Teamster airline mechanics fight for safety

Members of the Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition (TAMC) came to Washington last week to air their grievances and fight to improve airline safety.

TAMC members held several Capitol Hill meetings.

TAMC Chairman Chris Moore led the effort to meet with a bipartisan group of policy experts and legislative staff. He was joined by International Representative and TAMC Board Member Bob Fisher; Gary Kagel, a member of the TAMC Steering Committee from Local 769; Tom Reid, a TAMC Steering Committee member from Local 210; and Greg Unterseher, a business agent from Local 1224.

The TAMC requested that global drug testing standards be brought into uniform parity so that testing can be fair and equal for all airline mechanics.Airline repair stations exist all over the world and many carriers based in the U.S. outsource their repairs to foreign countries.Each nation has different standards for their drug testing, some of which are lower that the standards in the U.S.

Additionally, the TAMC lobbied for a moratorium on the certification of new repair stations worldwide following three consecutive reports by the U.S. Office of the Inspector General detailing an extensive failure by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to properly oversee existing repair stations.The TAMC believes that if the FAA cannot oversee existing repair stations, new ones should not be certified until all of the existing stations are able to be examined for compliance on a regular basis.

Moore was pleased with the meetings and is hopeful that action on these items can happen soon:

Our number-one goal is to improve safety and conditions for airline mechanics and the flying public. To that extent, these past two days have been full of productive and informative meetings with policy makers across the political spectrum and I’m hoping we can get some attention paid to these issues.

Captain David Bourne, Director of the Teamsters Airline Division, applauded the efforts of the TAMC to pressure lawmakers on airline safety issues:

I’m grateful for the work of the entire TAMC. The FAA needs to remember their commitment to the safety of the flying public. The efforts of the TAMC are important in keeping the spotlight on these issues.

The TAMC represents more than 18,000 aviation mechanics and related workers at seven airlines, including United, ExpressJet, Frontier, Horizon Air, NetJets, Piedmont Airlines and UPS. The Coalition will continue to fight for good working conditions for airline mechanics and safer skies.
For more information, visit www.teamsterair.org/tamc.

