Jun 5, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Featured, Hawaiian, Home, Philippine, Spirit, United
Who are the best people to advocate for worker’s rights? According to the Machinists Union, the answer is simple: Workers.
At the biannual Machinists Union Communications Conference, a consistent message was repeated over and over: workers rights cannot exist without strong unions. And, strong unions cannot exist in the modern workforce without a strong commitment to effective communications by front line activists.
IAM Director of Communications, Bob Wood
“The most important part of our communications… is our local and district communicator,” Machinists Union Communications Director, Bob Wood told the record-sized crowd. “Getting our local membership interested, getting them excited, that is so important.”
“Your local lodge newsletter, your local lodge website, your local lodge Facebook, and letting people know what’s going on with their union… those are some of the first and last things that most members are going to experience.”
The Conference was kicked off by Las Vegas Local 845 President, Patrick Hamilton, who underscored the message.
“Without communication, there is no action.”
Speaking before the crowd of union communicators and advocates, Hamilton said, “if the rank and file members don’t know what’s going on at the negotiating table, at the local lodge, there’s going to be no action.”
“Communications is the lifeblood that makes everything else possible.”
Patrick Hamilton, President of Las Vegas Local 845
The IAM Communications Conference brings together the Union’s top activist artists, writers, and photographers from around the United States and Canada. The 2019 Conference is taking place in Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Jun 4, 2019 | Airlines, Featured, Home, United
Starting April 1st, Machinists and other employees at United will start being able to conduct day trades all the way up to four hours before they are supposed to clock in.
We were able to capture images of the exact moment that process got started.
Machinists and other airport services employees at United will be able to conduct day trades all the way up to four hours before their clock in time.
That means that sudden emergencies will not force as many people to call out on the company sick line, burning priceless attendance points.
It’s a significant improvement. So big, in fact, that it’s hard to calculate precisely how many people will be included. “It’s system-wide, the changes will cover the whole company,” said AGC Victor Hernandez (IAH, DFW, SJU). “I can’t really say how many people qualify for day trades and will see the improvements, but it’s at least ten thousand.”
Usually, few employees get to see the exact moment that leads to policy changes like this one. But this time, a series of photos captured the specific conversation that led to this sweeping, company-wide change. The results provide a fascinating glimpse into what workplace activism looks like in real life.
We got the whole thing on camera. You can see how it started in this photo essay. Check it out.
November 2018, at IAH airport in Houston, Texas. Mike Klemm, President of Machinists District 141, makes regular visits to the largest airports in America at least once a year. Brother Klemm is responsible for advancing the interests of more than 40 thousand current and retired airline workers in the United States.
Meeting airline employees in their own work areas and break rooms helps overcome barriers that sometimes develop between leadership and the front lines.
Mike Klemm is a former ramp lead from JFK, and he hasn’t strayed far from the ramp culture that he was a part of for more than 20 years. “It’s a matter of basic respect,” he told several airline union leaders at a round table meeting. “These guys are asked to do a tough job, and they do that job with a level of precision and professionalism that makes our US-based carriers the safest and most reliable in the world. I’m not going to stay in a nice, cushy office while these guys are out busting their humps making billions of dollars for our airlines. I want to meet them and hear what they have to say, and that means staying true to my roots, on the front lines.”
On Klemm’s November station visit to Houston, Texas (IAH), the strategy of staying grounded paid off. One of the United employees he met had some valuable insights from the gates.
Mike Klemm (back to camera), Kirk Griffiths (center) and Regional Employee Assistance Coordinator Bahiyyah Wright at IAH airport in Houston, Texas.
Here it is – The conversation that led to sweeping work rule changes that will impact more than ten thousand employees at United Airlines. This is the exact moment that led to new day and shift trade rules across the system.
Kirk Griffiths, a Houston-based IAM member, and Ramp Service Agent, stopped DL141 President Klemm during a station visit and explained how the day and shift trade rules at United could be improved. It can take years to recover from a serious attendance issue, which is the number one cause of job terminations at the carrier. More day and shift trade flexibility could help.
His fix was simple: just shorten the cutoff time for turning in a day trade. For years, United had insisted on having all trades submitted 24 hours or more prior to the start of the shift. Reduce that deadline, and life would suddenly get a lot easier for thousands of United employees.
