General President Visits SFO UAL Base, Meets With Shop Stewards
On Friday morning, International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James Hoffa paid a visit to the UAL San Francisco Maintenance Base to see the facility and meet with members.
International Representative Clacy Grizwold, Local 856 Principal Office Peter Finn, Local 856 Business Agent Javier Lectora, and Local 986 Business Agent Rich Petovsky took General President Hoffa, IBT Rep's Christy Bailey and Todd Thompson on a tour of the Jet Shop and OV; where he had the opportunity to meet and speak with several members. Following the tour he attended an onsite Union office for a meeting with 25 day shift shop stewards, including Chief Steward's Coordinator Fred Wood and his four Chief Stewards; Steve Anderson, Leigh Skilling, Mike Albertine, and Greg Sullivan.
Airline Industry News
Governmental and Regulatory
A group of Senate Democrats has reached out to Department of Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to express their frustration with the agency's failure to ban electronic cigarettes on flights. The DOT published a proposal to ban the devices in 2011, but has not yet finalized the proposed regulation.
The House approved legislation Tuesday to prevent a Norwegian airline from flying to the USA because of concerns the low-cost carrier will dodge international labor rules.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday published an order requiring Boeing to shore up the computer systems aboard 737s to protect them from hackers. A Boeing spokesman said the company is already modifying the technology referred to by the order, which applies to 737-700, -700C, -800, -900ER, -7, -8 and -9 aircraft.
Airlines, Industry and Labor
Boeing announced that Japanese companies will be responsible for building 21% of the 777X. Five Japanese companies, including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Fuji Heavy Industries, will build sections of the aircraft. Japanese firms have assisted in building Boeing aircraft since the 1980s.
Boeing needs a last-minute regulatory intervention to avoid a delay of the entry-into-service date later this month for the 787-9. The company has asked the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to quickly approve exemptions that would allow the 787-9 to be delivered on schedule despite two critical flight systems deemed non-compliant with airworthiness regulations.