Contract Enforcement
The ability to effectively resolve disputes with our employer and uphold our collective agreement is fundamental to rebuilding trust in our association and developing a sustainable relationship with management, promoting a climate of mutual respect.
Our representatives and committee chairs often use their rapport with management to effectively resolve personal issues for our a pilots, often saving their careers in the process. However when it comes to the contract, misunderstood language coupled with inconsistent approaches to resolving issues impairs our ability to realize and enjoy their full rights under the agreement. When contract compliance is not catalogued and tracked across our various committees, our association is left ignorant to pertinent issues or larger trends. This leaves our pilot group ill equipped to resolve the issues or bring it to the bargaining table.
We require a comprehensive approach to contract enforcement. One that involves educating members to better equip them as problems arise. We have already invested in significant improvement to our association’s IT infrastructure, specifically in the technology needed to manage ongoing contract issues. Now we need to use that technology by taking a disciplined approach across the association, properly capturing issues each time our members reach out for help.
Following a consistent resolution process, with timely feedback to the membership, will leave our members with the confidence that their concerns have been addressed. Further, gathering and analyzing quality data from each pilot interaction will allow our leaders to understand the bigger picture, and approach management with credible demands for change.
How do we improve contract enforcement?
Contract clarity: We should make every effort to present contract language so that it is clear and concise. Pilots should not require a law degree to understand their work rules.
Continual education: We should invest more in educating our members, especially where confusion persists. Summaries, quick reference checklists and embedded tips and features in regular communications highlighting sections of the contract remind members of lesser-known issues and important nuances.
Comprehensive issues management: We need to support dispute and grievance resolution processes that can capture and track all issues as they emerge. It should be transparent where possible and provide the leadership with a detailed, high level view of issues across the bases.
Report back to the membership: the membership at large should share in the experience of a win for an individual pilot. Regularly reporting our successes can help illuminate current issues and build our credibility as an association that serves its members first.