The following update was sent out on Friday. Look for all future updates to be both posted on the Airline Division site as well as through email via the Mechanics Dispatch.
The parties met for a second consecutive week of bargaining this week in Chicago. We tackled some of the more substantive phase 1 portions of the agreements. The articles discussed were Article 3 - Covered Crafts, Classifications, and Bid Areas; Article 4 - Seniority; Article 13 - Training; Article 7 - Hours of Service; Article 17 - Overtime; and Article 18 - Union Security and Representation.
Agreements in principle on non-economic issues were reached on Articles 7 and 17, and progress was made on the other four subjects. Also present at the start of this week’s session was Peter Hardcastle, a Cheiron actuary hired by the IBT to assist in these negotiations. Mr. Hardcastle was on hand for continued preliminary discussions on pension and other benefit-related matters.
Discussions will continue with the remaining articles when bargaining reconvenes on Monday for the third consecutive week. Originally this third week was going to be done without the aid of the mediators, however, considering our progress and at the parties’ request, a schedule change was managed and the NMB will be present during next week as well.
We will keep you updated as progress continues.
Seniority Integration Committee
The Seniority Integration Committee was called together to finalize the draft of suggestions for the Negotiating Committee. As we have made faster-than-expected progress, the Committee was called together to vote on and discuss any final remaining issues on the draft that has been building over the last few months. This draft will be a template to be used by the Negotiating Committee in resolving the many differences on the subject of seniority within the three groups. Discussions with the company on the seniority article began immediately after receiving the final draft.
One of the long anticipated information items, the combined Teamster Roster, was delivered from the company to the SIC during the meeting. The final task for the SIC is to look over the roster and make any necessary corrections. Some of this can begin immediately while other changes will require agreements in principle between the company and the union Negotiating Committee. It should be stressed that any of these changes or corrections will not be valid without a fully-ratified agreement voted on by the membership.
