Jan 15, 2019 | Airlines, American, Community Service, Departments, EAP, Education, Hawaiian, Home, MNPL, Organizing, Philippine, Safety, Spirit, United
Houston’s Terminal B Security Checkpoint was closed indefinitely as of Monday.
Houston’s largest airport, Bush Intercontinental (IAH), is closing a primary security checkpoint as they deal with staffing shortages caused by increasing numbers of TSA agents who can no longer afford to come to work without pay. The announcement follows a similar decision by officials at Miami International Airport (MIA) to reduce hours at TSA checkpoints at its Concourse G, and record-shattering security lines at other airports, such as Atlanta’s ATL, which had wait times in excess of two hours.
About 4,000 IAM members work at IAH. The station is home to both Locals 811 and 2198.
Although flights will still be leaving from Terminal B, where the closure is taking place, passengers will need to check in at other terminals. Businesses at Terminal B will remain open, but can expect less customer traffic as passengers will be arriving in the concourse closer to flight departure times.
11:00 AM, and some businesses at IAH Terminal B had yet to make a single sale.
Airport administrators have not said how long the closures will last. IAM141 AGC Victor Hernandez (IAH Ramp, DFW, SJU) issued a statement to Machinists Union members at the airport, reassuring the membership that the expected impact to operations at United Airlines was minimal. “As of right now we are not losing any days of work,” he said in the statement, adding that some people may be expected to move from some work areas to others. He promised more updates if any changes happen that could impact union members at IAH.
Houston’s Mayor Sylvester Turner blamed the closure on a lack of TSA agents available to work.
IAH is already one of the busiest airports in the world.
More than 100,000 people travel daily through IAH, making it one of the busiest airports in the world. Airport parking can range as high as $30 per day, and there are limited public transportation options to the airport, making it an expensive place for TSA agents to commute to every day. Once additional costs such as daycare, lunches, and tolls are also factored in, a typical TSA agent in Houston will spend a sizable chunk of their income each month just getting to work.
A TSA Agent looks on as passengers line up at Terminal C, which was fully staffed.
TSA Agents have not received a paycheck since before Christmas, amid the most extended government shutdown in US history. Since the average TSA agent earns about $35k a year, going without pay means going without rent. “Thankfully, I have two jobs because I’m not getting paid at TSA,” said one agent on Twitter (#ShutDownStories). “But I still have to show up. Which means I have to work both jobs every day, sleeping two to three hours at night, just to not even break even on bills.”
The government shutdown began on December 22, after President Trump and lawmakers failed to agree on a spending bill. There are few indications that the shutdown will end any time soon, which means that more disruptions are certain.
Get involved! Contact IAM141 MNPL Legislative Director Dave Roderick for information about what you can do to help end the shutdown, and get 800,000 Federal Employees back to work.
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Dec 1, 2018 | Airlines, Airmail, American, Community Service, Departments, EAP, Education, Hawaiian, Home, MNPL, Organizing, Philippine, Safety, Spirit, United
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Nov 21, 2018 | Community Service, Departments, Featured, Home
Local 914 Community Service Committee Sets a Thanksgiving Feast for 15 Families
Fresh off the 68th District 141 Convention in Orlando, Florida, Debbie Inverno was energized and motivated. As a Shop Steward and Chair of the Community Service Committee at Local 914 in Newark, NJ, she had been collecting non-perishable food donations from members for a few months, but without a defined project in mind. The work that the Community Services Committee did at the Convention changed all that:
“What Cristina said made it all click,” said Debbie. “She told the committee: “It starts with one can…and you keep going.””
Local 914 Community Service Committee members Lee Carpenter, Victor Acosta, Chair Debbie Inverno (center, in black,) Hope House Residential Assistant Lisa Ginn (wearing a red shirt), Local 914 President Bill Gula and Hector Perez (far right).
The words of Cristina Odoardi, a District 141 Trustee who was advising the Community Services Committee at the Convention made a big difference to Debbie Inverno. Since she already had one can, Debbie figured all she needed was the impetus to take the next step, and it came to her in Cristina’s simple call: “Keep going.”
Soon after her return to New Jersey, Debbie found out about Hope House, an emergency shelter for women and children near Newark. Her son, a Port Authority Police Officer, was familiar with their work and Debbie was convinced that this was the perfect fit for the local’s community service work. She had found another incentive to keep going.
“It starts with one can…”
Debbie kept going non-stop for the next two weeks. After making an initial call for donations, she posted an update with a picture every day on the Local 914 Facebook wall. She shared the news in other social media outlets where she knew her co-workers at United Airlines in EWR go for news and updates. When the donations started pouring in, she picked up everything in person, collecting donations all over Newark Airport and even at co-workers’ homes. She enlisted the help of her neighbors, whom she called “honorary union members” after they contributed three turkeys to the food drive. She also accepted cash donations and made several trips to the grocery store to personally pick up items to complete a full Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. “Soup to nuts, there’s even nuts in there!,” Debbie said as she unloaded her car with the help of Local 914 Community Service Committee member Lee Carpenter. “Fifteen families who currently reside at Hope House will celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional meal thanks to our members’ generosity.”
Local 914 President Bill Gula helps carry groceries.
