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