General Items
Negotiations went ok this week with the company choosing two very difficult articles to start with. They were the grievance procedure and the new layoff and recall article. The official report can be found here.
I had the opportunity to meet with Labor Relations to discuss some open issues and resolution was reached on testing for bumping into the MM side.
Chris Moore from the TAMC (Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition) walked the floor on Thursday evening and Friday morning. Chris met with several members to discuss how the IBT could better represent us. I felt this was a productive visit and several ideas were passed to Chris.
Tom Reid and Jeff Conley lobbied this week with the TAMC to address three issues. The issues were Outsourcing, the Express Carrier language, and the Employee Free Choice Act. According to both of them the meetings went well. The objective was to reach Republican Senators to explain our stance on these issues. For the outsourcing everyone understood that foreign MRO's need to operate in the same manner as domestic facilities, and this apparently got a lot of traction. Also the Express Carrier legislation was received well. However the EFCA was met with a resounding no from Republican members of the Senate.
MM
As stated above the testing issue has been resolved. There will be tests but they are to evaluate training liabilities only. One member that had been denied entry will be reporting on Monday as well as all the recalls. I do not yet know the report dates for the GQ/PV personnel transferring into MM.
I am working on resolution of an outstanding third step which dealt with an incorrect recall and subsequent bump of one of our members. This issue would have been resolved already but apparently a previous third step decision may have changed the recall process. This decision came from Denver under AMFA and I am waiting to get the file for review.
The cabin crew eight hour day has been given to the local Managers from what Ron Buettenmuller told me on Friday. I pressed Ron to review a possible plan for a ten hour schedule for this group, and Ron's answer was no. I explained that the IBT wanted the cabin crew to work every bit as much as the Company did, but that it was unlikely this goal could be achieved on a 6 & 2 schedule. Ron reiterated that the Company did not want to expand the ten hour schedule as they were looking to remove it for the rest of the station minus the late days crew.
GQ
Eric Harger has volunteered to help with the TAMC by writing articles for "Nuts and Bolts". If there is an issue you would like addressed in this publication please see Eric.
A perception that the Union made a deal to bring in a mechanic from Boston was brought to my attention this week. As I am responsible for ensuring the contract is enforced here at Dulles I can assure you this is not true. I found the answer to the recall question in an older version of series 75-2 on page 118 and the Company performed the action correctly. The timing of the opening is the only open question and I will pursue this if the member bidding MM declines that position. I agree it would have been better if the Company actually put paper in the local bidders hand prior to declaring a vacancy, but again this was no deal on my part.
PV
The Labor Management meeting will be held on Wednesday at 2:15pm. We will discuss open grievances as well as the outsourcing in the shop.
There were several questions regarding the 59 day assignment for HVAC as well as the bidding procedure for the shop. I will bring both of these issues up at Wednesday's meeting. Our language is not the best for both of these issues but they are being addressed in negotiations. Both can be reviewed in the Union's opener found here.
If anyone is interested in contributing to "Nuts and Bolts" please let me know and I will pass your information on to Chris.
That's all for now,
Bob