Local 914 President Bill Gula also lent a hand unloading over 30 bags of groceries and five turkeys at the shelter. He praised the work that was accomplished in a relatively short period of time: “Debbie’s successful effort is simply outstanding. She was the engine that got this project to this beautiful completion. We are grateful to all the members who contributed and for Debbie’s leadership and big heart. Happy Thanksgiving!”
According to Debbie Inverno, she’s just getting started. She wants to “adopt” Hope House to continue to support their work. This was welcome news to Lisa Ginn, Residential Assistant at Hope House who was grateful for the Thanksgiving donation and was thrilled to hear that the Machinists will be back to continue to support the center’s programs on behalf of homeless women and children. “Service to the community, this is what we do,” said Debbie. “And we have to keep going.”
Aug 31, 2018 | Community Service, Departments, Events, Featured, Home
Some of the best people work in unions.
Nestled about five minutes from Charlotte Douglas International Airport lies Renaissance West STEAM Academy. (“Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math”) An unlikely addition to the low-income section of Charlotte where it’s located, Renaissance West Academy seeks to reach some of the most at-risk students in the area – right in the neighborhoods they call home.
For many of the K-6 students, the meals they get at school are the only meals they get all day. Every student at Renaissance West STEAM Academy qualifies for the school’s free lunch program. Plastic food bins donated by IAM Victory Lodge 1725 in Charlotte are filled throughout the week with donations for families who take them home over the weekend.
Despite the many challenges they face, however, the students at Renaissance Academy are thriving. Much of this success is due to the toughness and resilience of the kids, but the whole community has joined to support the school’s goals. Faith-based networks, city agencies, and community groups all play a role, with union activists leading the way.
When students at Renaissance West STEAM Academy head to class this week, they will be sporting brand new book bags, each one emblazoned with the IAM emblem and stuffed with school supplies. The bright red drawstring bags and supplies were gifted to the kids thanks to an ambitious donation drive spearheaded by Community Activist and Charlotte’s Victory Lodge 1725 Recording Secretary Helena Thornton.
A long-time supporter of the students at Renaissance West, Helena knew first-hand how great the need for school supplies was. She first got involved at Renaissance West when the President of Victory Lodge 1725 Mike Jones encouraged her and others to volunteer. The young students nicknamed her “Miss Lady.”
Helena Thornton. Photo courtesy of Louis Gilmore, Photographer for Victory Lodge Local 1725 CLT
Helena teamed up with Renae Miller, the Chairwoman of the Women’s and Human Rights Committee at Victory Lodge 1725. The two of them came up with a plan to make sure that the students would start off the school year well-prepared, with the confidence and dignity that comes with having everything they need for class.
But, which students would get the bags and supplies? It didn’t seem fair to set up some kids with new bags and leave others out, since every student at Renaissance West faces hardships.
For Helena, the answer was clear: Everyone would get a bag. And while it didn’t seem possible for her small local lodge to buy the more than 500 book bags they would need, she upped the ante and also planned to stuff them with enough supplies to get each student outfitted for the classroom.
Helena has been employed at American Airlines for 12 years, and for 9 of those years she has been a union activist. After becoming a Shop Steward, and later Women’s Committee Chair, she became Local 1725 Recording Secretary back in May 2015 and was elected to her first full term this year. She knows how to take on a project, even one as big as this one.
The first calls Helena and Renae made were to District 141. After that, things began falling into place. Donations from the District combined with contributions from the Obie O’Brien Local Lodge 1776 in Philadelphia, and even more donations from members covered the cost of having the bags made.
Getting the school supplies, however, was proving to be tougher than expected. It was at that point that Helena got a phone call from IAM Transportation General Vice President Sito Pantoja.
“That was a surprise!” Helena said, laughing. “My phone rings out of the blue, and suddenly I’m talking to Sito Pantoja.”
“But, he was very thoughtful, and he asked me what we needed, and he told me that he would help. And, he sure did!” A few days after his phone call, Helena got six heavy boxes full of supplies, many of them displaying the IAM emblem just as the bags were. “We got pencils, rulers… more than 400 packs of index cards…” Helena struggled to recall everything that the students reaped from that single donation. “It was a huge help. Without his donations, I’m not sure how we would have reached our goal.”
After finally collecting everything needed, Helena rounded up volunteers, friends and family to help pack the bags. “We started bagging, bag after bag. We had entire families packing bags for three straight days. After the first day, we packed about 250 bags. We had 700 notebooks, plus pencils, crayons, wipes, napkins, hand sanitizers. We made sure that the little kids had the sanitizers. For the older kids we focused more on the notebooks, the pencils, the markers.”
“After I finished, I was exhausted. I had never seen so many pencils. We had 4000 pencils!”
When it was all done, all 550 students at Renaissance West STEAM Academy had the supplies they needed to start the school year, all packed into a brand-new, bright red book bag proudly emblazoned with the IAM logo. Not only that, but all of the school’s 27 teachers had book bags as well, stuffed with extra supplies for the kids.
It was then that the magnitude of the job became apparent. “I didn’t realize what we had done until I saw kid after kid with the red bags. I was in tears,” Helena said.
“These kids need somebody to show them that they are important. They need to be able to say ‘somebody’s there for me.'”
If you are a member of Victory Lodge 1725 in Charlotte and would like to volunteer for the next big project, contact Helena Thornton at calhounh95@yahoo.com.
