Mechanics Dispatch For January 25, 2013

January 25, 2013

Negotiation Update

The third consecutive week of meetings between the parties began on Monday January 21, 2013 with an internal union caucus. The purpose of the caucus was to discuss the activity of the previous two weeks and to assess the progress made to date. In addition, the negotiating committee discussed the recommendation of the seniority integration committee (SIC) and how that committee’s findings would impact bargaining moving forward. Once consensus was reached on how to proceed with the findings of the SIC the committee, the negotiating committee moved to preparation for this week’s session.
The parties worked on the following articles over the course of the week with the assistance of the NMB; Seniority, RIF and Recall, Field Trips, Overtime and Training. An Agreement in Principal on Phase 1 items was reached on Training and significant progress was made on the other articles. The parties were assisted this week by mediator Andy Nordgren. While not as many articles were agreed upon this week, a review of the progress shows that the parties have concluded Phase 1 discussions on approximately one half of the full agreement.
In attendance for the Union were rank and file negotiators Allen Cosides, Steve Olsen, Vinny Graziano, Jay Koreny-(Local 210), Anthony Ybarra, Joseph Prisco, John Pangelinan-(Local 986), Mike Moats-(Local 964), Mike Pecoraro-(Local 781), Paul Becerra-(Local 769), John Laurin-(Local 856) Mike Nerren, Jack Harran-(Local 19) and Mitch Hunt (Local 455). Business Agents Angel Cantu, Dave Saucedo, Ralph Salzano, Justin Muraki, Dave Elmore, and George Graham were also in attendance, with the Airline Division represented by Clacy Griswold, Paul Alves, Bob Fisher and attorney Ed Gleason.

FAA Paper Certificates Expire March 31 – Get Your Replacement!

For those of you who still hold a paper license, stop procrastinating. Your paper license will no longer be valid on March 31, 2013. That means you can’t work! The good news is that it’s easy
and painless to replace and it only costs $2.00.
Click here to get your FAA Paper License Replacement.
All paper certificate holders cannot exercise the privileges of their PAPER certificates after March 31, 2013. This includes all certificates that are issued under 14 CFR Part 63 and 65.
14 CFR 63.15(d) and 65.15(d) reads:
Duration of certificates. Except for temporary certificates issued under §63.15 and 65.15, the holder of a paper certificate issued under this part may not exercise the privileges of that certificate after March 31, 2013.
Get your paper license replacement today!
If your airman certificate was issued after July 2003 and is a plastic certificate, it already meets the paper-to-plastic rule as specified in 14 CFR Parts 63 and 65 and you may disregard this notification.
For more information, contact TAMC Chairman and Airline Division International Representative Chris Moore at 202-409-6038.

Furloughed members urged to update their addresses

Members on furlough are advised to keep their addresses current with the company while on layoff. It is predicted that there will be many movements this year and there have been several members that have been removed from the seniority list because old addresses were on file when notices were sent.
If you are in touch with a furloughed member, please forward this information to them. Updates may be emailed to: ESC@united.com . The ESC will provide a fax number and ask members to send the address change accompanied with a signature.

Airline Division Week In Review January 27, 2013

UAL Mechanics Negotiations Continue to Progress 

The third consecutive week of meetings between management and union negotiators for a joint combined contract between the mechanics of UAL, CAL and CMI continued on Monday January 21, 2013 with an internal union caucus. The purpose of the caucus was to discuss the activity of the previous two weeks and to assess the progress made to date. In addition, the negotiating committee discussed the recommendation of the seniority integration committee (SIC) and how that committee’s findings would impact bargaining moving forward. Once consensus was reached on how to proceed with the findings of the SIC the committee, the negotiating committee moved to preparation for this week’s session. 

With the assistance of NMB mediator Andy Nordgren, the parties worked on many articles over the course of the week with the assistance of the NMB, including Seniority, RIF and Recall, Field Trips, Overtime and Training. An “Agreement in Principal” on Phase 1 items was reached on Training and significant progress was made on the other articles, with the parties now having concluded Phase 1 discussions on approximately one half of the full agreement.  

