Safety First. The culture of working safely drives everything we do as a union. Dave Lehive welcomes back Dennis Spencer, District 141 Safety Coordinator at American Airlines to update us about the rollout of the GSAP safety reporting system at American.
Asia McClain, a GSAP Advocate from Local 561 in Kansas City, Missouri, joins the conversation to share her views on how the implementation of this important safety program is going and how it has improved safety at her station.
Front-line workers have filed over 100 GSAP reports since the program began at American on March 29, 2021. There are 100 safety advocates from the IAM/TWU Association throughout the American Airlines network who have received training on GSAP protocols. Dennis is still recruiting advocates and conducting training sessions to make sure there is a trained GSAP advocate at every airport. Asia praised the program as an opportunity for workers to voice safety concerns and how it prevents managers from “shutting you down and not listening.”
Having the FAA and neutral parties reviewing problems at ERC meetings has already improved the safety culture at Kansas City, and both guests agreed that while there’s a lot of work to do, GSAP will improve the safety culture for all members of The Association. “Members need to be informed about this program because it gives them a voice. Problems are looked at from every perspective,” said Asia.
“No more sweeping things under the rug.”
To learn more about GSAP or to file a report, go to https://www.unionsafe141.org/
In the second part of the video, Dave reports on the in-person gathering of delegates of the Pennsylvania State Council of Machinists for their conference in York this week. They welcomed John Fetterman, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania Attorney General who spoke about voting rights, and several members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation, who participated both in-person and virtually.
Hasan Solomon, IAMAW National Legislative Director, spoke at the conference about the ongoing fight to protect labor rights and the importance of passing the PRO Act, the most important labor reform legislation in a generation. In his signature style, Brother Solomon reminded everyone that “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.”
