Candidate questions for Local 357.

TLDR…Local 357 has made major progress rebuilding the union’s foundation: modernizing IT, strengthening grievance tracking, expanding steward and legal support, improving budgeting discipline, and creating a more organized Executive Board process. The strongest areas are contract enforcement, legal/steward representation, safety, and scheduling support, while the biggest improvement needed is clearer, shorter, more consistent communication that reaches pilots across all generations. The next leadership priorities are completing the JCBA, navigating a fair and legally defensible SLI, continuing to fight for better schedules and quality of life, improving outreach with other pilot groups, and maintaining financial accountability while building on the systems already put in place. Full text below

How would you assess the current condition of Local 357?

Very Strong.

What is working well today?

When the Current Executive Board took office the status of the local was in rough shape. The Local had no liability insurance, an IT system that was outdated and ineffective at best. The grievance tracking system was outdated, slow and did not meet the needs of the Stewards. Today, the IT foundation has been modernized to include the Local 357 app as well as the membership database and grievance tracking system.

In January 2024 there were just a handful of active Stewards and a part-time General Counsel. Now we have just a few open positions for Stewards and a full-time General Counsel that has more than 25 years Federal and State litigation experience licensed in Indiana and Illinois.

When the Current Executive Board won the last election, the exiting Executive Board and the current Executive Board spent a week together to transition and we were in shock. During the week that we spent with them, there was no order and no agenda. Officers were in and out of the room and we were told that it was like “herding cats.” It was clear how so little was being done due to the chaos. The current Executive Board at once implemented a schedule and agenda for Executive Board meetings and became much more efficient which means more is done and less flight pay loss (FPL) saving your dues.

We also immediately implemented a budget, there needed to be a clear understanding of where money was being spent and how much. This came with a lot of push back from some committee members because it was a change and a significant one. It is a requirement to be responsible with your dues.

What should members understand about the progress made by the current administration?

The Local is a business, we have income, and responsibilities to our customer which is you. To really get the Local running right we had to build the foundation which took a considerable amount of time and effort. The IT systems, staffing the committees, training new committee members at the same time working under an NDA about the Mesa merger. The resources that were deployed had to be able to work independently on their individual tasks at hand for the common goal of making the Local more efficient and effective. That foundation is strong and we will continue to move forward to implement processes that serve the Pilot group better. So, from the outside looking in, it may look like not much has been done but it has been a lot of work, and we are immensely proud of the work that we have completed. The All in Slate is even more excited to see it all come together and show you.

What needs improvement?

Communication, and we will say this for the previous Executive Board, the current one and the one that follows the All in Slate. Here is the struggle and we see it often while talking to Pilots. We put out information and a week later get asked a question that was addressed in earlier communications. If the communication is too long, we lose the reader. If it is too short, we do not get the complete message delivered. With four separate generations working here at Republic, meeting the communication needs of each generation is extremely hard. What we will do, in each communication we will put a TLDR one paragraph synopsis of the information with a link to the complete text. Hopefully, this will help and we are completely open to hearing what works best to reach all our members.

Flipping book, not a fan. It was an attempt to be more modern, but we missed the mark on that one. It is too small and hard to read, I would like to change that.

Education, for a lot of Pilots here this is the first time they have been a Union member. It is much different than a non-union environment that most came from. It safe to say that half of our seniority list has never been through a negotiation, a merger, or a legal battle. This is why communication is so important, we cannot educate without communicating.

What remaining challenges should the next leadership team address first?

First, JCBA. Hopefully a JCBA can be completed quickly and out for a vote. One thing that is particularly important to understand is that the JCBA is Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement meaning that the Mesa Pilot Working Agreement and our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) are merged in this process. This is not the traditional negotiations where each article of the CBA is open for debate, only those that are in direct conflict between the two agreements. This will be an incredible challenge to sell to the Pilot group.

