Weekly Update for December 20, 2014
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Here's your weekly update.
1. APA and APFA update: This week the Allied Pilots Association (APA) passed a comprehensive contract counter proposal to the company in an attempt to reach a new agreement. The company is reviewing that proposal. Both sides have set a March deadline to reach an agreement or submit to arbitration.The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) reached an agreement with the company to secure the $83 million dollars that was given up when the flight attendants voted down their tentative agreement. Please click on the links below for more information.
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/aviation/sky-talk-blog/article4548715.html
http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/american-airlines-agrees-to-give-81-million-in-higher-pay-raises-to-flight-attendants.html/
2. NLRB rulings: Two new rulings out this week from the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) should make it easier for unions to organize employees. The NLRB released its long-awaited rules on “quickie elections,” shortening the time between when a union files a petition for a representative election and when employees vote to less than 30 days. Combined with it's ruling ordering companies to make their internal e-mail systems available to employees for union organizing efforts and an earlier ruling allowing form smaller bargaining units, the rulings will make it harder and more expensive for companies to resist union organizing drives. Please click on the link below for more details.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielfisher/2014/12/12/nlrb-rulings-are-a-big-christmas-present-for-labor/2/
3. Delta takes a shot at AA: With the company poised to make over $4 billion in profit this year, it has been suggested that offering some kind of profit sharing to employees would help heal some of the long standing wounds that exist between labor and management. Profit sharing is not contractual but would send a strong message that we are looked upon as assets and start to improve the relationship between labor and management. C.E.O. Parker has repeatedly voiced his negative opinion on profit sharing and now Delta takes a shot at AA for their stand on profit sharing. Please click on the link below for more information.
http://www.thestreet.com/story/12990232/1/delta-takes-aim-at-american-for-its-lack-of-profit-sharing.html?puc=yahoo&cm_ven=YAHOO
4. Monthly meeting with management: Yesterday, we had our monthly meeting with management.
Here are items addressed by the company:
- The first annual profit of the new AA is estimated to be $4.2 billion dollars.
- The company will hire 110 new Fleet Service Clerks for the banked schedule in March. Most will be part time hires as most of the full time heads needed will come from internal transfers.
- The company wants to sit down with us next month and work through how the banked schedule is going to work and how to best staff the new operation in preparation for the March shift bid.
- The company will start interviewing to hire FSC's on Dec. 29th, Jan 5th and 6th.
- In November there were about 3,000 planes deiced. That was done with no real precipitation events.
- Title II Facilities Maintenance has filled it's long vacant Tech Crew Chief spot.
- The company will test Icelink technology in 5 deicing trucks primarily assigned to Republic and USAir trips. It's an iPad based program to make deicing better.
- The facilities maintenance split into 2 separate departments is scheduled for April 2015.
- V.P. Tedeschi is encouraging everyone to work safely through the holiday season.
Here are the items addressed by the Union:
- Training before or after shift for those who can't get their lessons done: The company will work with those employees that are having trouble completing their lessons in a timely fashion. Please contact the training department when you need time for lessons. If this continues to be an issue, please contact one of the Officers.
- Recent timeclock failure. We voiced our displeasure over the company's solution to have the employees fill out PA forms to get paid when the company's clocks failed a couple weekends ago. Anyone who still needs to get paid for their time for that incident can fill out an exception log at the AutoTA desk. Going forward, if there is another issue with the timeclocks; the CSM's will document on the pay sheets who was here for the day and that will get submitted for payment on the date in question.
- Change in pay dates and SK and VC payout: There were several rumors out this week that our pay dates were going to move to Mondays and that our SK and VC time was going to paid out in a lump sum on Jan 1st. The company confirmed that this is NOT true and those changes were for management and support staff only.
- Wheel chock issue: The chocks used for arriving aircraft have become an issue. Whether it's not enough chocks or chocks missing rope, this has been deemed a top priority by the company and they have reacted and implemented a plan to fix this concern. They are moving to get the needed amount of chocks and replacement rope as needed. The safety team will assist in getting this addressed ASAP.
- Staff Manager: There continues to be problems with Staff Manager. The company is going to restrict access to the system to the Crew Chiefs and the CSM's will have "view only" status. The exception is the overnight CSM who sets up the morning assignments for crews. If there continues to be a problem, please call the office and speak to an officer. Dates, times and any other pertinent information is helpful.
- Bagroom tractor shortage: The company is expecting 2 additional tractors to help with this issue. If it continues, please let us know.
- Spirit and Virgin in the bagroom; It was reported to us that Spirit and Virgin were in the AA bagroom using the X-Ray machine this week. The company knew almost nothing about it and will get information for us. They believed that decision was part of a helping hand agreement because the X-Ray machine near the "L" concourse was OTS but did a poor job of communicating why this was happening.
- Uniform room items for Title II and Cargo employees: Some of our members from Title II and Cargo have been unable to purchase items for sale in the uniform room. The company has said that any item in the uniform room is for sale for any employee. If an item is offered by Twin Hill, the company will work with the employee to get the item and pay for it through payroll deduct.
- Additional Title III VC weeks: Towards the end of the Title III FT VC bid, some members were left with very limited choices. We have worked with the company to get additional weeks posted for everyone to bid on. While we believe it should be done in three separate waves, the company, for now, has only committed to 2 waves of bidding. As this plan is developed we will keep you informed. The first wave of these VC weeks for bid are scheduled to be posted Jan. 5th.
- BO Escort bags: We heard this week that some bags arriving in ORD are being tagged as BO bags but with escort tags. This has led to some confusion as to how these bags are to be handled. The company has said this is wrong and will work to correct this issue. Any BO bag tagged with an escort tag is to be treated as a BO bag until it's final destination. If you see one of these bags please take a picture of the bagtag and send it to the office.
- New carts. As the new carts arrive on the ramp we've been told that the AE drivers have been locking these new carts up to their tractors again. The company has notified AE management to tell their drivers to unlock the carts. If you see an AE driver with any cart locked to their tractor get whatever information you can- tractor number, cart number, date, time, gate and send that to the office. The company wants that information to correct this behavior.
As we enter the holiday season, work is sure to be busy and stressful on top of the other usual holiday pressures. Working safely is the number one priority ensuring we all go home to spend time with our families during this holiday season. Please work smart and stay safe for you, your co-workers and especially your families during this holiday rush.
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