General Information
Last week I was in San Francisco for negotiations. As stated in the update we are using the CAL agreement as a template moving forward as we work towards a new agreement. If you would like to study the CAL agreement it can be found here. The CAL agreement is superior in many ways including both language and money items. There are however a few things that we have in our agreement that are better and will need to be kept.
The archived CSPAN video of the House hearing held on the 16th regarding the merger can be found here. This video is about 2 hours long and includes the testimony of both CEO’s. At close to 1:28:15 on the video there is questioning about future outsourcing in San Francisco. In addition, I posted the link on the blog to the full hearing video and written testimony here. This is a four hour video and I haven’t watched it all yet. I have read the testimony of the witnesses, and it is about what you would expect. The pilots are generally for it and calling for reparations, the IAM is against it, and the AFA is concerned. As the IAM stands the most to lose in this merger (26000 members) their position is understandable.
Along the lines of the situation the IAM is in, someone from San Francisco emailed this letter lampooning a member of the IAM-CDU. The author of the missive rips into Jim Seitz about his record, as well as his motivation to organize the IAM back on to the property. The letter also talks about a point I’d like to expound upon somewhat, and that is the timing of the card drive. The author correctly points out that we are in contract talks, and that in the recent past this was used as a vehicle to organize. The sad truth is this is the time we are most vulnerable to these drives because this is a long and uncertain process. It is rare to see a drive start after negotiations conclude because that is generally when most members are satisfied and it is harder to motivate a person to sign a card. With that said, I’m past the middle of my career and the way I see it, this is the time to make up the ground we lost in past agreements so that we are someday able to retire. Keeping that in mind, the folks running these drives for various unions are doing both you and I a great disservice by giving the impression that we are a divided group and that therefore weakens our position at the table. How can this possibly help us gain what we so desperately need? Short answer, it can’t, doesn’t, and won’t. Just something to think about when you’re handed that card.
MM
There were several questions from the last report about the JBA. This is the new third step of the grievance procedure and the MOU can be found here. The settlement referred to in the last update is close to completion and should be done this week. There are still four cases waiting to be presented at the JBA for Dulles.
GQ
There is nothing to report this week for the GQ shop
PV
I am still waiting for written answers to the second steps presented a while back. The answers may be waiting for me in the office upon return as I’ve not been there for two weeks. I update the Stewards when I receive the answers.
That’s all for now,
Bob
