Airline Division News Items
UPS Aircraft Mechanics Vote to Authorize Strike
UPS Airlines mechanics have voted to give their leaders authority to call a strike as nearly three years of talks have failed to produce a labor contract. Ninety percent of the 1,052 ballots from members nationwide approved the authorization, said Bob Combine, president of Louisville-based Teamsters Local 2727. The tally was 947 in favor and 105 against, he said.
The mechanics last pay raise was in August 2005, Combine said. The company and the union began negotiations on a new contract in October 2006 but haven’t reached agreement on wages, health care benefits and other issues.
Combine said the union is concerned about outsourcing aircraft to overseas contractors. He said UPS has increased such outsourcing as it has expanded its foreign markets. Combine also said UPS is scheduling more involved maintenance to be done overseas rather than by UPS mechanics. “The company has laid off about 150 mechanics this year because of a slow down in business, and they’re wanting to increase the amount of work to be subcontracted to
Under the Railway Labor Act strikes are forbidden unless the National Mediation Board determines the two sides can’t overcome their differences through mediation. Even then and absent intervention by the President of the
Teamsters Stand in Solidarity with UPS Airline Mechanics
The following is the official statement of Teamsters Airline Division Director David Bourne on the strike authorization vote by 1,400 UPS airline mechanics represented by Teamsters Local 2727 in
“Recently our 1,400 brothers and sisters at Teamsters Local 2727 that work as airline mechanics at UPS voted to authorize their union representatives to take them out on strike if necessary. We as an organization hope we will not be forced to take such an action, and hope to reach a fair agreement with the company.
“The Teamsters Union and its Airline Division stands ready to support these workers in their struggle secure a strong contract. Negotiations with the company for a new contract have been ongoing since October 2006. It is past time for UPS to recognize these skilled mechanics are an invaluable asset to the company, an asset that should not be marginalized.
“Our union will fight to ensure that any agreement reached between the company and Local 2727 will include acceptable gains in wage and benefit packages and language that protects any of their work from being outsourced to foreign maintenance stations.
“These mechanics are some of the most skilled workers in their industry – we hope that UPS recognizes this fact and treats them with the respect they deserve.”
Teamsters Airline Division Director Supports Action to Solve Stranded Passenger Problem
Wall Street Journal writer Scott McCarthy laid out the case this week for imposing rules to fix the problem of passengers stranded on the tarmac for long periods, usually due to severe weather conditions. He cited cases going back 10 years where passengers were trapped for up to ten hours with no food or water or functioning bathroom facilities. Yet the airlines have done little to address the problem. McCarthy said, 777 flights were stuck sitting for three hours or more through July this year, according to DOT statistics.
He was reporting on a meeting in
Local 1108 Calls for a Strike Authorization Vote
International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Airline Division, Local 1108 has authorized a strike authorization vote among its members who are the pilots employed by Flight Options, LLC, the Cleveland-based provider of luxury business jet fractional ownership and charter programs. The Teamsters and Flight Options management have been in negotiations over a first contract for pilots since June of 2006.
The parties met in
Under the Railway Labor Act, the NMB, the federal agency charged with administering that particular federal labor law, may declare that its mediation efforts failed to produce an agreement resulting in a proffer of voluntary binding arbitration as a last resort. If either management or the labor organization rejects the arbitration proffer, a 30-day cooling offer period is imposed, after which time the labor organization is free to strike the carrier absent intervention by the President of the
“The International Brotherhood of Teamsters stands behind the Flight Options pilots 100 percent,” said Capt. David Bourne, Teamsters Airline Division Director. “These negotiations have been going on for over three years. It’s time our members get the contract they deserve.”
Strike authorization ballots were sent to the union’s membership on
“Local 1108 is ready to make a fair agreement with Flight Options management,” said Captain Mat Slinghoff, Local 1108 President. “A fair agreement requires industry standard scope protections, benefit security and compensation increases pilots need.”
Airline Division Aviation Safety Coordinator Comments on Airline Proposals for Flight and Duty Time Changes
A 20-member task force comprising airlines and pilot unions met for more than two months to weigh the safety changes. The FAA is expected to use the analysis to impose new safety regulations – the most significant alteration to cockpit practices since the 1930s.
Pilots today can fly no more than eight hours in a 24-hour period. But they can be on duty up to 16 hours in a row, with non-flight time spent on tasks such as checking weather reports or just waiting in the airport for planes to depart.
In an article in the online version of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Russ Leighton, the IBT Airline Division Aviation Safety Coordinator, who sat on the rule-making committee that met at the FAA's offices in
Week in Review News Items
Labor Developments
The regional airline that operated a plane that crashed and killed 50 people in upstate
Strike authorization ballots have been sent to the pilots at fractional jet operator Flight Options LLC. Ballots will be counted at the offices of the pilots' union, Teamsters Local 1108, on
Regulatory & Safety
With Congress distracted by health care and disagreeing over transportation policy, the House was forced Wednesday to take emergency steps to keep key air and highway programs going through the end of the year. Airbus knew since at least 2002 about problems with the type of speed sensor that malfunctioned on an Air France passenger plane that went down in June. But air safety authorities did not order their replacement until after the crash, which killed all 228 people aboard. Passenger-rights advocates are hailing the announcement made last week by FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt that "when we say customer, we're talking about the flying public," but they're not entirely satisfied.
Airline Industry Finances
A Japanese government task force created to help revive Japan Airlines said Friday that it would review the carrier’s turnaround plans from scratch and that splitting it into “good” and “bad” parts was an option.
Passenger Rights Legislation
Listen up, airlines: You need to fix the problem of leaving people stranded on miserable, smelly airplanes with little food, water or patience—and you can, reports The Wall Street Journal. Lots of your peers say so. Despite repeated high-profile meltdowns, the
Miscellaneous
U.S. airlines want the Obama administration to capitalize on an unexpected opening in talks to liberalize service to Japan, but tougher antitrust scrutiny of alliances in the United States would overshadow any agreement?Commercial airline customers are accustomed to flight delays — but two years? That's how overdue Boeing's revolutionary 787 Dreamliner is, and the meter is still running?Business Travel News' 22nd annual Corporate Travel 100 benchmarking report shows a decline in overall spending for the largest buyers of business travel to $10.3 billion in 2008 from $11.2 billion in 2007.