National AMT Day
Sunday May 24th is National AMT day and the TAMC and the Teamsters Airline Division would like to take a moment to recognize our thousands of Aviation Maintenance Technicians. Your hard work and dedication to aviation safety is without a doubt a corner stone in the success of our outstanding industry safety record. This day honors the birthday of Charles Taylor, the first aviation mechanic in powered flight and the man who designed and built the engine that powered the first successful Wright Brothers airplane.
On this day we should pause to remember the many men and women who have come before us. It is through their unwavering commitment to continually improve aviation safety standards that we have many of the processes and procedures in use today. As we move through our careers, we too have met the challenge of contributing our piece to improving safety as will the generations that follow us, because we are Aviation Maintenance Technicians, and that is what we do. In the hangars, on the line, in the backshops, in the blistering heat, freezing cold and the pouring rain, in the dead of night and the light of day, one thing never changes and that is our commitment to the safety of those who fly on the Aircraft we maintain. We have to get it right every time.
Thank you for all you do!
Negotiations Update
May 14, 2015
The parties assembled the week of May 11th in Las Vegas under the direction of the National Mediation Board in hope of receiving a full comprehensive proposal from the company. On Tuesday morning the Company passed their version of a comprehensive economic proposal, which was in the form of a two-page bullet point presentation. The proposal did not meet the Union Negotiation Committee’s expectations or industry benchmarks.
The Company’s bullet points addressed wages, premiums, longevity, shift differentials, vacation accrual schedules, sick accruals, holiday schedule, profit sharing, active medical plan designs as well as longer contract duration than the previous pass. Additionally, the company opened the idea of creating changes to the current retirement plan.
The Union Negotiation Committee was less than impressed, and certainly not amused, with the new tone and direction of United’s comprehensive proposal. However, continuing in good faith, the Union Negotiating Committee reviewed the terms of the proposal in caucus after the parties broke. During the caucus, the Union committee developed a series of enquiries for the Company.
On Wednesday the parties again held a face-to-face session, in which the union presented its enquiries to the Company. Once the enquiries were answered there was further discussion between the parties. After the face-to-face session, the economists from both sides met to review the economic data. The work of reviewing and determining the valuations of the Company’s proposal is ongoing.
Also on Wednesday, a discussion was held on TeamCare. Both committees along with representatives from the fund talked about ways to finalize the health care proposal. Some of what was discussed is subject to the approval by the Plan Trustees.
On Thursday the Union Negotiation Committee met internally to work on the counter proposal that should be delivered in the next round of negotiations in June.
As stated above during this week’s session, the Company changed direction and tone on key items of importance to this membership. It is still our goal to achieve an industry leading agreement and we will accept nothing less.
News from the Street
Tension is growing between airline management and workers. That's
worrisome for an industry better known for bankruptcies and failures than it
is for long-term stability.
May 11th 2015
This week the IBT and Company committee's are reconvening under the direction of the Mediator in Las Vegas Nevada. Next weekend a report of the session will be released.
Last week John Goglia put out a report on AIN Online describing industry wide mechanic intimidation discovered in NASA reports.
Here is the link to the report
http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/blogs/torqued-nasa-data-reveals-intimidation-airline-mechanics
Remember, if you get caught up in a situation like the ones described in John's report, contact your Union Representative for guidance.
This week the IBT and Company committee's are reconvening under the direction of the Mediator in Las Vegas Nevada. Next weekend a report of the session will be released.
Last week John Goglia put out a report on AIN Online describing industry wide mechanic intimidation discovered in NASA reports.
Here is the link to the report
http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/blogs/torqued-nasa-data-reveals-intimidation-airline-mechanics
Remember, if you get caught up in a situation like the ones described in John's report, contact your Union Representative for guidance.
UA Medical Arbitration Update May 2, 2015
A decision has been reached in the sub UA medical arbitration case. The majority decision is sustained in part and denied in part. The Board ruled that the institution of a 90-10 coinsurance violated Art 16 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. With respect to the other increases such as co pays and out of pocket maximums the Board ruled that those elements were not in violation of Article 16. According to the decision; “The remedy is remanded to the parties for a period of 60 days, after which the remedy will be returned to the Board for resolution. The Board maintains jurisdiction of the remedy portion of this Award.” When a remedy has been agreed upon it will be reported in the Dispatch.