Today's Teamster News 04.01.15

Teamsters
Teamsters Applaud Veto Of Senate Joint Resolution To Overturn NLRB Election Modernization Rule  teamster.org   ...The Teamsters Union today applauded President Obama’s decision to veto a destructive resolution backed by Republicans in Congress that would overturn modest reforms issued by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to help streamline and modernize representation case procedures...
Teamsters Local 853 Begins Negotiations for Tech Company Shuttle Drivers  teamster.org   ...Negotiations on a union contract for Silicon Valley tech company drivers will begin today. Representatives for the drivers’ union, Teamsters Local 853 in San Leandro, Calif., will meet with Transdev, which operates as Compass Transportation, and employs drivers at Apple, eBay, Yahoo, Zynga, Genentech, Amtrak and Evernote...
St. Vincent technicians seek to align with union  Worcester Business Journal   ...The employees have applied to the Boston bureau of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to join Teamsters Local 170 in Worcester...
Open & Fair Skies Report: Reconsidering the U.S.-UAE Aviation Relationship  teamster.org   ... the Gulf carriers receive ‘stunning and unprecedented’ financial support from the UAE that dramatically upends the aviation marketplace.  As more experts study this case and the evidence, we are encouraged that they are supporting our request for the U.S. government to open consultations with the UAE under the Open Skies agreement...
Local 399 Casting Director Profiled In New Yorker  teamster.org   ...Allison Jones, the casting director, was reading the scene with actors trying out for the Stewart role, who faced a decision: audition with a real banana, or just pretend to eat one? Jones works out of a bungalow in the quaint Larchmont neighborhood of Los Angeles. The rooms of the house are airy and filled with mementos of her thirty-year-long career in Hollywood: bobble-heads of characters from “The Office,” which Jones cast; a bulletin board collaged with head shots...
Travel Industry Leaders Urge Maryland Governor To Reject Burdensome Tax On Travel  eTurboNews   ...Concerned industry participants comprise major corporations, travel management companies, travel agencies, travel industry advocates, travel associations, travel consortia and organized labor. Signatories to the letter include ...the Teamsters National Airline Division...
Cesar Chavez Day March Shines Light On LA Produce Workers' Rights  KABC   ...Teamsters marching Tuesday are in support of unionization for workers at the L.A. Produce Market. They say there are 1,000-2,000 workers at the market who lack union representation...
Trade
Trans-Pacific Partnership Treaty Will Help Neither Workers Nor Consumers (opinion)  Washington Post   ...now a significant portion of our trade is intra-corporate trade, an exchange between one branch of a multinational and another. Multinationals have different interests than national companies. They profit even if U.S. workers suffer...
State Battles
Most Americans Want Their State To Make Voter Registration Easier  Huffington Post   ...A 54 percent majority of Americans say they'd favor an automatic registration law in their state, a new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds, while 55 percent favor allowing eligible citizens to register on the day of an election...
Colorado House Gives Initial OK To Pair Of Minimum-Wage Bills  Denver Post   .. the Colorado House gave initial approval Monday to two bills that could grant pay hikes to the state's lowest-wage earners. One bill would allow elected officials in cities and counties to set minimum wages apart from the state standard; the other would create a 2016 ballot measure to allow voters to decide on a formula to raise it from the current $8.23 an hour to $12.50 by 2020...
War on Workers
Cheap oil prices chop jobs by thousands  USA Today   ...Planned oil industry layoffs in the U.S. are approaching 100,000 in the past four months with more likely to come...
The Shrinking Middle Class, Mapped State by State  The Pew Charitable Trusts   .... A new Stateline analysis shows that in all 50 states, the percentage of “middle-class” households—those making between 67 percent and 200 percent of the state’s median income—shrunk between 2000 and 2013...
Even After Walmart Got Busted in Court for Stealing Workers' Wages, It's Trying Not to Pay Up  Alternet   ...Walmart employees have over $187 [million] in damages they can collect from a successful wage theft lawsuit, but the company is arguing that each victim should get their own lawyer...
‘Wealth creators’ are robbing our most productive people  Guardian   ...A report by the Resolution Foundation reveals that two-thirds of frontline care workers receive less than the living wage. Ten percent, like Carole, are illegally paid less than the minimum wage. This abuse is not confined to the UK: in the US, 27% of care workers who make home visits are paid less than the legal minimum...
Income Inequality: It’s Also Bad For Your Health  New York Times   ...the effect of inequality was statistically significant, equivalent to a difference of about 11 days of life between high- and low-inequality places. The differences were small, but for every increment that a community became more unequal, the proportion of residents dying before the age of 75 went up...
The Rise Of The Working Poor And The Non-Working Rich (opinion)  Huffington Post   ...While poverty declined in the early years of welfare reform when the economy boomed and jobs were plentiful, it began growing in 2000. By 2012 it exceeded its level in 1996, when welfare ended....
Losing A Job Is Always Terrible. For Workers Over 50, It’s Worse  Washington Post   ...although older people often found the working conditions at their new jobs were better than their old one, nearly half found that the new job paid less....
Contractor Killed In Industrial Accident At Marcus Hook Refinery  Philadelphia Inquirer   ...A contractor working at the former Sunoco refinery in Delaware County was killed Monday afternoon in an industrial accident, officials said...
Miscellaneous
Wintry Hit Seen In Soft Spending  Wall Street Journal   ...Consumer spending barely rose in February, increasing a seasonally adjusted 0.1% from the prior month after two consecutive declines, the Commerce Department said Monday. Spending on goods and services, when adjusted for inflation, actually declined slightly for the first time in 10 months...

Today's Teamster News 04.21.14

Trade
This Time, Get Global Trade Right (opinion)  New York Times   ...To gain the support of a divided Congress and public, the administration must ensure that new agreements are much stronger than Nafta and other pacts...
During Asia trip, Obama will renew effort to ‘rebalance’ U.S. relationship with the region  Washington Post   ...the president has a long list of tasks awaiting him: He will try to make headway on trade negotiations with Japan...
War on Workers
Tech Companies Adopt Astroturf to Get Their (Wicked) Way  truthout   ...FWD.us was founded in April 2013 by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg...The group favors a certain type of immigrant: highly-skilled, foreign tech workers who would be cheaper to hire than their American counterparts. Net effect: lower wages for everyone...
After foreclosure crisis, renters suffer under Wall Street landlords  Aljazeera America   ...low-income urban renters also saw their buildings over-mortgaged at the height of the crisis, and now faceless hedge funds and nameless investors are replacing their desperate landlords — sometimes with disastrous consequences...
After Everest Disaster, Sherpas Contemplate Strike  New York Times   ...On Sunday, disappointed at the Nepali government’s offer of 40,000 rupees, or about $408, as compensation for the families of the dead, some Sherpas gathered at Everest’s base camp proposed a “work stoppage” that could disrupt or cancel the 334 expeditions planned for the 2014 climbing season...
Miscellaneous
'It's miraculous': Stowaway, 16, walks away unharmed despite flying more than five hours from California to Hawaii in plane WHEEL WELL after running away from home  Daily Mail   ...A 16-year-old boy stowed away in the wheel well of a flight from California to Hawaii on Sunday, surviving the trip halfway across the Pacific despite -81F (-62C) temperatures at 38,000 feet...
Is America an oligarchy?  New Yorker   ...From the Dept. of Academics Confirming Something You Already Suspected comes a new study concluding that rich people and organizations representing business interests have a powerful grip on U.S. government policy...

