Tentative Agreement Reached (9/29/11)

Following is the email announcement from Tim Cullen on 9/29/2011 in it's entirety-


"All,

I’m pleased to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement worthy of your consideration. There will be an official update out shortly, but I wanted to give everyone a quick overview.

5 year contract

Job protection for all covered employees for the duration of the agreement

7.1% pay increase at DOS bring us to #2 in the industry

1.5% pay increases in down line years with an internal and external pay review

8% medical premium caps

Wellness program LOA

Enhanced merger protection language

Vacation buyback program

Charter, irregular ops, and TDY language

$1500.00 Signing bonus

There is much more to discuss, a more complete list of the changes, and the complete contract language will be available soon. Road shows will commence shortly after.

Fraternally,

Timothy M Cullen
Hangar Line Avionics Lead
Airline Representative
AMFA Local 14"


Watch for a critical analysis once we have the contract language in hand.

Stay tuned.

Human Factors, ASAP programs and yes, Unions

Here we go again.

After an extended hiatus, it might be time to kick start this little project again.

Some of the up and coming subjects I (we) expect to cover-

Human factors - what they are and how might effect your safety and attitude in the workplace AND how many players in the airline industry give lip-service and generally fail to live up to their side of the bargain.

ASAP programs - these programs, originally intended to replace/supplement the NASA reporting system, may be used to punish the reporting party while giving the employer a "get-out-of-jail-free-card". Why did one union recently consider pulling out of the program?

and Unions (in the airline industry).

Let's saddle up for what might be an interesting and sometimes contentious ride.

Stay tuned.

Airline "Rep." Report

First, I hope everyone had plenty of fun over the holidays. I wish everyone a prosperous New Year.

Now for the latest.

At the December Local 14 Meeting, the ALR gave his report. Among the items he reported was a discharge, grievances (Do I smell pizza?) and arbitration. He made some announcements regarding the 4/10 work schedule, Hawaii, furloughs and shop rep training, to name a few.

The report, as posted here, seems fairly complete, but for one exception.

The ALR singled out a member of the association who was in attendance at the morning membership meeting for chastisement.

Why wasn't this included in the ALR Report as posted on the AMFA local 14 website?

I can only deduce that the ALR is not proud of those comments and only used them as a way to attempt to intimidate a member.

When "point of order" was asked of the President of the local upon the conclusion of the ALR report, the presiding officer said something to the effect that the ALR's comments were part of his report and therefore allowed.

I would encourage the ALR to either amend his posting on the AMFA local 14 website to include the script that he used to single out a member for rebuke, or at a minimum, email those comments to the entire membership.

As a point of full disclosure, I was the subject of the ALR's criticism and want all of the membership to know what goes on at these meetings.

Mr. Cullen performs these reports at these meetings, either reading from his laptop, or reading from a written report. There is absolutely no reason that these reports wouldn't be posted verbatim except that maybe Tim doesn't want the snide criticisms to be generally known.

Come on, Tim. Do the right thing. Post your reports verbatim or at least email them to the membership (the ASAP representative emails his reports monthly.) We should expect nothing less from our representation with the company.

The ball is in your court, Tim.

Stay Tuned.

Ambushed!

How would you feel if, in the process of expressing your opinion, were attacked at a meeting by a leader that is sworn to "CONDUCT MYSELF AT ALL TIMES AS BECOMES A MEMBER OF THIS, A PROFESSIONAL SKILLED ASSOCIATION."

Ambushed!

That is how I feel.

As a part of my last Blog post, I expressed the opinion that many of the grievance resolutions were nothing more than appeasements to garner an affirmative vote on the latest negotiated settlement or something less.

The ALR decided that these insinuations were a little personal and went on the attack.

I won't go into specifics on this page, but what I will do is point out that this is what is keeping the AMFA membership from stepping up and taking ownership of their association and fighting for the resolutions that they deserve.

The ALR should make his "report" from the last membership meeting public by posting it on all union bulletin boards as he has done in the past. The ALR should make public his petty accusations and try to resolve the issues between him and those he represents. The ALR should post the FULL report as presented to the general membership on all AMFA bulletin boards. As part of commitment to keep the membership fully informed, the ALR should do nothing less. And since I am requesting it here, what is he waiting for??

While there is nothing specific in the AMFA constitution regarding this kind of activity, as a member of an organization that takes funds as a mandatory agreement for employment, I would expect much, much more than this form of retribution.

Retribution is exactly what this activity is.

In the past year, I have been active as a part of the Committee for a Real Future; many of you have talked to me on your door step. As such, I have expressed my opinion, talked to many of you, respected your opinion, and moved on.

About half of you, felt that a change wasn't needed at this time. I respected that and we decided to move in other directions. However, contrary to numerous "white pages" circulated on the property, the IBT campaign is over, finished, kaput. AMFA won, the IBT supporters lost.

Someone might think to put the ALR on their mailing list. Or at least their e-mailing list.

While the IBT supporters were very vocal, and many disagreed with their (and my) methods, we have had many positive results from our campaign.

When was the last Local Officer election that garnered a 58+ percent participation rate?

At this point, I should congratulate the winners of those elections, Tim Cullen, and Dave Tarshis (of PDX) for re-election to their positions as ALR and ACC respectively. We look forward to two more years of their representation.

I was once told by an old (and I thought wise) mechanic one time, " that if you settle for what they're giving you, you deserve what you get."

Frankly, I think someone more famous said it, but it has so much more meaning when he says it.

Stay Tuned.