There is little to report this week as I was in San Francisco for the JBA followed by negotiations. The overall tone for this week was positive with some progress made. To see the latest negotiations updates click the link at the top of the page.
The Joint Board went well in my opinion. Only one member, Clacy Griswold, had any experience with the process. Given that this process was new it went surprisingly well. Each grievance was given a full review and decided on their respective merits. Each side's members truly acted as neutrals, and to be honest I was pleasantly surprised about that fact. Without getting into specifics it was encouraging to see the Company members of the Board pointing out areas of concern with presentations from Labor Relations. It is my hope that this spirit of cooperation will continue to the betterment of the membership.
However, there is one huge negative issue which cast a pall over the entire proceedings this week. That is the autoshop outsourcing issue which continues in San Francisco and Dulles Airports. Some of you may know there is a systemwide committee led by Greg Sullivan from San Francisco to deal with this. There is also a committee of local people in IAD that are working diligently towards a resolution to keep the work inhouse. Two members of this local committee met last week with Senator Byrd's office, Congressman Wolfe's office and Dr. Gordon Lafer, Senior Labor Policy Advisor on the Labor and Education Committee, from Congressman George Miller's office. The two members visiting the Hill were Eric Harger and Jay Obst.
That's all for now,
Bob
