Lobbying on the Hill

Yesterday several members of the negotiating committee spent time on Capitol Hill talking to members of Congress. We were accompanied by Jack Albertine our lobbyist. Our main issue was the overseas outsourcing provisions in the House and Senate FAA Reauthorization bills. This trip was much different than previous trips as far as support for the single standard for aircraft maintenance. This is needed to create a level playing field for our profession. Every Representative was very supportive of this and understood the need for these provisions. The hope now is that the Senate will pass this bill prior to the end of the year and it can then proceed to a conference committee. The hope is that once it reaches the conference committee the House provisions will prevail as that version is viewed as a better provision by the IBT.

We also discussed the Express Carrier provision and found support for that as well. The final piece of legislation discussed was the Pilot Duty time safety bill introduced by Rep. Costello. This bill would limit duty times for regional pilots with the hope that this would reduce fatigue.

In the previous meetings there was a need to educate these Representatives on what we do and why we need this relief. It is obvious that the IBT spent a lot of time crafting our message and presenting it in a manner Congress could understand. Without the continual lobbying by the Airline Division I suspect we would not be as close as we are to final passage. Please take the time to contact your Senators and ask that the FAA Reauthorization bill is passed.

That's all for now,

Bob

Point system

I'm sure many of you have seen the details of the point system the IAM agreed to, but if you haven't here is a link to the LOU. In addition, there is much more information found here on the left side of the page. Of particular note is the Company's ability to opt out with notice to the Union, but there is no reciprocal agreement for the Union. This is understandable given that the Union conceded this language to save several hundred jobs in Chicago. It remains to be seen if this language will save that number of jobs systemwide however. The reason for this is simple. If you take all the people currently towards the upper end of discipline and give those members very narrow parameters to maintain employment then it is conceivable the job loss could be spread over the system as opposed to one large group from the Chicago Local. In short this letter was negotiated to save the Company money. That money must be saved in some manner and this would lessen the sting in Chicago. As you know the Union agreed to this without a vote of the membership. The goal of any Union is to preserve jobs with the best wages and work rules possible and we should expect or Bargaining Agent to do what it can to achieve this goal. However, when there is a concessionary fundamental change in the Agreement, especially something that has been continually ratified since 1982, the members should decide if this is in our best interests through a vote.

Area jobs

For anyone interested in employment in the Hagerstown area here is a story about the Sierra Nevada Corporation hiring 100 people. I don't know the scale of the salaries being offered, but according to the article "They're good paying jobs." They are looking to attract talent from around the country as they have just secured a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to retrofit high tech electronics on the Customs and Border Protection multirole aircraft.

Weekly report 9-30-09

General Information

Several reports have come out declaring the recession over. I know we are not feeling it individually but this bodes well for us moving forward. The reason I say this is that airlines generally tend to lag any recovery by about six months. In addition several financial analysts have recently upgraded the Company's stock. This at least gives some hope of a return to profits for the industry in general and the Company in specific. This matters because as the saying goes; you can't get blood from a stone. At this time I know we are feeling like that stone. "The concession stand is closed" is a phrase I've heard loud and clear. As I write this I'm in San Francisco for continued negotiations with the Company and these reports lend strength to the Union's position. Like you I've had enough, and look forward to a strong agreement with wages and work rules that reflect our importance to the Company.

I recently saw an e-mail from a member from another city bemoaning the fact that the Airline Division is hiring pilots and not mechanics for staff positions. The email prattles on about no mechanics being on the negotiating committee. Most of the committee is comprised of mechanics, thirteen from United, but there is no sense using facts if it doesn't advance your argument I guess. I'm all in favor of taking the leadership to task on issues that matter, but does this qualify as an actual problem? Most of these new officers are former ALPA Reps and I've been impressed with ALPA's success for some time. In fact thinking about this, I can't really understand why this member has a problem with this. If they find a mechanic that excels at representational issues I hope they hire them, but I don't believe they should hire someone just because they are a mechanic. To operate in this manner would be opposite of what anyone with a modicum of common sense would do. As we've seen a lack of common sense and shooting from the hip has never served us well.

There will be limited reporting over the next couple of weeks as I will be out of the office for the most part with negotiations first in San Fran and then in DC next week. If I see or hear of anything interesting I'll post it to the blog.

MM

There were several issues worked on over the last week. The biggest was the shakedown because of the loss of several afternoon shift spots. I went over this with the Company for the shift bidding process. There were a couple of problems with ESS and a couple of member mistakes that were resolved. Most seem to understand the process but for those that have questions the Company looks at your first choice for shift placement and if you can't hold that they go to your second choice and if you can't hold that they go to your third choice and so on until they get to a choice you can hold by seniority. There was a question about posting these positions for five days prior to awarding them. The five day provision is for notification under Article VI H., of the current CBA. This provision states that you be afforded 5 days notice prior to your starting or stopping times are involuntarily changed. This provision does not force the Company to notify you that they are contemplating realignment. That is why it is imperative to keep your bids up to date, because while they do notify us many times, there is no guarantee of prior notice.

A second step grievance for discipline for a very minor delay was held last Tuesday. The hearing went very well for the Union. If the Company denies this grievance the Committee will appeal the decision to the third step. One thing that came up during the hearing is communication between mechanics. We have to watch over each other when working together or the Company could find an opening to discipline and they will do just that as evidenced in the hearing.

There are still several outstanding second steps that I am waiting on. I've been given answers verbally that several were sustained, but I'm still waiting for the written decisions. I am trying to work out a deal on the choice of physician third step and will speak further to LR on this grievance this week in San Francisco.

A committee grievance was filed on behalf of the class of mechanics that the Company is denying the right to exercise their seniority. They are doing this based on qualifications and as I've informed them this is against Article X of the Agreement. The Company's position is that the FAR's trump the CBA. Unfortunately for the Company nowhere in the FAR's are mechanics constrained to midnight shift for the purpose of receiving the appropriate training to bring their A&P's current.

GQ

Greg Pinelli is the acting manager in the shop. I've been working with Greg on an older grievance for dependability. In addition today the Local IAM committee informed me that one of their members was performing shop work in the form of painting some equipment with zone demarcations. I informed Greg this is our work and Greg agreed to ensure a stop practice on this and we will discuss it further when I return from the negotiations in DC.

PV

Steve Loughman left the position as manager for a promotion in Chicago. Before he left he gave me all the outstanding grievance answers that I was waiting on except one. He could not find the grievance for the Jetway outsourcing but he did inform the incoming manager that this was an open issue that had been filed in a timely manner.

The three answers I received will be processed to third step as they are all Article II scope violations.

That's all for this week,
Bob

A little help?

Hey everyone. I found this via twitter, and would like to ask that you help these former ABX pilots get their severance pay. DHL is still holding the funds that were promised to these pilots and you can read all about it on their website.

When we were lobbying in DC regarding the outsourcing issue these guys were right there with us. I witnessed their impassioned pleas for reform on our behalf and would like us to return the favor. So please take a couple of seconds to send the e-letter to the DHL Directors via the pilot's website.

Thank you,

Bob