Sep 20, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Hawaiian, Home, Philippine, Safety, Spirit, United
Flash flooding from Tropical Storm Imelda hammered the Houston area this week, causing over 900 flight delays and cancellations at Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). The historic storm stranded thousands of passengers and employees for hours.
Motorists trapped by rising floodwaters near IAH airport in Houston finding higher ground under a bridge.
Airport officials grounded all flights into IAH by mid-afternoon on Thursday, after continuous heavy lightning prompted an hours-long closure of ground operations earlier. By late afternoon, all roads surrounding the airport were impassable due to flooding.
According to the IAH Twitter account, most flights departed with delays of up to 50 minutes. Houston-bound travelers, however, were stuck at airports until the flooding that surrounded Bush Intercontinental subsided.
Airline and airport employees, including over 1500 ramp and gate agents at United Airlines, were unable to leave.
At noon, authorities reported that cars parked in the airport’s parking lots were safe; floodwaters had not breached the daily or hourly parking areas. Those with family members trapped at the airport got assurances that their loved ones were also safe. Many restaurants remained open, and the airport never lost electrical power.
Union officials with Machinists Union Local Lodges 811 and 2198 reported that the airport would cease most operations into Friday. However, the airport would not be closed and a few arrivals would resume as soon as conditions improved.
The storm brought an estimated 45 inches of rain to the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast by Friday. Floods, rain and lightning forced at least 650 flights at IAH to be cancelled, with another 230 delays on Thursday. Friday saw another 350 cancellations and 84 delays, according to social media posts by airport authorities.
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Sep 19, 2019 | Airlines, American, Hawaiian, Home, Philippine, Spirit, United
With the potential for three simultaneous contract negotiations becoming more likely, the President of District 141 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers is working to stay connected with front-line workers.
Machinists District 141 President Mike Klemm was greeted by over a hundred Local 914 members at a recent station visit at EWR. Meeting directly with members on their home turf has become a regular part of Mike’s tenure as President.
For anyone leading an organization with over 40,000 members scattered from Massachusetts to Pago Pago, staying connected can be a real challenge.
Even the most tech-savvy leaders value the importance of face-to-face communication and see no substitute for just showing up at workplaces and hearing from workers in person, on their turf. When the organization you lead is the largest district in the largest territory of the IAMAW, the challenge is indeed great.
IAMAW District 141 President and Directing General Chair Mike Klemm spends a lot of time on airplanes, but he sees that as a way to have meaningful connections with the members he has pledged to represent. “When I am not in contract negotiations, station visits are the best use of my time,” according to Mike. “The time I spend on airplanes helps me organize my thoughts so I can communicate better when I get to interact with the members at their jobs. When your thoughts are organized, you can be a better listener. And listening to what the members have to say is the main purpose of a station visit.”
At a recent visit to Liberty International Airport in Newark, NJ, Mike spent the day visiting every corner of the airport to converse with members informally. He tries to visit every hub station at least once per year. Many times, these station visits yield concrete results. After listening to insights from Kirk Griffiths, an IAM ramp worker in Houston, TX, Mike negotiated a smaller time frame for submitting day and shift trades for all airport-based employees at United Airlines. The new 4-hour window, an improvement over the previous 24-hour requirement, brought more flexibility and fewer job terminations due to attendance problems.
With two major airline contracts up for renewal in 2020, and ongoing negotiations at American Airlines, station visits have become even more important. “Not everyone is ready to share all their concerns when put on the spot at a station visit. So that’s why we encourage members to watch for and fill out the surveys we put out before we begin negotiations. We rank issues according to how many members mention them in the surveys, and that tells us what’s really important. There may be some issues that are specific to one region or city, but there are always concerns that affect every member. That’s what we need to address in a contract that will work for everyone.”
Local officers and committee members usually join Mike for the station visits, which helps when members bring up issues that are location-specific. It also allows for some reflection on the issues discussed as the visit wraps up. At Terminal A in Newark, Erica Boyce was vocal about her frustrations with short-staffing, but was excited to hear about several cases where union representatives fought for and saved jobs. “You’ve got to get loud and proud,” Erica said. “Advertise your successes.” That exchange ended the day on a high note, as Mike got ready for the drive out to Long Island, New York, to see his family.
