Troubling PBGC News

Here is a GAO report prior to PBGC implementation of a new diversified investment strategy. And here is an article from the Boston Globe last August warning about potential problems with the new investment strategy the PBGC was about to undertake. Here is a Wall Street Journal Article in October of last year decrying the change in policy as the fund lost around 5 billion dollars. Finally here is another report today describing the detrimental effects this policy has had on the Agency.

It is sad to see that the previous Administration's proposed Social Security Initiative was turned into an experiment using PBGC funds. While it is understood that the fund needed more capital, there are many ways to go about it without endangering the last shred of hope of a pension for many Americans. One thought would be to increase the insurance premiums on Companies to reflect the actual potential risks, especially for single employer plans, of plan termination. Of course it is too late to enact this type of revenue generation tool now.

As we watch the debate raging in the country regarding the auto industry my concern is more underfunded plans will now be dumped on the PBGC because of upcoming bankruptcies. This combined with horrible investment strategies will possibly cripple the fund which would then require a taxpayer bailout. With the growing sentiment against bailouts what will be the outcome? It's hard to say, but I think we definitely need to keep an eye on the situation.

That's all for now,
Bob

Weekly report 03-29-09

This week the Organizers Conference was held in D.C. Unfortunately I was unable to attend because of prior commitments. One of the most important aspects of the Conference was the lobbying that took place on our behalf. The issue that the group lobbied for was the moratorium on overseas aircraft overhauls. Tom Reid attended the Conference and told me the number of people lobbying was very impressive. If you do not receive the "Week in Review" and would like to see the language of the proposed bill, let me know and I will forward it to you.

As for negotiations the IBT site is now up and running. It can be found here. There is a permanent link now at the top of the blog as well as one on the homepage of the website. The Negotiating Committee will meet with the Company for our first face to face meetings on April 14^th. The Company currently also has a negotiations update site which I have looked at. I've decided not to post a link to the site because through the last negotiations the Company did a great job of disseminating bogus information. They are the opposition in this process, so I'm sure their site will be a continuing source of propaganda. Because of this, I feel it would be a huge disservice to the membership to post a link here.

For MM the big news this week is that the hangar is on hold. I'm told this decision will be reviewed again in June. There is also still talk about moving the 767 A checks here, but I'm not optimistic at this point. I talked with both Don and Ron this week regarding outstanding second step grievances and we are going to try to wrap them up this week. I inherited a third step from Newark, regarding seniority application, because the member now works at Dulles. I am going to review this grievance with Bob Luciano the week after next because he is in negotiations with CAL this coming week. As you may have heard several people have been recalled to Denver. I believe two from here have been offered recall. In addition I've heard that the remaining people here from Denver have been offered temporary assignments there because of the continuing workload. Unfortunately this does not translate into recalls for our displaced members at this time.

For GQ/PV the meeting on the outsourcing of the nine stations will happen on April 2^nd in Chicago. When I have more information I'll pass it on to you.

Back to the lobbying efforts, if you would like to help in the future please e-mail me so that I can add you to the list. I know it's difficult to donate your time but there is another way to help. For as little as four dollars a check you can contribute to D.R.I.V.E. This is the Teamsters PAC that brings our agenda to our Legislators. I have the forms in the office if you need one.

That's all for this week,
Bob

Weekly Report 3-21-09

This last week we mostly finalized our opener to the company. There is a subcommittee working on one final non economic article which will hopefully be ready for the April 14th meeting with the company.

I was impressed with the way the Steering Committee came together solidly over this last week. There were many different opinions on proposals that came up, with some looking for radical change and others looking for minor tweaks to the current language. In the end consensus was reached and we found ourselves somewhere in the middle of those two schools of thought. I think this committee was a good representation of the opinions and thoughts of the overall membership. As such I believe the opening proposal represents a good start to the negotiating process. After this proposal is presented to the company it will be available for review by the membership.

A new website has been created by Local 856 in San Bruno CA for the official negotiations updates. The site will begin to be updated when we start negotiating and will be updated throughout negotiations. It can be found here. There will be a link on the blog as well as the website as soon as updates begin. I would like to extend thanks to Business Agent Peter Finn for for his support in creating this very useful tool.

I would also like to thank Local 856 as they hosted this committee for the entire time, which took three weeks over the last couple of months. During that time the Local provided us with lunch each day as well as coffee and doughnuts each morning. They also had to put up with thirty five very loud guys disrupting their operations, and they did this all graciously. Local 210 also helped us by sponsoring three rank and file members on this committee and deserve our thanks as well.

That's all for this week,
Bob

Steering Committee Update

The process continues, and we are now in day three of proposal review in this final session. It is obvious the committee is starting to come together. We have reviewed many Articles with only a few to go. When the proposal is formalized and given to the Company it will be available to the membership.

The Negotiating Committee was informed that we will meet with the Company April 14th in Chicago. The first session will consist of the Company's state of the airline presentation.

The Testing Committee met with the Company this morning and they felt good progress was made.

On another subject, please be careful in what you view on the Companies computer network. Everything you type and view is stored to use against you if something inappropriate is found. Also be careful with refusals of direct orders. There are a few things that Arbitrators look at as taboos. Among those items are theft and gross insubordination. Only if there is a compelling reason will an Arbitrator return an individual to work if they are guilty of these infractions. Please don't give the company an easy reason to fire you.

That's all for now,
Bob

Weekly report 3-15-09

We finalized training for the negotiations committee yesterday. The training was led by Rich Lipsitz. Rich is a Business Agent with Local 264 in Buffalo New York. Rich has his Masters Degree and his previous position was a professor in the Labor Studies department at Cornell University. Also presenting was Paul Alves an International Representative from the Airline Division. Paul is a pilot and former ALPA representative. In addition to an overview of the process of negotiations under the Railway Labor Act the class worked through mock negotiations and other exercises to assist the committee at the table. It was an excellent class and all members of the team worked well together. It is a good start in my opinion.

If you don't know, David Bourne wrote a letter to the Company to officially start negotiations. We are to meet on April 14th for the Company's initial presentation. Here is a link to the letter.

Tomorrow the steering committee will meet beginning at 9am and we will meet until Friday or later if more time is needed to finalize our opening proposal.

While I am gone Tom Reid will be taking care of any grievances needing to be processed to the second step in MM and PV and Joe Filice will take care of the GQ side. I would like to thank both of these guys for their support.

In MM this week Larry Bailey is researching an open grievance. Jay Koreny called with interesting information on Friday afternoon. Jay found a deferral that was left open by Timco on a rudder check which came due over the weekend. Timco was going to come to Dulles to perform this work. I immediately called Bob Luciano and he contacted Don Burbank to express our displeasure with this type of work being done here by an MRO. Don agreed and the last information I have is that we were supposed to do the work. The third step on the Panasonic grievance was denied last week.

For GQ/PV we are still waiting on the company to present their information on the outsourcing issue.

The old MM overtime rules have been posted on the website.

That's all for now,
Bob