Since I took office in August it has been a busy three months. We have voted on a Tentative Agreement where M&R and Stores failed 2 to 1 and Tech Specialists ratified their agreement. I have attended Negotiations meetings for M&R, Stores, and Fleet Service and believe that changes for the better in organization and strategy have been made and communication improvements are being made as well. In fact, we (negotiating committee) have requested to NMB to set up our next round of meetings with the company to move forward with the process of obtaining a contract for our members.
Currently we are in the middle of recalls and there have already been over 100 AMT reassignments and OSM recalls since I have taken office. As a reminder keep your transfers and upgrades current. We are working to improve our own communications to better inform the membership.
1,900 plus grievances are also a priority of the new Executive Board and mine. We have scheduled dates (Nov. 8th & 9th) to arbitrate the 29D’s of Landing Gear, CFM Outsourcing and the Stores AOS grievances. We also have moved forward with the stores Retro grievances by way of submitting them to the Cross Utilization Panel.
Furthermore, we have made changes within the local and have assigned some new standing committee chairs, such as Dave Corbit over Recalls, Bear Messick over Seniority Protest, Joe McGill over R.O. and Political Action, Chris Gibson over Community Service and more. We are still looking for Member volunteers to sign up on committees and get involved with the Local.
I would like to mention that some changes are currently taking place in the Safety Committee to better communicate and handle our issues through all shifts and areas. John Carlisle and I met with the company and brought forward over 250 safety issues including heavy metals such as hexovelant chromium, beryllium, and others. We, as a union, have to be our brother’s keeper and do all we can to look out for one another and that is key to safety and unity.
I have been inundated with complaints from members because the company has unilaterally made decisions to change the 4/10 shifts back to 5/8 coverage without input from the union. I firmly believe this is wrong. Changing the 4/10 shift is not a contractual violation but it is definitely a violation of the supposed “Working Together Process.”
The union’s agreement to work together with the company was made because of our desire to protect our member’s careers. For many years the union watched as this company wasted billions of dollars through bad management decisions that could have been avoided if the workers had a voice about how our work is accomplished. When we identify a problem, it’s all about communication; that is the basics of working together. It’s NOT some complicated thing.
We more than proved our members ability to compete in the airline labor market with the Pulse Line and Winglet projects. Many other projects were in sourced or kept in-house because of our members input.
Lately the company has stepped away from the process and they are making decisions without the union. The Working Together Process has changed to something that is unrecognizable to our members. It must change. The only process we can live with is one that is good for all TWU members and protects their careers.
I have met with the new VP of Base Maintenance Bill Collins and informed him of the unilateral decisions their managers made on the 4/10 issue and he agreed that these decisions shouldn’t be made without the unions input. Next week he is going to review the data his managers used to make this decision and they will then meet with the union, ALT and JLT to review the decision.
Sam Cirri
TWU local 514 President