No, xUT, I will post here and respond to questions, but do not wish to be baited in to a #### session with a deaf audience. AMFA in Miami, as well as all of you who have responded to his original question (only one of you a UAL mechanic, by the way) have provided significant history on this site that you are simply against the Teamsters no matter what I or others may answer. You or others will undoubtedly pick apart and try to dismiss as lies anything I say in a poor attempt to spread your anger and distrust.
However, for any of the others who may come across this thread, here you go.
First, the hangar. There are two new hangars planned on the East coast to facilitate both new aircraft purchase orders and work formerly sent to outside contractors. The Teamsters are working to bring back formerly contracted out maintenance such as MOD work on various aircraft models. Work on UA aircraft formerly done by Timco on the East Coast is now being done by CO stations also on the East Coast who are now UA mechanics.
On your lay off question; there are no lay offs under the terms of the agreement in place until we reach a single contract. There is no bumping.
Your scenario for seniority in regards to lay off does not exist because LAX has recalled all of the formerly furloughed mechanics at UAL including those that may have been commuting from ORD. Many stations in fact have exhausted their recall lists. There are still many furloughed mechanics out there and some from closed stations such as Indy but the new contract is designed to recall in order of seniority. If you are the most senior and displaced from your station, you will be recalled before any one junior is allowed to accept any vacancy. In fact, per Article 5, there are NO VACANCIES while an active recall list exists.
You also questioned the merging of the seniority list and got a bogus answer from Third Seat Hero. I say it is bogus and he knows why. As I have explained many times before: the seniority issue at UAL is not an issue for the Teamsters or any union representing mechanics. TSH knows this. It does not matter what the unions say on the subject of mechanic seniority at UAL. UAL was sued in federal court years ago and the result of that suit dictates our seniority, not the union or management. Our list will be merged according to court order. This court order happens to be in line with the philosophies of the IBT which is hire date for lay off and recall, craft date for everything else. For most of us mechanics the two dates are one in the same but for some there is an adjustment.
The Teamsters did not come right out and take a hard line stand on this which upset many of us but I am now gaining a decent understanding of why. Although our seniority is a court order, the contract is clear that negotiations for an amalgamated agreement between two merged carriers can NOT continue until an agreement in seniority is met. The Teamsters were rightly concerned that taking a hard stance would force any mechanic groups in opposition to call for a legal challenge of the law and hold up the process of a new contract for possibly years. Two independent law firms reported that such a challenge would be pointless. A legal firm hired by a group of mechanics who were against hire date in favor of rank ratio also issued the opinion that a civil suit would be a great waste of time and money. Some of us incorrectly believed that the Teamsters were involved in some type of political or organizing stunt in order to hold off any embarrassment, but it is becoming more and more clear that they simply were allowing those who opposed hire date seniority the chance to see for themselves the problems and expense of fighting this lost cause. It is vary apparent to all of us at UA including TSH that date of hire is the most fair basis for merging the seniority list. Some at CO did not see that at first but they are coming to understand that a rank ratio, or crediting years of seniority would not be the right thing to do. The Teamsters allowed the time needed for those groups who opposed it at first to realize the legal walls in place rather than acting like tyrants and telling them what to do. I for one am OK with this now that I know see more of the big picture.
As for the card drive; I have never known a time when amfa has begun a card drive after a contract has been agreed other than a concessionary bankruptcy agreement such as the one we had at UA in the mid 2000's. UA mechanics are earning more money and are better off than we have been in years. There are some issues with payroll and a few management problems, but our new Teamster contract is by far better than anything we have seen from the other two unions which represented us. I expect even more progress from the next agreement which is currently being negotiated. If there was a card drive at UA, it would surely be on the amfa web site. There is none to be found.
