May 3, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Featured, Home, Organizing, The Association
Brothers and Sisters,
American Airlines has made the determination to try changing the negotiations from the bargaining table to directly bargaining in the breakrooms, on the shop floor and on the ramp. Their direct appeal to TWU and IAM members represented by the Association is an end-around rarely seen by the most anti-union employers during contract negotiations. They want to test your solidarity.
The documents they posted on JetNet do show significant gains the Association achieved so far in negotiations. The Company gave nothing out of their generosity – the improvements you see are the result of the hard work of your negotiators. But, don’t be fooled – IT IS NOT ENOUGH!
Work is not protected. They think they can fool us by making a promise that everyone will have a job in their current location. What they will not tell you is that they will replace work performed by those who leave by using vendors or by sending the work out of the country altogether. Retirement is still inadequate, healthcare is unresolved and the industry worst profit sharing still outweighs any wage gains. If we caved in to American’s demands a year ago, the gains we did achieve would not be there. If we cave in now, the job security, healthcare and retirement you have earned and deserve are guaranteed not be there.
Our message is simple. Tell the Company IT IS NOT ENOUGH! Tell them to get back to the table and finish the job. The Association negotiators are ready and waiting.
Show your solidarity – your future and the best contract in the industry depends on it.
Fraternally,
Your Association Negotiating Committees
[gdlr_stunning_text background_color=”#f3f3f3″ button=”Download PDF” button_link=”https://iam141.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Association-Bulletin-503.pdf” button_background=”#184ab9″ button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_border_color=”#0d2a6b” title=”American Takes the Fight to the Floor” title_color=”#184ab9″ caption_color=”#a0a0a0″]Please Post on Bulletin Boards[/gdlr_stunning_text]
May 3, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, EAP, Hawaiian, Helping Hands, Home, Philippine, Spirit, United
We focus on drug addiction this month. Drug Addiction is defined and explored on page 1. Page 2 addresses whether drug addiction can be cured or prevented.
Much of the information is from the www.drugabuse.gov web site. This is a very good resource and I encourage you to browse the site so you are familiar with all of the information there is.
Thank you for taking good care of your fellow co-workers. It is important work.
Bryan,
Bryan Hutchinson, M.S.
[gdlr_stunning_text background_color=”#f3f3f3″ button=”Download PDF” button_link=”https://iam141.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/HH-May-2019.pdf” button_background=”#184ab9″ button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_border_color=”#0d2a6b” title=”Helping Hands May: Drug Addiction” title_color=”#184ab9″ caption_color=”#a0a0a0″]Please Post on Bulletin Boards[/gdlr_stunning_text]
May 1, 2019 | Airlines, Departments, Home, retirement, United
Changes are focused on benefit subsidies, not retirees.
The IAM National Pension Fund is one of the largest and best-funded retirement plans in the US, with total assets that exceed 18 billion dollars.
This week, beneficiaries received some concerning news as the Plan’s Board of Trustees voluntarily chose to move the IAMNPF into “Red Zone” status. The Fund is projected to remain in that classification for at least one of the next five years, according to a mailing sent out this week.
For the 292 thousand plan participants, the news isn’t exactly as bad as it may sound. For example, the decision will not impact current retirees or any accruals that have already been earned. Instead, most of the changes are related to the way that the Fund collects subsidies from employers.
According to Ryk Tierney, Executive Director at the IAM National Pension Fund, the decision will have limited impact for most participants.
In a video statement released last Friday, Tierney explained that the Board’s decision to downgrade the Fund was voluntary, and was executed as a way to free the program to make reforms that would not have been permitted otherwise.
“Voluntarily declaring Red Zone while the fund remains well-funded at 89% allows the Trustees to implement a plan to strengthen the fund’s financial future,” Tierney said.
According to Tierney, the move “will not affect any accruals that have been earned in the past, nor does it impact the benefit currently being received by retirees or beneficiaries.”
Instead, the major changes expected at the fund are happening at the employer level. The change in status allows the Fund to require employers to commit to subsidies that are slightly larger than in previous years, when the plan was classified in green and yellow zones.
Federal law requires employers to pay a surcharge geared towards improving the Fund’s status following a Red Zone certification.
Beneficiaries are also protected by Federal law that requires the plan to enact a “Rehabilitation Plan.” This will reduce some variable benefits, such as some death benefits, payout time frames and accruals. However, none of these reductions will impact basic benefits collected at normal retirement.
