The question I was asked most this week was what is happening in regards to the outsourcing of GQ/PV work in the nine stations. Unfortunately all I know is that there will be further meetings to discuss this item and that so far nothing has been determined. When I do get solid information I'll let each of you know.
In MM this week I was asked if the Arbitrator had answered the twenty percent outsourcing case. As of last Friday he had not issued a ruling. Also there was some question about who should be selected for the temporary assignment in Denver. The answer is found in Art XI, I and LOA 84-7M, which provides for who shall be chosen for these assignments and what the Company's responsibility is in awarding them. Essentially people who have been laid off from a point would have first right of refusal of temporary work at that point. We are attempting to schedule the outstanding second steps, but everyone involved is currently very busy, however we should have these heard within two weeks. It is now more than three months into the year and it is a very good time to start planning vacation rules. If you have an idea to improve the vacation rules please see Tony Urso on dayshift, Jay Koreny on swings or Jim Forner on mids as these are the members of the vacation rules committee. On Friday I met with our Attorney to discuss the upcoming station shutdown arbitration case, and we will be meeting again next week. While not getting into the specifics of it I feel very confident that, first the right person is handling it, and second that the Union has a very strong case.
For PV I was informed that they will be posting a lead position, but I have not withdrawn the second step because there are pay and seniority implications which need to be resolved. Also after talking to Steve Loughman, we decided it would be in everyone's interest to have monthly Labor/Management meetings again. These meetings will be held on the last Wednesday of each month at 2pm. After the meetings any open second steps will be heard. This is a good mechanism for resolving issues in this shop and it has worked well in the past. As for vacation items Larry informed me that he met with Shop Steward John Jenkins and they reviewed the manpower and workload and opened the normal compliment of DAT's for Easter week.
For GQ not much happened this week but I talked with Brian McNichols and Greg Pinelli about a budget issue that they addressed last week. They were able to adjust the budget to meet the current manpower requirements in the shop. I was asked by a couple of members about the Air Serv contract. There is a feeling that the mechanics are being run around to fix Air Serv's equipment which is in need of repair and they are eating into time spent on United's equipment. My thought on this is to make sure that the sales and service slips are filled out each time you do one of these calls so that we can show the need for additional manpower.
The last blog post was about the terrible shape the PBGC fund is currently in, and here is another article on the matter.
That's all for this week
Bob
No comments:
Post a Comment