Negotiations Update October 24, 2014

The parties reconvened in Chicago this week for another session of bargaining under the direction and supervision of the National Mediation Board.
 

On Monday; prior to meeting with the company, representatives from TeamCare gave the committee a presentation on what the fund has to offer in regards to health and welfare benefits. There was initial interest, but the committee still requires further information on the various plans offered by TeamCare and associated costs. 

On Tuesday morning the company made a proposal in the form of three different bundled economic packages. The committee worked all day on counters to the packages. Late Tuesday evening the negotiating committee made counter proposals on the three packages. The IBT committee’s counter was not well received and was met with anger and hostility by the company. 

On Wednesday morning the NMB Mediator Gerry McGuckin informed the IBT committee that he was disappointed with the counter received on Tuesday night. He informed the group that he sent the company negotiators home. In addition, he told the committee that he was “unwilling to waste the taxpayers’ money,” since it appeared to him that the committee wasn’t at all serious about reaching an agreement, and that future negotiation dates were in jeopardy. The committee vented its frustration to the mediator and voiced their strong view that the company wasn’t serious about reaching a fair agreement from the beginning of what has become a long drawn-out negotiation.  After listening to the committee, the mediator suggested that if they would put together a counter proposal; clearing out the remaining non-economic items he would consider reinstating future mediation dates. The committee then began the process of crafting that counter. 

Late on Thursday, after two full days of internal deliberations, the committee delivered its non-economic counter. Mediator McGuckin reviewed the proposal and, while he thanked the committee for its hard work, he determined that given the state of the non-economic proposal; to move forward he would need to see a comprehensive proposal including all items. The committee continued discussions until aroundmidnight and determined that they considered the mediator’s comments and instruction to be unfair. They believed that if they made any further moves at this point, they would be negotiating against themselves and would do a disservice to the membership.  The committee therefore decided that it would not put a new comprehensive proposal together and that they would wait for the company to make the next move.  The committee asked the IBT leadership to ask the mediator to advise them in writing exactly what his expectations are concerning his request that they put a new comprehensive proposal together.   The committee also asked that the IBT leadership ask the mediator to assist in obtaining information that it has been waiting for from the company for many months. 

At this time the IBT leadership is working on the committee’s requests. As a result there are no scheduled dates through the end of the year. If that changes it will be reported in the Dispatch.

UAL Negotiations Update

September 14, 2014

The parties met in Washington DC on September 11^th and 12^th at the offices of the National Mediation Board under the auspices of mediator Gerry McGuckin. 

Thursday morning the company presented a comprehensive economic term sheet proposal. After the company explained their proposal to the full union committee the work of producing a counter proposal began. 

The rank and file negotiating committee spent the next day and a half, working late into the nighton Thursday, reviewing and putting in writing the counter proposal. With help from lead negotiator Clacy Griswold, the committee was able to present its counter on Friday afternoon.  

Included in both of the parties’ proposals were items addressing Scope, Pensions, Health and Welfare and Wages. The committee was assisted in its Scope and Pension responses by attorney Ed Gleason, and for Health and Welfare by actuary Gaelle Gravot, and finally with Wages by economist Dan Akins.  Creative solutions are still being explored for health and welfare benefits, which are a major concern of the committee and the membership. One possible solution to health and welfare being discussed was TeamCare, which the UPS workers just recently accepted as their new plan.  

After passing the counter proposal on Grievance Procedure, Article 19 was T/A’d. There was also some progress made on items that were not part of the four corner stones. Mediator McGuckin was satisfied with the progress made and encouraged the parties to work in small committees ahead of the next scheduled session in October.  

The next formal negotiating session will be the week of October 20^th in Chicago. 

Please Sign the Petition

The Department of Transportation must rule by August 31st on Norwegian Air International’s (NAI) application for a waiver allowing it to begin transatlantic service in the U.S. before receiving a formal permit to do so. We are asking the DOT not to grant this waiver, and we hope you’ll sign our petition opposing the waiver as well.

Although Norwegian in origin, NAI will register its planes in Ireland, hire pilots in Singapore, and base flight crews in Thailand – all so that they can skirt Norwegian labor laws. NAI is being likened to a “WalMart of the skies” for this race-to-the-bottom search for cheap labor. U.S. officials need to demand more from carriers looking to provide service in the U.S., and they must look out for the best interests of American workers. If the NAI exemption is granted, American middle-class jobs will be the ones to suffer.

