In preparation for the start of negotiations, members of the Teamsters UAL Steering Committee from across the system gathered again in San Francisco on February 11th and 12th to continue the process of reviewing contract proposals submitted by the membership. The two days of meetings saw the Committee make great progress in developing proposed changes to the Agreement, but the extent of the task at hand makes it is clear there is more work ahead.
Seattle Chief Steward and Steering Committee member Dave Saucedo summarized the two days of meetings hosted at Local 856’s Chetcuti Hall this way:
“In the Chetcuti Hall, the 27 present members of the steering committee continued the arduous task of dissecting the contract in an attempt to purge any limiting language and strengthen the agreement to which we are bound with UAL. We are doing all we can to keep the remaining members of the IBT Airline Division Mechanics employed by UAL safe. The process is slow going, in an attempt to be as careful and thoughtful as possible, leaving nothing to chance or interpretation. Many articles were discussed, but there are still more to go. We will meet again here on the week of March 16th to discuss further changes. If you or members in your work group have proposed changes to the contract, you should get them to you Chief Steward or Steering Committee member as soon as possible.“
As negotiations get closer, the Steering Committee will intensify its efforts to complete the development of all non-economic proposals by the end of March. Our hopes are to have those proposed changes reviewed by our legal teams and ready for submittal to the company somewhere in April. This will begin our official negotiation period with UAL. To further this goal, the Steering Committee will be meeting for the entire week of March 16th. Teamsters Airline Division would like to acknowledge the hard work of the Steering Committee members and once again encourage you to submit all non-economic proposals to your Chief Steward or Committee member prior to March 16th.