Second, Seniority List Integration (SLI). This is usually the most contentious part of a merger because how it affects every Pilot. We have heard many times from Pilots that they should be “Stapled” to our list and that is just not legally possible. The law requires that the SLI must be “Fair and equitable.” Again, this will be a challenge to get through between both Pilot groups. Anthony Campo and Phil Carter have built incredible and trusting relationships with the Mesa ALPA leadership so that together we can get through this as fair as we can. We understand how important this is to get completed and become one airline.

How effective is Local 357 at representing Republic pilots, and where must representation improve?

How effective is the union in…

contract enforcement, very effective. In a conversation with a Company Senior VP, Anthony Campo was told that “the Company knows the Union will fight to the death.” The Company knows that we are here to stand for our Pilots.

grievances, we have not missed one deadline for the grievance process for any of the grievances that have been denied by the Company. That being said, Labor Relations is very slow to get things moving and shows with the current backlog of grievances. This has been brought to the attention of the Company’s Executive Leadership Team on multiple occasions by the entire current Executive Board.

disciplinary representation, extraordinarily strong. We have been able to save Pilots from termination for a multitude of reasons when Company policy or the CBA did not agree. In fact, two probationary Pilots we were able to return to work after termination. This is a big deal, you never know when you might find yourself in a disciplinary situation. The arbitration process is overwhelmed. Arbitrators are a dying breed, we are struggling to find available Arbitrators. We are getting Arbitration available Arbitration dates in Q2 of 2027.

scheduling issues, and quality of life concerns. This is a concern for everyone, and it affects the lives of everyone including the Executive Board and all the Union Volunteers, nobody is immune to this. We all know that new bidding software has been implemented by the Company for bidding of schedules. This has not been the result that the Union and the Company really wanted. Prior to the rollout, the Company and the Union worked very closely to educate how different this new product is. We have continued to work with the Company to highlight problems with the software that they can take back to the vendor.

Ultimately pairing building is an issue. To explain the process your Scheduling Committee through the Pairings Surveys try to build pairings that best fit the responses from those surveys. The Flight Attendants Scheduling Committee also builds pairings as does the Company. Once each group presents their solutions to the Company, the Company then applies metrics that best fits their needs. One thing that has been a noticeable change is the number of commutable pairings. This has not gone unnoticed or not communicated to the Company. This will continue to be an uphill battle, but we are ready for the challenge and will do our best to make improvements.

communication, like we said earlier, good-bye flipping book.

Where is representation strongest?

Safety, always a strong leader and we are known for having the best fatigue policy amongst all US carriers. Legal and Stewards, both those groups have worked very hard and put in a lot of effort getting the new processes up to speed. Our in-house IT guys working with Legal and Stewards were able to build a direct grievance filing link and publish to the Local 357 app within 24 hours after the settlement for 23.C. Scheduling with the podcast and bidding help they do is incredible. HIMS guys have a true passion for helping our Pilots when they may have gone a little too far down the wrong road

Where is representation weakest?

Working with other carriers outside of CAPA. There are a lot of things that other carriers do that could really be helpful to us, they could also be a great sounding board of things they have tried and were not successful.

We need to take a close look at some things that have slipped away from us during such a busy time. Government Affairs is one of them and that is one that got away from us. We know the Administrator of the FAA and we should be doing more. No excuses, it is something we can fix.

Jumpseat, we still think there are a lot of things we can work on with the APA people in Dallas to change how we are prioritized in their jumpseat. If you commute you know exactly how hard it can be. We will make a trip to DFW to talk to them and see if there is an amicable solution that fits the needs of both groups.

What specific changes would you make to improve member support?

Communication, we must figure out how to reach all the Pilots spread across 4 generations. It is important for us remember that we have Pilots here that use to talk on a phone with a cord attached to it and other Pilots who have never seen that in person, just pictures or videos. Each generation has an expectation of how information should be delivered and it is this slates responsibility to fix it. First thing that we will try is a TLDR, one paragraph synopsis with a link to the full text. But we need your help, please let us know. We have been listening.

Again, so long flipping book.

How would members know whether representation has improved?

