Negotiations Update

 

March 30, 2013 

Negotiations continued the week of March 18^th with proof reading the final pass between the parties of the articles discussed so far. Once this was completed, a full copy of all the articles with the suggested corrections was discussed with our legal representative and then sent to the company for review. New items and those items not already agreed to will be discussed starting next week in phase two of the process. 

   

Articles that are on this list are;

Article 2 – Definitions

Article 3 - Covered Crafts, Classifications, Qualifications and Bid Areas

Article 4 – Seniority

Article 5 - Filling Of Vacancies

Article 6 - Reduction-In-Force (RIF) and Recall

Article 7 - Hours of Service

Article 8 – Holidays

Article 9 – Vacations

Article 10 - Leaves of Absence

Article 11 - Sick Leave and Occupational Injury

Article 12 - Field Trips

Article 13 − Training

Article 14 – Safety & Health

Article 17 - Overtime

Article 18 - Union Security and Representation

Article 19 - Grievance Procedure

Article 20 – Board of Arbitration

Article 21 – General and Miscellaneous 

 

While this list might seem extensive, it should be noted that the overwhelming majority of the changes to the content of each of these articles has been discussed and agreed to by the parties. These suggested changes were the product of the recommendations from the membership and the steering committee. Language that could not reach an agreement or parts of articles that contained economic properties will be discussed further in the next phase of negotiations.  

The parties took this last week to be at their home stations. Next week the parties will reconvene in Chicago along with Senior Mediator Pat Sims and Mediator Michael Kelliher. The committee will be given a presentation by the company on the present and future economic state of the airline which is a normal part of any negotiations. After that presentation is complete the union committee will meet with our actuaries and economists to continue preparation for phase two of negotiations including all economic items. 

Repeal Sequestration

 Across-the-board budget cuts—called sequestration—will cost more than 1 million jobs this year and many more jobs over the next decade. There is a simple solution to make this problem go away: repeal sequestration. It is that simple.

Extremist lawmakers are using sequestration as leverage to get their way in Congress. They want to cut Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare benefits and gut essential services working people depend on, while protecting tax breaks for Wall Street and the richest 2% of Americans.

The solution is to repeal sequestration—not replace it—so we can put these manufactured crises behind us and focus on the urgent problems of putting America back to work, raising wages and reducing economic inequality.

Call your members of Congress now at 888-659-9401, and tell them to repeal sequestration.  Tomorrow, March 20^th will also be a national day of action across the country to send this message to Congress. Please check www.americawantstowork.org for a listing of events, and we hope you can make it out to one in your area!

Mechanics Dispatch

Negotiations Update
To once again explain these negotiations using the NMB’s expedited negotiation process; articles of the agreement were discussed between the carrier and the union by small groups separated into sub committees. These sub-committee discussions broke down and thoroughly reviewed each paragraph of the article they were assigned and contemplated changes proposed by either side. In many cases, changes were settled by both parties and an agreement in principal was accepted. When agreements could not be reached or the main subject material was of economic concern, the matter was tabled for the next phase of the process. Language created by each side of the sub-committees was passed back and forth until eventually a single version was created, one written by the company and one by the union.
This week, the committee began the arduous task of making sure the language written by the company exactly matched that of the union. This was also compared with the suggestions of our legal council all on a line by line basis. Any discrepancy in the language was noted and will be discussed further or moved to the next phase.
It is obviously important to ensure that the language written absolutely represents the intent of the parties. While this task is time consuming, it is a necessary step towards completing these negotiations.

Management Meetings
Negotiations offer a unique opportunity that places management who has the ability to make decisions in the same location as many of our union representatives who on behalf of the membership hold questions and grievances. During this past week there were several side discussions held between union representatives and members of management on a variety of subjects to settle some differences in the application of the current contracts. We are pleased with the carrier’s willingness to settle our differences before issue are escalated. We will continue to take advantage of such opportunities.

Negotiation Update

 

 

Phase 1 Now Complete in Principal

The parties have now reached conclusion in principal on the entire agreement for non-economic Phase 1 issues. The work of crafting language will continue in parallel with the negotiation of Phase 2 economic discussions. The process of crafting language has been slow to this point and is a concern due to the fact we don’t want to end up in the same process as the pilots, where it takes several months after reaching a TA until all Articles are finalized. The Phase 2 economic discussions begin with information being exchanged between the parties’ actuaries regarding pension and health care solutions next week. The full committee will meet in Chicago next week, March 11^th -15^th.

Report of the Committee

This week’s meeting in Chicago found both sides able to find some room for further discussion on some of those issues that the sub committees previously determined to be Phase 2 items. In addition, the LoA subcommittee began discussing the Letters of Agreements with the assistance of NMB mediator Michael Kelleher. Long discussions between the Union and Company representatives found agreements to changes in many of the letters. It was determined that some LoA’s should be combined where the subjects were similar. It was further determined that some LoA’s were better suited in the main body of the Agreement and should be incorporated in corresponding Articles. Other LoA’s were determined to be an accurate reflection of the operation and should be kept in their entirety. Finally, some LoA’s were seen as no longer applicable and both sides agreed they could be omitted from the final agreement. The beginning of this time period saw the parties apart on several points, but by week’s end, the company moved towards understanding and agreeing with many of our arguments closing out the phase 1 LoA discussions.

Many of these letters of agreement offer further definitions or explanations to applicable articles, and some are stand alone agreements made for specific work groups or certain working conditions. It is the recommendation of the committee that when the tentative agreement is eventually complete, each member take a close read of these back of the book LoA’s when contemplating the CBA.

Benefits

Representing the Unions interests, the Actuaries from Cheiron along with Professional Economist Dan Akins met with the experts who will be advising the company on the benefits packages including pension and medical plans. These talks were attended by representatives of management and the Union and included the attorneys from both sides. More information was exchanged and explained between the parties in an effort to lay some solid ground work once formal benefit discussions between the parties start the week of March 11^th.

The full negotiating committee was updated on the information and subjects discussed by our attorney and all the outside experts of the subcommittee. It is the opinion of the Union professionals involved that there is a genuine interest by the company to come to an agreement and get this TA complete in the time frame suggested. While this opinion was indeed encouraging by the committee, some of the information shared was a little more disheartening although not necessarily completely unexpected. Negotiating economic packages which have several major components can be a frustrating and daunting task. With diligent preparation, however, surprises can be mitigated. The Committee is taking all the information offered and attempting to simplify the choices before them in an attempt to provide the best possible deal for the membership. We remain hopeful that our goals will be met.

Seniority Integration

A formal report of the rank and file seniority integration committee was prepared and signed by mediator Ralph Berger. This report will be used by the rank and file negotiating committee during phase 2. The report can be seen at the following link:

http://www.teamster.org/sites/teamster.org/files/IBT-United-SIC-RR_3-1-13.pdf