Today's Teamster News 01.30.14

Teamsters Speak Out at Lobby Day in Olympia  teamster.org   ...Correctional employees teamed up with taxi cab operators, warehouse workers, nurses, cooks and county and city employees for dozens of meetings with legislators...
Whitney Foods Workers Join Teamsters Local 703  teamster.org   ...Chicago distribution workers with Whitney Foods are now members of Teamsters Local 703 after the company voluntarily recognized its employees’ right to join the union last fall...
Collective Bargaining: How to Negotiate Strong Teamster Contracts  teamster.org   ...The IBT Training and Development Department is conducting a Teamsters Leadership Academy on collective bargaining, March 11-14, 2014...
Allegiant Air Pilots to Meet with Investors, Analysts to Discuss Operating, Safety Concerns  teamster.org   "...the major service disruptions over the last several months, ranging from multiple fleet shutdowns, chronic staffing and equipment shortages, significant ramp-up in 3rd party contracting for scheduled flights and sub-servicing and the shutdown of the company’s training department, all flow from the short-sighted decisions being made at the top.”...
New poll shows voters overwhelmingly oppose Fast Track  TeamsterNation   ...Voters by a 2-to-1 margin oppose Fast Track authority to pass trade deals, according to a new poll by Hart Research released today...
Reid Deals Body Blow to Obama on Trade  Wall Street Journal   ...Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid broke publicly with the White House Wednesday on trade policy, instantly imperiling two major international trade deals...
Even Companies Need to Know More about Fast Track, TPP  teamster.org   ...Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) raised the issue of trade provisions that would allow foreign companies to sue governments before international tribunals
Fight back against currency manipulation   McClatchy   ...we need to increase sales of goods and services made in the United States, which means expanding exports, reducing imports and shrinking our trade deficit. Currency manipulation, by about 20 countries (mostly in Asia), is the single most important cause of our trade deficit...
Asian Shares Slump After Fed Action  Wall Street Journal   ...Market turmoil returned to Asia Thursday, with Japanese stocks at one point slumping more than 3%, after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would scale back further on its stimulus measures...
Is A New Economic Crisis At Hand?  TripleCrisis   ...AT the end of last week, several developing countries saw sharp falls in their currency as well as stock market values, prompting the question of whether it is the start of a wider economic crisis. The sell-off in emerging economies also spilled over to the American and European stock markets, thus causing global turmoil...
K Street's Fortunes Decline for Third Year  OpenSecrets   ...For the third straight year, spending on K Street is down, with only a handful of industries spending more on lobbying in 2013 than they did in 2012...
Fortune 50 CEO pay vs. our salaries  CNN Money   ...With a staggering total compensation package of $378 million for 2011, Apple's Tim Cook takes the cake for the highest Fortune 50 CEO-to-typical-worker pay ratio. Indeed, it takes 6,258 typical Apple worker salaries to match Cook's total pay...
The Stealth Privatization of Pennsylvania's Bridges  TruthOut   ...Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett's administration has decided to sign a 40-year contract to privatize the state's crumbling bridges, but there has been little to no media coverage of the deal and what it will mean for two generations of Pennsylvanians...
Fun With Scary Pension Numbers in Chicago  Center for Economic Policy and Research   ...The Chicago Tribune headlined a news story: "Chicago pension tab: $18,596 for every man, woman, child." That's pretty scary. Fortunately my Chicago public school teachers taught me about fractions and denominators. That is what is missing here. The key point is that Chicago does not have to pay this money tomorrow or even over the next year. This is a liability over the next 30 years...