[gdlr_video url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bIsO0J_0vI&feature=youtu.be” ]
More information is available at IAMBFO.org.
Apr 27, 2019 | Airlines, Departments, Featured, Home, retirement, United
The IAMAW and IAM District 141 are separate entities than the IAM National Pension Plan (NPP), even though both bear the “IAM” acronym. For those DL 141 IAM represented employees in the NPP, a letter was sent to your homes by the NPP. If you haven’t already received the letter, you will soon. The letter outlines changes that the NPP’s Board of Trustees have decided are necessary to maintain the long term stability of the NPP. IAM District 141 received the information contained in the letter on Friday, April 26, 2019.
Unfortunately, United Airlines attempted to blame District 141 today for the NPP dropping the ball in communicating these changes and stated: “we [United Airlines] were not informed by the IAM in advance.” The NPP, of which United Airlines management has a representative on the NPP Board of Trustees, David Lieb, failed to inform United Airlines in advance. The NPP also failed to inform the IAM’s largest district, IAM District 141, a district with the most active NPP participants, in advance. United’s weak attempt to shift blame and the NPP’s botched rollout of the modifications to our pension plan are BOTH completely unacceptable.
While the NPP remains well funded at 89%, in 2019, it has been certified in the Yellow Zone. The major reason for this is that the liabilities of the plan outweigh the assets, in the long term, and the NPP’s Board of Trustees decided changes are needed to fix this unsustainable condition. Because of this, the Board of Trustees have voluntarily reclassified the plan to be in the Red Zone, so that the Trustees can make changes to ensure the long term stability of the plan, per federal law.
It is not IAM District 141’s responsibility to notify United Airlines of modifications to the NPP. That responsibility falls squarely on the NPP, and more specifically United’s Board of Trustees representative, David Lieb. After all, Mr. Lieb had to approve of the changes to the NPP.
You can be assured that District 141 will do everything in its power to make sure all IAM represented NPP participants receive all the information there is pertaining this matter.
There is a lot of complex information included in the NPP mailings. There is a toll free telephone number 1-866-232-1296 and a website www.IAMBFO.org set up to give everyone more information.
Michael G. Klemm
President and Directing General Chairman
I.A.M.A.W. District Lodge 141
[gdlr_stunning_text background_color=”#f3f3f3″ button=”Download PDF” button_link=”https://iam141.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/PDGC-of-IAM-District-141-Michael-Klemm-Response-to-NPP-United.pdf” button_background=”#184ab9″ button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_border_color=”#0d2a6b” title=”PDGC of IAM District 141 Michael Klemm Response to NPP & United” title_color=”#184ab9″ caption_color=”#a0a0a0″]Please Post on Bulletin Boards[/gdlr_stunning_text]
Apr 26, 2019 | Airlines, American, Departments, Featured, Home, Organizing, The Association
Brothers and Sisters,
The Association leadership met with American Airlines’ negotiators and Federal Mediators this week in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The Mediator’s unorthodox approach to these negotiations failed to provide adequate space for the parties to face-off in the critical high stakes final issues to be resolved. The recent sessions were short three-day bursts that started late in the mornings and did not proceed into the evenings. The Mediators kept the negotiators in separate rooms instead of creating an environment that forced the negotiators to face each other to reach an agreement or stalemate. An arbitrary deadline was set (without agreement from the Association) that resulted in this session to be the last 3 days the NMB have scheduled for the parties to meet.
The company took advantage of this strategy (that undermines the process and favors the company) by continuing with their greed driven tactics and proposals. Company management is unwilling to acknowledge the workforce, whose sacrifices have created the world’s largest airline that makes Billions in profits.
Given the company’s unwillingness to move away from demanding massive concessions from our members, the Mediators have informed us that they will report to their superiors at the National Mediation Board (NMB) that they do not see a clear path to reaching an agreement. This process will take a number of weeks. It will be up to the NMB to determine the next step(s) in this process as outlined under the Railway Labor Act.
Since the beginning of these negotiations, company negotiators have continued to hold steadfast in their opening positions of massive concessions in SCOPE, failed to move off their substandard health and retirement positions and will not negotiate to secure best in the industry compensation. What they have focused on is continuing to spin their half-truths on Jetnet.