FAA Paper Certificates Expire March 31 

A reminder for anyone who still holds a paper FAA license that time is running out for getting a replacement. FAA paper licenses will no longer be valid on March 31, 2013.  

Click here to get your FAA Paper License Replacement:

http://www.faa.gov/licenses_certificates/airmen_certification/airmen_services/ 

A holder of a certificate cannot exercise the privileges of their PAPER certificates after March 31, 2013. This includes all certificates that are issued under 14 CFR Part 63 and 65.

14 CFR 63.15(d) and 65.15(d) reads: 

Duration of certificates. Except for temporary certificates issued under §63.15 and 65.15, the holder of a paper certificate issued under this part may not exercise the privileges of that certificate after March 31, 2013. 

If your airman certificate was issued after July 2003 and is a plastic certificate, it already meets the paper-to-plastic rule as specified in 14 CFR Parts 63 and 65 and you may disregard this notification. 

For more information, contact TAMC Chairman and Airline Division International Representative Chris Moore at 202-409-6038.  

Citing “Material Change,” NMB Calls Parties Back to the Table at RAH 

This weeks’ announcement that Republic has signed a 12 year deal with American Airlines to operate 76 seat jets for the carrier has caused the mediator assigned to the RAH pilot contract negotiations to call the parties back to the table. 

In calls to the Airline Division Director and management, federal mediator Terri Brown agreed that a material change had occurred due to the American Airlines announcement. To better understand that change, the mediator has scheduled a mediation session in Washington, D.C., commencing February 19^th through the 21^st. Just last week as a consequence of recent mediation sessions, the NMB had notified both parties that no further sessions would be scheduled until she contacted both parties set for early summer of 2013. 

In discussing his conversation with the mediator, Airline Division Director David Bourne said, “Our discussion was very open. The mediator agrees that this weeks’ announcement clearly changes the dynamics; and while we are not yet fully clear on the specifics of the agreement between American and RAH, there is sufficient material change to warrant resumption of mediation ahead of the June timeline that was announced last week.” 

He went on to say, “I am very appreciative of the mediator’s immediate attention to this matter and at her request, the Division will be in attendance along with the Local Union 357 negotiating committee and professional advisors at the mediation.”  

Airline Industry News 

Governmental and Regulatory 

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee plans to hold a hearing on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner. The committee will investigate how the Federal Aviation Administration approved the use of lithium-ion batteries.  

 DOT Chairman Ray LaHood intends to stay on in the Second Obama term. 

The National Transportation Safety Board has eliminated excess voltage as a possible cause of a battery fire aboard the Boeing Dreamliner 787.  

Airlines and Industry 

The union representing American Eagle flight attendants has blasted the agreement between American and Republic Airlines. 

USAirways pilots began voting last week on a memorandum of understanding outlining a temporary contract with American Airlines in case of a merger. 

Boeing is expressing confidence in the Federal Aviation Administration's certification for the Dreamliner 787.  

According to some former employees, the Dreamliner was rushed from the start by Boeing. 

American Airlines has signed a 12 year agreement for Republic Airways Holdings Inc. to operate 76-seat regional jets, the first such agreement in the AMR Corp. unit’s history.

United Airlines has begun work on an aircraft-maintenance hangar at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey.  

Three airline groups in Europe have said they support flight time rules proposed by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

Negotiations Update For January 18, 2013

January 18, 2013

Negotiations Update

The parties met for a second consecutive week of bargaining this week in Chicago. We tackled some of the more substantive phase 1 portions of the agreements. The articles discussed were Article 3 - Covered Crafts, Classifications, and Bid Areas; Article 4 - Seniority; Article 13 - Training; Article 7 - Hours of Service; Article 17 - Overtime; and Article 18 - Union Security and Representation.

Agreements in principle on non-economic issues were reached on Articles 7 and 17, and progress was made on the other four subjects. Also present at the start of this week’s session was Peter Hardcastle, a Cheiron actuary hired by the IBT to assist in these negotiations. Mr. Hardcastle was on hand for continued preliminary discussions on pension and other benefit-related matters.

