CLEVELAND TECH OPS: March 2013

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Airline Division Week In Review For March 30, 2013

UAL Negotiators Continue to Show Progress

Negotiations on the UAL/CAL/CMI JCBA 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 their 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.

While this list was extensive; covering Articles 2 through 21, it was noted that the overwhelming majority of the changes to the content of each of these articles had been discussed and agreed to by the parties and the 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 by the parties in the next phase of negotiations.

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, a standard practice which is a normal part of any negotiations. After that presentation is complete the union committee will meet with their actuaries and economists to continue preparation for phase two of negotiations including all economic items.

Airline Industry News

Governmental and Regulatory

The state of Texas will pay to keep 13 air traffic control towers open that are scheduled to be closed by the sequester.

The Senate has rescheduled a hearing on aviation safety that was postponed last week by votes in the upper chamber. The hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee was planned to allow lawmakers to check on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) progress on implementing safety provisions that were included in last year's $63 billion funding bill. The committee said Thursday that the hearing would now be held when lawmakers return from Easter recess on April 16.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved has approved the proposed merger between U.S. Airways and American Airlines.

Airline and Industry

Boeing completed the first flight test of its 787 Dreamliner with a retooled lithium-ion battery system on Monday.

The proposed merger between American Airlines and US Airways would challengecompeting airlines at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

IAM Rejects Deal

Rich Delaney, March 30, 2013— Members of District 141 have emphatically rejected the tentative agreements reached with United Airlines. Member/tellers from across the country completed their week-long work of receiving, verifying, and counting ballots mailed in from every work group and station covered by the Ramp & Stores and Public Contact Employees agreements. Employees of legacy United Airlines, Continental Airlines, and Continental Micronesia Airlines participated in the ratification process and expressed their opinion.

District 141 will now notify the National Mediation Board of our request to enter into federally mediated negotiations covering all employee groups, as previously established within the protocol of interest based bargaining in August 2012.

Membership surveys will be conducted in the coming weeks to confirm the future positions of the Union on issues important to our members. Negotiations will resume based on the directives of the National Mediation Board.

District 141 thanks all participating members for their vote. The democratic process of membership ratification/rejection is the foundation of our Union and a fundamental right of membership. We respect the decisions made by the majority of our members and will proceed with their best interests in mind.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Airline Division Week In Review March 17, 2013

New TSA Policy Will Undermine Security of Flying Public and Crew Members

The Transportation Security Administration’s recent decision allowing knives in the aircraft cabin is an outrageous move that will endanger the security of the flying public and the safety of thousands of flight attendants and pilots, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said today.

The Teamsters are part of a growing coalition demanding that the new TSA policy be reversed before it takes effect on April 25.

“Since the horrific 9/11 terror attacks, the ban on dangerous objects in the aircraft cabin have helped make our nation’s airline industry the safest in the world,” said Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa. “This ban has been and continues to be an integral part of our nation’s aviation security system, ensuring the safety of both passengers and crew members. We call on the TSA to reverse this decision.”

Hoffa added that the Teamsters are fully committed to supporting the public campaign against the new TSA policy. The Teamsters union is a proud member of the 90,000-strong Flight Attendants Union Coalition leading that campaign, which includes an online petition to the White House at http://1.usa.gov/10gBQ78.

"We have spent countless hours working with our nation’s leaders, union leaders, industry leaders, and our membership to protect the American traveling public, our members, and those people on the ground,” said Capt. David P. Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division. “Under the current rules, you are allowed to transport the ‘new’ items but they must be checked items. The current rules should be continued."

“Knives don’t belong in the aircraft cabin,” Hoffa said. “The Teamsters will fight to make sure dangerous objects stay out of our skies and we’ll continue working with our allies, including the Coalition of Airline Pilots Association, which has also come out forcefully against this dangerous decision.”

NetJets Technicians and Related Negotiations Continue

The NetJets Technicians and Related Negotiating Committee met with the Company on March 12^th, with International representatives Paul Alves, Chris Moore and IBT Attorney Nick Manicone assisting the negotiating committee of Paul Suffoletto, Chad Morrison, John Wolfe, Isaac Thielman, Trent Rutledge, and Carl Rollins. Company representatives Dave Makowski, Myron Becker, Julie Grenenwald, Brian Buehrer, Anthony Mosso and Jennifer Biele were also in attendance.

The negotiating session consisted of discussions surrounding Article 22, (Job Classification) with the company responding to the union’s proposal. The union spent time clarifying the Company’s proposed changes and will respond when negotiations resume in April.

The committee also met apart from the Company to finish our proposal on Article 1(Recognition)and Article 8 (Grievance Procedure).

The next scheduled negotiating session is scheduled for April 2013.

This Week in Air Safety

Teamsters Local 1224 are happy to announce the formation of the Part 117 Flight/Duty Time Regulations Implementation Committee. Chairing this committee will be Atlas 747 Captain Kevin McCabe. This committee will be tasked with preparing for and monitoring member participation at the 1224 carriers where Part 117 will be implemented. The union’s goal is to work cooperatively with management to ensure a common understanding of how the new rules work and a smooth transition into the new regulations. The committee will also be reviewing clarifying questions and answers as they are published by the FAA. We fully expect that there will be a multitude of requests for legal interpretations as the 117 deadline approaches, and as the implementation begins. As the deadline for Part 117 implementation approaches, Local 1224 will also remain fully engaged in working to have cargo carriers included in the new rules. Local 1224 is a strong proponent of the “One Level of Safety” concept, and strongly believes that Part 117 should apply to all of its carriers.

Any Local 1224 member interested in serving on the Part 117 Flight/Duty Time Regulations Implementation Committee, please contact Captain McCabe at kmccabe@apa1224.org

Even if you are at an all-cargo carrier, where Part 117 does not currently apply, your participation is welcome. Please step up and join this committee. It is extremely crucial to all of our careers.

Submitted by Russ Leighton

Airline Industry News

Governmental and Regulatory

As a result of budget cuts from sequestration, the Federal Aviation Administration has instituted a hiring freeze for air-traffic controllers.

The head of the Transportation Security Administration is defending his decision to allow passengers to carry small knives aboard planes despite opposition from airline executives, pilots and flight attendants unions and lawmakers.

Airline and Industry

Boeing will likely request board approval for its 777X by as soon as the end of next month, sources say.

The proposed merger between US Airways and American Airlines will not harm competition, experts say.

Boeing said it could install a fix for 787 batteries and have the aircraft return to flying soon.

Driving a nail through lithium-ion batteries is a standard test for short circuits, but Boeing needs to do more sophisticated testing for its 787 batteries, experts say.

Negotiations Update For March 17, 2013

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.

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.

Useful links

If you would like to see a link added to this list please contact Bob Fisher at:rcfisher7@yahoo.com

Airline Mechanics Forum Airline Mechanics forum (This is a good place to discuss merger related items)

The following Locals represent these respective cities:

Boston Local 25

New York & Washington Local 210

Charleston & Atlanta Local 528

Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Tampa & Orlando Local 769

Cleveland Local 964

Chicago Local 781

Houston, Dallas & New Orleans Local 19

Phoenix Local 104

Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, Hawaii & Guam Local 986

San Francisco Local 856/986

Denver Local 455

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Negotiations Update March 3, 2013

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