Today's Teamster News 09.30.13

Wegmans blames Teamsters for anti-Buffalo banner at Bills game  The Buffalo News   ...In addition to passing out union leaflets at the Bills game, the Teamsters were accused of using the airplane to fly over the stadium with a “Wegmans wants Buffalo to lose” banner...
JPMorgan’s Biggest Mistake  Bloomberg   ...the derivatives trades resulted in losses of $6.2 billion plus an additional $920 million in fines -- so far...
Elizabeth Warren Calls For Big Changes To Student Loans  Huffington Post   ...College graduates struggling to repay their student loans should have an easier time getting their debt eliminated if they go into bankruptcy, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Saturday...
Social Security Does Not Redistribute From Young to Old, It Is a Public Pension System  Center for Economic and Policy Research   ...If workers contributed the same amount to a privately managed pension fund and then collected an annuity in their retirement no one would call it a redistribution from young to old...
Half of British pilots admit to falling asleep in cockpit -survey  Reuters   ...According to the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA), 56 percent of 500 commercial pilots admitted to being asleep while on the flight deck and, of those, nearly one in three said they had woken up to find their co-pilot also asleep...
Gasoline Prices down 35 cents per gallon year-over-year  Calculated Risk   ...Some of the year-over-year price decline is related to slightly lower Brent oil prices, but most of decline is because there were refinery and pipeline issues last year at this time...
Government Blurs the Lines Between Bad Guys and Average Americans  The Big Picture   ...If you’ve ever cared about privacy while using the Internet in public, you might be a terrorist. At least that’s the message from the FBI and Justice Department’s Communities Against Terrorism initiative...
TPP Protestors Scale Trade Building To Bring Attention to Secretive Deal  The Real News   ...The Trans-Pacific Partnership has nothing to do with trade or freedom, and ongoing demonstrations could encourage those on the inside to speak up...
Stuck: State of Working Ohio 2013  Policy Matters Ohio   ...While the national recovery is weak, Ohio’s is much worse...
UAW releases 2014 union-built vehicles list  UAW   ...The new editions to the list include Ford Motor Co.’s Fusion sedan, made for the first time at the Flat Rock (Mich.) Assembly Plant as a result of 2011 bargaining between the UAW and Ford...
Wisconsin leads nation in removing most people from Medicaid  The Cap Times   ...By a wide margin, Wisconsin would remove more low income people from Medicaid than any other state as part of a plan advanced by Gov. Scott Walker still awaiting federal approval...
Govt to Sue North Carolina Over New Voter Law  Associated Press   ...The Justice Department will sue the state of North Carolina for alleged racial discrimination over tough new voting rules, the latest effort by the Obama administration to fight back against a Supreme Court decision that struck down the most powerful part of the landmark Voting Rights Act and freed southern states from strict federal oversight of their elections...
Rising foreclosures hurt Island as nation recovers  Newsday   ...New foreclosure cases on Long Island are spiking, even as the mortgage crisis fades in the rest of the United States...

Today's Teamster News 07.07.13

Scores Missing after Oil-Laden Train Explosion Rocks Small Town  Common Dreams   ...Reportedly, there was no one on board the train as the oil-laden cars were being "remotely operated..."
'Surreal' escape: How survivors fled badly damaged Asiana Flight 214  NBC News   ...In all, there were 307 people on board the Asiana flight, 291 passengers and 16 crew. Authorities said 182 people were hospitalized, including 49 with serious injuries. Hospitals reported that the injuries included burns, fractures and cuts...
Don’t Get Too Excited About Today’s Jobs Data  Bloomberg   ... it would take four more years of job gains at the current pace of 195,000 per month to completely close the gap that began opening at the end of 2007...
The Part-Timer Problem  The American Prospect   ...Delaying the employer mandate may mean fewer firms will cut workers’ hours—but the rise of part-time work will continue nonetheless...
After Ruling, States Rush to Enact Voting Laws  New York Times   ...State officials across the South are aggressively moving ahead with new laws requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls after the Supreme Court decision striking down a portion of the Voting Rights Act...
Even After One of Worst Worker Atrocities in Human History, Gap & Walmart Won't Get Serious About Preventing Another   Alternet   ...Should the government of Bangladesh or the companies that sell products manufactured in the country be held responsible for working conditions?...
In Secret, Court Vastly Broadens Powers of N.S.A.  New York Times   ...In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation’s surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyberattacks, officials say...
The NSA's mass and indiscriminate spying on Brazilians  The Guardian   ...As it does in many non-adversarial countries, the surveillance agency is bulk collecting the communications of millions of citizens of Brazil...
City Unions: Wall Street Looted Oakland   East Bay Express   ...A new report alleges that big banks gouged Oakland taxpayers of nearly $500 million over the past sixteen years as the city has been forced to dramatically cut public services...
Las Vegas Suburb Accused of Plotting to Seize 5,000 Homes with Eminent Domain to Flip Them for a Profit  Alternet   ...The City of North Las Vegas is endangering its financial status with a cockeyed plan to seize up to 5,000 homes through eminent domain, buy them with public money and flip them, a man claims in court...

Teamsters fight against knives on planes

U.S. Rep. Ed Markey today, with Teamsters and the flight attendants coalition.

