CWA Update

[Dont call me Shirley]

YEE-HA! (For those of you who don't know what MLE is, be glad you have not experienced it first hand!) This is wonderful news! And, everyone, let's keep the negative comments out of this thread...

 

[diogenes]

FWIW, to fleet service -

As I understand it, the CWA/IBT and company settled the change-of-control grievance prior to an arbitrator's decision. Rather than a snap back to $21, they settled at $18 and elimimation of mainline express. How will this affect those who accepted EO? Nobody can say, but the thinking is they are severed and can't come back.

With regards to fleet, the IAM also has a change of control grievance going forward. There is also the TWU/IAM angle - who is going to represent fleet? One reason the CWA/ IBT grievance got resolved first is there is no dispute as to who represents customer service. There is a dispute as to who will represent fleet,slowing the arbitration process down. You have to figure what arbitrator in his right mind would render a decision on a bargaining unit that may not exist in a few months.

Will the CWA/IBT precedent apply to US fleet? Nobody knows at this point, but the IAM is addressing the issue.

One interesting note. Mechs have five years, and c/s, f/a and ALPA recall measures in years also. Fleet service is the ONLY bargaining unit who's recall rights got cut from 4 years to 60 days (fleet recall lasts for 4 years, but pay and seniority is cut to zero after 60 days).

What this means is simple. Every pilot, f/a, mech and c/s agent that is furloughed gets recalled with seniority for pay, bidding and vacation.The customer service agents in the expressed stations are going to be restored to mainline status with full seniority. The fleet service agents in those station were not even granted mainline express status - they were outsourced.

Every fleet service agent recalled from furlough after 60 days starts with zero seniority. As it stands, there are nearly a thousand furloughed fleet agents with major seniority. It would be a slap in the face for them to be the sole group at U disenfranchised.

As I have been lead to believe, the furlough language stands apart from the change of control language. Frankly, I don't understand that. Fleet had full seniority rights until the very last language was voted on. If part of that language is now subject to change, why not the rest of it?

I urge every fleet service employee to contact their union and share their concerns.

Air Transport District Lodge 141, IAMAW
1771 Commerce Drive, Suite 103
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
Phone: 847-640-2222
FAX: 947-640-2277

or

http://www.iam141.org/

You can navigate thru the site to email the district.

Let them know restoring fleet service recall to be the same as the other work groups is basic justice.

 

[LGA / 037]

" The new Passenger Service Employee Association IBT + CWA has reached agreement with USAirways management on all outstanding seamless service and transition issues , and we will accordingly with draw our change of control grievance." The agreement calls for the following:

1. End the pay step freeze for USAirways agents effective the coming April 1- snap up to $18 per hour top rate from the current $17.

2. Reinstate the Vacation Option II ( bid holidays as vacation days ) for USAirways effective next vacation bid ( Fall 2006 )

3. Raise USAirways Mainline Express agents to the Mainline payscale 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 Mainline rate
* Five months later MLE agents will be increased 75% of the difference between their current rate and Mainline rate.
* five months later MLE agents will be increased to 100% of the Mainline rate

4. Raise America West Agents to the USAirways Mainlinepayscale in the same increments as listed above in #3

5. Transition America West Agents to all other provisions od the CWA USairways by 6/1/06 or send all unresolved issues to arbitration.
7. USAirways recognizes the Association as the legal representative of the agents and the existing CWA / USAirways passenger service contract remains in full effect.

You local has the full text agreement and will posted on cwa.net tomarrow.

BTW , There was no #6 in the faxed document. It went from .5 to .7

 

[insp89]

LGA/037, Congratulations on CWA/IBT's agreement with the company..

Was this new agreement acheived without opening existing contracts ? or was it neccessary to open a contract ?

 

[LGA / 037]

LGA/037, Congratulations on CWA/IBT's agreement with the company..

Was this new agreement acheived without opening existing contracts ? or was it neccessary to open a contract ?

According to our Regional President , the Union did not want this to go to arbitration . They wanted it negotiated, but I think we all see the bigger picture here. For the unionit was the AWA employee$ and their due$ .

 

[wings396]

YEE-HA! (For those of you who don't know what MLE is, be glad you have not experienced it first hand!) This is wonderful news! And, everyone, let's keep the negative comments out of this thread...

It is very difficult to keep the negative comments out if you are still on the street with over 25 years of service.
We have seen what one Union can do, now the IAM represented....if you can call it that, want some justice done as well.
Let's get those that were sold down the river their jobs back!!! The FSA-MLE employees were not fortunate enough to hang on long enough to see this day. The sad part is, many of us were holding on as MLE employees and waiting for a day like this to come for us too. We told the IAM reps and the company, but it fell on deaf ears. We were already working for Peanuts, but the IAM "Struck a Deal" that permitted our jobs to be Outsourced instead. They told us that there was "No Need" for another job classification within the company......Gee, Thanks.... :down:

 

[noname]

Congrats to the CWA represented members. The one main reason I left was the reduction in vacation and loss of holidays (option 2) I had a difficult time resolving the fact that I would only have 4 weekends off a year to spend with my family after working for 26 years.

