141 Report: Paws for Pascarella

141 Report: Paws for Pascarella

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Our 141 report this week takes us to IAM local lodge 1759 in Herndon, Virginia, as the membership conducted the annual Paws for Pascarella Guide Dogs of America charity event.

 

141 Report: Paws for Pascarella

Our 141 report this week takes us to IAM local lodge 1759 in Herndon, Virginia, as the membership conducted the annual Paws for Pascarella Guide Dogs of America charity event.

The video report begins with an update from District President Mike Klemm, who traveled to Dulles Airport to conduct a station visit with the United Airlines membership. In the Video podcast, Brother Klemm informs the membership about this week’s trip to the United Airlines hub at Dulles Airport and Local 1759.  

 On Tuesday, Mike attended the monthly Lodge meeting and spoke to the members about the vaccine mandates at American and United Airlines. He also talked about the status of the ongoing negotiations at Spirit Airlines. Spirit has recently entered mediation proceedings.

Mike said, “We’ll be working with the mediation board to hopefully get a tentative agreement for our members of Spirit to vote on.” Brother Klemm also talked about the upcoming negotiation with United Airlines. Mike stated, “We should be seeing a communication coming out on that in the very near future.” 

Mike continues the report by saying he went over to the airport to visit multiple shifts and multiple briefings for members at United. He answered questions about the mandate and vaccine, as well as responding to questions about negotiations. Mike said it was “a real good visit.” Mike walked the property with 141 VP at East Barb Martin, who also serves as the committee chairman in Dulles, Mike Cyscon, the AGC assigned to the ramp, and Rich Creighton, who serves as AGC to customer service above the wing. Joe Washburn, the southeast regional EAP, also joined Mike on the visit. Brother Klemm thanked the local committee, Bill Hoover, Bill Peer, Sherry Curtis, President Bill Huston, and his entire 1759 executive board for their hospitality. 

Mike then talked about the fundraising event for guide dogs that he attended. The 1759 Charity event was In honor of his former AGC, Rich Pascarella, who unfortunately passed away a few years ago. “Rich not only was a phenomenal union rep and an outstanding AGC but also a personal friend of mine and it’s actually his birthday today.” Mike said of the beloved unionist.

The following guest speaker was Sherrie Curtis from local 1759, the UA Customer Service Committee person at Dulles Airport. “We’re here tonight celebrating our second annual event for Rich Pascarella.” The Charity Top Golf event took place in Loudoun County, having about 60 people that showed up to celebrate and raise funds for Guide Dogs of America. IAM members came from Boston, Newark, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Sherrie reports that Rich Passcarella families came to town driving in from Pittsburgh to celebrate a good time with us. 

Donations came rolling in from Locals 914 in Newark and 1776 in Philadelphia, donating $500 each to sponsor a golfing bay to support GDA. 

In the last part of the report, Dave talks to 1759 UA member Ron Rukenbrod who describes how he and his committee put the event together. He spoke of getting donations from local stores, wineries, and brewhouses for many charity baskets they put together. Ron said, “If you send out 100 letters and you only get 20 people to donate, you’re still 20 people ahead. So it’s always good to just overextend. Ron speaks about the support from the 141 Community Service Director, Cristina Odoardi, saying, “she’s been wonderful reaching out to us; what can I do? What can I do? We’ve been very fortunate”. 

If your local is interested in putting a community service event together, be sure to contact Sister Cristina at codoardi@iam141.org.

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Vaccine Mandates: Association Response

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WATCH: Passengers Delay Evacuation to Collect Personal Items From Overhead Bins

WATCH: Passengers Delay Evacuation to Collect Personal Items From Overhead Bins

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Don’t be these people. Panicking passengers evacuating a Spirit Airlines flight are seen ignoring instructions from flight crews during what appeared to be a fairly minor (if alarming) emergency. Some of the passengers evacuating after an engine fire took time to get their belongings from overhead bins, refused to remain seated and tried to give commands to trained flight crews.

WATCH: Passengers Delay Evacuation to Collect Personal Items From Overhead Bins

Passengers on a Spirit Airlines flight leaving Atlantic City in New Jersey were evacuated after a sudden engine fire broke out seconds before the plane was to lift off the runway. No injuries were reported, and all 109 passengers and crew were evacuated, although with disturbing safety failures.

