Negotiations Update

On March 11th and 12th the parties met in Rosemont IL. On the 11th, the Union Negotiating Committee presented its comprehensive proposal to the Company. The proposal included the rank and file negotiating committee’s wage proposal, scope provisions, health and welfare, work rules and pension. The presentation took approximately two hours to deliver. The Company had some clarifying questions in the face-to-face session. When the face-to-face session was concluded the economists from both sides met to discuss the costing of the proposal. The Company relayed that it would have follow up questions however there were few questions that were asked over the next day’s session.
In addition to presenting Scope, H&W, Pension and Wages the Rank and File Committee agreed to close out ten previously open language items in an effort to move towards a final agreement. The Company is expected to offer a comprehensive proposal when the parties reconvene in April. The parties will meet again at the direction of the mediator April 20-24th in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Negotiations Update, March 1, 2015

The parties met February 23rd through the 26th in face-to-face negotiations under the direction of the NMB in Newark.  The IBT passed Article 16 – (Health and Welfare), for review.  After the IBT made the pass there was a Q and A session on the general structure of the TeamCare plan as it was proposed.  There were follow up questions throughout the week. Towards the end of the session, the Company presented a list of questions for TeamCare and the answers will be provided shortly.
On Wednesday, the rank and file committee reviewed its wage proposal from the January meeting in Houston. That analysis was then relayed to the mediator.
Direct negotiations will continue the week of March 9th in Rosemont, IL.  At that time, the full comprehensive proposal will be passed.
Tentative negotiations dates have been set in each of the following months through July and will be published here as they are firmed up.

TAMC on Capitol Hill

Members representing the TAMC were on the Hill this past week. On February 11th, TAMC Chairman Chris Moore and Bob Fisher had meetings with Matthew McCarthy, Legislative Assistant for Transportation for Senator Maria Cantwell, (D-WA) and Chris Brown, Staff Director of the House Subcommittee on Aviation.
The meetings were to continue discussions on moving the TAMC agenda on Drug Testing at Foreign Repair Stations and the Moratorium on Certification of any new Repair Stations going forward. The TAMC started the conversation on these issues in 2014 and will continue to work to have them addressed during FAA Reauthorization which is set to expire in September of 2015.
Driving the TAMC position on Drug Testing at Foreign Repair Stations is the disparity between how Drug and Alcohol testing for Safety Sensitive positions are treated differently in other countries than in the US. In the US, “No Notice” DOT testing is conducted as a deterrent to substance abuse but in many countries testing is only conducted for cause. The TAMC understands that the US cannot dictate which laws or civil liberties are in place in countries where US aircraft are maintained, but the FAA can require that US Registered Air Carriers only use vendors that conform to the same standards for testing as those within our borders.
The TAMC demand for a moratorium on New Repair Station Certifications stems from three Inspector General Reports over a ten year period criticizing the FAA for lack of oversight of Repair Stations. The TAMC first brought this to the attention of Administrator Huerta in January of 2014 and has had continuing correspondence with Associate Administrator Gilligan throughout the Spring of 2014.  The FAA maintains that the problems can be addressed through additional training for the A.S.I.s (Aviation Safety Inspectors) and the introduction of a new Safety Assurance System. While the TAMC applauds the FAA’s efforts to ensure more effective oversight, over the last decade to provide better oversight, history has proven the efforts ineffective.
Therefore in the interest of Aviation Safety, the TAMC will continue to pressure the FAA to impose a moratorium on certification of any new Repair Stations until there is proof of better oversight.
Additional information may be found at www.teamsterair.org  under the TAMC tab or at https://www.oig.dot.gov.

Negotiations Update - February 7, 2015

On February 3, the Benefits Committee convened at the offices of Cheiron in Chicago to review the TeamCare proposal. This is the proposal that was reported on in the January 17 Dispatch and was provided to the Benefits Committee that weekend. The Benefits Committee spent the previous two weeks reviewing the proposal and the corresponding plan documents. The Benefits Committee spent all day on February 3 dissecting the proposal with the help of benefits actuary Gaelle Gravot to prepare questions for the meeting with TeamCare on the February 4.
On February 4both the Benefits and the Negotiating Committees met at the offices of TeamCare in Rosemont, IL. TeamCare made a presentation to the group explaining what they could offer the group  as well as the size and health of the fund. Currently TeamCare provides insurance to close to 500,000 people and has 21.5 months of funding in reserve. What that means is that if every company in the fund stopped contributing, TeamCare would be able to provide benefits for 21.5 months. The presentation continued until lunch. After lunch, both committees asked questions of TeamCare representatives until the end of the day. It was determined that there were still questions and so both committees returned on February 5 to get more answers.
TeamCare had responses for the outstanding questions prepared for the group that morning. After receiving those answers, the Benefits Committee met with the assistance of Gaelle Gravot and attorney Ed Gleason. The committee discussed the proposal until right before lunch. Both committees then met and discussed the findings of the benefits committee. At the end of the discussion, given that the overall benefits provided were better and the cost was lower, the Benefits Committee unanimously recommended to the rank-and-file negotiating committee that they adopt the TeamCare proposal. The rank-and-file committee discussed the findings and recommendations of the benefits committee. When it appeared that all questions were asked, one of the rank-and-file committee members called for the question. The vote was taken and there was no opposition to the recommendation of the Benefit Committee. Before the proposal was adopted, a couple of committee members asked that all representatives except for the thirteen voting members recuse themselves. The thirteen members then met and again the recommendation of the Benefits Committee was overwhelmingly adopted without opposition.
Accordingly, the TeamCare proposal was added to the comprehensive proposal that will be given to mediator McGuckin on Monday the February 9.
For those members in an HMO in California, Hawaii, Denver and Chicago, TeamCare will be replicating those plans so there will be nothing new except for whatever the final cost share ends up to be. For everyone else the proposal is for a non-grandfathered plan that is similar to the MM100 plan offered by TeamCare with coverage provided mostly by Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Non-grandfathered plans are subject to regulations of the ACA so that is why there are differences from the MM100 plan. It was deemed by the committee that it would be better to move forward with the non-grandfathered plan as it provides more benefits to the membership. To see the plan documents for MM100, click here and use code MA. The committee was informed that 95 percent of all hospitals and 91 percent of doctors are in network. To see if your doctor participates, click here.
The Benefits Committee was then excused and thanked for their diligence. At that point there were several clarifying questions to Ed Gleason about the committee’s pension proposal. In the end there were no changes recommended to the pension proposal made in November of 2013.
The committee then worked towards putting the finishing touches on the comprehensive proposal. As stated above, this work is complete as of this writing and the proposal will be forwarded to mediator McGuckin on February 9. It is believed that once the mediator reviews this proposal the parties will possibly reconvene later this month.