DOJ approval

Here is the article from Reuters describing DOJ approval of the UAL/CAL merger.

AA TWU TA results

The official election results of the TA at American with the TWU can be found here.

GQ/PV visit

Today Airline Division Director David Bourne and IBT Counsel Ed Gleason visited with the Auto Shop and Facilities members in IAD. The purpose of the visit was to discuss the recent negotiated relief between the IBT and United Services to eliminate all dependability related discipline. Several members had pointed questions surrounding this decision, and both David and Ed explained what led to the decision by United Services as well as the current state of this issue for the members in Airport Operations.

According to David this started as a negotiation that included every Teamster on the property; however four days prior to the announcement VP Scott Dolan said there was no problem with dependability in his Teamster covered shops. Mr. Dolan then informed everyone that he decided not join the rest of the Company in this agreement.

Both Ed and David informed the members today that this is not the end of this process. We were told that it is the position of the IBT that they will not stop working on this issue until all members are treated equally.

There was also some discussion surrounding negotiations with regard to scope, pension and work rules. Unfortunately time didn't permit every question to be answered, but both David and Ed will return Friday for further discussions.

I would like to thank these men for their time today. As many of you know, this visit was initiated because of the concerns of members on the floor. Calls were made to relay these concerns to the IBT, and David and Ed responded by scheduling this visit as soon as possible. I can't remember the last time any high ranking union official of any of the previous unions responded to our concerns in this fashion, this fast.

That's all for now,

Bob

Jim Seitz

Dear Jim,

Since you were approached by the San Francisco Committee and admitted to being the author of the recent IAM Mechanics for Change letter, this is addressed to you.

I don't know you, so I ask this with all due respect; do you suffer from an alcohol or drug addiction, or some form of mental disorder? If so, please accept my apologies in advance for the following letter.

Your recent missive included a reference to the third step of the grievance procedure. Are you really suggesting to this membership that it is better to wait years (sometimes never) to have a grievance heard because you think it is better to have the rights to a steno report? Are you telling people if they are terminated that waiting 18 to 24 months to get a fair hearing, as opposed to two months, is better than this right? How many attorneys were ever involved in the third step of the process? Damn few is the answer and you should know that. Are you telling this group that having a one sided answer written by Labor Relations and which is intended to influence an arbitrator is really in their best interest?

Under District 141M, the third step was known as the "black hole" for a reason. Time limits negotiated into the 2000 CBA were supposed to address the problem, but unfortunately those limits didn't work. Fortunately the IBT had a solution to this more than a decades old problem. The IBT proposed a solution that they use at several other carriers and which works at those other carriers. The IBT then got the Company to agree to use that solution for the betterment of the entire membership here at United. The IBT inherited hundreds of third step grievances from AMFA, similar to what AMFA inherited from the IAM. You know this, as you used the number of outstanding grievances as a campaign tool when you were working to unseat the IAM, and then saw the backlog while you were an agent for AMFA prior to the turnover. To date, because of this new process systemwide, third step grievances have been reduced by around 67%. Are you really advocating a position that erases these gains? You want to return to a broken past because you like steno reporters? Your vision is really warped.

One other point I would like to make; it is the act of a cowardly individual to attack another person when they can't defend themselves. You did this when you attacked my good friend Rich Petrovsky. Sir, make no mistake, you are a coward, and your actions in this regard do nothing to better the membership. This cheap political attack is completely reprehensible.

In case you're not sure what a signature looks like, one follows.

Proudly signed,

Bob Fisher

Dulles report 8-15-10

General Information

 

This coming week I'll be in San Francisco for both a Joint Board (Third Steps) as well as negotiations. I'll try to update the blog as I can.

Last week there was some confusion regarding the PBGC and Social Security. To be clear they are two separate agencies affecting two different programs. Some members have received notification that their benefits have changed for a variety of reasons, but the one that caused the concern was in regards to a previously retired member. Apparently the level income option was chosen and that affected the member's future benefits. We no longer have that option, so this shouldn't be a concern for people retiring in the future.

After review there were several IAD third steps that the Union withdrew due to the inability to prove conclusively that the Company violated the Agreement. These were language cases and the Union bears the burden of proof in this situation. Because of the withdrawal IAD has only one third step for consideration at this time. I am waiting on several answers for second step answers so this will change as I've received verbal denials on a few.