Discussions will continue with the remaining articles when bargaining reconvenes on Monday for the third consecutive week. Originally this third week was going to be done without the aid of the mediators, however, considering our progress and at the parties’ request, a schedule change was managed and the NMB will be present during next week as well.

We will keep you updated as progress continues.

Seniority Integration Committee

The Seniority Integration Committee was called together to finalize the draft of suggestions for the Negotiating Committee. As we have made faster-than-expected progress, the Committee was called together to vote on and discuss any final remaining issues on the draft that has been building over the last few months. This draft will be a template to be used by the Negotiating Committee in resolving the many differences on the subject of seniority within the three groups. Discussions with the company on the seniority article began immediately after receiving the final draft.

One of the long anticipated information items, the combined Teamster Roster, was delivered from the company to the SIC during the meeting. The final task for the SIC is to look over the roster and make any necessary corrections. Some of this can begin immediately while other changes will require agreements in principle between the company and the union Negotiating Committee. It should be stressed that any of these changes or corrections will not be valid without a fully-ratified agreement voted on by the membership.

Negotiations Update for January 11, 2013

UNITED MECHANICS NEGOTIATIONS UPDATE, PROTOCOL AND OTHER AGREEMENTS MADE

January 11, 2013

The negotiating committee began the new year with formal meetings the week of January 7. These meetings started off with a day and a half of training, courtesy of the National Mediation Board. The Board required training for the expedited facilitated problem solving – or FPS – process and placed the company and the union in the same room, listening to course instructions lead by Senior Mediator Pat Sims and assisted by mediator Michael Kelliher. The purpose of these exercises was to get negotiators familiar with facilitated problem solving. Training was well received by both parties and all participants including upper management and union leaders took part.

The first step towards beginning the process is for the parties to come to an agreement of guidelines. This Protocol Agreement was completed by the parties just prior to the start of negotiations. Click here to read the full protocol agreement.

According to the agreement, these talks will be divided into two phases. The first phase is the reconciliation phase and will include the process of taking the differences in the contract books for the three companies and amalgamating them in to one. It is this first phase that will consume the majority of our initial meeting time with the company. To accomplish this phase, we have divided into small groups of negotiators and Business Agents who are tasked with certain articles. These small groups meet with similar company groups and the two parties run down the entire article. In many cases the language is taken as is and agreements can be made immediately. Combining three contracts, however, will obviously bring about some points of disagreement.

The points that are not immediately agreed to are worked out using the process taught through the training earlier in the week with the goal of resolving the differences. Each of these subcommittee meetings have been presided over by members of the Board to help move the process along. The specific articles discussed this week were articles 2, 8, 9, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 and the Savings Clause.

In phase two of the negotiations, the parties will discuss new work rules as well as the entire economic package.

The progress that was made in these last few days ordinarily may have taken months and we look forward to continuing the sessions next week. One Teamster resource that should not go unnoticed is the Legal Department. Our IBT Legal Representative, Ed Gleason, has been personally on hand and available during the entire process to help us when needed. The entire negotiating team has progressed with the help of his expertise and dedication.

Agreements on principles of non-economic issues were reached on Definitions, Holidays, Vacations, Grievance Procedure, Arbitration, General and Miscellaneous, Apprentice Mechanics and Transportation. Negotiations are scheduled to resume next week in Chicago followed by the week of the January 21. The week of January 28 will be used for internal committee work. For the entire month of February, the parties are scheduled to meet every week in Chicago.

Mechanics Dispatch for January 6, 2013

The latest Mechanics Dispatch in PDF form can be found here.

Happy New Year!

Greetings.

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas, and had time to spend with friends and family during this Holiday season.

Now that 2013 is here, the task of negotiating an amalgamated contract will begin. The Negotiation Committee, along with Business Agents and Airline Division representatives will meet with National Mediation Board member Pat Sims in Chicago the week of January 7th to begin interest based bargaining training. If you would like more information on interest based bargaining, click here. Negotiations will begin following the training sessions. A schedule of negotiation dates beyond the week of January 7th has not been established yet, but will be a subject of discussion during the Chicago visit.


Here's wishing you all a safe, prosperous, and healthy New Year!