141 Final Report: Union vs non-Union

141 Final Report: Union vs non-Union

141 Final Report: Union vs Non-Union

YouTube
15 April 2022

141 Report | Join us on the 141 Report this week as host Dave Lehive talks to Local 2508 Orlando United Airlines Committee Chair Gene Betty and Committee person Diego Veron in his final district interview. The Brothers give the viewers and listeners their reports about the membership. Gene and Diego discuss the difference they see being union compared to non-union JetBlue Ramp workers.

IAM District Lodge 141 Report with Host Dave Lehive is a weekly podcast featuring Machinist Union Members and Allies of the Labor Movement. Our Video report airs every Friday at 2:00 PM EST (1:00 CST) on Facebook and Youtube and is also on Spotify.

Recent Machinists Union News

Honoring the Fallen, Protecting the Living

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Machinists Union Demands Answers to JetBlue’s Potential Misuse of Taxpayer-Funded Airline Aid

Machinists Union Demands Answers to JetBlue’s Potential Misuse of Taxpayer-Funded Airline Aid

Machinists Union Demands Answers to JetBlue’s Potential Misuse of Taxpayer-Funded Airline Aid

Justice at JetBlue
13 April 2022

The IAM is seeking answers to JetBlue’s possible misuse of funds from the Payroll Support Program (PSP), a component of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act).

In 2020, as a response to the destruction of demand for air travel caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress passed the CARES Act. The legislation, which included the PSP, provided approximately $50 billion in aid for U.S. airlines and mandated that the carriers not engage in involuntary layoffs, cut the salaries or reduce the benefits of airline workers.

JetBlue Airways received approximately $2 billion in aid, with most of it coming in the form of taxpayer-funded grants that do not have to be repaid. However, as they took the government funds, JetBlue management cut the working hours of its employees, which consequently cut their pay and benefits.

“We believe what JetBlue did was wrong,” said Richard Johnsen, IAM Chief of Staff to the International President. “JetBlue cut the salaries of thousands of ground workers by at least 20 percent. These are frontline, essential workers who risked their lives coming to work during the height of the pandemic when no vaccine was available. They’re heroes in my book and deserve to be repaid with interest by JetBlue executives.”

The IAM’s Transportation and Legislative Departments are in communication with government officials to get specific answers to specific questions.

“JetBlue just came up with $3.6 billion to buy Spirit Airlines last week,” continued Johnsen. “Some of that money needs to be put back in the pockets of JetBlue workers and not used to shower money on greedy airline executives and shareholders.”

The IAM is the largest airline union in North America and represents over 600,000 members.

 

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Machinist Union Members in Chicago Raise Money, Awareness for Guide Dogs

Machinist Union Members in Chicago Raise Money, Awareness for Guide Dogs

Machinist Union Members in Chicago Raise Money, Awareness for Guide Dogs

On Wednesday, Machinists Local 1487 in Chicago, Illinois, held its annual bowling charity to benefit Guide Dogs of America. Guide Dogs of America is the Machinists Unions’ top charity, providing service dogs and assistance at no cost for those in need across the country.

Guide Dogs of America is the Machinists Unions’ top charity, providing service dogs and assistance at no cost for those in need across the country. The organization also offers free training and support for those in need of service dogs but who may lack experience working with and using a service animal. 

Local 1487, the Machinists Union Local Lodge that reporesents some 5,000 airline workers in the Chicago area, has been a leading supporter of Guide Dogs for the past 65 years, dating back to the founding of the charity. The bowling fundraiser raised an estimated $1,500. “Welcome out!” said Greg Klujewski, the Recording Secretary for Local 1487 and one of the people that helped put the event together. “This is a great turnout,” he said. “We are raising some money for a great cause and bringing union members together,” he continued. “Both of those things are very important.”  

Guide Dogs of America breed, raise, and train guide and service dogs for visually impaired people, veterans, and children with autism. The non-profit also places dogs in hospitals, schools, and courtrooms, areas with an urgent need for service animals. These highly skilled canines become trusted companions that increase people’s confidence, mobility, and independence. The dogs can also mitigate the loneliness and isolation that many residents at these facilities may experience as they get older. 

