Director Meets with UAL Chief Steward about Simulator Technicians
On April 14th, Airline Division Director David Bourne had an opportunity to meet with Jim Prout, UAL Chief Steward regarding the concerns of UAL Simulator Techs and the affects of the merger with Continental Airlines. Originally designated as part of the mechanics craft or class in 1965, the Simulator Technicians maintain the aircraft flight simulators for UAL in Denver, as well as the emergency procedures trainers in Denver, Chicago and San Francisco.
Captain Bourne briefed him about the ongoing negotiations between the IBT and the Transport Workers Union (TWU), which represents Continental Simulator Engineers, who negotiate as their own separate craft and class under an NMB ruling from the late 1990's. The IBT and TWU hope to cooperate to establish a joint structure for bargaining on behalf of all United Simulator workers after the merger, while maintaining IBT day-to-day representation at the Denver facility, and TWU day-to-day representation at the Houston facility. After the meeting, Captain Bourne said, "Brother Prout expressed to me very clearly the concerns of the 55 UAL Simulator Techs he represents and I reassured him that their IBT representation would continue, and that if the NMB placed them in a new class and craft, the IBT would ensure that all present UAL Simulator Techs would retain and accrue Mechanics craft seniority so that they could exercise seniority rights back to the Mechanics craft if they so desired. This way, we hope to secure them the best of both worlds."
Airline Division Files for Representation Elections at Citation Air, Sky King
The Airline Division announced it has made applications to the NMB this week for representation elections to be held at Sky King Airlines and CitationAir.
Sky King, based in Lakeland, Florida has 41 pilots flying Boeing 737’s. CitationAir, which is a subsidiary of Cessna Aircraft Corporation is an operator of fractionally leased corporate jet aircraft and is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.
Upon successful completion of the elections, Sky King will be assigned to Local 769 in Miami, which already represents the pilots of Centurion and Tradewinds. CitationAir will become part of Local 1108 in Richmond Heights, Ohio, which is home of Flight Options, another fractional jet operator represented by the Airline Division.
Week In Review News Items
Labor
British Airways cabin crew have agreed to call off their bitter dispute with the airline and put a new deal to a ballot of union members.
Legislative, Regulatory and Safety
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday proposed changes to flight-crew training procedures that it says will make the U.S. aviation system safer… Feeling the sting of recent events, the National Air Traffic Controllers Association has begun a PR campaign to boost controllers image in the public eye… The U.S. has signed an open-skies agreement with Colombia to boost passenger numbers and trade between the two countries. The Department of Transportation has cleared Delta Air Lines' code-sharing pact with Virgin Blue Group.
Airline Industry, Finances and Structure
Embraer has indicated that it is looking into developing an aircraft in the upper end of the 100- to 149-seat range. Bombardier is working on two CSeries models optimized specifically for the segment, which are scheduled to enter service in 2013…with Southwest Airlines carrying 7.6 million passengers in February, the highest number of passengers for any carrier, the Department of Transportation said U.S. airlines increased capacity 4.9% in February and boosted the number of passengers carried by 2.9%, compared with the same month the previous year.