The incident happened Saturday as Spirit flight 3044 was preparing to leave for Fort Lauderdale, Fl. According to the airline, “what is believed to be a large bird” was sucked into the engine just as the plane was about to leave the ground, forcing pilots to abort the takeoff. Cellphone video of the scare has gone viral. 

“The captain braked safely, received an indication of damage to the engine, and ordered an evacuation in accordance with our standard procedures,” read a statement from a Spirit spokesperson. “All Guests and Team Members evacuated the aircraft and were bussed back to the terminal.” The passengers were given full refunds for the flight, which was canceled, and vouchers for future flights. 

The FAA is currently investigating the incident. 

Safety Advocates with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers who reviewed passenger videos of the evacuation found several disturbing failures took place. Chief among them were passengers who slowed the evacuation of the flaming aircraft to collect belongings from the overhead bins – thus trapping everyone on the plane behind them. 

Pilots could not return the plane to the gate until firefighters had extinguished the engine. This forced the flight crew to evacuate passengers on the tarmac using inflatable slides deployed from either side of the aircraft. In the video, flight attendants can be heard clearly and repeatedly calling for passengers to remain seated, only to be ignored almost entirely. However, according to IAMAW District Safety Director Erik Stenberg, what many passengers did next was potentially much worse. Some passengers actively delayed the evacuation to collect their luggage and personal belongings from the overhead bins. 

“We work with Flight Training and Emergency Procedures Instructors regularly,” said Stenberg. “Crews and instructors practice using these slides. Some people have suffered broken bones going down these slides with nothing at all in their hands,” he said. “And, these were not even real emergencies. These were simulations where everyone was thinking clearly and were calmly following standard operating procedures.” 

“So, even if you get your luggage, you can’t safely get down those slides with it.” 

This behavior slowed down the evacuation, Stenberg said. “The fire itself wasn’t much of a risk by that point,” he said. “Fire crews were already activated, and the flight was on the ground.” According to Stenberg, who has been involved in union-side safety programs for decades, the real risk to passengers came from other passengers ignoring flight crew instructions. In fact, notes Stenberg, “it looked like some people were panicking and trying to take control over the evacuations themselves and away from trained flight crews. They were trying to give the flight attendants commands instead of following instructions.” 

While he noted that flight attendants could have gained more control of the situation, Stenberg said that the incident offered many lessons for passengers. Principally, the importance of carefully listening to (and following) pre-flight safety instructions. “I know we all like to ignore the flight attendants when they tell us what we should be doing in an emergency,” he says. “But, we should pay more attention. This incident is a perfect example of what happens if we’re unprepared.”

“The time to react to an emergency is before it happens,” Stenberg said.

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Jen Jolly and Rodney Walker Named New District 141 Vice Presidents.

Jen Jolly and Rodney Walker Named New District 141 Vice Presidents.

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Jen Jolly and Rodney Walker Named New District 141 Vice Presidents.

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IAMAW District 141 President and Directing General Chair Mike Klemm has announced that Jen Jolly of Local Lodge 1287 (Salt Lake) and Rodney Walker of Local Lodge 1726 (Boston) have been tapped to serve as District Vice Presidents At-Large. The appointments came after a unanimous vote at the IAMAW 141 September Executive Board Meeting and will be effective October 1, 2021.

Jen Jolly, IAMAW District 141 Vice President At-Large.

Jen Jolly centers her Union Service as an act of unity and a moral call to action. Since becoming a Union Steward in 2014, she has dedicated herself to protecting working people who fall victim to unjust threats to their livelihoods. When asked about what motivates her to stay involved, Jolly recounted the story of one such termination. “United terminated one of our sisters after she had no-called, no-showed from work 25 days,” she said. “Human Resources never reached out to ensure that she was alright or in a safe place. All United saw was an agent that wasn’t reporting to duty,” she continued.Together with her coworkers, Jolly discovered that the agent had suffered from a significant abuse-related personal trauma and was homeless as a result. Jolly and other union members were able to get the agent to safety. Although it took two years of dedicated effort, they eventually found a way to get her back to work at United Airlines. “We look at the person for who they are – not just a number as the company does,” Jolly said. “This valued employee is still working hard at United and now has a safe place she can call home – and a much larger family of her Union Brothers and Sisters.”

