Union Safety Doesn’t Stop for Pandemic

Union Safety Doesn’t Stop for Pandemic

Sep 15, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Front Page, Hawaiian, Page Four, Perusals, Row 2, Safety, Safety, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

The goal of a Ground Safety Action Program (GSAP) is to enhance aviation safety by preventing personnel injuries, accidents, and incidents.

Its focus is to encourage voluntary reporting of safety hazards and events that come to the attention of members of IAMAW District Lodge 141 at United Airlines (GSAP), American Airlines (GSAP still in development), and Hawaiian Airlines (GSIP). 

IAM District 141 President Michael Klemm strongly supports these programs to ensure all members have a single voice on workplace safety. No one knows your job better than you, and your continued support of this program is vital. The reporting of all incidents and near misses is essential to allow your Event Review Committee (ERC) to track and trend the data provided to help guide changes to policies and procedures. As we move forward through this pandemic, and as flight schedules change, this is an opportunity for the airlines to improve our policies, procedures, and for the FAA to oversee our safety programs.

Safety is a core value to the leadership of the IAM. Our Ground Safety Action programs (GSAPs) have been instrumental in implementing changes to numerous policies and procedures using proactive reporting from the front lines.

Please continue to report safety hazards, near misses, and incidents to Management, Union Representatives, and the GSAP program that each carrier supports.

Additional Resources
///  Visit the IAMAW Safety Department
/// Get Printable Copy

Note: Not all airlines and contracted companies have an endorsed safety program. Contact your company safety department for more information.

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IAM Political Action: Support Clean Extension of Payroll Support to Prevent Airline Furloughs

IAM Political Action: Support Clean Extension of Payroll Support to Prevent Airline Furloughs

Sep 14, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, Hawaiian, MNPL, Perusals, Row 2, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

In March, as U.S. COVID-19 cases began rising exponentially, Congress rose to the occasion by enacting the CARES Act to provide assistance to tens of millions of Americans who found their financial security, if not their health, directly imperiled by the pandemic.

Among other things, the CARES Act created the Payroll Support Program (PSP), under which the Treasury Secretary issued $32 billion in grants to airlines and their contractors exclusively to keep their workers on the payroll through September 30, 2020.

But while time marches on, so does the pandemic, Airline workers are facing the worst crisis by far in the industry’s history. Last Wednesday, a major airline put 36,000 workers across the country on notice that they could be furloughed on or after October 1. Other carriers have issued and will issue similar notices.

Please ask your member of Congress to join House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-OR) on a bipartisan letter to House and Senate Leadership, urging them to extend the PSP authorities in the CARES Act through March 31, 2021, and save hundreds of thousands of frontline airline workers’ jobs.

Additional Resources  /// Ask Lawmakers to Support Clean Extension of PSP///  Support the Machinists Non-Partisan Political League

Help Save Thousands of Airline Jobs This Fall

Support a clean extension of the Payroll Support Program for airlines, and help save thousands of airline worker jobs this fall.

Send Lawmakers a Message Now

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Today at 2:00 EST: Top Labor Lobbyist, Hasan Solomon Talks Politics and Airline Work

Today at 2:00 EST: Top Labor Lobbyist, Hasan Solomon Talks Politics and Airline Work

Sep 11, 2020 | Airlines, COVID, Front Page, MNPL, Organizing, Perusals, Safety, Uncategorized, Video | 0 comments

The CARES Act, Payroll Support Extension, Furloughs. There’s a Lot at Stake For Airline Workers This Election Season.

Hasan Solomon is one of the Machinists & Aerospace Union’s fiercest and outspoken advocates in Washington, DC. This week, he sits down with Dave Lehive to lay out the legislative agenda of the IAMAW.

Hasan is the voice of our union on Capitol Hill. He serves as the National Legislative Director for the IAMAW, and in that role he develops and implements our union’s legislative agenda.  District 141 owes Hasan a special debt of gratitude for his tireless advocacy on behalf of airline workers. With his leadership, we have achieved the strongest legal protections for customer service agents from assault and increased rest periods for flight attendants, with language on the FAA Reauthorization Bill of 2018 that was drafted by our own union members and him. His tireless work has ensured that airline workers were included in the CARES Act, providing several months to prepare for pandemic-related job losses in the industry. 

Brother Hasan Solomon is a graduate of Bowie State University and the University of Baltimore School of Law.

He has been recognized by his peers with numerous awards and is regarded as one of the top Trade Union lobbyists on Capitol Hill. He is an extremely passionate and zealous advocate for workers’ rights and a powerful public speaker.

 

Additional Resources /// Donate to the Machinists Non-Partisan Political League

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IAM Airline Workers Need Action: 23 Days Until Relief Expires

IAM Airline Workers Need Action: 23 Days Until Relief Expires

Sep 9, 2020 | Airlines, American, COVID, Front Page, GOIAM Stories, Hawaiian, MNPL, Perusals, Philippine, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

The airline Paycheck Support Program contained in the CARES Act is set to expire on October 1, 2020. Carriers are making plans on how to deal with its loss, and the outlook doesn’t look good for many IAM members and other airline workers.

American Airlines has announced it will lay off 19,000 workers on October 1. Southwest Airlines is eliminating 35,000 flights from its October schedule, and Air Wisconsin, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, ExpressJet, Hawaiian Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, and United Ground Express have issued Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications (WARN). 

