You ask for it you got it
Your CWA Local Presidents Recommend A Strong Alliance to Maintain Our Passenger Service Careers
9-19-2005
An alliance between CWA at US Airways, and Teamsters at America West, is best for the job security, standard of living and working conditions of passenger service employees at both airlines.
The lack of an alliance would be dangerous for agents at both airlines...
With the airline industry in chaos, and employees suffering cuts at every airline, agents at US Airways and America West cannot afford an antagonistic conflict against each other that would risk our salaries, our protections and our benefits.
We have worked out an alliance which will preserve the US Airways agents' CWA contract, their CWA locals and their access to information and participation in their union.
The alliance (called Association of Airline Passenger Service Employees IBT + CWA) will allow us to remain CWA members while the America West employees remain Teamster members. US Airways agents will remain protected by the terms and conditions of their CWA contract.
In the future, the goal is to bring the AWA salaries and conditions up to the CWA contract level,
and to improve aspects of the CWA contract (for example: activate our "snap backs" sooner for holidays, vacation, sickdays, premiums, etc.). We eventually want a single, improved contract protecting the entire passenger service group.
When that future, single, contract is achieved, the Teamster agents in eastern stations would be CWA-represented. The CWA agents in western stations would be Teamster-represented. The Alliance will allow us to work in a concerted effort to resolve major contract issues that would affect all members, regardless of location. But that is in the future. For now US Airways agents, East and West, remain protected by their CWA contract.
Those are big goals and we can accomplish them by working together for a united passenger service group.
For the good of our careers, for the good of our new airline, it makes sense to form an alliance between the two work groups that maintains their current representation and contract (US Airways/CWA) and status quo conditions (AWA/Teamsters).
For that reason we recommend and request that you approve this Alliance when you receive your ballot and Alliance proposal in the mail.
Thank You,
CWA US Airways Local Presidents
Airways CWA’ers have voted overwhelmingly for the proposed alliance…
10/13/2005
After much discussion and debate, and following the recommendations of the CWA Local President’s, the US Airways passenger service employees have voted by a margin of
84% YES to 16% NO in favor of the proposed passenger service alliance to jointly represent the US Airways and America West agents.
The CWA Local Officers and Staff want to thank all who voted and participated in the discussions prior to this vote.
We also want to assure all those who took the time to write suggestions and messages on their ballots that we will compile those messages and make them available to all local officers and staff.
The ballots were picked up from the US Post office in DC today and counted by the local presidents. The local presidents and staff will continue meeting today to discuss strategy going forward. We’ll keep you posted on these discussions and on any meetings with management (none scheduled this week - probably next week).
US Airways passenger service pay step freeze will be lifted, Holiday Option II will be resumed, and Mainline Express agents will be increased to the Mainline rate of pay...
12-6-2005
The new Passenger Service Employee Association IBT + CWA has reached an
Interim Transition Agreement with US Airways management on all the outstanding seamless service and transition issues, and we will accordingly withdraw our change of control grievance. After two months of negotiations by the committee (CWA Local Officers, attorneys and staff and IBT attorneys and staff) the agreement calls for the following:
1. End the pay step freeze for US Airways agents effective this coming April 1, 2006 – snap up to $18 per hour top rate from the current $17;
2. Reinstate the Vacation Option II (bid holidays as vacation) for US Airways effective the next vacation bid (Fall 2006);
3. Raise US Airways Mainline Express Agents to the Mainline pay scale in the following steps:
$.40 raise on 4/1/06;
four months later MLE Agents will be increased 25% of the difference between their current rate and the Mainline rate;
six months later MLE Agents will be increased to 50% of the difference between their then current rate and the Mainline rate;
five months later MLE Agents will be increased to 75% of the difference between their current rate and the Mainline rate;
five months later MLE Agents will be increased to 100% of the Mainline rate.
4. Raise America West Agents to the CWA US Airways Mainline pay scale in the same increments listed in #3 above.
5. Transition America West agents to all the other provisions of the CWA US Airways passenger service contract by 6/1/06, or send all unresolved issues to arbitration.
6. US Airways recognizes the CWA/IBT Association as the legal representative of the agents and the existing CWA US Airways Passenger Service contract remains in full effect.
7. “Seamless Service” provisions for cross-utilizing US Airways and America West agents at overlap stations are established.
CWA Local Officers and Staff
Mgmt implements our bankruptcy agreement to end the Winston-Salem hiring freeze…
10-7-2005
Following through on their commitment to CWA to end the INT hiring freeze, management announced today that there will be a 30-person Res new hire class beginning on October 24.
This is welcome news and signals management's intention to keep Winston-Salem as a viable and key res center.
Per our CWA contract, INT must remain open and functioning for at least the duration of our contract (2012), but we also don't want to see it shrink in size.
Management's bankruptcy court agreement with CWA to end the INT hiring freeze will mean that the center will not only remain open, but will remain a viable center with continuing opportunities for res agents.
CWA resolves Bankruptcy issues prior to Plan of Reorganization...
9-16-2005
CWA’ers resolved our objections to the Bankruptcy Plan of Reorganization prior to the court hearing on Thursday, September 15. Here are the terms of that settlement:
* In exchange for a board seat, we agreed to four executive meetings annually ;
* We will accept the new profit sharing plan;
* The Winston-Salem Res center hiring freeze will end;
* Full-timers who have been displaced to part-time may accept an open full-time EO vacancy at their location at their regular rate of pay;
* Our pre-bankruptcy pending arbitration cases will not be wiped out by the bankruptcy court;
* Our entire CWA Passenger Service Agreement (our contract) will be officially “assumed” by the new corporation.
