141 Report: UA 914 Committee is the Cornerstone of the Union

Nov 5, 2021 | Force Page Three, Organizing, Page Five, Page Four, Perusals, Row 2, United, Video

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This week the 141 Report is speaking to Committee Chair Karl Thomas, (ATW) Committee Elizabeth Groner, (BTW) Committee Faysel Silwany, (Stores) Committee Richard Roberts, Maintenance Instructor Committee Michael Carbone, and Committee Secretary Will Josey.

141 Report: UA 914 Committee is the Cornerstone of the Union

The IAM Grievance committee is a cornerstone of the union, and Newark New Jersey Local 914 has one powerful team. This week the 141 Report is speaking to Committee Chair Karl Thomas, (ATW) Committee Elizabeth Groner, (BTW) Committee Faysel Silwany, (Stores) Committee Richard Roberts, Maintenance Instructor Committee Michael Carbone, and Committee Secretary Will Josey. The six Committee members brief the viewers about their backgrounds and experience in their respective departments and talk about their current positions.

The main focus of this week’s report was the pre-contract negotiations survey for IAMAW Members at United Airlines, released online Monday. Sister Elizabeth speaks about the usefulness of the QR code added, thanks in part to the recommendation of Sister Nakia Simmons from the Local 914 UA Move team at last week’s conference in Las Vegas.

Dave asked brother Karl about the importance of completing the survey. Karl responded by saying, “We’re getting everyone fully ready to understand what’s going on by using the QR code.”

The committee is mobilizing the stewards going from breakroom to breakroom to advise the members of the importance of the survey. Karl closed by saying about the committee that “this is a large group of people – and great to work with. Everyone is on top of their game, and we have good relations with management to get things done.”

141 Report: Spirit Tentative Agreement and Committee Conference

On the 141 Report this week, Brother Dave Lehive speaks to Spirit Airlines Local 368 IAM member Chris Willis. Brother Willis served on the union negotiating team that recently produced a historic Tentative Agreement for membership at the airline.

The Agreement will create the highest wages and overall compensation rates for ramp agents in the airline’s history. Our members will receive wage increases that are, on average, 30% higher than they are now. Lead premium increases, more opportunities for double-time pay, and new trainer positions will allow Machinists Union members to earn even more from their current work.

If ratified, this deal will also bring paid vacations to part-time agents. For some, this will be the first real vacation they have ever known.

“I would like to thank the National Mediation Board for listening and resolving some of the issues we were having with the company,” Chris said. “The NMB came in and was very fair about the whole process but it was a very tense time.” Brother Chris also thanked 141 President Directing General Chair Mike Klemm and 141 AGC Tony Gibson, Andrea Myers, and Grand lodge representative Tom Regan for help achieving this vital Agreement. The current membership at Spirit is based in Fort Lauderdale and includes 282 members. That number is expected to increase to over 410 by the end of the year. Brother Chris also talked highly of his negotiations partners Almarie Jean, Linda Germain, and Gregory De La Cruz saying that they were “absolutely a fantastic team.” He finished by saying, “it was well worth it.”

The members in Fort Lauderdale will be voting on November 4th on the TA, which the entire Negotiations team has endorsed and urged the members to ratify.

Brother Willis and Dave were among the hundreds of Machinists and Aerospace union members attending the annual District 141 Committee Conference, which took place this week in Las Vegas.

Chris said of the Conference, “it was like a family reunion, and it sharpened our tools.” “I’m happy for the knowledge I’m getting here, because Covid has brought us a different swing to what we do… but we are at a very happy time now.”

141 Report: “Houston Strong” Grievance Committee

In this week’s 141 Report, Brother Lehive brings the viewers to Houston, Texas, to meet up with the Local 811 Grievance Committee. The Committee includes Carlos Ayala, Bruno Pereira, and Chairman Gary Welch. Welch is also a District 141 Vice President (At-Large).

Carlos Ayala told viewers, “I started in the airline industry back in 2006. And have come up as a shop steward. And then eventually as a grievance committee person, here in Houston for local 811 under District 141.” Bruno Pereira told Dave, “I’ve been in the airline industry with United/Continental since 1999. I started as a shop steward, and now I’m a grievance committeeman.”

Brother Gary Welch was asked about the Houston membership, which includes roughly 2500 people at IAH. The local is large, he said. “Having SM Cargo in our local and recently, had American Airlines Fleet Service join the Lodge. The UA GC here also oversees the moving team as well as stores in Houston.”

Brother Carlos agreed that the union workloads and responsibilities at 811 are significant, saying, “as the grievance Grievance Committee/ Secretary, I support the shop stewards and the committee with grievances.”

“I’m technically the bookkeeper,” he said. “We don’t let titles define all the work that needs to be done.”

Carlos discussed the abundance of office space that Local 811 has access to. “We are blessed to have basically two offices, one inside the airport, But we also have an office here at the local Lodge.” Local 811 has an on-site office at the airport that allows easy access to members while they’re on the clock. It also has a suite off-site, which is home to Local 811 and its sister Local 2198.

Brother Bruno said of the work, “we all take a hands-on approach when it comes down to working with our stewards. We’re very involved with them.” Bruno went on to talk about how they manage monthly steward meetings at the local Lodge. He also spoke about the 65 volunteer shop stewards and the critical work they perform for the Houston membership.