Please sign our petition today voicing your opposition to the NAI waiver application.

Negotiations Update

August 24, 2014

August 19^th through 21^st the parties met in Chicago under the direction of Federal Mediator Gerry McGuckin.  On the 19^th the parties were briefed by Mediator McGuckin on the negotiations process moving forward.   

The parties then began the week by reviewing each party’s respective open items lists. A combined list of these open items and respective party positions was given to the mediator after this review. The parties then reviewed Articles line by line to ensure any new language accurately reflected what had been agreed to in previous sessions. 

At the end of the week the parties TA’d final language on two Articles and reached agreement in principle on final language in 201 paragraphs and sub paragraphs covering nine other Articles. The Articles TA’d were: Board of Arbitration – (Article 20) and Apprentice Mechanics (Article 23). 

The other Articles containing the finalized language paragraphs were Definitions (Article 2), Filling of Vacancies (Article 5), Reduction in Force (RIF) and Recall (Article 6), Holidays (Article 8), Field Trips (Article 12), Union Security (Article 18), Grievance Procedure (Article 19), General & Miscellaneous (Article 21) and Transportation (Article 22). 

Mediator McGuckin was pleased with the work at the end of the week accomplished by the parties and thanked the negotiators for performing this very important step in the process. The progress made this week puts the parties in a much better position to begin passing comprehensive economic proposals in the next few sessions. 

Negotiating sessions were scheduled for one week each month through year’s end in various locations, beginning with a short session at The National Mediation Board HQ in Washington, DC on September 11^th and 12^th.  October’s sessions will be held in Chicago the 20^th through the 24^th with future locations to be determined.  Tentatively the November session will be held during the week of the 17^th and the December session will be held the week of the 8^th.

Mechanics Update

TAMC to Lobby Capitol Hill 

Several members of the TAMC led by International Rep. Chris Moore will be lobbying on Capitol Hill this Monday the 18^th. The groups will focus on new certifications for foreign repair stations and other aviation maintenance safety related items. The Albertine Group will be joining the group and have set the meetings with members of Congress. As of the writing of this report the members have meetings scheduled with almost twenty offices. A report will be issued in the TAMC newsletter when it comes out.

Mediated Negotiations Begin 

The week of the 18^th will be the start of mediated negotiations with the carrier. An open items list was prepared for mediator Gerry McGuckin so that he can better understand where the union is in terms of bargaining. There are a few smaller items that are carry overs from the bargaining sessions that ended last winter. Of course the four cornerstones of Scope, Pension, Wages and Benefits all remain open. A report of this week’s session will be in the next Dispatch.

Teamster Aviation Professional TAMC Newsletter

The summer edition of the Teamster Aviation Professional is hot off the press. Volume 5, Issue 2 of the newsletter is a full digest of news related to the Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) as well as industry insights and useful information for all members of the mechanics and related class and craft.

Click here to read the newsletter.

Articles in this issue include:

•    Hoffa Visits SFO UAL Base as New Work Brought in House
•    TAMC to FAA: Implement Single Standard of Drug Testing Requirements at Foreign and Domestic MROs
•    TAMC Members Go to Advanced GoTeam Training
•    Ground Safety: Occupational Noise and Hearing Protection
•    Negotiations Updates: Sub-ASA, Horizon, NetJets, Piedmont, Southwest, and UAL
•    Online Updates at TeamsterAir.org/TAMC

The Teamster Aviation Professional is the official newsletter of the TAMC. Its pages are filled with essential news, information and insights from Teamster airline mechanics and leading TAMC members who are fighting every day for airline safety and the advancement of our craft.

The TAMC is the voice of airline mechanics in the industry - and this is our publication. The newsletter is distributed electronically and is designed to reach mechanics around the world. It keeps aviation mechanics up to date on the issues that are important to us. In addition to updates from the Airline Division on what the TAMC is doing on Capitol Hill and throughout the industry, the newsletter regularly includes articles from our members that deal with topics from ASAP to outsourcing.

Check out the latest issue of the Teamster Aviation Professional today!

TEAMSTERS SUBMIT COMMENTS ON FAA REQUIREMENTS FOR DRUG TESTING AT FOREIGN REPAIR STATIONS

Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition Recommends Single Standard for
 Drug Testing Programs for Foreign and Domestic Repair Stations

(WASHINGTON) – The Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) called for the implementation of a single standard of drug testing for airline mechanics in its comments submitted today to the FAA on its proposed rulemaking, (Docket No. FAA-2012-1058), for required drug testing at foreign repair
stations.

