American Airlines has came to the determination that Flex Vacation will be eliminated Effective January 1, 2015 for All TWU-represented employees.
You can read the letter from James Weel, MD Labor Relations HERE
This was the reply from David Virella:
Subject: 29(d) Grievance – Article 8 violation
Dear Jim:
In accordance with Article 29 (d) of the AA/TWU Agreement, please accept this communication as official notice of the violation listed below:
Violation of Article 8 ( C ) 1 of the M&R Collective Bargaining Agreement and 8 (d) 1 of the MLS Collective Bargaining Agreement between American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union. This communication would also include all of the other TWU Represented Bargaining Agreements that exist on the LAA property with regard to the issue of Flex Vacation.
On June 5, 2014, the company informed the TWU of planned changes via a letter titled “Re: Flexible Vacations – 2015”. The basic context of that letter stated that the proposed changes were due in part to the ongoing merger related activities at the company and that management had reviewed the Flex Vacation Policy and decided to eliminate that policy effective January 1, 2015. Pursuant to the specific bargaining agreement violations captioned above, it is the position of the TWU that this letter constitutes a unilateral change to the bargaining agreements outside of negotiations. Furthermore, it is also the position of the Transport Workers Union that the appropriate venue to have had these discussions was during the most recent 1113 Bankruptcy negotiations.
Lastly, Flex Vacation has been a long standing benefit to the TWU membership that is wholly self-funded by those who utilize the requested vacation time. The TWU disputes the decision made by the company with regard to Flex Vacation and we hereby grieve and appeal this matter under the terms of Article 29d. Due to the high profile nature and importance of this issue, we request American Airlines to reconsider its decision. Failure to reach a satisfactory solution will result in the TWU taking this dispute to expedited 29(d) arbitration.
Full Letter from David Virella HERE