Dec 19, 2018 | Airlines, American, Departments, Hawaiian, Home, Philippine, Safety, Spirit, United
Newly Released Research by UnionSafe141 has info for airline workers looking to avoid the OJI Pain Train.
Try to think of something that will ruin your day at work, and airline workers are probably dealing with that exact thing right now, while you are reading this.
Extreme weather, exhaustion, heavy machinery… the world of commercial aviation is home to every kind of workplace hazard known to man.
Chemicals? Explosives? Tight spaces? Airline workers wouldn’t even flinch. Airline workers are trained to deal with all that by their first day. Heavy lifting? Heights? Complicated math? Please. Some ramper somewhere is probably loading a lion or a bear into a plane at this very moment.
However hard you try, occasionally coming home feeling a little beat up is normal. For airline workers, it’s SOP. In fact, according to data compiled by OSHA, working at one of our nation’s airports is about even with construction work when it comes to how likely it is to get banged up on the job.
Airline work is dangerous. And, the longer a person does it, the more likely a severe injury becomes.
It’s hard to know just how dangerous airline work is, however. Surprisingly, there are no federal regulators or agencies that maintain a detailed and comprehensive record of injuries. What information exists can be nearly impossible to find, scattered over a confusing tangle of bureaucratic firewalls.
The most extensive database of airline incident tracking available is kept by Machinists Union members in Philadelphia. The small team of Safety Advocates there maintains careful records of injuries, equipment repairs, and other safety-related information of interest to airline workers. The detailed information provides what is perhaps the clearest view of the safety landscape of Airlines in North America.
According to the research conducted by the Machinists Union, the leading cause of injuries sustained by airline workers is… drumroll please… back injuries.
Hundreds and hundreds of airline workers report serious back injuries each year. Many of them are crippling.
They are also hard to avoid. Airline workers deal with several thousand pounds of bags a day, often while squeezed into the underbellies of planes. Other work areas require near-constant lifting from unavoidable awkward positions and heights. Moreover, back injuries seldom result from a single incident. Repetitive stress trauma can sneak up on you, waiting for that one special bag to become the straw that finally, well, breaks the camel’s back.
All of which makes back injuries an unwanted trademark of airline work.
To read the full story and many more like it. Check out District Lodge 141’s New Airmail Magazine. This Issue focuses on the 2018 IAM141 Safety Conference and highlights safety in the airline industry.
Dec 16, 2018 | Airlines, American, Departments, Home, Organizing, The Association
Brothers and Sisters,
THE TWU/IAM Association executive negotiating committee participated on a conference call conducted by National Mediation Board mediators yesterday, December 14, 2018. Negotiators from American Airlines also participated.
The mediators recapped the remaining open items to be negotiated. They also set the agenda and negotiating schedule for the beginning of 2019. The Association presented a proposal covering Field Trips for M&R and MLS members.
The next face-to-face negotiations are scheduled for January 15-17 in San Francisco. Topics to be discussed are open economic pay elements, health & welfare (insurance), duration of the agreement, field trips and other open contract language items.
We were successful in obtaining additional negotiating dates on the calendar. Scheduled negotiating dates are:
• January 15, 16, 17
• January 29, 30, 31
• February 6, 7, 8
• February 12, 13, 14
• And an additional week in March – specific dates to be determined
Our objective is to reach agreement as soon as possible without having to use all of our scheduled dates. However, this Association is committed to achieving the compensation, healthcare, retirement and job security that our members have earned and deserve. Your continued support and solidarity is both appreciated and necessary to reach these goals.
We wish all of our members a safe and happy holiday season.
Fraternally,
Your Association Executive Negotiating Committee
Please Post On All TWU- IAM Bulletin Boards
Dec 12, 2018 | Airlines, Departments, Featured, Hawaiian, Home, Safety
In airline safety
Practice Makes Perfect
Fewer safety reports may be a sign that an airline is being less honest, not safer.
Airlines all face the same fundamental challenges keeping travellers and workers safe. When one of these airlines refuses to report on these issues, it’s not because their safety record is perfect. It’s because it’s hidden.
Almost all airlines in the US fly the same planes, operate at the same airports, and fall under the same regulatory guidelines and workplace safety laws.
When airlines report more safety issues, fewer real catastrophes seem to happen. A higher number of reported safety incidents and near-misses does not mean that an airline is less safe. It might be a sign that the airline is practicing and learning more than the other guys.
Meanwhile, airlines that try to hide safety reports can miss opportunities to correct problems while they are still small.
