I am going on vacation next week so it is likely there will be no report unless something dramatic happens.
This morning on CNBC Governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania talked about the breakdown in the auto bailout. What he said was interesting, noting that while UAW workers would have been required to accept wage and benefit concessions executives would have been immune. He further said if salaries were truly the issue and a Japanese model was to be copied then the brass at these companies would need to be tied to a ten to fifteen times salary of the lowest paid workers. Whether you are for or against the bailout it is clear the Republican party still has the blue collar workers clearly in their sights.
A Craft meeting will be held on January the 14th in conference room B of the airport managers office. The times will be 8:30am, 12:30pm and 3:00pm. The agenda will include contract proposals as well as a report on outstanding grievances.
This week we were told that the ACA hangar would be almost impossible to modify for wide-body use. However Tim Canavan was here on Thursday and told us they still like the facility and plan on building a wide-body hangar adjacent to the current facility. Tim told us he thought we would be in this new facility around October, and Don Burbank said he felt it would be more towards the end of 2009. Don and Tim both also briefed us that there is a potential for increased international flying out of Dulles beginning in the summer months. Several cities are currently being studied according to them.
Several members brought forth concerns about this years vacation rules in MM. To address these issues I have formed a vacation committee. The members of this committee are for days Tony Urso, swings Jay Koreny, and mids Jim Forner. If you have ideas regarding vacation rule changes please pass them onto these members. I have also learned of an issue with the PV vacation rules and will be happy to do the same for this group if there is an interest.
Today we had our weekly conference call of Business Agents and Grievance Coordinators. We learned that the leaders of the IBT met with the DOT transition team and they discussed issues that were important to the membership including outsourcing. The IBT leadership felt this meeting went very well. We also discussed the system shakedown and several of us will be present during the process in San Francisco on December 30th. Contract proposal forms have been sent out and I have re-attached the forms to this letter.
In MM I tried to get a third step hearing scheduled regarding the previous layoff, but I continue to get pushback from the company. At this point our legal counsel would like to review all third steps and formulate a plan moving forward.
No hearing has yet been scheduled for the lead opening grievance in PV but I will attempt to get this done around the beginning of the year. An issue was also brought to my attention regarding the misuse of the 59 day temporary assignment in PV. At this point that issue appears to be resolved.
For GQ this week there was an issue with the RDO bid forms but a resolution was reached and the company is working to correct this. There was also issues with the final paychecks for the members bumped in the December round but it looks like Greg Pinelli was able to get this problem resolved.
As you know negotiations will be starting soon. It is my opinion that these negotiations will be lengthy and hard fought. With that in mind now is the time to begin to prepare for the possibility of a strike action on this company. What can you do and why is it important? The most important thing you can do for yourself and the membership is to pay down your debt and begin to build an emergency fund. The reason this is so important is a cash strapped individual is less likely to honor a picket line than a person in better financial condition. If we show our resolve through preparation it sends a strong message to the company that we are serious about recovering what we have lost and making gains on top of that. A poorly prepared membership will not reap the benefits we so sorely require.
That's all for this week,
Bob