In addition to serving as a Union Steward, in 2016, Jen Jolly became a Trustee and Committee Member at her home local of 1287 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was initiated into the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in 2014 after Continental Airlines merged with United Airlines. Jolly is a Remote Reservations Agent.

Rodney Walker, IAMAW District 141 Vice President At-Large.

Rodney Walker has had a long and distinguished history of union service. Walker was hired at US Airways in 1992.  After joining the IAMAW, he quickly established himself as a critical member of Local Lodge 1726 in Boston. Over his many years of union service, Walker has served as a Front-Line Union Steward, Chief Shop Steward, Committee Chairman, and Conductor Sentinel for Local 1726. Prior to the merger with American, Walker served on the Negotiation Committee at US Airways. That experience served him well, when, post-merger,  he was part of the Fleet Service Negotiating Committee. In that capacity, Walker helped draft one of the most important contracts in the American Labor Movement – the historic 2020 agreement between the IAMAW and American Airlines. 

Walker credits his union activism to an inspiring quote delivered by then-Senator John F Kennedy on August 9, 1960. “Those who would destroy or further limit the rights of organized labor–those who would cripple collective bargaining or prevent organization of the unorganized–do a disservice to the cause of democracy.”

Rodney Walker was initiated into the IAMAW in 1999 and works at Bradley Intercontinental Airport in Hartford, Connecticut. 

IAMAW District 141 President Mike Klemm praised the new appointments. “I have the utmost confidence and trust in Sister Jen Jolly and Brother Rodney Walker. These are two of the most dedicated and reliable unionists that you will ever find,” he said. “They are both known for rock-solid support and service for our membership, and I am certain that they will continue to provide the same high-level service as Vice Presidents At-Large.” 

 

 

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DOT Fines United Airlines $1.9 M for Holding Passengers on Tarmac Too Long

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DOT Fines United Airlines $1.9 M for Holding Passengers on Tarmac Too Long

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From DOT.gov

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today fined United Airlines $1.9 million for violating federal statutes and the Department’s rule prohibiting long tarmac delays.  The airline was also ordered to cease and desist from future similar violations.  This is the largest fine issued by the Department for tarmac delay violations.  

An extensive investigation by the Department’s Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) found that between December 2015 and February 2021, United allowed twenty domestic flights and five international flights at various airports throughout the United States to remain on the tarmac for a lengthy period of time without providing passengers an opportunity to deplane, in violation of the Department’s tarmac delay rule.  The tarmac delays affected a total of 3,218 passengers.

Under the DOT tarmac delay rule, airlines operating aircraft with 30 or more passenger seats are prohibited from allowing their domestic flights to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours at U.S. airports and their international flights to remain on the tarmac for more than four hours at U.S. airports without giving passengers an opportunity to leave the plane.  The rule prohibiting long tarmac delays for domestic flights took effect 2010 and was expanded to include international flights in 2011.  An exception exists for departure delays if the airline begins to return the aircraft to a suitable disembarkation point in order to deplane passengers by those times.  An exception to the time limit is also allowed for safety, security, or air traffic control-related reasons.  The rule also requires airlines to provide adequate food and water, ensure that lavatories are working and, if necessary, provide medical attention to passengers during long tarmac delays.

DOT’s aviation consumer protection website makes it easy for travelers to understand their rights.  The page on tarmac delays can be found here.  Consumers may file an airline complaint with the Department here.

The consent order is available at https://www.transportation.gov/individuals/aviation-consumer-protection/united-airlines-consent-order-2021-9-21

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United Delays Action Against Employees With Medical or Religious Exemptions

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Facing a lawsuit filed by six United Airlines employees, the carrier has announced that it will postpone the decision to place those with medical or religious exemptions on unpaid leave until October 15. Employees who were denied an exemption have been given individual vaccination timelines from the company, which have not changed. Those who never placed a request for reasonable accommodation must have proof of first vaccination by today, September 27.