We are certain that the company will be lobbying the NMB to recommend a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) since they cannot get the concessions they want from your negotiators. The recommendations from a PEB could favor the company. We must be prepared to reject those recommendations.
It is time for every Association represented member to clearly and unambiguously let the company know you will not accept another concessionary agreement. Your Association leadership has let the Company know that they are in for a fight. All of us must accept the fact this fight is truly on and it does personally affect each of us from this day forward.
Our collective success is up to you.
Fraternally,
Your Association Negotiating Committees
[gdlr_stunning_text background_color=”#f3f3f3″ button=”Download PDF” button_link=”https://iam141.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Association-Bulletin-426.pdf” button_background=”#184ab9″ button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_border_color=”#0d2a6b” title=”American, AGAIN, Shows Their Unwillingness to Negotiate an Agreement – NMB Fails with its Strategy” title_color=”#184ab9″ caption_color=”#a0a0a0″]Please Post on Bulletin Boards[/gdlr_stunning_text]
Apr 15, 2019 | Departments, Home, MNPL
The new law prevents Right to Work ordinances from confiscating employee resources at the city and county level.
Starting immediately, workers in Illinois will no longer have their property and labor taken away from them under city-level Right to Work laws.
The legislation, signed this week by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, will prevent city and county officials from creating a patchwork of separate Right to Work zones across the state.
Governor Pritzker said in his signing statement that the new law would help ensure that “Illinois and all of its communities will never be a Right to Work state.”
“From the start, right to work was an idea cooked up to lower wages, slash benefits and hurt our working families,” Pritzker said. “‘Right to work’ has always meant, ‘right to work for less money,’ and it’s wrong for Illinois.”
Around the nation, corporate lobbyists have used Right to Work legislation to eliminate pensions and slash wages for employees. Last year, the Supreme Court added another twist to Right to Work – forcing employee groups to turn over their property and work for anti-union forces on demand.
“Imagine a law that would ‘protect’ cable subscribers from being ‘forced’ to pay for cable,” explained Machinists Union District 141 Legislative Director Dave Roderick. “A law like that would bankrupt cable companies overnight.”
“That’s what Right to Work does. It’s an attempt to bankrupt unions by forcing them to give their work away for free. Right to Work advocates want to work at union workplaces, and collect union wages. They also want costly contract negotiations and enforcement, but they don’t want to help pay for any of it,” said Roderick.
Supporters of Right to Work argue that employees would make more money overall if they were free to earn smaller paychecks and not get a pension when they retire. Since unions stand in the way of those things, Right to Work advocates seek to defund them.
Former Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, who collected large campaign donations from anti-union lobbyists, has pointed to a recent Seattle wage study that he claims proves that lower wage earners make more money than those with higher rates of pay.
Rauner is a billionaire.
In Illinois, the township of Lincolnshire had passed a Right to Work ordinance in 2015 hoping to bankrupt unions within its borders. Local unions filed a successful lawsuit to stop the measure from going into effect, which was upheld after the city appealed the ruling.
The courts found that only the state government has the legal authority to enact such laws, and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, the union that filed the lawsuit, was awarded $10,000 in damages.
The new legislation will buttress the court’s decision, asserting that only the state can create Right to Work zones. “The law, as it is, does not allow a state to hand this responsibility down to the local communities.” Governor Pritzker said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune. “This bill actually just establishes what is the law today.”
It’s unclear how much money Right to Work lobbyists lost in this failed attempt to create city and county Right to Work zones in Illinois. The rules were vigorously promoted by former Governor Bruce Rauner, and by a range of corporate lobbyists and courts that have encouraged them.
The IAM141 Machinists Non-Partisan League works to protect the pensions, pay and rights of airline workers within city, state and national governments. The IAM141 MNPL is funded entirely through voluntary donations from members like you. To become a supporting member of the IAM141 MNPL, please complete an MNPL Automatic Payroll Deduction Card for any amount today. Find a card by visiting the MNPL page at IAM141.org.
[gdlr_stunning_text background_color=”#f3f3f3″ button=”Download PDF” button_link=”https://iam141.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Illinois-will-never-be-right-to-work-.pdf” button_background=”#184ab9″ button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_border_color=”#0d2a6b” title=”Governor Pritzker: “ILLINOIS WILL NEVER BE A RIGHT TO WORK STATE!”” title_color=”#184ab9″ caption_color=”#a0a0a0″]Please Post on Bulletin Boards[/gdlr_stunning_text]
