May 1, 2020 | COVID, Featured, Front Page, Home, Home, Organizing, Uncategorized |
May 1, 2020
Good morning to all of our DL 141 Brothers and Sisters, but this memo is specific to our United members who fall under the PSE and Fleet agreements at United Airlines.
I’m sure the anxiety and frustration of rumors circulating around the workplace and social media are taking its toll on you all, and for that I’m sorry. I wish I could make them all go away right now but the truth of the matter is this: only United Airlines can do that today and unfortunately, only a return of the flying public can do that past September 30, 2020.
As communicated last week, United Airlines has advised us they are looking to reduce all employees who work under the Passenger Service (including Reservations) and Fleet agreements to part-time to save money. Money for a Company that has over $10 billion on hand today, that will have between $8 and $10 billion at the end of June and between $4 and $6 billion at the end of September.
Regardless, no Company can survive long-term with passenger loads the way they are at United today.
We have suggested many cost savings ideas for the Company. Some of those are;
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Allow 12-month COLAS that continue to pay employees 25% of their salary.
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Offer the medical bridge to employees between the ages of 55-65. (It’s important to note that we have over 10,000 members under these two contracts who are 55 or older.)
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Allow employees to defer 25-50% of their salary until the first quarter of 2021.
We’ve suggested incentivizing these voluntary programs by offering United club passes and Positive Space travel which would cost the Company nothing.
Additionally, we have put forward several smaller, but critical proposals that can produce the level of savings that United needs if we can attract enough participation from our members.
More than 25% of employees have taken 3 to 6-month COLAs already. The company does not want to count these sacrifices alongside the other cost-cutting efforts that have been made to date.
As of this communication, the company has declined these suggestions without so much as an explanation. They have told us they would be making a decision on many of these matters as early as today.
If the Company were to furlough all full-time employees to part-time they would still be required to follow key contractual rules. For example, they will need to notify everyone no later than Monday, May 4th to meet their May 24th target date to adhere to the contractually-required 20-day language.
They have also told us they plan to go down to 22 hours. We expressed that a 45% pay cut, or any pay cut for that matter, is unacceptable under the CARES act and even though we don’t and won’t agree to any pay cuts, they should at least give everyone 30 hours a week.
Times are tough. It’s easy to be an employee-friendly company when you’re making billions on top of billions of dollars (which again, they still have). However, it’s times like this, when everyone is scared for their livelihood, their safety, and our industry as a whole that United could show true CORE4 leadership.
As our Country salutes its essential workers is this really how United wants to treat theirs?
Mike Klemm
President and Directing General Chair,
District 141, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
Please print and post on all IAMAW bulletin boards.
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Apr 23, 2020 | COVID, Featured, Front Page, Home, Home, MNPL, Safety, Safety, Uncategorized |
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) today demanded that Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways, who received taxpayer-funded federal funds, reverse course and restore airline workers’ pay.
“The payroll support component for air carriers in the CARES Act requires that taxpayer-funded grant dollars be used to maintain the pay and benefits of the dedicated JetBlue and Delta workers who have made your airlines successful and who are risking their lives every day by providing essential services to the American public,” said IAM District 141 and 142 Presidents Mike Klemm and Dave Supplee in a letter to the two airlines’ CEOs. “It is our understanding that tens of thousands of Delta and JetBlue workers have taken unpaid voluntary leaves in order to aid the carriers in reducing labor costs, yet you have implemented unconscionable policies to reduce the pay of those workers that remain. At Delta, thousands of workers are being forced to work fewer hours per week without pay. At JetBlue, workers have been forced to take 24 days of unpaid leave from now until September 30, 2020. The grant money that you demanded and received was calculated using these workers’ compensation and is meant to maintain their salaries and benefits through this crisis.”
Both Delta Air Lines and JetBlue Airways applied for and received direct, taxpayer-funded federal grants under the CARES Act. As a condition of taking the direct grant federal funds, air carriers are prohibited from cutting airline workers’ pay and benefits and from laying off workers until September 30, 2020.