“An often overlooked healing aspect of having a friendly-looking dog at your side is that people will often come up and pet her,” said Russ Guitlan at a recent union conference. “For a lot of the people that rely on their dog, this human connection, made through their service dog, might just be the only human interaction they may have that day,” he explained. He added that these interactions can happen daily and are always warm and healthy, which can often be difficult without a service animal working as an icebreaker. 

All programs and services, including transportation, personalized training, room/board, and postgraduate support, are provided at no cost to the recipient.

All programs and services that Guide Dogs of America provides, from breeding, training, and post-adoption support, are paid for entirely through voluntary donations from the public. Union members and volunteers who would like to make a donation of any amount in support of Guide Dogs of America may do so at Guide Dogs of America.org.

 

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United Stores Key Focus at Quarterly Meeting

United Stores Key Focus at Quarterly Meeting

Machinists Union Meets With United Management to Discuss Stores’ Operations at the Airline

United Airlines
11 April 2022

The Machinists Union and United Airlines met last week to discuss issues related to the airline’s warehousing operation, known as “Storekeeping,” or “Stores.”

The meeting is a quarterly event that both sides have participated in for the past ten years. At this quarters’ meeting were company managers and executives with oversight over the airline’s Stores workplaces and union representatives, including Assistant General Chairs and Stores Grievance Committee members.

“These meetings are essential because they allow us to have face-to-face discussions with key company decision-makers,” said Joe Bartz. Bartz is an Assistant General Chairman for District 141 of the Machinists Union and helped host the meeting with fellow AGC Troy Rivera. “We can get together and resolve workplace issues on the spot,” he said. “It’s extremely helpful for us to maintain these points of contact, so that we have the situational awareness we need to represent our membership on the front lines,” he continued. 

This Stores meeting focused on various issues, including new hire and transfer integration and seniority concerns. The safety of Stores workers was also a key topic, emphasizing possible risks associated with landing gears and the enormous aircraft tires that Stores workers have to handle. 

This quarters’ meeting was hosted by the unions’ District 141 Assistant General Chairs Joe Bartz and Troy Rivera. It included a delegation of Stores union representatives from major United Airlines operations across the country. 

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141 Report: Sky Harbor’s Cookout

141 Report: Sky Harbor’s Cookout

141 Report: The Sky Harbor Memorial Cookout

YouTube
8 April 2022

141 Report | This week’s 141 Report meets with the Sky Harbours’ (Local 2559) Don Carbonneau Cookout in Phoenix, AZ. Our Viewers and Listeners get to hear from over six guests in this 14-minute video. We will listen to the new 2559 President, Jeff James, who begins the report and talks about the recently passed Brother Donald Carbonneau.

IAM District Lodge 141 Report with Host Dave Lehive is a weekly podcast featuring Machinist Union Members and Allies of the Labor Movement. Our Video report airs every Friday at 2:00 PM EST (1:00 CST) on Facebook and Youtube and is also on Spotify.

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8,000 Amazon Workers Vote to Unionize – JetBlue Ground Ops is Next

8,000 Amazon Workers Vote to Unionize – JetBlue Ground Ops is Next

Message from JetBlue Ground Ops:
8,000 Amazon Workers Vote to Unionize – We’re Next!

Justice at JetBlue
7 April 2022

Over 8,000 Amazon workers voted to unionize last week. These brave Amazon workers cited sub-standard working conditions and the ability to have a VOICE AND A VOTE on the job as reasons to unionize.

The workers prevailed even though Amazon spent millions of dollars to an anti-union consulting firm. The firm, GSG, directed Amazon supervisors, managers, and executives, to distribute anti-union materials via emails and flyers and hold meetings to discourage workers from unionizing by touting their “direct relationship” with the Amazon workers.

Sound familiar?

Why? Why do companies such as Amazon and JetBlue try and discourage workers from unionizing? Why do they want to block workers from gaining the legal right to have a real VOICE AND A VOTE ON HOW THEIR WORKPLACE IS RUN?

It’s all about control, power, and the bottom line. The more control and power that JetBlue has, the better it can control its bottom line. Without union representation, JetBlue can do whatever it wants when it wants without our consent, and that’s very valuable to them.

Our time is now.

Please sign your a-card today, so we can call for a vote ASAP! You have the right to sign a card under federal law. JetBlue is prohibited by federal law from knowing who signed a card. Signing a card is not a vote for the union, it only means you want a vote.

 

 

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