Grievance Round Table Highlights Best Practices

March 20, 2009 - Following up on ALPA’s recent strategic planning recommendations to boost contract enforcement, ALPA’s Representation Department sponsored the Union’s first Best Dispute Resolution Practices Round Table March 17-18 at the Association’s Herndon, Va. Conference Center. While grievance training seminars have always been a part of the Association’s programs, the Round Table was added to provide pilot Grievance Committee members and their contract administrators with enhanced opportunities to discuss strategy and different practices related to contract-enforcement efforts to find ways to make ALPA work in the area even stronger.

ALPA’s Board of Directors at its meeting last fall emphasized that the grievance process is more than just a routine function. BOD Delegate Committee 2 recommended that contract enforcement efforts be treated as a vital component of every pilot group’s strategic plan.

The roundtable discussion was moderated by Capt. Jerry Schoofs, UAL Grievance Chairman; Jim Wilson, Assistant Director of Representation; and Andrew Shostack, Supervisor, Representation. Pilot grievance representatives and staff contract administrators reviewed and compared training practices, grievance filing and tracking processes, the handling of initial and appeal hearings, alternative dispute resolution methods, and new tools, including electronic products developed by ALPA’s IT Department, to facilitate the work of Grievance Committee volunteers.

Pilots and staff from the following ALPA carriers were present at the meeting: Air Transat, American Eagle, ASTAR Air Cargo, Atlantic Southeast, Capital Cargo, Colgan Air, Comair, Continental, Delta, Evergreen, ExpressJet, FedEx Express, Midwest, Pinnacle, Spirit, and United.

ALPA’s Representation Department offers the Best Dispute Resolution Practices Round Table in addition to its annual Grievance Training Seminar, which prepares pilots to serve as Grievance Committee members.