“Hundreds of thousands of IAM members in every sector of our union proudly called elected officials and demanded action to protect the industries in which we work,” continued Klemm and Supplee. “Now, opportunist corporate actors such as yourselves are using that good faith support of airline workers around the country and at every carrier to screw your own workforces and greedily undermine the intent of the federal stimulus funds that you demanded.”
READ THE ENTIRE LETTER HERE. The IAM is the world’s largest airline union and represents over 600,000 members. More information about the IAM and our campaigns to organize Delta and JetBlue workers is available at www.iamdelta.net, www.iamjetblue.com and IAMDeltaworkersunite.
Apr 21, 2020 | COVID, Featured, Front Page, Home, Home, Safety |
Safety and Committee briefings are more important than ever during COVID
IAM District Lodge 141 Safety Representatives at American Airlines conducted live video conferences via Zoom this week. Director Tony D’Aloiso, Safety Coordinators Dennis Spencer (PHL) and Mike Moser (CLT), with safety chairs from the Central and Northeast regions led the 90-minute video sessions. Central Region Coordinators Frank Weisen (ORD), Ryan Boland (ORD), Mark Chavez (DEN), Asia McCIain (MCI), Ashely Schwenk (PHX), Randy Braithwaite (DFW), and William Zebley (PHL) also took part in the Monday meeting.
On Tuesday, Safety Representatives Rodney Walker (BDL), Fred Connor (BWI), Leo Tyler (PIT), Richard Villanueva (DCA) and David Nizwantowski (BOS) also met using virtual tools. The lead topic of discussion was the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the workplace, primarily mitigation efforts like electrostatic cleaning, temperature checks in Miami and Dallas-Fort Worth, safety concerns in Tampa and Jacksonville, and issues related to equipment in all stations. The meeting moved on to new items such as implementing a COVID-19 reporting process, cleaning after a positive COVID case, the availability of PPE such as masks and gloves, and the installation of plexiglass shields in passenger service areas. Safety committees are planning more safety conference calls for the foreseeable future since social distancing is a key element in fighting the pandemic. Representatives also discussed holding a larger safety meeting online. The District 141 Communications Team is working to join a safety meeting in the upcoming weeks to facilitate showing it to a larger audience online.
In Phoenix, Grievance Committee briefings are taking place using Zoom and Facebook Live. PHX Committeeman Brian Harrison is the newest member of the District 141 Education Team, and he is working to expand the use of online tools to keep members up to date during the height of the crisis and in the months ahead. In Newark and Houston, Shop Steward and Committee briefings are also being conducted virtually using tools that are available free of cost in most cases.
What is your station doing to keep members informed? Do you need help using online tools to conduct meetings remotely? Please share your success stories with us! If you need more information or help to learn how to use these free electronic resources, please reach out to the District 141 Communications Team at info@iam141.org
Unions are adapting to COVID-19 guidelines with technology. One of the new tools in the union arsenal: teleconferencing when in-person meetings are impossible or unsafe.
Apr 17, 2020 | COVID, EAP, Featured, Front Page, Helping Hands, Home, Home |
EAP Peer Coordinators:
We focus on resilience this week. The “stay in place” orders have been in place for anywhere from 3-6 weeks. The Coronavirus has taken a large toll on everyone. We may not realize how deeply it has affected us for quite a while.
People are starting to get anxious about when “normalcy” will be restored. Surviving all of this will require us to be resilient. We address what resiliency is and how to build resilience in this issue.
Many of you have had coronavirus impact your workplace. Because of the social distancing rules and quarantine guidelines, most of the ways in which we respond to the needs of our co-workers is not possible. Please know those simple conversations on the phone, kind texts or e-mails or other appropriate ways of communicating your concern are very impactful in our current situation.
I am grateful for all of you and your empathy and compassion in the workplace. All of this builds resiliency.
Bryan,
Bryan Hutchinson, M.S.
Apr 15, 2020 | COVID, Featured, Front Page, Home, Home, MNPL, Uncategorized, Video |
Legislative Update from IAMAW 141 MNPL Director, David Roderick
District 141 MNPL Director offers several updates on efforts by the IAMAW to support airline workers through legislation and public policy through the COVID-19 Crisis.
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