Tim when you say grandfather in the west employees in the stations on the hitlist do you mean to make sure there job is safe if they outsource it?
I agree with most of your proposals but I think some may have to be toned down such as 7 holidays instead of 10, I also think a compromise on the cities on the hitlist to keep some from outsourcing such as SAN,DEN,MCI would be a good start.
The other item that some miss that I feel should be a part of a new deal, is that we should not have to wait for the raises to take effect such as a 12 or 16 month peirod.
They should be imediate.
If we mimic the mechanics, then this year we will have 7 holidays, but 10 by 2011. All this is in the ballpark depending on what the rest of the deal looks like.
Now may be the time to look for solutions. Although I'm hopeful that the company may be more respectful, i'm not convinced of it and would support the negotiations team walking out again if there was more BS from AL.
At any rate, one solution, IMO, is NOT to throw any station under the bus, BUT, if those 19 stations are thrown under the bus again, then the human beings that 'currently' work there shouldn't be thrown under. They should be allowed to stay there and be grandfathered. It's a way for the company to get what it wants, at the same time offering protections for those who 'currently' work there.
This isn't original, the IAM did this at NW back in 1990's with some small stations. To be clear, I am not an advocate of losing any station and I think the company makes more money by keeping our own employees at stations, BUT the union's last proposal regarding this issue was troubling in that it lacked foresight into resolving this problem by not offering any protections for those affected....almost as if they didn't exist. Canale needs to quit using this technique in getting 'cheater contracts'.
regards,
Tim Nelson
IAM Local Chairman, 1487, Chicago