President Klemm agreed – and promised to take the matter up with United Airlines leadership.
After meeting with President Klemm, Kirk Griffiths (right) continues to press his position with Local 811 Grievance Committee Member Greg Hall. Hall represents IAM members when dealing with attendance issues at United/IAH. Thanks to the work of union activists like him, IAH has seen fewer job terminations than anywhere else in the United fleet services system. Of more than 350 attendance hearings in 2018, only 4 Machinists members actually lost their job.
… And now, the company has also agreed with Kirk Griffiths.
Here’s how United explains the new policy:
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Jun 4, 2019 | Airlines, Departments, EAP, Helping Hands, Home
We address anxiety in this months issue. We are an anxious society. Anxiety comes in many forms, a few of them are addressed here. There are more types of anxiety then mentioned, the ones addressed are the most common types of anxiety.
The good news is that there are some very effective ways to deal with anxiety. Page 2 speaks to a few of the most effective ways to address debilitating anxiety.
We can be a good conduit to some very good ways of addressing anxiety if a co-worker comes to you for help. You all are very good at getting help when asked, or even when you notice a change in a co-workers behavior. As a team, we help a lot of people! I am grateful for each of you and the work you are doing!
Bryan,
Bryan Hutchinson, M.S.
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Jun 3, 2019 | Airlines, Departments, EAP, Featured, Home
Delta Managers locked flight attendants aboard a plane to force them to work overtime, according to internal communications at the airline.
Mechanical problems caused a May 12th flight from Atlanta to Toronto to be delayed for several hours, leading Delta Managers to worry that flight crews might take legally mandated rest periods instead of remaining at work.
This would require the flight to be delayed even further, as the airline scrambled to find replacements.
The airplane, an MD-88, can carry up to 148 passengers.
Rather than locate new flight crews, an employee in Delta’s Operation Control Center ordered the doors of the aircraft to be closed and locked, trapping everyone aboard the aircraft.
The doors were unlocked after the mechanical issues were fixed. It appears the passengers and flight crews were locked aboard the aircraft from 10:19 PM to about 11:30, although the exact length of time isn’t clear.
At 10:19, Delta Control sent a message instructing gate agents to refuse to open the doors, stating, “Do not open door. Flt attendants out of time and none available. let [maintenance] do their work without opening door thanks.”
This was followed up about half an hour later with, “Ok… if door is not closed by [11 p.m.] Flt attendants walking. We will most likely have to delay flight until morning if this happens.”
Amazingly, none of this seems to have surprised the attendants working the flight. They seemed resigned to the fact that managers would take such measures. The crews that had been “trapped” on the plane stated that the move was unnecessary, since they were willing to work overtime, anyway.
“Since we are deciding to stay although y’all are trying to trap us on the plane, and now our layover has been shortened and we will be past our duty day, hungry and tired. It would be nice to have a deadhead at some point tomorrow.”
For safety reasons, flight crews are often limited in the number of hours they are allowed to work in a 24-hour period.
Flight attendants need to stay fully alert through the entire flight. They constantly monitor everything that happens on the aircraft for potential danger.
Therefore, the Federal Government has strict laws that forbid airlines from forcing aircrews to work over a maximum number of hours in a day. This appears to have been what prompted Delta managers to order the airplane doors to be locked.
Over the past few months, Delta has struggled to portray itself as an airline that values its employees and passengers. Company bulletins constantly describe the relationship between employees and managers as “unique,” and that everyone at the company is part of a “family.”
Now, the company will have to convince everyone that locking passengers and flight crews into an airplane is a sign that they are valued by the airline.
A Delta representative offered a tepid apology to the flight crews in a statement to the Huffington Post, which first reported the story.
“Operating an airline is a team effort and the guidance shared in this exchange does not reflect the respect and collaboration we expect of our employees when making operational decisions,” the statement read. “Delta’s unique culture is built on supporting one another and that didn’t happen in this case.”
The airline did not apologize for locking passengers in the plane.
The Machinists Non-Partisan Political League is working to enact strong rules protecting minimum rest periods for Flight Crews. This will protect the safety and comfort of the flying public, as well as helping to improve the industry as a whole.
Please help support these efforts with a voluntary recurring donation for any amount to the IAM141 MNPL.
