As most of you have heard there are more rumors regarding layoffs. We have heard 200WARN notices went out in ORD. Also several hundred in SFO and over 100 in LAX went out. Also, I do not know, but have heard that the number of openings here has decreased.
As far as looking for employment outside of United, Larry Bailey found a job fair put on by the Loudon County Chamber of Commerce. This job fair happened last week and I attended briefly. There were a couple of companies looking for people with mechanical backgrounds. I have written the Chamber and asked to be included for notices of future job fairs they hold. For anyone interested the Rep from L3 communications is also still looking for people.
For grievance activity the people involved in the secondary bumps at IAD have filed first steps on WARN notices. The company has denied these and I am going to discuss this further with Bob Luciano. One important thing regarding grievances is the amount of time we have between each step. If you have filed a first step complaint it is important to ensure the paperwork makes it to the office on-time. We had one that didn't make it and it would be dead except an extension was granted by the company.
I will be attending the union meeting in New York tomorrow to discuss some issues and pick up the jackets.
For MM I have asked the company to consider doing the 767 A-checks outside in an effort to keep more people here. Also we will be sitting down and discussing the Overseas EFS rules on Tuesday. I have also been informed the company will be cracking down on sick time and some performance issues. I strongly disagree with their stance and we will be forced to challenge them through the grievance procedure.
For GQ the ten hour schedule looks to be moving forward. It also appears another lead will be added to the midnight shift.
In BAL I got a question about our job duties. The manager was asking for detailed reports of weekly job activities. After attempting to call her with no response I advised that this was not within the scope of our work and they should have the Manager contact me if she disagreed.
It seems like we are in for a rough couple of months. Please remember to keep your cool. Don't give the company an easy excuse to fire you.
That's all for this week,
Bob
