By Gary Kelley, TWU, ATD, RO Committee Chairman (918) 289-1032
Our goal is to secure TWU jobs by pro-actively dealing with departments such as Purchasing, Finance and Engineering to ensure compliance with out Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and to promote the value of keeping work in-house.
For more that 60 years the Transport Workers Union has been addressing outsourcing concerns that affect its members. In a March 9t, 1950 letter from C. R. Smith, included in our CBA, Mr. Smith addresses the TWU’s concern over outsourcing by writing, “The contract out of work has become an issue in our negotiations with the TWU because the Union believes this practice threatens the job security of its members.” Those concerns are more relevant today than any other time in aviation history and the TWU has been at the forefront of this issue since day one.
With today’s unprecedented global competition for aircraft maintenance work, outsourcing has destroyed thousands of highly skilled US aviation jobs. According to an Associated Press article dated August 12, 2010, citing a Bureau of Transportation Report, “The industry has lost 54,000 jobs or 16% of its workforce in the past two years.”
The TWU R.O. Committee also helps oversee the Business Development Group known as the BDG. The BDG works with our shops to ensure opportunities for new work are provided to the appropriate shop/base and that all necessary organizations are involved, ensuring a smooth and successful outcome when shops in-source work.
Even as airlines start to recover from the slump in air travel, these jobs will be slow to return due to the huge amount of offloading of maintenance work done by many carriers. With American Airlines’ decision to continue performing the majority of its work in-house, the TWU has the responsibility of insuring its members’ skills and labor are being utilized efficiently and effectively. The BDG is the TWU resource for ensuring that the work accomplished in-house is the right work to enhance the long term interest of our members.
The TWU RO Committee and the BDG, with your help, will continue the fight to preserve the long proud history of aircraft maintenance being performed inhouse with highly skilled unionized workers in the U.S.A.