More information is available at IAM141.org/MNPL.
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May 29, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Featured, Home, Organizing, The Association
On behalf of the TWU-IAM Association, we would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude to The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA), The Allied Pilots Association (APA) and The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) for their letters of support in our contract negotiations fight with American Airlines.
Our negotiations with American are not only important for our members, but for the whole airline industry. The Pilots’, Flight Attendants’ and Teamsters’ words of encouragement and solidarity will go a long way in helping us win this battle against corporate greed.
Click here to read APFA’s Letter of Support
Click here to read APA’s Letter of Support
Click here to read Teamster’s Letter of Support
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May 24, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Home, Safety
This week marks the 40th anniversary of one of the darkest days in the history of American aviation.
On May 25th, 1979, American Airlines flight 191 crashed just outside of Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, killing 272 people.
To this day, the crash of American Airlines flight 191 remains the deadliest aviation accident in US history.
The McDonnell-Douglas DC-10 assigned to service flight 191 had recently undergone upgrades to its engines at a facility in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
To save money, American Airlines executives ignored safety recommendations from the aircraft manufacturer and insisted on taking several shortcuts to the procedure.
Mechanics and inspectors who warned executives of the dangers of taking the safety shortcuts were threatened with lawsuits or terminations.
Unknown to the 13 crewmembers and 258 passengers that boarded the plane just before 3:00 PM on May 25th, the left engine had suffered fatal stress fractures during the engine removal and reattachment.
As a result of unseen damage caused during the rushed maintenance work, the left engine tore free from the wing, causing the massive DC-10 to begin an uncontrollable roll towards Touhy Avenue, just outside of the airport.
The plane fell from a height of about 300 feet, crashing in an open field near a mobile home park. Everyone on board died instantly. Two people on the ground also perished in the incident, and several more suffered terrible burns. The FAA grounded the entire DC-10 fleet for two months while conducting investigations into the causes of the crash.
This year, American Airlines executives announced plans to outsource future heavy maintenance to non-union facilities overseas. The move has sparked renewed outcries from mechanics and fleet service workers, who worry that safety practices may once again become impossible to properly review.
This has set up a new showdown between safety advocates at the airline on one side and executives who want to save money for shareholders on the other.
A few witnesses were able to capture images of the tragedy. The photos provided valuable clues for investigators, and continue to serve as a haunting reminder of the importance of airline safety.
A terrifying series of images were captured of the 31 seconds that the aircraft was aloft. Two of the images show the DC-10 as it completes its deadly roll, wings past the vertical position and smoke billowing from its ruined left wing.
The photos have since become iconic; a haunting reminder of the importance of airline safety.
For Tony D’Aloisio, a District 141 Safety Director for the Machinists Union, that tragedy has become a stark reminder of who should win a contest of wills between safety-minded fleet service workers and managers looking to take potentially unsafe shortcuts:
“Our families are on those planes.”
“We are employees at this airline, which means that a lot of our sisters and brothers are working those flights,” D’Aloisio said. “But, we are also one of the largest, if not the largest, group of passengers and frequent flyers that this airline has.”
“If protecting our passengers wasn’t already enough of a reason to do what’s right… remember that we are also protecting our families and our coworkers when we demand high safety standards.”
According to a representative of the Des Plaines Park Service, one of the agencies that helps maintain the Flight 191 Memorial, the anniversary will be marked at 3:04 PM on Saturday, May 25th, the exact minute that the crash occurred.
The service will begin at 2:00 PM at the memorial to the victims of the crash, located at 1201 E Touhy Ave, Des Plaines, IL. Families of victims and members of the public are invited to attend.
Families often travel together. Many of the names of the victims of the crash of American Airlines Flight 191 have the same surnames; a heartbreaking reminder of this wrenching aspect of the disaster.
The parkland that surrounds the memorial includes a small grove of trees that stand in memory of those lost on Flight 191.
Marilyn is one of the volunteers that helps keep the gardens at the Flight 191 Memorial in Chicago. She explains how her husband, who worked as a Maintenance Supervisor for American Airlines in 1979, was dispatched to the crash site. Marilyn worked for American Airlines for 41 years, and has been retired for 21. She has helped care for the grounds surrounding the memorial for the past six years.