TAKE ACTION: Tell your Senators and Representative to support a clean extension of the airline Payroll Support Program

The only hope of staving off mass furloughs is Congress taking action to extend CARES Act protections for airline workers. What we need to save jobs is:

  • Increase PSP funding levels by an additional $32 billion (covering six months);
  • Extend requirements relating to involuntary furloughs, share repurchases, dividend payments, and collective bargaining agreements to March 31, 2021;
  • Require Treasury to immediately disburse funds to every air carrier and contractor that executed a Payroll Support Program Agreement, an amount equal to their current payroll support.

“These are not controversial goals,” said IAM Transportation General Vice President Sito Pantoja. “We already have bipartisan support for a clean extension of the program, and President Trump has also signaled his support. What we need is for Congress to actually start doing its job and take action to save the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of airline and aviation families.”

“The airline industry is in dire need of immediate assistance from Congress,” said IAM International President Robert Martinez Jr. “Their inaction is jeopardizing the futures of all airline workers. The Machinists have been leading this fight from the beginning, and we must continue to keep the pressure on Congress. Do not stop contacting your Representative and Senators until this extension is enacted.”

U.S. Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA) recently led a bipartisan letter to American Airlines CEO Doug Parker, asking the carrier to continue its advocacy for the PSP extension and to keep communities and working families in mind when considering layoffs. Keller also led a separate letter to congressional leadership, highlighting the dire situation of the aviation industry and the need to include an extension of the PSP in future COVID-19 relief legislation.

TAKE ACTION: Tell your Senators and Representative to support a clean extension of the airline Payroll Support Program

 

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New Jersey Rep. Gottheimer Affirms Support for PSP Extension

New Jersey Rep. Gottheimer Affirms Support for PSP Extension

Sep 7, 2020 | Airlines, COVID, Front Page, MNPL, Row 2 | 0 comments

“We’re With You. We Were There Early, We Cannot Walk Away Now. I’ll continue to fight.”

New Jersey State Council of Machinists President Ines Garcia-Keim, District 141 Legislative Director Dave Roderick and Communications Representative Dave Lehive joined 40 union leaders at a Labor Roundtable via Zoom with Congressman Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) last Thursday.

“No one likes to ask the government for money, but in the current environment, this is our lifeline,” said Ines Garcia-Keim.

Every member of the New Jersey congressional delegation signed a letter in favor of a six month extension of the Payroll Support Program (PSP), part of the CARES Act that has prevented the furlough of thousands of airline employees. The Machinists Union representatives thanked Congressman Gottheimer for his leadership and support and reminded him that time is running out for airline workers who are receiving official notices of furloughs beginning on October 1st when the current program expires.

In the past two weeks, District 141 activists have joined video and conference calls with members of Congress to impress upon them the importance of extending the PSP to avoid massive airline furloughs. District representatives have spoken recently to Rep. Rick Schneider from Illinois, Rep. Conor Lamb from Pennsylvania and Rep. Josh Gottheimer from New Jersey. All three confirmed their support for an extension of the PSP.  

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Pennsylvania Representative Conor Lamb Supports Extension of PSP: “Air Travel is Going to Come Back”

Pennsylvania Representative Conor Lamb Supports Extension of PSP: “Air Travel is Going to Come Back”

Sep 2, 2020 | Airlines, American, Front Page, Hawaiian, MNPL, Perusals, Philippine, Spirit, Uncategorized, United | 0 comments

Pennsylvania Representative Conor Lamb Supports Extension of PSP: “Air Travel is Going to Come Back”

Members of District 141 took part in a Zoom call with Representative Conor Lamb (D-PA) this week, where he shared his views about the possibility of an extension of the Payroll Support Program (PSP) to save airline jobs. He presented a grim view of current negotiations.

“I hope that I’m wrong, but I’m very pessimistic at the moment based on what I’m hearing within our caucus about negotiations,” he said, responding to a question from District 141 Legislative Director Dave Roderick. The negotiations led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) are deadlocked, and Rep. Lamb explained that despite offers to modify parts of the HEROES Act which the House passed in May, “there’s a group of Republican Senators, somewhere around 20 or so, who won’t go for a single thing. They don’t even have terms, they don’t have suggestions or areas for compromise,” he added.

Rep. Lamb expressed confidence, however, in the House of Representatives voting to “give a lifeline” to airline workers, but did not see “glimmers of hope” in the Senate. He said he hoped that as the end of the current PSP approaches, the “pain becomes a little bit more clear to some of these senators who maybe are spending too much time in DC and not realizing it.”

Answering a question from Rich Howell, Vice President of the Pennsylvania State Council of Machinists and a member of Local 1776 in Philadelphia, Rep. Lamb said that six months into the pandemic, there are lessons learned about how different businesses will survive and the importance of sustaining “assets” such as airports. “Air travel is going to come back. We are in a global and interconnected world, people are going to want to get on airplanes again, and that will happen when they believe it is safe.”

He stressed that before large segments of the public return to the skies, it is important to “suppress and ultimately defeat this virus.” In the meantime, the congressman supports new federal financial help for airlines with restrictions identical to those of the PSP, ensuring that public money goes directly into the pockets of workers and it is not a “blank check.”

A former Marine, Representative Conor Lamb was elected in 2018 to represent the 17th Congressional District of Pennsylvania with broad support from labor unions. At the end of the call, the congressman praised the work of Obie O’Brien, President of the Pennsylvania State Council of Machinists, and his commitment to working families, calling him “the soul of what we’re trying to do here.”

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