MM

Last week in MM there were several issues that were addressed. The Union was able to successfully correct some vacation and pay issues. Unfortunately there was a bid issue that I was unable to rectify. For anyone unclear of the procedures regarding ESS I would ask that you discuss the issue with your supervisor, and please copy me in on any correspondence you have with management in regards to shift bidding. The best way to resolve these issues is before bids are awarded. After the fact it is impossible to fix. As you know I am a huge fan of the Continental provision requiring bi-annual shift bidding. This lessens the impact anyone may suffer due to an inadvertent choice made while bidding. I know several of you have been caught in this scenario in the past

GQ

 

I met with the new Manager, Tom Polka, on Wednesday and we discussed several items of concern for the shop. The biggest concern was the accurate tracking of time per person. This will be an ongoing issue, and as I have reported before, it is important that you account for 100% of your time. The less indirect labor reported the better.

Another issue discussed was the potential to insource work. We had a very productive discussion on this subject. Eric Harger asked both before after the meeting if the Committee which was convened prior to the RFP's last fall should continue its work looking for potential insourcing opportunities. I advised Eric that this would be a great idea, and I informed Tom that this Committee would be working towards this goal.

This next issue concerns both GQ and PV and that is the removal of discipline around dependability, and why both shops weren't included in the agreement. On Wednesday the 25^th we will have a visitor from the IBT to discuss what transpired as well as what is happening moving forward in regards to this development.

PV

 

John Jenkins filed a couple of first step grievances that are about to be processed with no answer to the second step.

 

Please see above in GQ for the IBT visit details for next week. For those assigned to the main terminal bagroom, we will be in the autoshop at 1300 and the midfield breakroom at about 1400. I apologize as there was no way to hit every breakroom at shift change time for both GQ and PV. John Jenkins will attend the 1400 meeting, so if you are unable to attend please give your questions to him.

 

That's all for now,

Bob

Update your bids

All,

 
 

As you know there are ten MM people coming to the station. This means there will be some movement because of a station shakedown. Now is a good time to ensure your bid reflects what you want in ESS.

 
 

Take care,

Bob 

Airline health

Here is an interesting article about airlines adding capacity by bringing widebody aircraft back into service from the desert.

Back from vacation

Yesterday was my first day back from vacation. I was up in northern PA with very limited cell access (had to stand in one spot close to the river without moving to get a signal), no web access, and that's why there haven't been any updates recently. I will have a Dulles Report out later this week.

Progress

Last week the Teamsters were able to affect real positive change that all members can recognize. I attended the announcement by Jim Keenan on Friday at the SFO Maintenance Base where he described the new system that eliminates all current discipline for dependability related issues for those members working in the United Services Division. We were given a clean slate with the understanding that moving forward discipline would be handled by the front line supervisors and also there would be a return to the joint counseling as proscribed in the CBA.

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to President Hoffa, Airline Division Director David Bourne, Chief Negotiator Clacy Griswold, IBT Counsel Ed Gleason and International Representative Paul Alves. These men were able to convince the Company that the current system was broken and that the Teamsters had ideas by which the parties collectively could repair this decades old problem. To the Company's credit they saw value in what the Teamsters brought to the table. Because of that, this should be just a first step towards further and lasting gains for the membership. Long time readers of the blog know I am a fan of interest based bargaining where it makes sense, and this is an example of that style of negotiations. Interest based bargaining, or IBB, is also known as win-win bargaining and generally requires trust built up over years of working together. That makes this development all the more surprising, as the IBT hasn't had decades of dealing with the Company in order to establish that required pattern of trust.

Brothers and Sisters I have to confess that this solution caught me by surprise, even though I knew this was a high priority of both the IBT and the Company. For the Company this matter represents double digit millions of dollars annually. For the membership of the IBT this represents a huge disciplinary tool that the Company uses which has caused great angst among us, as well as those millions of dollars mentioned in the Company's concern. Why does the money matter to the IBT membership you might ask? Well a quick exercise in napkin (or rough guess) math tells us we have roughly 4700 active members with an absence rate of around 5%. 4700 members working 2080 hours leaves us with around 9,776,000 man hours paid for annually for a total of $303,056,000 at an average of 31 dollars per hour.  5% of that total manhours number is 488,800 and at 31 dollars an hour that is $15,152,800 per year paid in illness leave. The Company's stated goal is 3%, and 3% of the total manhours annually is 293,280 which represents $9,091,680. The difference between these two is $6,061,120. Again with 4700 members working 2080 hours every year, those six million dollars represent roughly $1.62 per hour per member. Those are some very staggering figures, and I would rather be arguing at the table that we saved the Company that $1.62 per hour thereby negotiating from a position of strength as opposed to not having that tool. Working together in a manner that makes sense should help us reach this goal.

Obviously this is a first step, a huge one to be sure, and I look forward to continual gains under a leadership that understands our concerns and is willing to expend the time and effort to achieve these goals.

If you haven't seen the Joint release in the Airline Divisions Week in Review or on Skynet the document can be found here.

That's all for now,

Bob Fisher