Airline Division Week In Review December 1, 2012

Greg Uselmann Leaves Local 1224, Returns to the Cockpit  

Business Agent Greg Uselmann has left Local 1224 to return to flying. 

A longtime union member and representative in the airline industry, Greg notified Local 1224 President Captain Dan Wells of his intent recently. Greg has been fully engaged in union work since 1998 and has been an integral piece of Teamsters Local 1224 for two and a half years. As a pilot, it has been his desire to return to the cockpit for some time. He recently secured a private flying position working closely with two longtime friends. 

During his time with the local he was the full time business agent working primarily with Allegiant Air, Silver Airways and Southern Air. 

“We wish him only the best in his future endeavors. It is our hope that, once he has completed his training and becomes accustomed with the demands of his new position, we will be able to utilize his expertise on a part time basis,” said Wells. 

“Greg’s service has been invaluable to Teamsters Local 1224. He is a unionist at heart and we will miss his dedication to our membership, our local and the union cause,” Wells concluded.

 

Airline Division Board Meets 

This past week, the Airline Division Board of Directors met in Ft. Lauderdale to review the current status of the Division and ongoing initiatives. Following an introduction by Board Chairman George Miranda (Local 210), the leadership received reports from numerous locals about ongoing events at the various properties and Division matters and their affect on the locals.  

In accordance with policy, the two day meeting was very compressed and the Directors spent their time on the pressing matters, with an overall eye on fiscal responsibility and ensuring the highest level of services for the membership.

 

Airline Industry News

 

Governmental and Regulatory 

Drone crashes are raising concerns about the viability of their use in U.S. skies. 

The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that flight attendants will soon be covered by Department of Labor workplace safety standards. 

Some of the benefits of the Next Generation Air Transportation System include consolidation and modernization of radar facilities, but a Bloomberg study has found that efforts toward that end have been blocked consistently by lawmakers in Congress.  

The National Transportation Safety Board has released its recommendations for new Federal Aviation Administration regulations governing cargo cabin fire safety. The recommendations include requirements for fire-suppression and fire-detection technologies to be present in the cargo-containing areas of cargo jets.  

In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., says he has decided not to seek another term as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Mica is endorsing Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., for the post.

 

Airline and Industry

 

AMR CEO Tom Horton unveiled a restructuring plan this year to increase $1 billion in revenue and decrease $2 billion in costs.  

Superstorm Sandy caused US Airways Group to lose an estimated $35 million in profits, the carrier said in a securities filing. The storm caused a significant reduction in bookings that negatively affected profits in October and November. The airline says bookings have returned to normal levels.

Mechanics Dispatch for November 16, 2012

On November 13th the Airline Division hosted a meeting of Principal Officers, Business Agents and the ten rank and file members of the National Seniority Integration Committee representing the new United Airlines. The Airline Division called the meeting in order to resolve disagreements among the National SIC over what method should be used to integrate the seniority lists as well as the applicability of the Consent Decree. The Division believed it was in everyone’s best interest to resolve these disagreements promptly, as both suggested alternatives had the very real potential of winding up in federal court and in front of an arbitrator. If that happened, the amalgamation negotiations would have ground to a stop until the federal court litigation and arbitration were completed – processes that likely would take years to complete.

The meeting began with introductions and a history of what had transpired over the course of the last year. It was explained to the group that there were several legal opinions gathered as well as the input of Arbitrator/Mediator Ralph Berger regarding the Consent Decree and its applicability to the combined group upon ratification of an amalgamated contract. All of the experts agreed that efforts to terminate or amend the Consent Decree through federal court litigation likely would not succeed given the high legal hurdles that exist. In addition to the limited chance of success, the Principal Officers agreed that the litigation process would be lengthy and extremely expensive. It was felt the better course of action was to secure strong job protections, including no-furlough protections as strong as or even stronger than the ones that are in the existing agreements. The Principal Officers also agreed that two members of the National Seniority Integration Committee will assist the negotiating committee to help achieve these critical job protections.
The Airline Division also addressed the idea of a rank ratio for the purposes of bidding. It is the opinion of the Division that this idea goes against the very core of unionism and has been destructive in other work groups that have used it.

