Negotiations
resumed the week of October 7th with the company in Phoenix, Arizona.
Both parties engaged in an effort to narrow issues in order to reach a Joint
Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA).
The
week began with a presentation from United on the highlights of the TA for IAM
represented employees, brief preparations of the committee by representatives of
the Airline Division, and an article by article review of open items. Additionally an overview of benefits
information was given by our Gaelle Gavotte of Cheiron, our actuary, and
established a baseline for continued talks regarding benefits including medical,
dental , vision care, flexible spending accounts (FSA), and healthcare spending
accounts (HSA, VEBA). The committee was
also briefed on United’s current financial situation as it relates to the
industry at large and our competitors by our financial analyst Dan Akins.
Members
from the ranks of the Flight Simulator Technicians and Engineering Groups on sCO
and sUA discussed their integration into our agreement. The union committee was
given a presentation by the FST’s regarding the supplemental changes needed to
integrate these groups into the mechanic’s agreement. For those that are unaware the NMB recently
ruled that the FST group is a standalone craft and class and an election was
held where the two subsidiary groups chose the IBT as their representative. The sUA group has been a part of the
agreement since the 1969 agreement.
Negotiations
continued through the week with progress being made to close out several
articles with open items from the previous round of talks. The committee will next meet with United in
Chicago for the week of November 4th to continue
negotiations.
Scope
Committee Meeting
As
previously reported the scope committee will convene in Houston on October
17th. Both the sCO and sUA committees will meet with the company to
review the hangar plan each subsidiary.
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.
If you are in touch with a furloughed
member, please forward this information to them. Updates may be emailed to:
[email protected] . The
ESC will provide a fax number and ask members to send the address change
accompanied with a signature.
Download Mechanics Dispatch 59 101213
Benefit Enrollment Update October 16, 2013
Recently the Airline Division was made aware of changes to the medical benefits being offered to the membership. Those changes include the move to a new insurance carrier and the elimination of certain plans. We have asked for an in depth analysis to be done by our actuaries at Cheiron as well as a detailed information request from the company. There is a diminishment of benefits which is a violation of the collective bargaining agreements.
The Division will take steps to remedy the situation.