Assisted by the generosity of Local 455, its Principal Officer Steve Vairma, Business Agent John Hennelly and the Local committee; the negotiating committee met for over a two week period beginning on September 20th and 21st in Denver, Colorado. The committee spent the two days reviewing and prioritizing each of the articles and proposals suggested by the steering committee.
The committee reconvened September 26th through the 28th in Denver and spent the scheduled meeting time going through the three contracts of CO, UA and MCI to look for and identify any and all differences to each of the contracts in an effort to combine them into one.
The fourteen member committee was broken down into seven sub committees, with each committee was assigned a BA to assist with the review and help resolve questions the sub committees identified. Where differences were identified, recommendations were developed and reported to the entire committee. These recommendations will be reviewed when the committee meets in Chicago starting on October 10th.
The protocol agreement is not yet been completed. A key to that process; the outstanding issues delaying the completion of the protocol agreement; is defining the number of open issues. Once that is done it is expected the protocol will be finalized quickly. The committee is also awaiting dates for official training regarding the NMB expedited bargaining procedures. Dates have been suggested to complete the training and the membership will be notified when the schedule is confirmed.