The lawsuit is not challenging the vaccine mandate at the airline and is not seeking to delay or stop the requirements that all 67,000 employees at the airline must be vaccinated by today. Instead, the lawsuit asks a Texas court to force the company to revise its “Reasonable Accomodation” policy for those who qualify for medical or religious exemptions. According to the complaint, the existing reasonable accommodation policy discriminates against specific disabilities or religious beliefs. If successful, the lawsuit will require United to allow unvaccinated employees with a medical or religious exemption to remain on the clock and submit to regular testing and masking rules instead of unpaid time off.

However, federal law also allows a company to deny a request for accommodation if doing so would impose an “undue hardship” for the employer. United argues that allowing unvaccinated employees to spread the deadly COVID-19 virus at work represents an undue burden to the airline. Therefore unvaccinated employees must be separated from the rest of the workforce.

“Given our focus on safety and the steep increases in COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths, all employees whose request is approved will be placed on temporary, unpaid personal leave on October 2 while specific safety measures for unvaccinated employees are instituted,” United said in a September memo to employees. “Given the dire statistics…we can no longer allow unvaccinated people back into the workplace until we better understand how they might interact with our customers and their vaccinated co-workers.”

According to the complaint, the airline violates Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans with Disabilities Act by denying pay to unvaccinated employees who are not permitted to enter the workplace.

The lawsuit states that “United’s actions have left Plaintiffs with the impossible choice of either taking the COVID-19 vaccine, at the expense of their religious beliefs and their health, or losing their livelihoods.” It goes on to argue that, “In doing so, United has violated Title VII and the ADA by failing to engage in the interactive process and provide reasonable accommodations, and also by retaliating against employees who engaged in protected activity.”

One of the plaintiffs, Debra Jennefer Thal Jonas, who works as a Customer Service Representative at the United Club at DFW airport, has requested both religious and medical exemptions from the vaccine policy. Ms. Thal was granted a medical exemption but has joined the lawsuit because United did not provide her a way to file a second request on religious grounds.

Another plaintiff, Flight Attendant Genise Kincannon, was granted a religious exemption but is joining the suit because she feels that unpaid leave is unreasonable and a violation of her rights under Title 7 of the Civil Rights Act.

The union representing flight attendants at United, the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), has said that it will not assist members that apply for vaccine exemptions, saying that the process should be a “private matter.”

At a time when mixed messaging can have devastating results, United has struggled to find a consistent narrative on the subject. In January, United CEO Scott Kirby said United could not realistically mandate vaccinations unless other airlines and companies do the same and require their employees to take them as well. By this summer, Kirby had changed course and implemented the most sweeping vaccination requirements of any of the Big Three carriers at the time. United Ground Express, a wholly-owned subsidiary of United Airlines, first told employees that there were no plans to require vaccinations, then changed course less than a month later. United first told employees that they would have to be “fully vaccinated” by September 27. The company is now telling employees that they only need the first shot by that date.

The position of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union is that vaccine mandates are unnecessarily controversial and should not be used until a good faith effort to employ incentives has been tried first. Throughout this process, United Airlines has failed to provide clear communications and a consistent policy towards vaccinations.

“The IAM will pursue any grievance where our members were wrongfully denied an exemption and then terminated,” IAMAW District President Mike Klemm said in a September 3 statement. “Let me be abundantly clear. Your IAM attorneys have advised us that the company is within its legal rights to mandate the vaccine as a condition of employment so any grievance would be an uphill battle. Morally it’s deplorable, but welcome to Kirby Airlines.”

IAMAW International President Robert Martinez has also demanded that any vaccine mandates be part of the bargaining process. “The IAM will work to enforce the legal obligation of employers to bargain with unions over effects that implementation will have on union-represented employees,” said Martinez. “Rest assured, the IAM will, as always, continue to vigorously protect our members’ rights.”

All major airlines in the United States have announced plans to implement vaccine requirements, including American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, Hawaiian, Frontier, JetBlue, and United. In September, OSHA began drafting policies that will require all US-based employers with more than 100 workers to require vaccinations protecting against COVID-19 or allow weekly testing.

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