Last Clock Video Goes Viral As Airline Job Cuts Begin

Last Clock Video Goes Viral As Airline Job Cuts Begin

Sep 30, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Featured News, Front Page, Hawaiian, MNPL, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Philippine, Row 2, Spirit, Uncategorized, United, Video | 0 comments

/// Click Here to see video on Facebook ///

A “last clock” video posted on Tuesday to TikTok and Facebook by a United Airlines Customer Service Agent is drawing attention to the thousands of airline employees who are losing their jobs due to congressional inaction. 

Vange Arizala, a member of IAM Local 2239G, is one of 30 agents at United in Guam who are being furloughed due to the pandemic-related collapse in air traffic. The airline plans to furlough about 16,000 employees like Vange this week, after an extension of the Payroll Support Program for airlines failed to materialize. Across the industry, over 200,000 airline employees and related workers are expecting to become jobless. 

On her last day at work, Vange filmed her final trip to the timeclock and her final look at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport (GUM) in Guam. The mood is both optimistic and heartbreaking.

“I’m going to miss this work, and I’m going to miss you guys,” Vange tells coworkers in the post as she records her final walk through the breakroom. With the United Airlines’ theme song “Rhapsody in Blue” playing in the background, she tells friends that the situation is only temporary. “I’ll be back,” she says confidently.

Finding herself working with only one other employee, Vange suggested capturing the moment on video. “After everyone went up to (UA flight) 200, Joel & I were the only ones left at the counter,” she said. “I told him, ‘let’s do a mini photoshoot!’ I was happy to see Mike & Luisa walk in so we had more people to take pictures with. It was like a skeleton crew this morning!”

The “last clock” video posted on Tuesday to TikTok and Facebook by a United Airlines Customer Service Agent is drawing attention to the thousands of airline employees who are losing their jobs due to congressional inaction. 

Vange Arizala, a member of IAM Local 2239G, is one of 30 agents at United in Guam who are being furloughed due to the pandemic-related collapse in air traffic. The airline plans to furlough about 16,000 employees like Vange this week, after an extension of the Payroll Support Program for airlines failed to materialize. Across the industry, over 200,000 airline employees and related workers are expecting to become jobless. 

On her last day at work, Vange filmed her final trip to the timeclock and her final look at the A.B. Won Pat International Airport (GUM) in Guam. The mood is both optimistic and heartbreaking.

“I’m going to miss this work, and I’m going to miss you guys,” Vange tells coworkers in the post as she records her final walk through the breakroom. With the United Airlines’ theme song “Rhapsody in Blue” playing in the background, she tells friends that the situation is only temporary. “I’ll be back,” she says confidently.

Finding herself working with only one other employee, Vange suggested capturing the moment on video. “After everyone went up to (UA flight) 200, Joel & I were the only ones left at the counter,” she said. “I told him, ‘let’s do a mini photoshoot!’ I was happy to see Mike & Luisa walk in so we had more people to ta

Friends were quick to flood her comments with warm thoughts and fond expressions of friendship. “Vangie… what a graceful exit!” said Carol Salgado of Hagatna. 

Efforts by airline workers to avoid historic job losses in commercial aviation have been nothing short of heroic. Union members have sent over 90,000 messages to lawmakers, winning the support of both parties and the president for an extension of the Payroll Support Program (PSP). The program was part of the CARES Act which paid labor costs for airlines while forbidding them from conducting layoffs. Early retirements, union-negotiated buyout offers, and partial pay programs have cut the number of involuntary furloughs by thousands. A new COVID relief package including the PSP is still being negotiated by House Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin and has yet to be formally introduced.   

Vange Arizala (on right) in a pre-pandemic pose with friends at work.

Earlier in the day, American Airlines CEO Doug Parker told a CNN interviewer that he would consider postponing layoffs for a few days if Congress could ensure that a job package would happen soon. The current PSP expires at midnight on September 30, which triggered the furloughs. 

When asked about the decision to share her touching farewell message, Vange said that building community was important at this moment. “So many of us are going through this,” she said. “It may help to know that we are going through it together.” 

 

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Updated HEROES Act Introduced as Time Runs Out for Airline Workers

Updated HEROES Act Introduced as Time Runs Out for Airline Workers

Sep 29, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, Hawaiian, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Philippine, Row 2, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

Texas Senator Cornyn’s Support Boosts Chances for Passage in the Senate 

On Monday evening, House Democrats led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduced a revised version of the HEROES Act, which includes $25 billion in funding for airline workers and another $3 billion for airline contractors. With a bipartisan majority of members of the House of Representatives on record supporting an extension of the Payroll Support Act (PSP), if the bill earns support in the Republican-controlled Senate, the eventual extension of the funding is all but assured.

