will be holding four unique panels on Mitigating Risks for All-Cargo Operations; Safe Transportation of Hazardous Materials; Night Transportation Operations, Human Fatigue; and Aviation Infrastructure Needs for All-Cargo Operations.

You can register to attend in person at http://www.alpa.org/news-and-events/meetings-training/air-cargo-symposium-nov-2015 or you can watch it live at http://www.alpa.org/news-and-events/webcast.

ALPA-PAC Needs You!

By Matt Chadwick, LEC 49 Chairman

The Pilot Pay Shortage. The Health Care Excise Tax. Regulation of Unmanned Aerial Systems. Flight-Time Duty-Time Limitations.  Airman Licensing and Certification Requirements.

Are any of these issues important to you?

Do you feel like the men and women in Congress who will make the decisions on these issues – decisions that will directly affect your professional life -- should hear what professional airline pilots know, think and have to say about these issues?

We as professional pilots DO have a way to be heard:  and it starts with ALPA PAC.

By pooling donations from ALPA members, we are able to help elect pro-pilot Members of Congress who support our union's legislative agenda regardless of political affiliation.  Our goal is to ensure a pro-pilot majority in the House and the Senate.  ALPA-PAC also helps educate Members of Congress about who we are, what issues are important to us, and how Congress’ decisions affect our lives.

ALPA-PAC is funded 100% by voluntary contributions from ALPA members. No dues money is – or can be -- used for political contributions.  Every year, thousands of ALPA members demonstrate their commitment to the PAC and its goals through their contributions.

I can tell you from personal experience that ALPA PAC is the key to getting airline pilots in front of members of Congress and their staffs and giving us an opportunity to advocate for ourselves, our careers and our profession.

49% of Air Traffic Controllers contribute to their PAC (NATCAPAC).  13% of ALPA members contribute to ours.  However, currently only 11% of Air Wisconsin pilots are ALPA-PAC contributors . . . compared to 60% of our fellow airline pilot professionals at Mesa Air Group.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide if the chance to have a voice in the future of our career and profession is worth it.  Any level of participation really does make a difference, so please consider contributing to ALPA-PAC today.

Your ALPA Membership Card is now an e-Card

By ARW MEC

Good news! Now you can access your ALPA membership card on your mobile device. The new ALPA e-membership card is yet another benefit of having the ALPA App on your smartphone.

Not only do you have instant access to your MEC and LEC contacts, KCM locations and maps, jumpseat information by airline, the ALPA "orange card," top news, and more—now you'll always have your ALPA e-membership card handy whenever you need your member number. Click on a button below to install now for your device. You can also visit www.alpa.org/apps at any time on your smartphone and click the download link for your device. Or, open the app store on your device, search "ALPA," and download the app directly.

We encourage all ALPA members to download the app for access to your membership card as well as all the other great tools the app provides. If you have any questions, please contact Membership@alpa.org or call 888-FLY-ALPA.

Upcoming Dates

2015 Dates
Nov. 3	CIC Trail Cleanup, Marshview Park, VA Beach
Nov. 5	ASO Cargo Symposium, DC