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Sep 12, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Featured, Hawaiian, Home, Organizing, Philippine, Spirit, United
Wait, what?
High wages are great, but there’s a lot more that goes into a union paycheck.
If you’re a member of the largest airline union in the world (the IAMAW), you are better compensated than anyone else who does the same work as you. That fact remains true even if someone else makes more money per hour.
How is this possible?
Many things go into building a union paycheck. How many hours you are allowed to work, overtime rules, bonuses and benefits – to name a few. At non-union workplaces, an eye-catching hourly wage might come with hidden costs, such as a smaller pension, forced time off and sick leave policies that deduct from vacation time. These things can drain a paycheck and leave workers wondering where all the money went.
Many people confuse an hourly wage with overall compensation. In reality, your wage is only one of the reasons that you are financially better off (or not) working at one company over another.
Bloggers who don’t work for an airline and company spokespersons might claim that one set of employees is “better paid” than their union counterparts. However, they probably aren’t looking at the full picture.
What is “Overall Compensation?”
A significant portion of your income isn’t part of your hourly wage but still counts toward your total compensation. Some of this is considered income for tax purposes, and some is not.
For example, the value of specific benefits, such as travel privileges, bonuses, and “premium” overtime are considered income to the IRS. Other benefits, such as work rules that allow for nearly-unlimited day trades and paid training, are harder to calculate unless a worker uses them.
Other policies that can boost your take-home pay and net worth are arguably just as important as base wages. Things like your pension and health benefits can add many thousands of dollars to your financial security. Also, don’t forget your vacation time and sick banks. Those have value as well.
Union members get great add-ons to their base wages that are missing at non-union workplaces. Double-time overtime, shift differentials, overrides, day and shift trades, paid training, holiday pay, vacation buyouts, separate sick time and vacation banks, and many other extras that union members know all about, but that are unheard of at non-union workplaces.
All of this combines to create your total compensation, the figure that determines your overall net worth and how financially secure you and your family actually are.
Take Delta Air Lines. Delta ramp workers have a fair hourly wage, often ranging over $30. They also earned an extremely desirable profit-sharing check this year, splitting a record-shattering $1.3 Billion in company profits. Anyone would be happy with money like that.
However, Machinists and Aerospace Union members at other airlines wouldn’t want to trade places with Delta employees. Even if the hourly wages are competitive with those at United and American, union members would be taking a crippling pay cut to work at Delta, even if it might mean slightly higher hourly wages.
How?
As just one example, Delta employees do not get a pension. The company only offers a company match to employee contributions to a 401(k) plan and does not have a fully-funded defined benefit pension plan. Delta is so intent on killing pensions that executives are deducting costs related to on the job injuries from the retirement accounts earned by former Northwest workers who now work at Delta. The airline has consistently raised insurance rates along with wages increases, which can erode a paycheck faster than inflation. In this way, Delta employees raises do not keep up with cost of living expenses in most of the country. Union members at United and American get health insurance plans that are locked in with a legally-binding contract.
Also, while the profit sharing at Delta is something that all companies should be working to emulate, union members at United chose to guarantee their profit sharing each and every year. They did this by boosting the hourly rate they earn all year. Moreover, their yearly profit sharing cannot be taken away, gambled, or spent on stock buyback schemes.
Earning a substantial hourly wage is always a good thing. But workers shouldn’t allow one single figure to distract them from their overall compensation rates. Machinists and Aerospace Union members certainly haven’t. In every classification in which they work, Machinists earn the highest total compensation levels in the industry. From rocket and aircraft builders and from astronauts to airline ground crews, the most highly compensated workers are always members of the Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union.
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Sep 12, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Featured, Hawaiian, Home, Philippine, Safety, Spirit, United, Video
The 2019 IAM Joint Air Transport Safety Committee Conference was held at the William Winpisinger Education Center in Hollywood, Maryland. IAM safety advocates from District 140, District 141 and District 142 were joined by management safety officials from companies where workers are represented by our union. Conference attendees participated in group discussions and hands-on seminars where they shared ways to improve safety policies and procedures, how to mitigate workplace hazards and how to promote a comprehensive safety culture. They also enjoyed a presentation by professional race car driver Andy Pilgrim, founder of the Traffic Safety Education Foundation, who is passionate about promoting safety and combating distracted driving.
