It’s mostly for fleet.
Briefing for 2-17-19
NEGOTIATIONS: After this past week of negotiations, their is still no movement from the company on fleet scope. I want to take this briefing and address some the questions I have been asked the last couple of weeks.
1. WHAT IS THE BIGGEST HOLD UP WITH OUR SCOPE: To put it simply, its that the company wants to take away our work.
Keep in mind, its not only what a contract says, but sometimes its what a contract doesn't say, that can make it be very damaging. For ex: In our current 2014 agreement our fleet work is defined as such: " Normal and customary work associated with the handling and transporting of luggage and material: the loading and unloading of aircraft: the delivery of baggage and Company material". In the current TWUagreement, it defines fleet work even more detailed than our language above. However in these negotiations, the company wants to define " core work ". They basically want to guarantee our core work. And nothing else. The BIG catch however, is that they consider core work just the one part above where it states " the loading and unloading of aircraft. " That's it!! Nothing else.
Now of course they didn't mention in their proposal they put on jetnet that they want to take away all our other work. BUT, the company refuses to put in a written proposal, the current language that we have today in our IAM agreement, or the current language that is in the current TWU agreement.
So even though their jetnet proposal doesn't say they want to take away everything except loading and unloading aircraft. They will tell our executive team in the room that they need the flexibility to compete with DL and UA.
2. BUT HAVEN'T THEY GUARANTEED EVERYONE THEIR JOB: Yes they have. However, they haven't promised you that you will still be performing the work you are performing today. If that's transferring bags and company material ? No guarantee. If that's working Bagroom? No guarantee. If your TWU and reading this and you own other work today besides loading and unloading of aircraft? No guarantee. ( Except listed below ). They basically want to have the ability to shrink our work over the length of the contract, down to whatever number they deem necessary.
Also, since they will never be replacing people as they transition out, you can forget about your seniority going anywhere. If nobody is coming behind you, then the company every year of their proposal, will need less shifts, days off, vacation, etc. for our work group. Your days off, your available vacation weeks, your shifts, they will not grow and get better with more opportunities, they will shrink and you will have less and less opportunities, even though your time with the company will be increasing.
3. BUT THEY DID GUARANTEE US LAV AND WATER AND DEICING AND CARGO DIDN'T THEY: Today we perform lav and water in 34 stations combined. The company wants to guarantee this in 19 stations. Today we deice in 19 combined stations, the company wants to guarantee 5. I call that taking away from what we do today!! And again, I know I keep saying this, but its really unbelievable, that this is work that we achieved as the 5th largest carrier ( IAM ) or in a bankrupt contract (TWU ). Think about that and let it sink in. This company doesn't even want to give you the work that you achieved in those two agreements. They still want to take from our work group.
4. DIDN'T THEY GUARANTEE TO MAKE US THE HIGHEST PAID IN THE INDUSTRY: Yes, your first year of the contract only. After that UA, and maybe DL ( non union so who knows ) would pass us in pay.
5. WHATS NEXT? This is up to the mediators on what's next. It will be up to them to decide if they can get the two sides to move to a t/a and put it out for a vote. If they can't get either side to move, then they will eventually ( its up to them when ) offer both sides to go to arbitration with the remaining issues. We would more than likely decline this option ( just my opinion ) and then move to our 30 day cooling off period to where we could strike. BUT, because we are the largest carrier in the world, what would most likely happen instead of allowing us to strike, would be for the President to form a PEB ( Presidential Emergency Board ) that would make recommendations on a t/a. This recommended t/a by the PEB is not binding and can be voted down by the membership. Again, the timeline when anything else happens is strictly up to the mediators.
Bottom line in all of this, is DO YOU TRUST THE COMPANY WITH YOUR SCOPE?? Do you really think for one second, if we allow our current scope language to go down to just loading and unloading aircraft that this company will not decimate our work group over a period of time just because they didn't specifically state they would in their jet net proposal? You have to read between the lines. There is a HUGE reason they want the scope language changed. BUT, they want you to trust them again!!
Sisters and brothers, we have made mistakes in the past by looking at just the money in a contract. Hopefully we have learned from those mistakes. This company doesn't think we have. They think you should agree to what they are offering and trust them that they will take care of your jobs. I remember the days when at LUS we had I believe 81 stations at one time, and the company said they had no intention of getting rid of any of them, to just trust them. Well look where we are today. I for one, will never trust this company on anything, unless they put it in writing. If they want us to trust them, then they should have no problem proving it and putting it in a written proposal. The fact that they refuse to do this, should scream to everyone out there, on just what they plan to do with our fleet service group if we allow them.
There comes a time where as union sisters and brothers we have to stand up and tell the company to shove it.
We can not allow this company to continue to take us backwards. We have to say that we are finished being screwed by this company.
Sorry for such a long brief, but wanted to answer some of the questions I have been asked.
EVERYONE HAVE A GOOD AND SAFE WEEK
Mark Baskett