What this decision established was that the with the HMO’s there was a three decades old practice of not instituting, or describing a possible, split in respect to coinsurance. In writing the opinion the arbitrator found; “Thus, the language in the Agreement providing employees with an HMO option, when read together with the Company’s description of its HMO offerings, in the context of the Company’s practice over more than 30 years, persuades a majority of the Board that the Company violated Article 16.A.2. of the Agreement when it imposed 90% co-insurance as part of its HMO offerings, a change that was not in line with employee expectations.”
While it is disappointing that the out of pocket maximums were not considered protected aspects of the plan, in practice, the co-insurance would be the big reason for why a member would hit that limit. In other words the ruling on the co-insurance essentially shields most members of HMO plans from ever paying close to the out of pocket maximums. As the Board discussed; “A majority of the Board agrees that the effects of introducing co-insurance into a long-standing existing program can be significant. At worst, in the case of inpatient services, in the absence of annual out-of-pocket maximums, the financial impact on employees can be extreme. At best, with an existing annual out-of-pocket maximum cap, it is likely that more employees will be bumping up against that cap and, in some cases, chronically.”
The full decision along with the transcripts can be found here.
http://teamsterair.org/sites/teamsterair.org/files/uploads/arbtranscriptday1-3.pdf
http://teamsterair.org/sites/teamsterair.org/files/uploads/arbitrationtranscriptday2.pdf
http://teamsterair.org/sites/teamsterair.org/files/uploads/subuamedarbitrationdecision.pdf
(Please note that the court reporter made a mistake in the day one hearing and titled this hearing as between Continental and the IBT. The day two transcript is correct.)
A decision has been reached in the sub UA medical arbitration case. The majority decision is sustained in part and denied in part. The Board ruled that the institution of a 90-10 coinsurance violated Art 16 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. With respect to the other increases such as co pays and out of pocket maximums the Board ruled that those elements were not in violation of Article 16. According to the decision; “The remedy is remanded to the parties for a period of 60 days, after which the remedy will be returned to the Board for resolution. The Board maintains jurisdiction of the remedy portion of this Award.” When a remedy has been agreed upon it will be reported in the Dispatch.
What this decision established was that the with the HMO’s there was a three decades old practice of not instituting, or describing a possible, split in respect to coinsurance. In writing the opinion the arbitrator found; “Thus, the language in the Agreement providing employees with an HMO option, when read together with the Company’s description of its HMO offerings, in the context of the Company’s practice over more than 30 years, persuades a majority of the Board that the Company violated Article 16.A.2. of the Agreement when it imposed 90% co-insurance as part of its HMO offerings, a change that was not in line with employee expectations.”
While it is disappointing that the out of pocket maximums were not considered protected aspects of the plan, in practice, the co-insurance would be the big reason for why a member would hit that limit. In other words the ruling on the co-insurance essentially shields most members of HMO plans from ever paying close to the out of pocket maximums. As the Board discussed; “A majority of the Board agrees that the effects of introducing co-insurance into a long-standing existing program can be significant. At worst, in the case of inpatient services, in the absence of annual out-of-pocket maximums, the financial impact on employees can be extreme. At best, with an existing annual out-of-pocket maximum cap, it is likely that more employees will be bumping up against that cap and, in some cases, chronically.”
The full decision along with the transcripts can be found here.
http://teamsterair.org/sites/teamsterair.org/files/uploads/arbtranscriptday1-3.pdf
http://teamsterair.org/sites/teamsterair.org/files/uploads/arbitrationtranscriptday2.pdf
http://teamsterair.org/sites/teamsterair.org/files/uploads/subuamedarbitrationdecision.pdf
(Please note that the court reporter made a mistake in the day one hearing and titled this hearing as between Continental and the IBT. The day two transcript is correct.)
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