The steering committee reconvened in Chicago
on Wednesday July 31st and
Thursday August 1st in
Chicago to
discuss options surrounding the negotiations with United Airlines.
On Wednesday the committee received several presentations on the
status of bargaining when the parties last met in May.
Clacy Griswold, Airline Division Rep and Chief Negotiator, opened
the session and explained to the group all that had transpired since the
committee met last August.
Local 210 Business Agent Ralph Salzano went through article by
article all of the non-economic items that were agreed to during the
facilitated process. This was followed by a presentation by Peter Hardcastle,
of Cheiron, on the VDB (Variable Defined Benefit) pension discussions. He was
followed by John Colberg and Jim Holland; both from Cheiron, who gave a
presentation on the health and welfare discussions. Dan Akins, economist from
Akins and Associates then gave a presentation of the overall economic issues
that the negotiating committee both has and will be dealing with.
At the end of each presentation there were question and answer
periods for the committee so that they could clearly understand what was being
discussed. One of the items that generated much discussion during the health
and welfare discussions was the VEBA program. This program is a tax free
account used to offset different medical costs. This account can be carried
with the employee through retirement and then willed to surviving dependents.
More information about this program will be available in the coming
months.
Close to the end of the session on Wednesday Clacy received word
that the company would like to meet with the IBT leadership that evening to
discuss negotiations. On Wednesday evening Mike Bonds, Doug McKeen, Jeff Wall
and Marcel Delhommeau from the company met with David Bourne, Clacy Griswold,
Ed Gleason, Paul Alves and Bob Fisher from the IBT to learn what direction the
company was seeking in regards to negotiations.
Thursday morning the steering committee was given a report on the
meeting of the prior evening. The committee was informed that the company
desired to get back to the table and that they appeared motivated to finishing
what was started in January. Based on this report; the steering committee after
much through discussion, determined that the best course of action would be to
return to the table as soon as possible to finish the deal. There were concerns
however that the company may not be serious and to that end there was a
discussion on pulling the resource utilization MOU. After the committee learned
that it was the opinion of the Division, through direction of counsel, that the
letter could be terminated at any time, the committee tabled a motion to
withdraw from the letter and will review progress in October to determine which
course of action to take at that time.
Ed Gleason from IBT Legal gave a presentation on scope. It was
determined that a joint scope committee meeting should be held in the very near
future to discuss several issues that were brought forward in the question and
answer period following Ed’s presentation.
The day finished with a general question and answer period and the
session ended around 2pm.
After the session, the company was notified that
the committee desired to return to the table. The parties will discuss
scheduling in the next couple of weeks. It is anticipated that we will return
to the table in early September. When dates are agreed upon it will be reported
through the Dispatch.