The group was also made aware that the 55 member rank and file steering committee recently agreed to enter expedited bargaining with the carrier.
The Airline Division then informed the group that it would not commence or support litigation seeking to terminate or amend the Consent Decree, and that it opposed the use of rank ratio method to integrate the seniority lists. The Airline Division also advised that it would not finance any federal litigation or arbitration regarding these matters. The Principal Officers were then asked if any of them planned to either appeal the Decree or attempt to arbitrate for the purposes of rank ratio. None of the Principal
Officers were willing to proceed down these paths. The Airline Division then declared that this matter is now considered closed institutionally and the integration will proceed under the constraints of the Consent Decree and without using a rank ratio method to integrate the lists.
The committee now has several issues to work through including how to handle premium seniority, how to fairly apply the rules of the Decree for the sCO and sCMI groups, as well as other matters, such as tie breakers for future employees.
The committee will meet on November 27th -28th with a follow up meeting on December 10th -14th. Future dates will be discussed at these upcoming meetings

Airline Division Week In Review - November 11, 2012

CitationAir Discussion Continue

Members of the CitationAir Pilots Negotiating Committee convened in Cleveland, OH, this past  week to prepare for resumption of bargaining on their Collective Bargaining Agreement.

On Tuesday, both parties’ negotiating teams worked separately in caucus till late afternoon preparing their respective proposals. The Company delivered their initial proposals for: Section 6 (Training & Checking), Section 9 (Uniforms) and Section 22 (System Board of Adjustment).

Union negotiators presented a counterproposal for Section 11 (Union Security). The parties had in-depth discussions on their positions and on Wednesday both parties again worked in their respective caucuses, with the union presenting a counterproposal to Section 22, which was presented to the Company, after which they returned to caucus and worked on a response to Section 9, which was presented later in the day. The Company then presented another counter-proposal on Section 22. During the ensuing discussions regarding the Company’s position, a compromise was reached on the remaining open items in Section 22 and a tentative agreement (TA) was achieved.

The weeks bargaining session concluded on Thursday, with union negotiators presenting a counter proposal on Section 6 of the agreement.

ExpressJet Update

Negotiations continued this past week in Philadelphia, PA, with discussions and a tentative agreement concluded on Section 16, (Moving Expenses).

While discussions continued and proposals were exchanged on Section 7 (Hours of Service), the parties remain apart on a number of issues.

The mediator has scheduled new dates for the first quarter of next year, with the next session in Houston, January 8^th through the 10^th.

Airline Industry News

Government and Regulatory

The Federal Aviation Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board and members of the airline industry have agreed to share summaries of safety information under strict restrictions and will not be made public.

Airlines and Industry

Minneapolis-based Regional Elite Airline Services, a subsidiary of Delta Air
Lines, will close its doors Nov. 13 as part of Delta's cost-cutting operational strategy.

The Federal Aviation Administration has tapped Melbourne, Fla.-based  Harris Corp. to implement two of the six core programs of the Next Generation Air Transportation System.

In an effort to limit losses due to rising oil prices and tough competition, airlines are looking to the seemingly attractive option of jet-fuel hedging.

On this day when we remember and honor our veterans, the Airline Division would like to extend our thanks and remembrance to our members past and present who have served our nation.  

Airline Division Week In Review - October 16, 2012

Northern Air Cargo Pilots Ratify First Contract
After over four years of dedicated work and by an overwhelming margin, the pilots of Northern Air Cargo have ratified their first contract.

The all cargo airline operates a fleet of Boeing 737 aircraft throughout the state of Alaska. They are owned by Saltchuk Resources, a transportation holding company that owns other transportation related companies including Aloha Airlines, who has members also represented by the Airline Division.

NAC’s pilots are members of Local 959. This represents their first airline agreement for the local since Wein Air.

Commenting on the announcement, Airline Division Director David Bourne said, “I want to extend my congratulations to the pilots of Northern Air Cargo on this momentous vote. I would also like to recognize and thank Rick Canoy and Derek Musto for their hard work and dedication to the pilots and Local 959 Principal Officer Rick Boyles and his team for the years of effort that concluded this agreement.”
Bourne went on to say, “This has truly been a team effort and should leave no doubt about the dedication of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Airline Division to reach out and represent members wherever they may be.”

Centurion MD-11 Suffers Gear Collapse on Landing in Brazil, Airline Division Responds Immediately

On Sunday October 14^th, a McDonnell Douglass MD-11 freighter operated by Centurion Air Cargo, suffered a landing gear collapse on rollout from landing at the Varicopas (VCP) airport in Brazil.

The flight crew, members of Local 769, brought the aircraft to a safe stop and secured the plane before exiting through the main entry door. There was no fire or loss to cargo, but the aircraft suffered substantial damage and closed the airport as it blocked the runway.

Upon notification of the incident, the Safety Hotline was immediately notified and began coordinating efforts with Local 769 Business Agent Daisy Gonzalez-Colli and the Airline Division. While efforts immediately began to secure the crew, hotline representatives coordinated with IBT Legislative Director Jack Albertine, who was briefed and ready to intercede if needed with the U.S. State Department and other agencies to protect the crew if needed. Additional contacts were made by the hotline team to secure legal assistance if needed. Business Agent Gonzalez-Colli also coordinated with Centurion management to keep abreast of all available information.

