Visitors to Hawaii Can Skip Quarantine Thanks to United’s COVID Testing

Visitors to Hawaii Can Skip Quarantine Thanks to United’s COVID Testing

Oct 19, 2020 | COVID, Featured News, Front Page, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2, Safety, Safety, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

United Airlines passengers traveling from San Francisco to Hawaii may bypass the state’s quarantine requirements by taking a rapid-result COVID test from the airline. 

In a collaboration with the San Francisco International Airport (SFO), United customers now have the option to take a rapid COVID-19 test before their flight, either at the airport or at a nearby drive-through location at United’s Maintenance Center. 

State authorities in Hawaii approved the program which will allow visitors to the islands to skip the mandated quarantine upon arrival. Previously, those traveling to Hawaii had to remain separated from the population for up to two weeks. 

United was the first airline to offer passengers COVID testing. 

United, working with the administration of the San Francisco International Airport, will make two tests available to customers traveling to Hawaii: a rapid test option taken at the airport on the day of travel or a drive-through test administered 48 to 72 hours before departure. Customers who produce a negative test result through either option will be exempt from quarantine requirements in Lihue, Maui, and Honolulu. Customers traveling to Kona will be required to take a second complimentary test when they arrive on the island to avoid quarantine.

“We are living in a new world with COVID-19,” said Erik Stenberg, District 141 Safety Chairman and Assistant General Chair. “Offering a rapid result COVID test to passengers is a great step for United Airlines to help restore travel to Hawaii safely after COVID-19 had essentially stopped it over the last 7 months. Measures like this one will become more common in everyday life.” 

The rapid Abbott ID NOW COVID-19 test is available at an on-site testing facility in SFO’s International Terminal outside the security checkpoint. Customers based in San Francisco can schedule their visits online and receive results in about 15 minutes. The on-site testing facility is open daily from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. PT, and customers should make an appointment at least three hours before their flight, as no walk-in appointments are available.

Customers taking the drive-through test option can schedule an appointment online and should make the appointment 48 to 72 hours before their flight departure. Walk-in appointments are not available. After a customer takes the test, they will receive the results via email in 24 to 48 hours. The drive-through testing facility is located at United’s San Francisco Maintenance Center parking lot at 800 S Airport Blvd–a short drive away from the airport. 

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SMX Town Hall & Informational Meetings for TA Ratification (Denver)

SMX Town Hall & Informational Meetings for TA Ratification (Denver)

Oct 12, 2020 | SMX Cargo | 0 comments

Informational & Town Hall

Meeting

IAMAW Contract Negotiators will be meeting with SMX Cargo Workers to talk about the tentative contract

Wednesday, October 21, from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

All IAMAW Represented Workers at SMX Cargo are invited to meet with Machinists & Aerospace Union negotiators on Wednesday, October 21 at the Local Lodge 1886 offices. This is a great opportunity to learn about the upcoming Tentative Agreement, ask questions and get answers directly from union negotiators and elected officers. 

Location: MAP>>>
Local Lodge 1886
5621 Bowen Ct. Commerce City CO 80022

Time:
0900 – 1700
(9:00 am – 5:00 pm)

Contact

Rich Robinson

Rich Robinson

IAMAW Assistant General Chair

rrobinson@iam141.org
Cell: (720) 339-4583

SMX Town Hall & Informational Meetings for TA Ratification (Houston)

SMX Town Hall & Informational Meetings for TA Ratification (Houston)

Oct 9, 2020 | SMX Cargo | 0 comments

Informational & Town Hall

Meeting

IAMAW Contract Negotiators will be meeting with SMX Cargo Workers to talk about the tentative contract

Wednesday, October 21, from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm

All IAMAW Represented Workers at SMX Cargo are invited to meet with Machinists & Aerospace Union negotiators on Wednesday, October 21 at the Local Lodge 811 offices. This is a great opportunity to learn about the upcoming Tentative Agreement, ask questions and get answers directly from union negotiators and elected officers. 