If the bill fails to become law immediately, however, airlines may begin laying off tens of thousands of workers as they wait for lawmakers to seal the deal. IAMAW District 141 President Mike Klemm worries that many junior airline workers may not get called back to work – even if the aid comes within a few days of the PSP expiration. “I have seen nothing in this funding that would force airlines to bring our members back immediately upon passage. We need this bill to become the law before midnight tomorrow. Our members have no more time,” Klemm stated. 

The support from Republican lawmakers, particularly in the Senate, is vital for the passage of a clean extension of airline payroll assistance. 

In a letter to the Machinists last week, Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) joined 16 members of his caucus who have voiced support for union workers facing catastrophic job cuts in the American aviation industry. Over 200,000 airline and aviation workers are expected to lose their jobs starting on Thursday.  An extension of the Payroll Support Program, a provision of the CARES Act, would prevent job cuts until March 30, 2021. 

“In recent weeks, several airlines have notified significant segments of their workforces that their jobs could be at risk on October 1,” Senator Cornyn said in the statement. “With air travel anticipated to remain low in the near future, a clean extension would maintain the goal of the CARES Act and avoid further layoffs.”

Klemm spoke with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) during the IAMAW Day of Action last week while encouraging every Machinists Union member to contact their representatives to help them understand the urgency. “This revised bill has relief for many segments of our economy, which is needed, and we are happy they are being addressed, but airlines aren’t just another business, they are also a utility. Like roads and bridges and a fully functioning electric grid, air lanes must be in place before an economic recovery can happen. If we need to use taxpayer money, let’s use it to keep highly skilled airline workers on the job, and help bring back our economy, instead of having them join the millions who are unemployed.” 

“Both parties and the president support an extension of this aid,” Klemm added. “But I don’t know if lawmakers understand the deadline airline workers face. This has to happen, and it has to happen now.” Klemm urged all union members to make a call to their lawmakers and remind them that September 30 is the last day to prevent tens of thousands of job cuts.

Additional Resources /// Tell Lawmakers: Support for Airline Payrolls Cannot Wait  /// Read the joint airline union letter the IAMAW sent to the Senate last week

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IAM Pushes for Airline Worker Relief on Capitol Hill

IAM Pushes for Airline Worker Relief on Capitol Hill

Sep 28, 2020 | Airlines, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, MNPL, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2 | 0 comments

Outside the U.S. Capitol, IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. joined other labor leaders, airline executives, and politicians to call for an extension of the airline Payroll Support Program (PSP) which offers emergency funding to airline workers that have been decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The act, which will save over 100,000 jobs if extended, expires September 30.

Additional Resources /// CLICK HERE to send a message to Lawmakers 

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Do it Again – All Airline Workers Contact Your Lawmakers: Furloughs Start In Less Than a Week

Do it Again – All Airline Workers Contact Your Lawmakers: Furloughs Start In Less Than a Week

Sep 25, 2020 | Airlines, COVID, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, MNPL, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2 | 0 comments

With the airline Paycheck Support Program (PSP) contained in the CARES Act set to expire next Wednesday, September 30, we are urging all members to continue imploring Congress to pass a clean extension of the PSP through March 2021. Adding to the urgency is the possibility of the Republican-majority Senate going on another vacation beginning today, Friday, September 25.
 
The IAM has led the fight on Capitol Hill from the onset and with only five days remaining, we must increase the pressure.
 
TAKE ACTION NOW:
 
1-      Call your Senators and Representative at 866-829-3298 to urge them to pass a clean extension of the PSP through March 31, 2021, and to save hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers’ jobs.
 
 
“The Machinists Union stands shoulder to shoulder with Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer in their effort to get a coronavirus relief package passed for all Americans,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “It is an outrage that working families have already waited more than four months since the House passed the HEROES Act. The Machinists Union will do anything to support our membership and the tens of thousands of our airline members who will be laid off on Oct. 1.”
 

“With only five days remaining before the PSP expires, it is more important than ever that we turn up the heat in Congress,” said Transportation General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “We must band together, use our collective voice and protect the livelihoods of tens of thousands of Machinists.”

District President Mike Klemm underscored the urgent need to contact members of Congress and Senate, and stress to them how vital this aid is to airline workers. “Our junior members are under incredible stress right now. This level of inaction by lawmakers is inexcusable. Both parties support an extension. It needs to get done, and it needs to get done now.”

