Jan 16, 2019 | Airlines, American, Community Service, Departments, EAP, Education, Hawaiian, Home, MNPL, Organizing, Philippine, Safety, Spirit, United
Updated: 1/17/2019
The Federal Government shutdown began back in December, screwing over about 2 million workers and everyone who depends on them. This includes 51 thousand TSA Agents that keep our airlines moving. Here’s a running list of how the shutdown is impacting airports and airlines.
The Machinists Non-Partisan Political League has a plan to end the shutdown – find out more at GoIAM.org. Speak Out Here >>
1. Food courts and gift shops are losing business.
IAM141 Media
When TSA security checkpoints close, they dramatically rearrange the flow of foot traffic around them. Airport restaurants and shops that depend on passengers with plenty of wait times walking past and patronizing their establishments are struggling to attract customers who now have little time or are not even in that part of the airport.
2. TSA agents are starting to depend on food pantries.
AMY MATTHEWS/ST. MARY’S FOOD BANK via AZCentral.com
A Phoenix-based charity recently attracted some 300 TSA agents to their food distribution operation. Jerry Brown, a spokesman with St. Mary’s Mobile Food Pantry, helped deliver about 10,000 pounds of staples such as canned goods, bread, and eggs to the women and men that work to keep our airports safe.
The sheer number of needy TSA families left him stunned. “I didn’t expect that from missing just one paycheck,” Brown said, adding that he saw “everything from smiles and thank you’s to tears” from thankful TSA agents.
More details from AZ Central:
Read More >>
3. Dulles is closing security checkpoints.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images. Via Fox5 DC
The airport is also blaming recent snowstorms, but TSA related staffing shortages are the leading cause for reduced security checkpoints. Story from Fox5 DC.
Read More >>
4. Houston’s Bush Intercontinental is closing security checkpoints.
IAM141 Media
The massive United Airlines hub is also a key station for Spirit Airlines and an estimated 4,000 IAM members. Closures have caused work area disruptions for airline workers.
Read More >>
5. MIA has had to cut back on hours of operation.
Pedro Portal, via MiamiHerald.com
From the Miami Herald: Concourse G closes at Miami International Airport as federal government shutdown drags on.
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6. TSA agents need money to come to work, because gas, toll roads, and work lunches aren’t free.
Win McNamee/Getty via Vox
But, since they haven’t been paid a dime since before Christmas, hundreds of them can simply no longer afford to report for duty. This won’t change simply because the government re-opens. They need a paycheck.
7. Air Traffic Controllers are federal employees mandated to work and not getting paid.
Chalabala via IAM141 Media
Although better able to sustain a missing paycheck in the short term than other federal employees, Air Traffic Controllers have an incredibly stressful and critical job.
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8. Many FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) Officers are furloughed.
Acc.af.mil
This makes it impossible for airlines to get new routes approved and accomplish other critical housekeeping tasks, such as creating new pilot licenses and approving plans to expand and improve airport facilities.
Without FAA inspectors, an aircraft training facility in Oklahoma City has been forced to suspend operations.
Read More >>
9. Delta’s CEO Says that the airline has lost $25 million because of the shutdown so far.
Flickr
Delta CEO Ed Bastian says that the shutdown is holding up new aircraft certifications and preventing federal employees and contractors from flying. All the slowdowns have cost the nation’s largest airline $25 million in the first month of the shutdown, according to Bastian.
Read More >>
10. Security Lines at Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport stretched for more than THREE HOURS as a result of staffing shortages.
Photos: Twitter/Omar Jimenez via Business Insider
What does it take for long lines and unendurable waits at airports to become newsworthy? At the busiest airport in America, travelers now also have the longest lines. Business Insider has all the details.
Read More >>
11. At least three unions representing federal workers are suing the Trump administration to end the shutdown.
Photo Credit: J. Scott Applewhite/AP via Washington Post
On Tuesday, a federal judge denied a request from the unions to force the government to pay workers during the shutdown, but the legal fight is far from over. More hearings are scheduled for next week, if the federal courts have not run out of money and are still operating.
Read More >>
12. Several airport and airline unions are marching, protesting, and lobbying lawmakers to bring an end to the shutdown.
GoIAM.org/IAM141 Media
The largest airline and aerospace union in the world, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, is confronting federal decision makers over the shutdown. And they’re not alone. Thousands of union members from a range of industries are holding marches, rallies, and lobbying efforts… all aimed at ending the shutdown as soon as possible.
Read More >>
13. Several airlines are posting record profits, and really don’t need all this right now.
Chalabala via IAM141 Media
Airlines in the US have had a tough time since 9/11. The long, painful (but ultimately successful) recovery has largely been an inspiring tale for the US Commercial Aviation Industry. But, CEOs and market insiders are warning that the creeping impacts of a prolonged shutdown will be impossible to predict and prepare for, placing the current stairline prosperity in grave peril.
Read More >>
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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 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 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 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.
