IFALPA Negotiations Seminar 2018

Course Description & Objectives

The course is designed as an introduction and guide to Industrial Negotiation in the airline industry from a pilot's perspective. It is suitable for both newly-elected representatives with little negotiating experience, as well as more experienced representatives that wish to further develop their skills.

It is an intensive course and attendees should also expect to work in the evenings. The first two days are for instruction and on the third day the participants will be put into teams, either representing the management or the union, and will conduct a real time simulated negotiation with a strike deadline against another opposing team.

The negotiation is based on extensive briefing material on the history of the company and background to the dispute, different confidential instructions are also given to both the management and union sides, which have just enough overlap to make an agreement possible. The simulation will be observed by one of the instructors who will give a critique at the conclusion of the exercise.

Many of the current leaders of Member Associations are past participants of the course, which has been running for close to twenty years, and it enjoys an excellent reputation with very positive feedback.

Course Outline

The course covers:

• Negotiations Overview
• The Role of Union Leadership
• Strategic Planning
• The role of economic and financial analysis in negotiations
• Consensus Decision Making
• Negotiations Administration
• Union leadership in negotiations
• Industrial action and IFALPA Mutual Assistance
• A financial overview of the industry

Ana McAhron-Schulz

Ms. Ana McAhron-Schulz is the Director of the Economic and Financial Analysis Department (E&FA) for the Air Line Pilots Association, International. She is responsible for all economic and financial analyses in support of ALPA’s efforts in collective bargaining, strategic planning, litigation, public relations and legislative activities, including: evaluation of corporate financial results and business plans; development of bargaining strategies and contract proposals on economic issues; economic modeling and forecasting, including the valuation of contract proposals; advice on financial matters to union members on corporate boards of directors; and industry and labor research and analysis.

Ms. McAhron-Schulz serves as a primary financial advisor for ALPA carriers regarding contract negotiations, restructuring transactions, corporate buyouts and airline bankruptcies. Ms. McAhron-Schulz has also provided expert testimony at various arbitrations and bankruptcy court hearings on behalf of the Association and its members. She and her department also provide significant support on regional and international code sharing issues to member airlines, as well as on other issues related to airline globalization.

Over the course of her career and through ALPA’s former subsidiary, the International Pilot Services Corporation, Ms. McAhron-Schulz has also served as financial advisor to the pilots of Aer Lingus, KLM, Air France, Cathay Pacific, TAP Air Portugal, SAS, South African Airways, Spanair and Sabena, among others. She is an industrial advisor to the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations (IFALPA) and participates at various training seminars and conferences for IFALPA. She was awarded a Presidential Citation from IFALPA for her extensive work and counsel in the field of industrial relations. In February, 2013, Ms. McAhron-Schulz represented IFALPA at the International Labor Organization’s Global Dialogue Forum on Aviation.

In 2010, the US Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, appointed Ms. McAhron-Schulz to serve on the Future of Aviation Advisory Committee which was tasked to to provide information, advice and recommendations to the DOT to ensure the competitiveness of the U.S. aviation industry and its capability to address the evolving transportation needs, challenges, and opportunities of the U.S. and global economies.

Ms. McAhron-Schulz has a B.A. in International Studies and Economics and an M.B.A. from The American University in Washington, D.C. She has worked for ALPA for 32 years

Ken Cooper

Ken Cooper received his BS degree from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and his JD degree from Georgetown University Law School.

He worked for the US National Labor Relations Board for four years before beginning a thirty-five year career with ALPA, first in Los Angeles, and then in Washington, DC. Ken has extensive experience representing professional pilots in contract negotiations and contract administration through arbitration, and has led numerous campaigns to organize unrepresented pilots into ALPA.

Ken was a principle developer of the negotiations training curriculum, and he has been a presenter in over thirty such programs for ALPA and IFALPA.

Cpt. Henk de Vries

Captain Henk de Vries is a B777/787 pilot with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. He joined the airline in 1985 as First Officer of the DC-9, and later the B747. He became a Captain, flew the B737 for 12 years, and then transferred to the 777 in 2005. He holds the position of line training Captain since 2011.

His career with VNV (Dutch ALPA) started when he became member of the Pilot Employee’s Council. After a few years he was appointed the Chairman of the Council and entered the Pilots’ Union Board. He served in various positions, including VNV President from 2001-2005, in which he led the pilot group through the merger with Air France.

After his VNV career, Henk was elected Vice President of the European Cockpit Association, a position he held for four and a half years. During the same period, he represented the European pilots on the board of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA).

Henk served in various other functions including Strike Committee Chairman (during the 1995 KLM pilots’ strike and the 2018 KLM CLA conflict), co-chairman of the IFALPA Strategic Review Group (SRG), chairman of the ECA Long Term Review Group, and the ECA Flight Data working group.

He lives in the town of Maarssen, in the central part of The Netherlands, with his wife Jeannette.

Andrew Shostack

Andrew joined the Air Line Pilots Association in 1996 as an attorney in the Representation Department where he served as the senior contract administrator in the Association’s Phoenix, Arizona, office. As a senior contract administrator Andrew served as the staff negotiator and assisted with negotiations and writing contract language. Andrew represented pilots involved in various disputes, counseled pilots on contractual, operational, medical, and insurance issues, and worked closely with the pilot group's elected leaders.

In 2006, Andrew was promoted to supervisor in the Representation Department, and in 2015 was promoted to Assistant Director. As an Assistant Director, Andrew helps oversee and coordinate the Representation Department’s work in negotiations, which includes bargaining pilot agreements, assisting negotiating committees and pilot leaders in strategizing for and managing negotiations, interacting with government mediators, and lecturing at ALPA and IFALPA negotiation seminars. Andrew also assists with administering the department’s contract enforcement efforts, organizing initiatives and FAA enforcement and medical case handling. Andrew works out of the Association’s Herndon, Virginia and Washington, DC offices.

Andrew received his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arizona. He is a cum laude graduate with his Juris Doctorate from the Thomas M. Cooley Law School, where he was an associate editor of the Law Review. He graduated with distinction from the Georgetown University Law Center’s Master’s in Law program, concentrating on labor and employment law.

This Seminar reached its maximum capacity. Registration is now closed.

Dutch Air Line Pilots Association