United Airlines Negotiations
Grievance, seniority, adding UAX work, expanded a-14, PBGC
Rich Delaney, January 8, 2010 — As 2010 begins, District 141 negotiators return to the bargaining table in United Airlines negotiations.
Grievance, seniority
United negotiations resumed during the week of January 11th in Chicago and United negotiations are scheduled to continue throughout the month. Federal Mediator Brown will join United negotiations the last week of January, so she will be able to stay current on our progress. Our intent is to complete the discussions we held prior to the holiday break regarding our Grievance Procedure and Seniority.
We then plan on following up with the company regarding their proposed changes to our insurance plans. Much more information has to be shared about this issue before any decisions can be reached. The company proposal has included many new concepts, both in coverage and cost, that need a full explanation.
job security
In light of the furlough that is occurring this week across the system, and the Company’s acknowledgement that more reductions are planned for the coming year, job security will always be a part of any discussion that is a part of United Airlines negotiations.
Talks between District 141 and United continue, relating to the UAX work in SFO. The company has solicited bids from interested vendors regarding this work and we have told the company that we believe our Members should be performing this work. Information has been exchanged regarding the real cost of the outsourced operation and we are currently evaluating the information to formulate our response. This process is expected to move forward quickly in the next few months.
Bonuses Payouts
United has proposed changes to the A:14 Bonus program for 2010. We are reviewing the company’s proposal to expand and increase the program to the coming year. United’s idea would be to use an additional criteria of United Promoter scores as another way for employees to receive monthly cash bonus payments, in addition to the current A:14 formula. The two areas would be evaluated separately and could generate separate payments. We want to insure that the proposed change is fair, attainable, and verifiable. The success of the A:14 program over the past year has shown that when targets are reasonably set and employees understand them both sides benefit. We do not want to lose that.
PBGC
The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, the government agency overseeing the terminated United Pension Plan, is making their final determinations regarding individual employee’s monthly benefits under the Ground Employees Plan.This is a process that has been going on since the PBGC took over the pensions in 2005.
The hope that additional money would be available for IAM members as a result of a lawsuit in 2009 has not been realized. The PBGC determined the criteria for allocating the funds and has decided that no additional money is available for IAM retirees. We have had the Legal Dept. of our International review the PBGC’s action to see if an appeal of the decision is possible. The preliminary answer has been that the PBGC has not violated and law or statute in reaching their decision and therefore a successful appeal is unlikely.
The PBGC is still calculating the final benefit levels of PCE members whose pension was covered by the Management and Salaried Plan. It is expected that these determinations will be complete by the end of the month.