 

[28yrsnojob]

all layed off FSA should contact the union asap
and demand they get represented or start a law action
against the IAM

 

[robbedagain]

all layed off FSA should contact the union asap
and demand they get represented or start a law action
against the IAM

I agree with you 1000000%! 😀

 

[bulldog]

:down: :down: Hold on folks y'all need to see the big picture for the west folks Y'all got 0.40 cent raise which is 16.00 per month. Y'all will pay more than that in dues. Whats up with taking untill 12/2007 to get to an even playing field across the board
Are the East folks worth more than the West ??

Congratulations to MLE at least y'all got a partial victory

my personal opinion on life and personal views are posted only

 

[Doc]

So the way I see it is that my great union got us 1.00 for 10 more months than we would have gotten barring the option 2 but I don’t see how option 2 hurts the company.

The union will do great in the dues department seeing that MLE and HP will get paid a little more. It will take them 20mths to catch up but who’s counting.

I see this as an outrage….

No double time
No full pay for sick days
No 10 holidays
No retro pay
and it doesn't even start on the 1st of Jan.
And the list goes on.


The CWA chickened out and was afraid of the company going to the NMB to get us to have a run off vote.
I would have voted union to be clear on my stance here. It would have been a risk I would have taken.

1.00 dollar an hour ……PLEASE

 

[wings396]

"Every fleet service agent recalled from furlough after 60 days starts with zero seniority. As it stands, there are nearly a thousand furloughed fleet agents with major seniority. It would be a slap in the face for them to be the sole group at U disenfranchised"

As far as I know you don't lose your seniority, but you do return at the starting rate of pay. Please advise me if this is not correct.

 

[CyaInAz]

Can someone tell me how Holiday Option II works?

 

[REACC1]

Simply, if you got, say, 10 days of holidays, option I would be to take the holiday pay. Option 2 would let you bid two extra weeks of vacation, that year in leu of the pay.

 

[EricLv2Fish]

I didn't see any company info and ran across it. Thought you folks might be interested in the company's response so here it is...oh and if your happy with the agreement Congrats! As an outsider (tech-ops person) looking in it seems very favorable.



CWA and IBT Reach Agreement with US Airways

Today, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) issued a press release announcing that they’ve reached a transition agreement with US Airways covering customer service employees at the combined airline. The Company issued a release shortly after.

This move marks tremendous progress as we merge airlines; however it is also bound to raise questions for employees. Following are some quick questions and answers to address some of those issues.

What exactly was announced today?
CWA (who represents US Airways customer service employees) and IBT (who represents AWA customer service employees) created an alliance called the Airline Customer Service Employee Association to represent the Company’s combined customer service teams. The Company agreed to voluntarily recognize the Association as the representative of customer service employees at the combined airline.

As part of the agreement, the Company and the Association determined that AWA customer service employees would transition to the existing US-CWA collective bargaining agreement.

The agreement includes provisions for what’s called “Seamless Service,†allowing employees in those groups to provide assistance to customers of either airline at stations where both airlines currently operate. Essentially, it will allow cross-utilization of employees at the overlap stations.

When is this effective?
The agreement is effective immediately, but a few key steps remain before the transition is complete.
· On January 15, 2006, the Company and the Association will begin negotiating rules to transition AWA employees to the US Airways contract. If all transition rules haven’t been resolved by June 1, 2006, any remaining issues will be resolved through arbitration.
· The two work groups will be fully integrated into a combined workforce governed by the US contract within 45 days after seniority lists are combined, all transition rules are resolved and the Company converts to a single permanent reservation system.

What happens until then?
Until final transition to the US contract, AWA employees will continue to be governed by their existing terms of employment, although they will be immediately covered by the grievance procedure in the US contract. Employees seeking to file a grievance should contact Labor Relations or the same union officials they’ve worked with in the past for guidance. Remember: it’s a joint alliance made up of the unions employees have already been working with.

Since we’re going with the existing US contract, does that mean we get pay increases?
AWA employees will move up to the current US Airways pay rates in the following series of steps:
· First pay period after April 1, 2006 (or first pay period following resolution of all transition issues, if earlier): Increase $.40/hour or transition to US Airways pay rate, whichever is less;
· Four months later: Increase by 25% of the difference between their current pay rate and the US Airways pay rate;
· Six months later: Increase to 50% of the difference between their current pay rate and the US Airways pay rate;
· Five months later: Increase to 75% of the difference between their current pay rate and the US Airways pay rate; and
· Five months later: Increase to the US Airways pay rate.

Who does this affect?
Employees who will be represented by the Association include the following:
· AWA Customer Service Representatives, Reservations Agents and Vacations Agents
· US Airways Reservations, Dividend Miles and Baggage Call Center agents
· US Airways Customer Service, Clubs, CTO and CARs

Who will not be represented by the Association?
The following AWA employee groups will not be part of the customer service group represented by the Association:
· Customer Relations
· Central Baggage Resolution Office
· The cargo office at PHX
· Passenger coordinated tower positions in PHX and LAS

If employees have additional questions, we welcome them at merger@usairways.com.