Payroll Issues Continue at Sub UA
A conference call was held Friday between the Airline Division, IBT Legal, and company leadership to address the ongoing payroll issues at sub UA. The company laid out its plan to rectify the problems that were reported on the weekly Chief Steward call. ALL members at sub UA are encouraged to closely scrutinize their information each pay period. During the transition period until the new program implementation is finalized, the Airline Division requests that all payroll problems be funneled through International Representative Bob Fisher at [email protected]. Bob will work with the company to address each issue as it arises.
Grievance Filed for Field Trip Sub CO
A grievance was filed by Local 19 for a field trip to Portland. Chief Steward Dan Stunda reported on the Chief Steward call that instead of sending sub CO mechanics to perform work on a sub CO aircraft, sub UA mechanics were used. Parts were sent from IAH to Portland for an L1 door guide arm problem. This type of work has historically been done by sub CO mechanics.
Grievance Filed for 757 Pylon Mod
Local 769 BA Tommy Esposito will file a scope grievance this week regarding a pylon mod that is occurring in SFO. The Local 856/986 grievance committee is working closely with Tommy providing all pertinent information as it develops.
Sub CO Benefits Committee Meeting
The sub CO benefits committee will be meeting next week in Washington DC. The topic of pensions will be discussed and the committee has invited members of the sub UA Benefits Committee to attend. Outside experts in pensions as well as Airline Division legal staff will attend this preparatory meeting as well. This meeting will not include representatives from the company.
Job Growth at Sub UA
There were continued signs of improvement on the Chief Steward call this week. Seattle and San Francisco are continuing to increase manpower. Seattle has now exhausted their recall list and is now taking system bids. In Chicago the ground equipment rebranding will begin on November 15th. This is a massive project which will result in multiple recalls for the autoshop in ORD.
UAL Safety Representatives Attend National Safety Council Meeting
Safety representatives from Locals 856/986, 455, and 781 attended the 2011 Fall Labor Division meeting in Philadelphia, PA. One hundred seventy six union members met to attend training and committee meetings. The Labor Division was founded in 1957 as part of the National Safety Council and has unions from both the United States and Canada. They met twice a year; in spring for a Labor only meeting and fall in conjunction with the NSC Congress and Expo.
Members attended the Transportation Committee, which is part of the “Professional Interest Committee” inside the Labor Division and is comprised primarily of people from the aviation industry. It consists of members from the TWU (AA and Southwest), IBT (Sikorsky, UPS and United Airlines) and the IAM (USAir and Air Canada). Many safety related topics were discussed including hexavalent chromium exposure, fall protection, dust collection and lighting. An informational/training session was also provided to members at the Transportation Committee on “Hazards of Composites used in Airline Industry.” The session was presented by a Boeing EHS Project Manager who worked on the 787 Dreamliner and an IAM Representative who was part of the IAM/Boeing Joint Program Project on the 787.
In addition, the final three days were spent attending “technical/training sessions” put on by the National Safety Council and visiting safety product vendors on the expo floor. Over 130 sessions were available which had a wide variety of topics, including NASA had a 3-part session on lessons learned from the February 2003 Columbia space shuttle accident.