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 7, 2018 | Departments, Featured, Home, Safety
The IAM141 Safety Conference attracts hundreds of commercial aviation safety experts in the name of improving airline safety.
Safety experts from the Machinists Union and America’s largest airlines gathered in Seattle this week with the purpose of creating a safer environment for airline workers and travelers.
The event has become one of the largest and most influential safety conferences of its kind, attracting top thinkers and decision-makers from the world of commercial aviation.
This year, attendees toured the Boeing Factory in Everett, Washington. The plant is one of the largest aircraft manufacturing facilities in North America and home to thousands of Machinists Union members.
Participants included representatives from airlines represented by the IAM, including United and American. The two carriers are working together with the union to develop new safety reporting standards at American Airlines.
Erik Stenberg, Director of Safety for IAM District 141, commended the companies for their efforts to improve airline safety, saying, “There is no ‘us’ and ‘them’ when it comes to protecting our members and the flying public. We can have both a safe workplace and an on-time operation. But, we can’t have an on-time operation without safety.”
Airline representatives also praised the opportunities created by assembling so many experts, company decision-makers, and union leaders at the same venue, to work on the topic of safety together.
“I think that this is a great example of team building,” said United Airlines Safety Supervisor Gary Snead. “We are building from what we started last year, and you can just feel the unity that we’ve been able to create.”
The IAM 141 Safety Conference is an annual event, organized by District 141 of the Machinists Union, the largest union of airline and aerospace workers in the world.
Dec 1, 2018 | Airlines, Airmail, American, Community Service, Departments, EAP, Education, Hawaiian, Home, MNPL, Organizing, Philippine, Safety, Spirit, United
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Nov 30, 2018 | Featured, Home
Modern Union Leadership Puts Workers First
Mike Klemm became President of the Machinists Union District 141 at a tumultuous time for airline workers, and for union members.
In 2014, the airline industry was enduring mass outsourcing of jobs, with service reductions resulting in entire stations being closed. Airline work was an insecure, tough job. Making a living at it required avoiding injuries and navigating a labyrinth of contradictory rules. Even the most minor violations could easily result in certain termination.
The nation’s unions were not faring any better, with fewer than 8% of private sector employees working under an enforceable collective bargaining agreement that they had any say in creating.
Times are changing for airline unions, however. A new generation of union members is re-defining their mission.
Today, airline workers are widely seen as well paid; their jobs are still tough, but prestigious. Airline work is known for providing excellent benefits, including travel and health care, as well as high wages and nearly ironclad job security. Airline workers are shedding their previous reputations as surly carry-on bag monitors or overworked bag smashers.
They are now seen as intelligent, career-oriented professionals, worthy of genuine authority and respect. This comes despite some well-publicized incidents that have become legendary in the industry.
IAH BTW Committee Members and agents in Houston: From Right, Local 811 President, Leroy Taylor, Committeeman Greg Hall, Member John Medina, Secretary Treasurer Sarah Monderoy, and IAM District 141 Trustee, Gary Welch. IAH has the lowest number of terminations in the system, thanks to the dogged efforts of the Houston Committees and the professionalism of the IAH Membership.
The setbacks have not harmed the reputations of airline unions, however. Machinists Union members have made passenger safety and happiness almost as much of a priority as the welfare of the workers themselves. Airline passengers are seeing improvements such as legroom standards, renovated airports and new legal protections against being forcibly removed from flights. Airline customer service agents also lobbied congress to improve workplace safety, and their efforts brought about the strongest federally mandated standards to protect them from assault while performing their duties.
Houston’s 2198 President Tony Colina (far left) showcased the IAH ATW Operation to District President Mike Klemm. Next to Colina is Agent Marysel Augustine, President Klemm, 2198 Committeewoman Maria Tusa, and Tim Gould. Gould speaks four languages fluently; Spanish, French, Portuguese, and English… and he probably knows what you’re saying in Italian.
Much of this steady turnaround is due to the efforts of Mike Klemm, the President and Directing General Chairman of District 141 of the Machinists Union.
President and Directing General Chair of Machinists Union District 141 meets with Members in Houston’s two local lodges, Locals 811 and 2198.
It is hard to overstate the impact that Klemm has had on commercial aviation. With over 40 thousand active and retired members in nearly a half-dozen airlines, District 141 has an industry-wide reach. Contracts negotiated during Klemm’s tenure have delivered more than a billion dollars in wages to IAM members and made outsourcing all but impossible. The overall effect of such contracts has been to spur union growth at a time when other unions are shrinking, and wage expansion at a time when wage erosion has become standard for other industries.
How he helped oversee this turnaround is coming into focus, but slowly. Klemm is well-known for his reluctance to self-promote and seldom appears in industry publications. This lack of pretense makes it difficult to see and understand the principles that motivate him.
What he does, and he does a lot, is listen to airline workers. His determined efforts to listen and learn from front-line workers have led him to make demands on their behalf; some of which that may come as a surprise to those outside the industry. Time off with family is at least as necessary as higher wages for airline workers, for example. Health care can’t be arbitrarily “adjusted” by management. Nothing is more critical than job security.