Location: MAP>>>
Local Lodge 811
15355 Vantage Parkway West, Atrium 2, suite 175 Houston, TX 77032

Time:
0900 – 1700
(9:00 am – 5:00 pm)

Contacts

Joe Bartz

Joe Bartz

IAMAW Contract Negotiator

jbartz@iam141.org
Cell: (708) 203-3644

Robert Jesel

Robert Jesel

IAMAW Contract Negotiator

rjesel@iam141.org
Cell: (281) 620-1999

Keep Up the Pressure! Airline Worker Relief on Hold, But Momentum Growing

Keep Up the Pressure! Airline Worker Relief on Hold, But Momentum Growing

Oct 8, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, Hawaiian, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Perusals, Philippine, Row 2, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

///This post originally appeared on GOIAM.ORG

We are closer than ever to save the jobs of tens of thousands of airline workers. Thanks to U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), the IAM and our airline union coalition are making huge strides toward securing airline worker relief.

Unfortunately, House Republicans blocked a vote on the DeFazio-Larsen airline Payroll Support Program extension (H.R. 8504) Friday. Despite this setback, we expect further movement on this urgent issue.

“We are done being patient for Congress to act,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Our members need relief and they need it now. We will keep the heat on our elected officials until the Payroll Support Program is passed and our members are back on the job. I am sick and tired of these politicians taking vacations while working people are on the street.”

“IAM members are fully aware of what is happening here and they will not to be used as bargaining chips,” wrote IAM Transportation General Vice President Sito Pantoja in a letter to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “They expect you to support them not with words, but with action. It is disgraceful to stand in the way of preserving airline workers’ jobs and watch their livelihoods become upended, their healthcare revoked and state unemployment programs become bloated beyond calculation.?”

Critically, H.R. 8504 requires airlines seeking aid to recall employees who were furloughed after September 30.

“Tens of thousands of airline workers stand on the brink of being fired, losing their certification requirements and seeing their livelihoods and financial security ripped away,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). “Today, Democrats provided a path forward to avert catastrophe for these workers. Chairman DeFazio requested unanimous consent for his stand-alone bipartisan bill to extend the Payroll Support Program. Disappointingly, Republicans objected to the legislation.”

We must keep up the pressure!

Call your Representative at 202-224-3121 to urge them to support H.R. 8504, a standalone extension of the airline Payroll Support Program through March 31, 2021, and to save hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers’ jobs.

Read the IAM and airline coalition letter to every member of the U.S. House urging passage of H.R. 8504.

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Watch This: Rep. DeFazio Calls Out Lawmakers Killing Airline Payroll Support

Watch This: Rep. DeFazio Calls Out Lawmakers Killing Airline Payroll Support

Oct 3, 2020 | Airlines, COVID, Featured, Featured News, Front Page, MNPL, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Page Three, Page Two, Perusals, Row 2, Uncategorized, Video | 0 comments

Watch as Rep. Peter DeFazio gets visibly angry when efforts to help reverse mass airline furloughs are killed.

After Republican leadership in the House of Representatives blocked a motion to pass legislation to provide emergency relief for airline workers, a clearly frustrated Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR) took to the floor to call them out.

Congressman DeFazio, the Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has been a leading voice in efforts to advance payroll support for airline workers. In July, he wrote a letter calling for a clean extension of the Payroll Support Program that gathered the support of a bipartisan majority of Congress members. The letter was promoted by Machinists and Aerospace Union members nationwide.

Despite over 90,000 messages being sent to the House and Senate from airline workers over several months, lawmakers did not approve an extension of the PSP before it expired on September 30, and tens of thousands of airline workers are out of jobs as a result.

Additional Resources /// DeFazio Statement on Updated HEROES Act /// DeFazio Calls for Payroll Support for Airline Workers /// Contact Rep. Peter DeFazio 

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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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