District Lodge 141 will feature highlights from the JATSC Conference, including Pilgrim’s presentation, at the upcoming District Safety Conference in October. More information and video presentations coming soon.![]()
Sep 10, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Hawaiian, Home, Philippine, Safety, Spirit, United, Video
Aug 21, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Hawaiian, Home, Philippine, Safety, Spirit, United
The summer weather brings many challenges for airline workers, with specific risks for those who work outside. Intense sun, heat, humidity, heavy rain, and lightning storms are just some hazards that must be considered and respected to protect their own, their co-workers’ and their passengers’ safety. But inclement weather is only one of the many dangers that ramp workers face every day.
Last week, two airline ramp workers lost their lives while performing their duties.
On Sunday night, Kendrick Darrell Hudson was killed when the tug he was driving on the ramp at Douglas Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina (CLT) flipped over and pinned him underneath. Hudson was transporting baggage through an area that some workers described as poorly lit , and a police report states that the vehicle he was driving swerved to avoid hitting a piece of luggage lying on the ground. CLT is in the midst of a $2.5 Billion capital building project , and the ongoing construction work at times changes the flow of traffic and the lighting in some areas, according to IAM members there. Hudson, age 24, was an employee of Piedmont Airlines, a regional carrier and a subsidiary of American Airlines. Piedmont Airlines ramp workers in CLT are represented by CWA Local 3635. In a message to members, the local president said the union is working to support Hudson’s family and is taking part in the accident’s investigation.
Kendrick Hudson in a Facebook photo. He was killed in an accident at Charlotte Douglas Airport on August 11, 2019.
On Wednesday afternoon, Charlie Mohammed, a 19-year veteran of Delta Air Lines was meeting an arriving aircraft at JFK Airport in New York as part of a 2-man crew. While he was at the tail of the airplane hooking up a bag cart to a tug, it appears that the tug rolled unexpectedly, pinning him underneath . Not visible to his Delta co-worker, he was initially found by a fueler who alerted co-workers and called the emergency. Ramp workers rushed to his aid and had to use a forklift to remove the tug. Charlie “Mo” was taken to the hospital where he later died. Delta Air Lines ramp workers are not represented by a union and are currently organizing to join the IAM. Organizers are offering IAM resources to Delta workers to assist them with their shock and grief. IAM Local 1894 hosted an open house this week and had District Lodge 141 EAP Representatives available to speak with workers and offer support.
It is estimated that between 4 and 6 airport ramp workers die on the job each year, but exact numbers are difficult to find because accidents are investigated by different government agencies depending on the circumstances. The Federal Aviation Administration investigates incidents on runways and taxiways, while incidents near the gates controlled by the airlines and airport authorities are investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board or the Occupational Safety and Health Administration . Because ramp accidents occur on the ground, they are not considered aviation accidents, but rather industrial accidents. Accidents on the ramp cost major airlines over $10 Billion per year worldwide, according to the Flight Safety Foundation, an industry group.
Charlie Mohammed, a Delta worker at JFK died on the job on August 14, 2019. Photo credit: Moises Cruz
Airline ramp workers navigate hazardous environments daily, in congested areas with lots of motorized and pedestrian traffic. They face immense time pressures to achieve quick aircraft turnarounds and work alongside diverse airport workers in fueling, catering, cleaning, and security. Many of these functions are outsourced to vendors who may not prioritize safety as unionized airline workers do.
The District 141 Ground and Flight Safety Committee is tasked with promoting a safety culture within our members at every airline. The importance of using the tools at our disposal, such as GSAP to report safety issues no matter where they are or which workers they immediately affect cannot be stressed enough. Alertness and effective communication between all workers is a key factor in maintaining a safe work environment. In our shared workspaces, we must remain vigilant and take proactive steps to ensure we all return to our families and loved ones at the end of our workday.
Think Safety, Work Safely. Every Day.
Fraternally,
Michael G. Klemm
President & Directing General Chairman
IAMAW District Lodge 141
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