These genuine and practical priorities are well-represented in the union contracts that are spreading throughout the airline industry. Their newfound influence is thanks in no small part to the famously tenacious Long Island negotiating style of Mike Klemm.
At the Stores Facility at IAH. From Right, Stores Grievance Committeeman Kevin Davis, Member Joe Wiltz, and District 141 President, Mike Klemm.
On Airline Workers’ Pay:
“United employees represented by the IAM have been the highest compensated airline workers of their class in the industry, and this year they will also be the highest paid. Compensation-wise, United guys get more vacation; American only has five weeks of vacation a year. We negotiated a higher pension at United and more paid holidays.
All this helps us make our case to American Airlines and mediators. We’re using the United contract to help us get a better agreement at American. In 2020, when we go back into negotiations with United, we’re going to use the contract at American to get a better deal at United.”
On United Outsourcing:
“I’m proud to say, that we’ve not lost one job to outsourcing since the United contract started in 2016. And, the company has tried.
The 2016 agreement with United clearly does not allow the company to outsource work to outside vendors, meaning non-union members who aren’t in District Lodge 141. This includes wholly-owned subsidiaries like UGE.
The company tried to outsource 22 customer service jobs, 11 in Denver and 11 in Los Angeles, to management employees. They tried to argue that management wasn’t an outside vendor, and so they should be able to take that work from us. We felt that was wrong, and we were able to win that fight. The arbitrator ruled that we were right and that anyone that is not a member of District 141 is considered an outside vendor, and cannot do work that belongs to us.
AGC Victor Hernandez, (IAH RAMP, DFW, SJU) introduces agents to Mike at a recent station visit to Houston.
On Getting More Participation in The District Scholarship Program:
“At District Lodge 141, we give out scholarships each year. We give out a couple of $2K scholarships and several $1K scholarships.
This gives our members and their families an opportunity to continue their education by helping with school expenses. We set aside thousands of dollars for things like that because we want our members to have it.
But, this year we didn’t have enough members submit applications for all the scholarships that we were giving out. So what I’m asking, is if you yourself could benefit from this program, please do so. If you, your son or daughter is going to college, please have them apply, as well.
The information for the scholarship comes out in February and will be available at IAM141.org.”
Quotes have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Nov 21, 2018 | Community Service, Departments, Featured, Home
Local 914 Community Service Committee Sets a Thanksgiving Feast for 15 Families
Fresh off the 68th District 141 Convention in Orlando, Florida, Debbie Inverno was energized and motivated. As a Shop Steward and Chair of the Community Service Committee at Local 914 in Newark, NJ, she had been collecting non-perishable food donations from members for a few months, but without a defined project in mind. The work that the Community Services Committee did at the Convention changed all that:
“What Cristina said made it all click,” said Debbie. “She told the committee: “It starts with one can…and you keep going.””
Local 914 Community Service Committee members Lee Carpenter, Victor Acosta, Chair Debbie Inverno (center, in black,) Hope House Residential Assistant Lisa Ginn (wearing a red shirt), Local 914 President Bill Gula and Hector Perez (far right).
The words of Cristina Odoardi, a District 141 Trustee who was advising the Community Services Committee at the Convention made a big difference to Debbie Inverno. Since she already had one can, Debbie figured all she needed was the impetus to take the next step, and it came to her in Cristina’s simple call: “Keep going.”
Soon after her return to New Jersey, Debbie found out about Hope House, an emergency shelter for women and children near Newark. Her son, a Port Authority Police Officer, was familiar with their work and Debbie was convinced that this was the perfect fit for the local’s community service work. She had found another incentive to keep going.
“It starts with one can…”
Debbie kept going non-stop for the next two weeks. After making an initial call for donations, she posted an update with a picture every day on the Local 914 Facebook wall. She shared the news in other social media outlets where she knew her co-workers at United Airlines in EWR go for news and updates. When the donations started pouring in, she picked up everything in person, collecting donations all over Newark Airport and even at co-workers’ homes. She enlisted the help of her neighbors, whom she called “honorary union members” after they contributed three turkeys to the food drive. She also accepted cash donations and made several trips to the grocery store to personally pick up items to complete a full Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. “Soup to nuts, there’s even nuts in there!,” Debbie said as she unloaded her car with the help of Local 914 Community Service Committee member Lee Carpenter. “Fifteen families who currently reside at Hope House will celebrate Thanksgiving with a traditional meal thanks to our members’ generosity.”
Local 914 President Bill Gula helps carry groceries.
Local 914 President Bill Gula also lent a hand unloading over 30 bags of groceries and five turkeys at the shelter. He praised the work that was accomplished in a relatively short period of time: “Debbie’s successful effort is simply outstanding. She was the engine that got this project to this beautiful completion. We are grateful to all the members who contributed and for Debbie’s leadership and big heart. Happy Thanksgiving!”
According to Debbie Inverno, she’s just getting started. She wants to “adopt” Hope House to continue to support their work. This was welcome news to Lisa Ginn, Residential Assistant at Hope House who was grateful for the Thanksgiving donation and was thrilled to hear that the Machinists will be back to continue to support the center’s programs on behalf of homeless women and children. “Service to the community, this is what we do,” said Debbie. “And we have to keep going.”
