cwa.net CWA Update 1/15/04: MidAtlantic Discussions
Management is backing away from their "Jets for Jobs" commitments...
On 1/14/2004 CWA'ers met with management for our third unproductive meeting on implementation of the MidAtlantic Jets for Jobs/Soft Landing agreement which was part of our January 2003 Concession Agreement (the one that passed by only five votes). This short meeting produced very little agreement or information aside from the fact that the MidAtlantic start-up will be in April and, at first, the MDA flights will be staffed by Mainline agents.
The Disagreement: Our MidAtlantic Agreement says that MDA agents are a classification within our mainline contract and are covered by the terms of that contract with only certain, agreed-upon exceptions for salary, benefits and station coverage for that classification. Management now wants to stretch that out to make many more exceptions to the contract:
* They want the right to have employees of another airline perform the MidAtlantic agent work at a covered station, instead of reserving the jobs for active and furloughed US Airways employees (so much for "Soft Landing");
* Management has made it very clear - they want to fill the jobs with new hires everywhere possible. They consider service with US Airways to be a liability, not an asset;
* They want to deny furloughed or active Res Agents, CTO agents, Club Reps, SAR's, BCC Reps, DMSC Reps, and Mainline Express Agents the right to bid on MDA openings except as new hires;
* They want to deny active Agents and Supervisors at other locations the right to bid on MDA openings except as new hires;
* They want to require a furloughed Mainline agent who takes an MDA position to stay there for one year, even if recalled to his/her Mainline position;
* They want MDA Passenger Service employees to lose accrued seniority when transferring between MDA and other Passenger Service classifications, treating them like new hires;
* They want Passenger Service employees who transfer to MDA classifications to lose their accumulated hire-date seniority and begin to accrue vacation seniority and longevity starting over again from the first day at MDA.
CWA'ers disagreed with each of these attempts to re-bargain the contract and pressed management to honor the commitments they made during the Restructuring Agreement negotiations. CWA'ers stated further that employees voted for a complete MDA Agreement and it would be wrong for management to take the concessions but not live up to the MDA Agreement commitments.
Bottom Line: Some of these issues will not come to a head right away because the initial MDA flights will be staffed by Mainline agents at Mainline stations. But it undermines employee relations when management acts as if life is a permanent bankruptcy court where they can abandon their commitments whenever they feel like it.
[Present at the meeting for management were Labor Relations Director Al Hemenway, Labor Relations Manager Beth Holdren, Operations Manager Marsha Rice and MidAtlantic Maintenance VP John Morales.]
[Present for CWA were Local 13301 President Tina Perry, 13302 President Chris Fox, 2000 President Pam Terry, CWA attorney Nick Manicone, and CWA staff Tim Yost and Rick Braswell.]
Management is backing away from their "Jets for Jobs" commitments...
On 1/14/2004 CWA'ers met with management for our third unproductive meeting on implementation of the MidAtlantic Jets for Jobs/Soft Landing agreement which was part of our January 2003 Concession Agreement (the one that passed by only five votes). This short meeting produced very little agreement or information aside from the fact that the MidAtlantic start-up will be in April and, at first, the MDA flights will be staffed by Mainline agents.
The Disagreement: Our MidAtlantic Agreement says that MDA agents are a classification within our mainline contract and are covered by the terms of that contract with only certain, agreed-upon exceptions for salary, benefits and station coverage for that classification. Management now wants to stretch that out to make many more exceptions to the contract:
* They want the right to have employees of another airline perform the MidAtlantic agent work at a covered station, instead of reserving the jobs for active and furloughed US Airways employees (so much for "Soft Landing");
* Management has made it very clear - they want to fill the jobs with new hires everywhere possible. They consider service with US Airways to be a liability, not an asset;
* They want to deny furloughed or active Res Agents, CTO agents, Club Reps, SAR's, BCC Reps, DMSC Reps, and Mainline Express Agents the right to bid on MDA openings except as new hires;
* They want to deny active Agents and Supervisors at other locations the right to bid on MDA openings except as new hires;
* They want to require a furloughed Mainline agent who takes an MDA position to stay there for one year, even if recalled to his/her Mainline position;
* They want MDA Passenger Service employees to lose accrued seniority when transferring between MDA and other Passenger Service classifications, treating them like new hires;
* They want Passenger Service employees who transfer to MDA classifications to lose their accumulated hire-date seniority and begin to accrue vacation seniority and longevity starting over again from the first day at MDA.
CWA'ers disagreed with each of these attempts to re-bargain the contract and pressed management to honor the commitments they made during the Restructuring Agreement negotiations. CWA'ers stated further that employees voted for a complete MDA Agreement and it would be wrong for management to take the concessions but not live up to the MDA Agreement commitments.
Bottom Line: Some of these issues will not come to a head right away because the initial MDA flights will be staffed by Mainline agents at Mainline stations. But it undermines employee relations when management acts as if life is a permanent bankruptcy court where they can abandon their commitments whenever they feel like it.
[Present at the meeting for management were Labor Relations Director Al Hemenway, Labor Relations Manager Beth Holdren, Operations Manager Marsha Rice and MidAtlantic Maintenance VP John Morales.]
[Present for CWA were Local 13301 President Tina Perry, 13302 President Chris Fox, 2000 President Pam Terry, CWA attorney Nick Manicone, and CWA staff Tim Yost and Rick Braswell.]
