Negotiations Begin This Week
The negotiation committee will be in Chicago the week of January 7th to begin the required training provided by senior mediator Pat Sims and mediator Michael Kelleher. We will be employing a new process created by the National Mediation Board in 2010 called “Expedited Mediation.” This process uses the Interest Based Bargaining model rather than the more traditional Collective Bargaining method that has been the norm for most of our past agreements. The goal is to assist in shortening the time normally taken to negotiate contracts under the RLA as has been written about in past issues of the Dispatch.
Immediately following the training, on Wednesday January 9th the process will begin to create a new amalgamated contract for the Mechanics and Related at United Airlines. The rank and file steering, seniority integration, benefits, and negotiating committees have worked hard to prepare for these upcoming negotiations. A final report of advisory recommendations from the seniority integration and benefits committees will be provided to the negotiating committee shortly in order for the negotiating committee to develop proposals to the company.
This negotiating process is different from previous contracts in a couple of ways. First language is not passed back and forth, rather concepts are discussed and when agreement is reached on a concept language will be drafted to capture the intent of the parties.
Second the negotiating committee will be broken down into several sub committees that will each have areas of responsibility to discuss with the company. For instance the committee dealing with the Seniority article will most likely also discuss Classifications, Vacancies, RIF and Recall and the Consent Decree. And lastly because of this structure a detailed written opening proposal will not be provided to the company.
Negotiation updates will be provided at the end of each session of bargaining so please look for them in the Dispatch on your local bulletin boards and on the Division and Local websites.
Renew Your License
As stated in a previous Dispatch, your paper TAMC A&P certificates will no longer be valid after March 31, 2013. If you do not change your paper license to the new credit card type by this date, you will have to make your license active again by taking the written and practical at an approved FAA training center. If you don’t want to try to study and retake these exams it is advisable that you renew your certificate now.
TAMC
We have begun our new season with the Teamster Aviation Mechanics Coalition. The TAMC is a non partisan group formed to address the needs of all mechanics in the aviation field. With over 18,000 aviation mechanic members, The Teamsters have dedicated resources and funding to our cause. Our goal is to take a stand and create a collective voice to government processes that affect our industry, careers, and livelihood. Examples of the types of issues we get involved in are foreign outsourcing, and new government policies regarding aviation maintenance. While many of our subjects deal with aircraft maintenance, the issues of GSE and facility maintenance are an equal concern.
Participation with the TAMC is open to all and only works with member involvement. If you would like to become a more active part in the TAMC please see or contact your Local Business Agent or Local TAMC representative. If you would like to follow the progress of the TAMC and sign up for the Newsletter, visit Teamster.org and tab to the Airline Division page. Once there, the link to sign up for the TAMC Newsletter can be found on the right hand side of the page in the “About the Division” information box.