Thanks to the coordinated efforts, the crew was quickly given their travel release by the local aviation authorities and they were returned back to the U.S. in short order.

“In addition to being very grateful that the crew is safe and unharmed, I would like to congratulate the team that immediately responded and worked nonstop on the crews behalf to ensure their protection and safe transit back to the U.S. in a prompt manner,” said Airline Division Director David Bourne. “The rapid response by the hotline team and Local 769 was instrumental in protecting the crew in the post incident phase and shows the value of having the team in place to respond.

While this thankfully was not as serious as it could have been, it has provided us an opportunity to see firsthand how a response should take place. Our support for the crew will continue until all investigations are completed and we will also conduct a review to further refine our plan and response for the future,” Bourne concluded.  

Airline Industry News

Governmental and Regulatory

The Federal Aviation Administration's acting administrator, Michael Huerta, emphasized the   need for collaboration among government, industry, unions and others in a speech about the Next Generation Air Transportation System.

Industry and Labor

Southwest Airlines has hired a former head of the Federal Aviation Administration as senior vice president of labor relations. Randy Babbitt will be responsible for communication, negotiations and maintaining relationships with each of Southwest's 11 unions.

Two unions have come together in a new attempt to represent Delta Air Lines' flight attendants.
A federal judge has ruled that US Airways Group can begin contract negotiations with its pilots, taking a controversial seniority clause into account, but that the airline risks litigation in doing so.

As a preventive measure, American Airlines will modify seats with a second locking mechanism on 49 Boeing 767 planes. The work should be completed around Oct. 21.

Alaska Air Group announced an order for 50 Boeing 737s on Thursday. The order is a mix of current 737s as well as the updated 737 Max-8 and Max-9 jets.

Delta Air Lines has added more than 100 daily flights at La Guardia Airport in New York, a move that it hopes will increase market share in the region.

American Airlines and US Airways Group have signed a nondisclosure agreement to exchange confidential financial information, which included terms to stop talking publicly about a merger.

Regional Elite Airline Services, a wholly owned Delta subsidiary that provides ground services, is reportedly ending its operations.

Mechanics Dispatch for October 12, 2012

Airline Division meets with new Senior VP Tech Ops 

On October 9th, Airline Division Director David Bourne, Attorney Ed Gleason, and Representatives Clacy Griswold, Paul Alves and Bob Fisher met with Greg Hart, the new Senior VP of Tech Ops along with Doug McKeen and Mike Bonds. This meeting was solely for the purpose of meeting the new Vice President. While no business was discussed, the Airline Division explained that one of its top priorities is and will be continuing to recapture work lost through previous outsourcing. The meeting went well. On a related issue; recently a management change occurred for the sub United GSE and facilities mechanics. Mike Lorenzeni has moved on and Ray Ames will assume his duties in regards to these two groups. Ray will report to Joe Ferreria in Tech Ops.

 Negotiating Committee Correction 

One name was inadvertently left off the list for the national rank and file negotiating committee. Allen Cosides was left off the list but will be attending negotiations as the national coordinator for the GSE members across the system. Allen’s presence will not affect the makeup of voting members, but he will have input to all issues concerning the new agreement.

Committee Update 

The negotiating committee met September 20th and 21st in Denver for the purpose of creating an abbreviated opening proposal for the amalgamated agreement. This is one of the preliminary parts of the expedited mediation process. The committee spent the two days looking at each of the articles and proposals suggested by the members and steering committee and placed them in an order of importance. The group met again the week of the 24th and spent the time working in small subcommittees reviewing each line of each article of the three agreements including the new proposals and created recommendations to the various differences. There were many distinctions and each of these was placed in positions of importance. The work was concluded this week in Chicago where the team took the results of the previous two meeting weeks and created a combined plan which will be sent to the company. This step will begin the back and forth dialog with the company defined in interest based bargaining. With this step in place, the expedited negotiation process can begin. One final hurdle which remains is the official NMB Expedited Negotiating Training. The Team is waiting on training dates which can only be issued from the NMB. We have repeatedly made requests and expect the call for training to happen at any time and the committee is standing by and ready. This training for the new NMB procedures is an important requirement of the expedited mediation process.

Benefits Committee Update 

Since the last Benefits update, the committee has met on three occasions to continue working on finalizing the opening proposals for benefits and pension. With the continued help of Hemant Berry, Assistant Director, Benefits Department for the IBT; and Pete Hardcastle, Pension Consultant from Cheiron, a recommendation will be given to the negotiating committee within the next few weeks, so they can be prepared and ready when the IBB process starts. With many sub company differences to overcome, the committee is confident they will be giving the negotiating committee a strong starting point for these issues.

