| United Negotiations–Week 10
Rich Delaney, June 6, 2009 — United negotiations continued during the
week and were very productive. Both the Union and the Company went into
greater detail regarding the proposals concerning vacation and the
grievance procedure. This expanded United negotiation discussion
permitted both sides to introduce new ideas for settlement. The United
negotiations dialogue also increased into areas of the contract that may
be affected by these proposed changes.
United negotiation is tracking to a “bigger picture”. This
phase of United negotiations will pave the way for upcoming discussions
related to wages and benefits. Both sides in United negotiations want to
find ways to agree on specific contract provision changes and minimize
the need to return to them in the future when other articles are
discussed that may have an impact on them. Since both sides in United
negotiations are offering serious proposals for settlement, the need for
review and research of the effects of these proposals is necessary. Our
team spent a great deal of time internally discussing the new concepts
that have been put forward in United negotiation. We are preparing
responses, which will be discussed next week. We also intend to continue
the talks concerning job classifications and job descriptions when we
return to United negotiation.
Talks between District 141 and United regarding the UAX operation
impacting STL and ORD continued this past week, along side of United
negotiation. The Company is refining its guidelines for outside vendor
bids for the work in both stations. The IAM, including economists from
our International’s Strategic Resources Dept., met over several days
with Company representatives to review financial components, including
staffing projections, of the bid process so we can remain as competitive
as possible as the procedure makes its way to a final decision. While
each station is being reviewed separately and is considered unique, it
is expected that decisions regarding who will perform this work in the
future in both stations will be made by early July.
Apart from United negotiation, UAL also announced this past week that
they have ask both Boeing and Airbus to submit proposals for possible
sale of up to 150 new aircraft to United. The Company is trying to take
advantage of the terrible economy and force each aircraft manufacturer
to offer its best price for their planes. The upgrading of the fleet is
a welcome and necessary move by United but it is also being portrayed as
a replacement program for the aging fleet rather than an expansion of
the overall operation.
District officers and Local Committee members from across the system met
with United Employee Service Center this past week to get an
understanding of the Center deals with our members’ issues. Now that the
Company has centralized the handling of employee issues such as Extended
Illness and other absences we need to establish a way to address the
individual problems as they arise. This meeting was the beginning of
those discussions and we will continue to look for the most workable
process to solve people’s problems.
United negotiation continues next week.
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