In its comments, TAMC recommended that all authorized individuals that perform safety-sensitive maintenance on commercial carriers at both foreign and domestic repair stations be subject to a single standard of drug and alcohol testing.

“The TAMC has taken the position that in order to maintain consistent safety standards in a global economy and regardless of where safety-sensitive maintenance functions are performed, a single standard of aviation maintenance safety must be achieved,” said Chris Moore, chairman of TAMC, in the comments. “If we in the United States believe that certain drugs and the use of alcohol are a threat to aviation safety, we must ensure that anyone performing safety-sensitive maintenance is held to the same standards.”

The full comments submitted today can be found here.

“When it comes to aviation safety we cannot afford to leave anything to chance,” said Teamsters Airline Division Director Capt. David Bourne. “Standardizing drug and alcohol testing across the industry both at domestic and foreign repair stations just makes sense. The flying public and every man and woman that works in the airline industry deserves nothing less to ensure every aircraft is safe – on the ground and in the air.”

Negotiations Update

In preparation for the upcoming mediation sessions, the parties met in Chicago during the week of July 7, 2014 through July 11, 2014. During this session the union committee revisited the problems resulting from the company’s incorrect interpretation of, and failure to implement, certain provisions of the respective stand alone contracts.

These problems have been reported in previous updates. At this week’s session the rank and file committee unanimously and adamantly voiced their concern to the company that until these issues are resolved, moving forward with negotiations would be difficult at best and in all likelihood counterproductive.

In order to ensure productive future negotiation sessions the parties agreed to establish an Implementation Committee consisting of both Company and Union Representatives. The committee has been tasked with ensuring that these issues are resolved timely and definitively so as not to interfere with future negotiations. The members of the oversight committee are Business Agents Javier Lectora (Local 856) and Thomas Esposito (Local 769), along with Negotiating Committee rank and file members Mitch Hunt (Local 455), Joseph Prisco (Local 986), Michael Nerren (Local 19) and Vincent Graziano (Local 210).

The company has committed that many of these implementation related items should be resolved in short order. The oversight committee will report on the status of these items to the negotiations committee as the changes are completed. It is anticipated that progress will be reported over the next several weeks in advance of the first scheduled mediated session in August.

Also in preparation for the August mediation session the parties exchanged their respective open bargaining items lists. These respective lists will be submitted to Mediator McGuckin shortly. 

What follows is the list of contractual issues brought forward by the system: 

• Holiday Deferral - should be done in accordance with sCAL system board decision (926-IAH-03) allowing employees to defer and use that day up to thirty (30) days in advance.
•  Holiday Movement – a sCAL Arbitrators decision allows an employee to, at his option, take another day off immediately before or after the employee’s regularly scheduled days off if a holiday falls on his regular day off or in lieu of an additional day off he may receive an additional eight (8) hours pay.
•  Inconsistent VAC-DAT application - Members have reported inconsistent application of the awarding of Floating Holidays and VAC-DAT.
•  Holiday Overtime - Members reported the Company was not paying the applicable overtime rates (1.5X or 2X) when an employee was awarded overtime on a holiday.
•  Personal Convenience Leave – Some managers took the position that personal convenience time is limited to eighty (80) hours per year.
•  Work Area elimination – Members reported the elimination of Work Areas in certain stations.
• LCA’s (Last Chance Agreements) for Drug and Alcohol violations – There were reports of inconsistent applications of the policy.
•  Travel on sick/long term illness – Members reported denial of this right.
•  Rest Violations – Members reported incorrect application of the overtime provisions regarding rest violations in regards to offers of overtime.
•  Known Outages – Members reported the company was not properly staffing for known outages.
•  OT by Qualifications – Members reported OT lists being run using qualifications in some areas.
•  BAQ’s – The final BAQ list on the sUAL side has not been completed and there were instances of changes to the sCAL list.
•  ELA - Members have reported the inconsistent application of Emergency Leave of Absence (ELA) time.
•  Full time Training Leads - sUAL employees reported the Company wasn’t filling full time trainer positions by seniority.
•  Discipline Inconsistencies - Members have reported an inconsistent application of progressive discipline on the sUAL side.
•  Separate Maintenance Operations – Members reported intermixing of work forces in certain cities.
•  Management Troubleshooting - sUAL members reported the Company was using Tech. Support management personnel to troubleshoot and work on an aircraft without a unit member present to actually perform the work.