I'm sure many of you have seen the details of the point system the IAM agreed to, but if you haven't here is a link to the LOU. In addition, there is much more information found here on the left side of the page. Of particular note is the Company's ability to opt out with notice to the Union, but there is no reciprocal agreement for the Union. This is understandable given that the Union conceded this language to save several hundred jobs in Chicago. It remains to be seen if this language will save that number of jobs systemwide however. The reason for this is simple. If you take all the people currently towards the upper end of discipline and give those members very narrow parameters to maintain employment then it is conceivable the job loss could be spread over the system as opposed to one large group from the Chicago Local. In short this letter was negotiated to save the Company money. That money must be saved in some manner and this would lessen the sting in Chicago. As you know the Union agreed to this without a vote of the membership. The goal of any Union is to preserve jobs with the best wages and work rules possible and we should expect or Bargaining Agent to do what it can to achieve this goal. However, when there is a concessionary fundamental change in the Agreement, especially something that has been continually ratified since 1982, the members should decide if this is in our best interests through a vote.
