There was an investigation this week that demonstrated how important honesty is when dealing with the company and outside agencies. The individual being questioned was forthright and took all responsibility for the incident refusing to implicate others. Everyone involved was impressed and the individual being investigated was exonerated. I know it seems easy to try to make things better by fudging the facts or hiding from responsibility, but time and again in hearings and investigations the people that choose the higher road fare better.
In MM there was a discussion on how field services are called. For long term trips anticipated to last longer than 24 hours with more than 24 hours advance notice everyone will be called. For all other trips the regular efs call sheet will be used. There was a grievance filed for a vacancy created in another station. This grievance was denied and will be processed to the second step next week. The issue of concrete dust on the ramp was discussed with management. It is my position that no one should work under a cloud of concrete dust. The contractor responsible for this will only use water to minimize the dust upon request. Management is supposed to request the use of water, so if you see concrete dust let management know so they can tell the contractor to use water.
In GQ/PV this week a couple of smaller issues were discussed with management. These issues seemed to be resolved but I will continue to monitor them. There has been no resolution yet on the PV vacation issue. I will try to get together with Mark next week to talk about it.
The pilots this week decided maintenance standards at UAL have become lax. They are a couple of years late in noticing this. Maybe with continued pressure from the Teamsters, the Business Travelers Coalition the TAMC and now the Pilots, people will begin to pay attention. Here is a link to the story if you haven't seen it http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN0851299220080809?rpc=44
Also last week the TTD ( Transportation Trades Department ) of the AFL-CIO sent out a letter regarding changes coming from the NMB regarding how union representation is decided in mergers. The NMB have determined a substantial majority ( no definition of this ) of people would need to support a union rather than the 50% plus one previously required. This information was passed on to the TAMC. Here is a link to the TTD, http://www.ttd.org/
There only about twenty more people needing to fill out membership applications. I have requested some more applications and will be getting them to you as soon as possible.
The Teamsters are trying to get 1 million people to sign cards regarding the Employee Free Choice Act. These are the post card sized cards you have been filling out. I would like to thank everyone for their support so far. We are well over 50% signed after a little over a week of passing these cards out. This along with the issue regarding the NMB are two very good reasons to be involved in politics. If anyone is interested in signing up for DRIVE, the Teamsters Political Action Committee, I have the cards in my office.
That's all for this week,
Bob
