This was a busy week. The most important development this week was the release of the contract proposal forms. After some modification two forms are now available, one is to be printed out and hand written and the other is a fill in form. If you do the fill in version please e-mail it to me so I can compile all of them.
I reported previously for the MM group that management would begin to discipline people for violations of the rules that management may have missed or ignored in the past. After a meeting with the GQ management this week it is apparent the GQ group is going to come under the same scrutiny. The union will do it's best to protect you, however it is a good idea not to get into a situation to begin with. In MM the company has lived up to it's word and has begun disciplining people and I'm sure GQ will follow. There has been nothing said as far as PV goes but in this environment it would not surprise me if they also followed this policy. My advice is to do your work and don't give the company the opportunity to give you discipline. If you are doing your job the company will almost never prevail in the later stages of the grievance procedure.
For MM this week the ESS grievances were refiled and I expect an answer in the coming week. The vacation rules are out and there were no changes from last year. The reason for this is the large amount of unused DAT's on each shift. It is difficult to argue that we need more DAT usage if these days go unused. For all shifts there were untaken days in the spring and fall with the summer months used up. The company did commit to looking at opening up DAT slots as they determine manpower requirements on a roughly bimonthly schedule. While it is fresh in our minds I would suggest if you wish to see changes to next years rules that you get together with me to discuss areas of concern. On a positive note we were briefed on the hangar situation, and it continues to look positive for IAD getting the old ACA hangar. I remain skeptical but hopeful.
For GQ this week as I reported earlier I had a meeting with Greg and Duane on Wednesday. In addition to discussing people that, in the companies opinion are not performing their work, we also talked about some other small items in the shop. Both of these guys understand there are limited parts, but would like to see the lines of communication open up more with the leads. For instance if you don't have the parts to do your job let the lead know so that if management wants an update they can get it from the leads. The ten hour day schedule was also briefly talked about. One of the displaced mechanics passed the PV test and will report to that shop on December 7th.
For PV this week as stated earlier one mechanic will be reporting and no one will be bumped because of a voluntary furlough. The dayshift is working on an outsourcing grievance and I will report more on this when an answer is given. I was also given a report, after requesting one, for the mandatory overtime situation from two weeks ago.
As far as the TAA/ATAA program I found on the DOL website that AMFA had tried this as well in 2005 and were denied at each Station going through layoffs at that time. The case numbers were 58129A through M. This does not mean we will not prevail, but we need help on this legislatively. As reported in previous weeks the person from the DOL thought service personnel affected by foreign trade could be added and it is my opinion that this would be a perfect addition to the upcoming second stimulus package. It is imperative that we write our Congressional Representatives to let them know our feelings on this issue. If you would like a copy of the letter I sent let me know. For those who have also written if you forward your letters to me I will pass them on to others looking for ideas on how to write their own letters.
That's all for this week,
Bob