Seniority Committee Update 

The Seniority Committee will meet again the week of the 15th to continue discussions on the combined seniority lists. One of the tasks assigned to the Seniority Committee has been to review the seniority lists of each work area and push for obvious corrections from local management. The hope is to limit the number of actual seniority discrepancies and protests by making sure the list is as accurate as possible. 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.

Contract Negotiations Update October 5, 2012

So far, the amalgamated contract negotiation committee has met 2 times in Denver. These two day meetings were used to work on finalizing the non-economic opener to the company, and to review the sub CAL and sub UAL contracts side by side to determine the differences between each others article language. The committee members were broken up into 6 sub groups and assigned a number of articles to review, then present to the committee their recommendations. These recommendations will be reviewed again at later meetings.

The next two committee meetings are scheduled for Chicago (October 8-12) and Newark (October 15-19) where we will be getting reports from the benefits and the seniority integration committees. We also have a tentative arrangement to meet with the National Mediation Board in Newark to receive training on Interest Based Bargaining.

At this time no formal face to face meetings with the company have been scheduled, but once the National Mediation Board class is scheduled to explain the rules and process of Interest Based Bargaining, the actual negotiations should begin quickly thereafter.
The company and the union are still looking at finishing contract talks by December 31, 2012. If the parties are at an impasse by that date, we have the option to revert back to normal Section 6 negotiations.

Airline Division Week In Review for September 30, 2012

Era Ends as Comair Ceases Operations

Faced with the realities of fleet reductions imposed by Delta Airlines as a consequence of their recently amended contract with Delta pilots, Comair Airlines flew their last flight on Saturday.
For years a recognized leader in the commuter industry, later referred to as “regional airlines,” Comair began service with twin engined piston aircraft, later transitioning to turboprops and finally becoming the first operator of jets in the regional industry.

Since the announcement of the impending shutdown; Teamsters Local Union 513, who represents Comair’s flight attendants, has been working to secure severance and other benefits as well as financial and job training assistance for the flight attendants.

Commenting on the shutdown, Local 513 President Elaine Morris said, “We would like to thank the Teamsters for getting industry leading pay and benefits for the Comair Flight Attendant group for the last 10 years. We signed our first contract on July 19, 2002 and the Teamsters have always been there for us, especially during this painful time. It has been a great journey.”

UAL Negotiating Committee Update 

Assisted by the generosity of Local 455, its Principal Officer Steve Vairma, Business Agent John Hennelly and the Local committee; the negotiating committee met for over a two week period beginning on September 20^th and 21^st in Denver, Colorado. The committee spent the two days reviewing and prioritizing each of the articles and proposals suggested by the steering committee.

The committee reconvened September 26^th through the 28^th in Denver and spent the scheduled meeting time going through the three contracts of CO, UA and MCI to look for and identify any and all differences to each of the contracts in an effort to combine them into one.

The fourteen member committee was broken down into seven sub committees, with each committee was assigned a BA to assist with the review and help resolve questions the sub committees identified. Where differences were identified, recommendations were developed and reported to the entire committee. These recommendations will be reviewed when the committee meets in Chicago starting on October 10^th.
The protocol agreement is not yet been completed. A key to that process; the outstanding issues delaying the completion of the protocol agreement; is defining the number of open issues. Once that is done it is expected the protocol will be finalized quickly. The committee is also awaiting dates for official training regarding the NMB expedited bargaining procedures. Dates have been suggested to complete the training and the membership will be notified when the schedule is confirmed.

ExpressJet Discussion continue in Baltimore

Negotiations for ExpressJet this past week brought a tentative agreement on Section 12 - (Field Trips), and continued discussions and exchange of proposals on Section 3 – (Classifications).  While the parties are now closer to agreement on this section of the agreement, fundamental differences remain that must be resolved.
Negotiations are scheduled to resume on October 15^th in Baltimore.

Airline Industry News

Governmental and Regulatory

The failure of a GE engine on a Boeing 747 in China is not related to a similar failure in the U.S. according to the DOT. 

Industry and Labor
Southern Air, an ACMI cargo carrier operating Boeing 747-400’s and Boeing 777’s, has filed for bankruptcy protection…United Parcel Services' proposed deal to acquire TNT, a Dutch package delivery company, may face more opposition as European antitrust regulators consider stepping in.

Ground workers for American Airlines are the latest group to accept the airlines early out program…US Airways flight attendants have rejected a preliminary five-year contract, the airline says.

AMR, parent company of American Airlines, has filed a financial report with bankruptcy court stating a financial loss of $82 million in August…Cargo airlines, including FedEx and United Parcel Services, are facing drops in revenue this year, due to decreased average package weights and softer demand.

American Airlines has informed its pilots union, the Allied Pilots Association, that it will seek a court injunction against the union if its pilots continue to do what the airline calls interfering with operations.