Weekly report 11-30-08

This was a busy week. The most important development this week was the release of the contract proposal forms. After some modification two forms are now available, one is to be printed out and hand written and the other is a fill in form. If you do the fill in version please e-mail it to me so I can compile all of them.

I reported previously for the MM group that management would begin to discipline people for violations of the rules that management may have missed or ignored in the past. After a meeting with the GQ management this week it is apparent the GQ group is going to come under the same scrutiny. The union will do it's best to protect you, however it is a good idea not to get into a situation to begin with. In MM the company has lived up to it's word and has begun disciplining people and I'm sure GQ will follow. There has been nothing said as far as PV goes but in this environment it would not surprise me if they also followed this policy. My advice is to do your work and don't give the company the opportunity to give you discipline. If you are doing your job the company will almost never prevail in the later stages of the grievance procedure.

For MM this week the ESS grievances were refiled and I expect an answer in the coming week. The vacation rules are out and there were no changes from last year. The reason for this is the large amount of unused DAT's on each shift. It is difficult to argue that we need more DAT usage if these days go unused. For all shifts there were untaken days in the spring and fall with the summer months used up. The company did commit to looking at opening up DAT slots as they determine manpower requirements on a roughly bimonthly schedule. While it is fresh in our minds I would suggest if you wish to see changes to next years rules that you get together with me to discuss areas of concern. On a positive note we were briefed on the hangar situation, and it continues to look positive for IAD getting the old ACA hangar. I remain skeptical but hopeful.

For GQ this week as I reported earlier I had a meeting with Greg and Duane on Wednesday. In addition to discussing people that, in the companies opinion are not performing their work, we also talked about some other small items in the shop. Both of these guys understand there are limited parts, but would like to see the lines of communication open up more with the leads. For instance if you don't have the parts to do your job let the lead know so that if management wants an update they can get it from the leads. The ten hour day schedule was also briefly talked about. One of the displaced mechanics passed the PV test and will report to that shop on December 7th.

For PV this week as stated earlier one mechanic will be reporting and no one will be bumped because of a voluntary furlough. The dayshift is working on an outsourcing grievance and I will report more on this when an answer is given. I was also given a report, after requesting one, for the mandatory overtime situation from two weeks ago.

As far as the TAA/ATAA program I found on the DOL website that AMFA had tried this as well in 2005 and were denied at each Station going through layoffs at that time. The case numbers were 58129A through M. This does not mean we will not prevail, but we need help on this legislatively. As reported in previous weeks the person from the DOL thought service personnel affected by foreign trade could be added and it is my opinion that this would be a perfect addition to the upcoming second stimulus package. It is imperative that we write our Congressional Representatives to let them know our feelings on this issue. If you would like a copy of the letter I sent let me know. For those who have also written if you forward your letters to me I will pass them on to others looking for ideas on how to write their own letters.

That's all for this week,
Bob

Contract proposal forms

Hello Everyone,

I have begun to e-mail the contract proposal forms that I recieved today. It is taking a little while due to restrictions from Yahoo. You should have the forms in your inbox by morning.

If anyone does not recieve a copy or needs help filling it out let me know.

Bob

Happy Thanksgiving

I would just like to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

While it is true we are going through some rough times right now it does appear there are some good things on the horizon, and that is something to be thankful for.

I am thankful that I know and have worked with each of you. I hope you have a nice holiday with family and or friends.

Bob

Weekly report 11-23-08

Several questions were asked this week regarding the secondary bump in GQ and PV due to Baltimore being closed. These questions are pertinent to the rest of the local membership due to the possibility of secondary bumps in the January round.

In no particular order of how they were asked the first question answered deals with insurance on layoff. A call was made to the benefits center and an incorrect answer was given. Per the CBA Art. XXIV A. 5. page 95 states that insurance will continue for 90 days after furlough if premiums are paid. After this COBRA availability kicks in. Another question on insurance was whether the IBT carried a plan for furloughed members. The answer appears to be no. There was a question regarding protection within a shop due to skills or certifications. Article X goes into detail of how seniority works within and between classifications. This is further discussed in the Consent decree on the last two pages of the Agreement. I did discuss this particular issue with Bob Luciano and he was going to discuss it with Labor Relations.

Outside of the Agreement a question was asked as to why the company would not keep people until the January date to see if all positions were filled and layoffs could possibly be averted. After discussions with the Station Manager, Sherry Kawell, it was evident there will be no movement on the date because of budget issues. It was explained to me that if more money were to made available the first priority would be ramp personnel followed by customer service people. Mechanics are not on the Managers list of groups to be increased. When the Manager was presented with plans and ideas to pay for the increase in the budget she reiterated her priority for people needed at the station and stated that any increase in money coming into the station would be spent on those areas.

This week in PV the vacation rules were finalized. While a concession was made on DAT selection on holiday weeks it was offset with better language on DATs between shifts as well as an increase in the total number of slots allocated for vacation. In addition a joint review, two weeks prior, between the company and the union will occur to evaluate the availability of these DAT slots.

In MM this week several grievances were filed because of a glitch in the ESS program. Many members were left off the list and bypassed. These grievances were returned to the Union because of paperwork discrepancies. There were 24 from the afternoon shift and as of Friday 6 on the Day shift. We will review these on Monday and re-file them once the paperwork has been corrected. The paperwork problems are not major issues, and have been accepted in the past, but due to the large amount of money the company is looking for any out. Vacation bidding should start this week. The rules are very similar to last year with some minor exceptions to the DAT process. We agreed that it is premature to discuss the people coming into the station in January as to the total liability added to the vacation list. The reason for this is while the company does have a number they are working with, we are not sure how many people will elect to come to Dulles and what their vacation liability will be. The hangar is still a focus for the company but there is a potential roadblock to the old ACA hangar. The floor is not thick enough. An engineering firm is currently looking at this.

Thank you to all that have written letters regarding the TAA/ATAA. Anyone that would like a sample letter or need help with web posting a letter to your Representatives or Senators let me know. To the people that volunteered to lobby we should expect to be getting requests soon. Thanks to Bob Luciano for helping in this regard. Anyone else interested in fighting for our jobs through lobbying please let me know and I will add you to the list.

That's all for this week,
Bob

Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002

Urgent Action Needed

Hello Everyone, Today after speaking with a representative from the Department of Labor I have filed a petition for the TAA/ATAA program. For those that don't know this is an assistance program for people being laid off because their jobs have been shipped overseas. For the people I spoke to earlier about this, the application from San Francisco does not cover us as each state requires a submission of this form. This would provide for extended periods of unemployment benefits and re-training money as well as other benefits to those affected.

The problem is this program does not currently cover service industry personnel. However, according to the person from the Department of Labor, there is an attempt to get us added in the current legislative session to this program. Here is where action is needed. We all need to contact our Senators and Representatives regarding this program and ask that service personnel be added to this legislation. When contacting them the official name of the act is the Trade Adjustment Assistance Reform Act of 2002.

Here are links to writing your congresspeople,
"www.house.gov"
"www.senate.gov"

If you would like a sample letter let me know and I will forward what I am writing to my reps.

Thank you to all that have volunteered to lobby. I was impressed with the number of people willing to help out.

That's all for now,
Bob