Steering Committee Set to Meet
A notice to the steering committee was sent out for the body to reconvene July 24th and 25th in Denver. The notice was sent to the seventy sitting members of the committee covering all locations from Boston to Guam. The committee will be briefed on what has transpired since the last meeting and then there will be a discussion on how the talks will proceed under mediation.
Arbitration Update
On the 18th the arbitration case on the deicing equipment was held in Newark, NJ. The oral arguments were finished in one day and now both sides will submit briefs to the arbitrator. The resource utilization case will continue on June 26th in Newark. As soon as decisions are rendered they will be reported in the Dispatch.
Norwegian Airlines Update
Recently Norwegian Airlines filed an application to start transatlantic flying with outsourced planes and crews. This proposed scheme is designed to allow the airline to circumvent the labor laws of its own country as well as those of the US. If approved, and if the airline’s scheme becomes successful, this application would also have the longer term effect of undermining safety and labor in the United States as more airlines attempt to copy this model. To that end, the Airline Division tasked Albertine Enterprises to meet with members of Congress to fight the effort by Norwegian. To date there have been 141 meetings with both Democratic and Republican Senators, Congressmen, staff and committees. One result of these meetings was the DeFazio amendment to the Transportation Subcommittee of Appropriations bill which suggested that DOT not use any funds to process an illegal application for a permit to allow Norwegian Airlines to achieve status as a US carrier. In continuing this battle Jack Albertine of Albertine Enterprises stated, “We intend to leave no public policy lever unused to defeat this outrageous attempt to circumvent our US labor agreements in the airline industry.”
Furloughed members urged to update their addresses
Members on furlough are advised to keep their addresses current with the company while on layoff. It is predicted that there will be many movements this year and there have been several members that have been removed from the seniority list because old addresses were on file when notices were sent.