“All airlines have incidents every day,” said Geoffrey Thomas, an industry analyst with AirlineRatings.com. “It is the way that flight crews handle incidents that determines a good airline from an unsafe one.”
Airlines that closely monitor and study accidents get better and better at preventing them. The trick, according to Machinists Union District 141 Safety Director Kaulana Pakele, is for companies to learn to trust front-line employees. Pakele’s work at Hawaiian Airlines takes him to work areas across the spectrum, including Customer Service, Cargo, Supplies, and Clerical & Stores. Hawaiian is recognized as one of the top 20 airlines in the world for its safety record, thanks in no small part to the work of Pakele and his safety teams.
Hawaiian has essentially made every front-line employee a safety inspector, with a program called “Ground Safety Improvement Plan,” called GSIP (pronounced Gee-Sip) by agents. The program allows any employee at the airline to put any safety concern they might have on blast – sending word to the FAA, OSHA, company managers and safety experts at the same time.
Other airlines have similar programs, like the GSAP program at United Airlines.
According to Pakele, putting employees into a leadership role when it comes to safety makes sense. It ensures that the people with the most to lose in an unsafe workplace have the most influence in developing and executing safety policies. It also makes sure that the workers that know the most about the real-world operation are keeping upper management and safety regulators informed about how well company policies are working. All this can be done on a constant, hour by hour basis, and can provide valuable data that safety experts can integrate into policy.
However, this level of transparency can come with a price, especially if a company culture sees such reporting as adversarial rather than something that might save lives. Some passengers when learning about the reports may misinterpret them as evidence that an airline is unsafe, rather than see them as a tool to identify and correct policies and procedures.
Despite the potential drawbacks, Pakele is quick to point out the value of employee-directed safety programs. “The best argument for these programs is in how boring they are.” Pakele jokes. “When they work, nothing happens. And that’s the point.”
“There’s a saying in Hawaii that we can use when we talk about safety: ‘E palekana kahana a e k?ko’o kekahi i kekahi,’ or, ‘May the work be safe, and support one another.’”
Dec 12, 2018 | Departments, Featured, Home, Safety
Ask anyone at Local 1351 in Seattle, and they will struggle to remember a time when Al Yamada wasn’t president. Al has served as president of Local 1351 for so long, in fact, that only the most senior IAM Members at Seattle’s Sea-Tac airport can remember anyone else in the role.
With a naturally easy going and friendly demeanor, Al tends to avoid accepting too much praise, preferring instead to direct attention to the Local Lodge that he clearly loves, and to Seattle. There’s a lot to be proud of; Seattle’s Local 1351 has a long history in the IAM. In fact, the local is one of the original District 141 lodges, founded all the way back in 1945.
When asked about when his first term as President began, Al will merely dismiss the topic, “sometime in the ‘90s,” he will say. If you ask those who know him well, they will say that he has been president for at least the past 20 years, after working as a Shop Steward and a Safety Advocate for a short time.
Asked about how much longer he intends to stay in the role, Al called out to a nearby Union Activist, Phil Pascua, and asked him if he would take over the office so he could step down. “Hell no,” Pascua replied. Instantly.
Serving as Local Lodge President can be a tough job.
Born and raised in the area, he knows the city intimately; and he is unabashedly proud of his hometown. He even dedicated part of his speech to making sure that everyone at the conference knew how to use public transportation to get around downtown.
Al Yamada is also more than willing to point out the many things he loves about Local 1351. His innate humility vanishes when it comes to the union members at Local 1351. As the topic switches to the men and women of his local, he knows everyone, and everyone knows him. It’s clear that he’s talking about friends that he cares about… much more than mere coworkers.
Al Yamada welcomed the 2018 Safety Conference to Seattle in December, delivering the opening remarks. The annual IAM141 Safety Conference brings together top safety experts in Aviation.
Dec 12, 2018 | Departments, EAP, Helping Hands, Home
This months issue addresses anxiety and stress during the holiday, and coping with grief through the holiday season. Additionally, the dates for all EAP classes are on the calendar. Please get with your local lodge secretary/treasurer or president to sign up for classes now. The classes will fill up quickly and I want all of you to be able to get into the class you want. Let me know if you have questions about the enrollment process.
This has been quite a year! Thanks to all of you, our members have received great care and compassion to help them through some difficult times. I am very grateful to each one of you for the care and compassion you have given!
I hope the Holiday season is all that you want it to be –
Bryan
Bryan Hutchinson, M.S.
Dec 10, 2018 | Airlines, Departments, Featured, Home, Safety, Video
Here is the review of this weeks Safety Conference which you will hear feedback from four people who attended.