Brother Carlos talked about using modern communication stating they use live zooms. Along with WhatsApp groups along with several specialized Facebook pages. Carlos talked about walking the property and said the quickest and most secure way to communicate was via text, phone calls, and facetime. The Committee uses its Local website and bulletin boards to ensure all current updates and contact lists for shop stewards are available to the membership.

Dave asked Brother Gary about how the lives have changed for IAH members over the last ten years. Gary replied, “I always remember when we were non-Union and the company just came in and took money from us, they took our wages from us.” Gary reminded viewers how United tried to involuntarily furlough full-time agents to part-time in 2020 and how fiercely the IAM defended the membership. “And if you look back to this year, when the company was thinking about putting all the full timers down to part time and taking money from us. That right there showed it.”

“So the union has done a tremendous job helping the overall lives of the Houston people.” In closing, the Committee thanks the Local Eboard and shop stewards for all the help and support.

141 Report: New Officers of 141

In this week’s 141 Report, Brother Dave meets up with two of the newest officers of District Lodge 141. Sister Jen Jolly and Rodney Walker have joined the Executive Board as recent Vice Presidents at Large. These two proud Machinists entered their positions effective October 1st.

The 18-minute video interview tells how they rose through the ranks to sit at the table with 35 other officers from the largest district in the IAM.

Sister Jen talks about her beginnings in 1991 in Salt Lake City at Continental Reservations. She describes the work she has been doing in 9 western states as an IAM remote committee chair at United. Jen talks about the extensive training she has received. “I took advantage of every opportunity for training I could get,” she said. Jen took classes in Shop Steward, Committee, and attended Winpisinger center taking Leadership 1 2 3 and in November will take the “Train the Trainer” course. Jen also has gone through EAP 1, where she stated, “it was a real eye-opener.”

Brother Rodney talks about how he got started in 1992 right out of college, worked for USAir, and helped organize in Boston for union rights. Immediately after becoming unionized, Rodney got involved in the shop steward program. He did some local training, quickly became a chief steward, and became committee chairman. Rodney also received more union training at Winpisinger, which prepared him for two separate contract negotiations at USAirways and American. As our members know, workers ratified the recent 2020 contract at American overwhelmingly with a 95% Yes vote by Fleet Service.

Brother Rodney talked about his role on the Board, stating he “is charged with enforcing the IAM constitution the District By-Laws and representing the members of District Lodge 141.”

In closing, both Jen and Rodney mention how humbled and honored they are to be brought on to the District 141 Executive board and look forward to serving the membership.

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.

141 Report – Retirement is a big decision.

This week’s 141 Report includes Paul Platt, the President of Local 2765 in San Diego, and Orlando’s John Staton, who serves as A District 141 Vice President At-Large. Also appearing on the program are Karen Carney, Local 1487 Retiree’s Club President, and Dave Roderick, IAMAW District 141 Legislative Director and recent retiree from United Airlines.

The 20-year Machinists Union Member, Paul Platt, begins the report by informing viewers about a recent retirement event held at the San Diego Local Lodge. “Due to covid restriction, the last year and a half many members took an early out and the union was unable to do any honoring celebration for the members,” said Platt. “2765 reached out to those we could and had a retirement party at our local lodge,” he continued.

“We’re amalgamated United upstairs and downstairs, American downstairs, Southwest upstairs, Alaska upstairs and Hawaiian.” The Local currently has about 400 members in the local. The celebration went well, with 45 to 60 retirees recognized by the Lodge. The Lodge also provided tacos for the attendees. The Local also purchased retirement watches for the Brothers and Sisters, and award certificates were given to the members from their carriers.

Paul finished up by saying, “I encourage any local if you can do something for them because a lot of the people that came were very grateful for this small thing we could do.”

The 141 Report then moved to Orlando, Florida, to talk to 30-year United Airlines Ramp Serviceman John Staton, who has been the VP At-Large to District Lodge 141 since last year. Host Dave asked John about retirement information, and John briefed the viewers on how easy it is for members to contact him or District 141 AGC Mike Cyscon for questions about retirement. John then continued to walk the viewers through the website, covering information from credit unions to 401K and reminding members to get a financial planner.

Brother John wanted to remind members that retirement can take time to plan out and encouraged those nearing retirement to start the process early. John says to allow at least six months to get Everything in place before retiring from work.

After retirement, John also encouraged retirees to stay active with their Local Lodge, saying, “they can still stay involved in the local lodges. The retirees paved the way for all of us.”

Dave then welcomed Sister Karen, hired in 1968 with United Airlines and retired in 2003 after 35 years of service. She became the President of the Retirees Club in 2015 and has served in that capacity for six years. Over 225 retirees remain active with the club, with an average of 60 to 125 attending each monthly meeting. Sister Karen reports the recent retiree trip to Lake Geneva, where 40 members traveled around the lake for lunch on a cruise.

Sister Karen says, “it helps to keep in touch” when asked about the importance of being an active member.

Dave Roderick, our Director of Legislation, was asked if topics come up about politicians attacking or going after retirees benefits at meetings. Brother Roderick replied, “Everything is important. I have made comments about the impotence to Vote” He goes on to say that he “wants to make members aware of what they’re voting for.”

In closing, Karen said, “Wish I could have done this sooner! I would encourage everyone, there are a lot of agents newly retired, but we try to keep them informed and trying to get more people in. We had 25 new people sign up,” over the past weeks.

Roderick closed by saying, “anyone who is a member of 1487 is welcomed to join the club.”