Great question and let us try our best to answer this. You should see faster responses, clear ownership of your concerns, consistent contract enforcement, and documented results. You should know what we are working on, what has been accomplished, and what still needs to be done. The biggest struggle that any Executive Board will have is giving enough information while still protecting NDA’s. In the end it really comes down to each Pilots personal experience. We would be irresponsible to say we will make everyone happy, but we will always work to represent this Pilot group.

How does Local 357 compare with peer regional pilot groups, and what lessons should we take from those comparisons?

How does our contract compare with other regional pilot contracts?

Our contract in many ways is better than most, but we also have places in there where it is the worst. It was negotiated in the 2022 CBA Article 3.O to give the Company complete discretion in new hire and upgrade incentives. This also included payment, repayment, and the terms were at the Company’s discretion.

How does our representation compare?

We have a great relationship with with the other IBT locals and help each other out when we can. One of the issues that arose in this campaign was that the HIMS committee was defunded. This is inaccurate, we have asked another Local as well as Mesa ALPA as to how they fund and give Flight Pay Loss (FPL). At another IBT Local, the HIMS mentors are purely volunteers and the only FPL they receive is for conferences. Mesa ALPA pays FPL for conferences and cell phone bills of mentors up to $75 a month. We currently give the HIMS committee four (4) Union days for outreach and education per month as well as conferences.

Does Local 357 have enough trained people in place to serve the membership effectively?

How many officer; representative, steward, and committee positions are currently vacant?

Not many, we were just notified today that two Stewards are leaving and one other Committee Chairpersons. HIMS would like to add more mentors, but we have not seen that request.

How many people have left or stepped down in the past twelve months?

Other than the three from above

Is staffing affecting representation, grievances, communication, or member services?

No

What is your plan to recruit, train, and retain qualified volunteers and representatives?

Just like the Company, retention can sometimes be very difficult when hiring starts again in full swing at the majors. The one thing that is important is always having trained groups that are ready to either step into a chairperson role or be able to train new committee members.

How would you increase member participation without overburdening volunteers?

This is done by right sizing the committees, sharing the work amongst committee members divides the effort and multiplies the effect. However, we do have some limits placed on us. For example, the bylaws set the maximum allowable number of Stewards we can have at any given time.

How should members understand where their dues are going and whether those dollars are being used effectively?

All of these questions are answered at the General Meeting

What should members be told regularly, and how should communication be improved?

All answered above

What are your top priorities for Local 357, and what concrete steps would you take to accomplish them?

What are the three most important issues facing Republic pilots?

Schedules, JCBA, and SLI

What action would you take on each issue?

Answered above

What resources, staffing, or member involvement would be required?

We don’t have that answer yet, but we do recognize that there will be more opportunities for Pilots that would like to help.

What measurable results should members expect?

The JCBA you will see a vote unless it goes to arbitration, SLI will be announced. You will not miss it. Schedules, that is a tough one, we will not make broad statements and give unrealistic expectations, but you can expect us to keep working with the Company to make them better.

If elected, what would you preserve, what would you change, and how should members evaluate your leadership?

When the All in Slate is elected, we will continue to build on the foundation that we have worked so hard to put in place. The two main jobs of a local is to bargain for and enforce the agreed upon contract. Not that anything else that the Union does is not just as important but without bargaining and enforcement, none of the other committees can survive.

You will continue to see accountability for spending and an open invite to schedule an appointment to review the finances and spending of your local, the review must be done in person though. You will not see broad statements about open funding with no understanding of what is being spent in this campaign.

There is a time to collaborate, there is a time to cooperate, but there is never a time to capitulate. A Local must stand strong, they must be seen and they must be heard.

Because things are so incredibly busy with JCBA, SLI and the implementation that goes a long with that, there is one especially important thing to consider. That is continuity, having the group that negotiated implement the JCBA is paramount. A new board coming in with a short period prior to implementation there will be a lot missed. We have ball rolling in the right direction.

Do not be fooled by broad campaign slogans and promises. We admit that there is always room for improvement and will work towards always being better. The question that you must answer is if you want representation especially if you find yourself on the wrong side of discipline. If your answer is yes, then the All in Slate is the only vote for you.