 
The IAM supports the Air Carrier Worker Support Extension Act of 2020 (S.4634), introduced by Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) and the companion bill (H.R. 8345) introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Stacey (D-VI) and Rep. David Joyce (R-OH). Both bills have been referred to committees and are gathering bi-partisan support.
 
The IAM this week sent a joint airline union coalition letter to senators, pushing them to immediately pass a clean extension of the PSP.

Additional Resources  ///  Contact Your Senator and Ask Them to Extend the Payroll Support Program

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141 Report: Jason Kammer Talks Labor Issues and Politics in the Grand Canyon State

141 Report: Jason Kammer Talks Labor Issues and Politics in the Grand Canyon State

Sep 18, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Featured News, Front Page, MNPL, Page Five, Page Three, Perusals, Row 2, Uncategorized | 0 comments

141 Report: Jason Kammer Talks Labor Issues and Politics in the Grand Canyon State

Jason Kammer has worked as a Ramp Service Agent in PHX since 1996 when he joined his mother and uncle working at America West Airlines. After two airline mergers, Brother Jason now serves as the Vice President for Transportation of the Arizona State Council of Machinists.

He previously held positions as Shop Steward, Grievance Committee Rep, and was elected president of IAM Local 2559, where he served members for six years until 2019. He is also active in the Sky Harbor Lodge MNPL Planning Committee and is a delegate to the Maricopa Area Labor Federation.

Long considered a Republican stronghold, political analysts now view Arizona as a swing state in the 2020 election. The state’s demographics are changing rapidly, and in 2018 Democrat Kyrsten Sinema won a hard-fought election to the US Senate. In this year’s senate race, Democrat Mark Kelly is leading the polls against Republican incumbent Martha McSally. Senator McSally was appointed by the Arizona governor to the position in 2018 after she lost the election to Sinema and the first replacement for the late Senator John McCain stepped down. 

The Grand Canyon State has not voted for a Democrat for president since 1996, and President Trump won the state by just over 3 points in 2016. Polls this year show a very tight race, and many have Democratic nominee Joe Biden ahead of the president by up to 5 points. The state of Arizona is shaping up to be a battleground in this election, and we are pleased to hear Jason’s views. 

Additional Resources /// Visit the Local 2559 Sky Harbor Website

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IAM’s Airline Day of Action Sounds Alarm Across Country

IAM’s Airline Day of Action Sounds Alarm Across Country

Sep 18, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, Hawaiian, MNPL, Page Five, Philippine, Row 2, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

As part of the IAM Airline Day of Action, IAM airline members have been making thousands of phone calls, sending countless emails and meeting with their elected officials all across the country today virtually, and in person, demanding that Congress act now to pass legislation that would stem hundreds of thousands of layoffs slated to begin on October 1, 2020.

The Senate has taken two vacations and still hasn’t passed a clean extension of relief provided for airlines in the CARES Act. Time is running out. IAM members must act now to tell your Senators to support a clean extension of relief provided for airlines in the CARES Act.

 

Here’s how you can take part in the IAM Airline Day of Action:

  1. Call your Senators at 866-829-3298 to urge them to pass a clean extension of the PSP through March 31, 2021, and to save hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers’ jobs.
  2. Email your Senators.
  3. Tweet at Majority Leader McConnell and your Senators.

– We need your help, @SenateMajLdr. Without a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram, hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers will be furloughed when the program expires on September 30th. Please get to the negotiating table now.

– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] Congress needs to put politics aside and get a deal done now to save the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of airline workers. Pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram today.

– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] In a few short weeks, airline workers will not have healthcare during a pandemic. Congress needs to pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram now.

– [INSERT SENATOR’S TWITTER HANDLES] Airline workers have worked through the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, it’s Congress’s turn to take care of these heroes. They need to pass a clean extension of the airline #PayrollSupportProgram now.

“The Trump Administration and strong bipartisan majorities in the House and Senate all agree that airline workers and the industry as a whole need further aid to prevent hundreds of thousands of layoffs and great harm to the U.S. economy,” said IAM General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “The IAM calls on Senate Majority Leader McConnell to support the U.S. airline industry. This industry drives over a million jobs and pumps trillions of dollars into our economy. We cannot turn our backs on this most vital sector of our economy.”

“The airline Payroll Support Program has been one of the most successful jobs programs in U.S. history,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Congress must stop the partisanship and extend relief for hundreds of thousands of airline workers. These men and women will make their voices heard in November and they will remember who stood with them and who stood against them to save the airline industry and their livelihoods.”

 

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