Teamsters objected to a new policy allowing small knives on planes at a Capitol Hill news conference today. The Teamsters are part of the Flight Attendants Union Coalition, which is coordinating a nationwide legislative and public campaign to reverse the Transportation Security Administration's decision.

CBS News reported:

A new Transportation Security Administration policy that would allow passengers to bring small knives on board commercial flights "will not fly," Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said today. 

"It is a nonsensical policy, it is a contradictory policy, it is a dangerous policy," Markey said, standing outside of the U.S. Capitol with representatives from flight attendant unions, the Federal Air Marshal Service and other groups opposed to the change. 

"We want the TSA to stand for 'Transportation Security Administration,'" Markey said, "not 'Take Small knives Aboard.'" 

With the policy change slated to kick in next month, Markey has introduced the "No Knives Act" to keep knives off planes.

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa spoke out against the policy, scheduled to take effect on April 25:

Since the horrific 9/11 terror attacks, the ban on dangerous objects in the aircraft cabin has helped make our nation’s airline industry the safest in the world. This ban has been and continues to be an integral part of our nation’s aviation security system, ensuring the safety of both passengers and crew members. We call on the TSA to reverse this decision.

You can sign a petition to keep knives off planes here.

David Bourne, director of the Teamsters Airline Division, said:

We have spent countless hours working with our nation’s leaders, union leaders, industry leaders, and our membership to protect the American traveling public, our members, and those people on the ground. Under the current rules, you are allowed to transport the ‘new’ items but they must be checked items. The current rules should be continued.

The Teamsters Airline Division represents about 80,000 workers in all segments of commercial aviation, including pilots and flight attendants. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters was founded in 1903 and represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

Today's Teamster News 01.16.13

United States Shouldn't Hand Over Battery Technology to China (opinion) US News   ...a cautionary tale is being told in a U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware, where—unless the government acts quickly—over a decade of advanced American technology is about to be handed to the Chinese at a creditors' sale...
Goldman backs down on UK bonus delay  CNN   ...Goldman Sachs has backed down from a plan to delay UK bonus payments until after the new UK tax year, which would have allowed bankers to benefit from a cut in the top rate of tax from 50 to 45 per cent...
What Wal-Mart's Plan to Hire 100,000 Veterans Means For the Company and Economy: Nothing  The Atlantic   ...the average sales associate makes around $8 an hour. If that's the best we can for our veterans, we're not really doing very much...
House panel blocks most GOP attempts to trim Sandy disaster-relief bill  The Hill   ...The Republican-led House Rules Committee late Monday approved a rule for a massive Hurricane Sandy relief package that shuts out most GOP proposals to pare back the size of the bill...
Germany's economic growth slows sharply in 2012  BBC News   ...The German economy grew by 0.7% in 2012, a sharp slowdown on the previous year, preliminary figures show. The figure was well below the 3% growth seen in 2011 and suggests the economy contracted in the fourth quarter...
Japanese airlines ground Dreamliners after emergency landing  Reuters   ...All Nippon Airways Co said instruments aboard a domestic flight indicated a battery error, triggering emergency warnings to the pilots. Shigeru Takano, a senior safety official at the Civil Aviation Bureau, said a second warning light indicated smoke...
Priebus: Republicans in blue states ‘ought to be’ rigging Electoral College  Raw Story   ... Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus says that conservative lawmakers in blue states like Wisconsin “ought to be looking at” ways to rig the Electoral College system to tilt elections towards Republican candidates in a way that could have allowed presidential candidate Mitt Romney to win...
Scott Walker Uses Capitol Police to Go After First Amendment Rights  Politicususa   ...This weekend, three Capitol Police issued a citation to a 69-year-old retired woman for participating in a sing-a-long at the Capitol...
Louisiana Governor’s New Plan Would Raise Taxes On Bottom 80 Percent Of Residents  ThinkProgress   ...Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) recently rolled out a plan to replace his state’s personal income and corporate taxes with an increased sales tax. Such a move would shift taxes from the rich to the poor, who are disproportionately hit by the sales tax...
What happened to Gov. Rick Scott's dog, Reagan?  WTSP   ...Reagan was quietly given back to the shelter from which he was adopted, shortly after Scott's election...
NYC School Bus Drivers, Matrons Go on Strike  Associated Press   ...More than 8,000 New York City school bus drivers and matrons went on strike over job protection Wednesday morning, leaving some 152,000 students, many disabled, trying to find other ways to get to school...
Charleston school bus workers vote to authorize strike at Durham  IBT   ...The workers were unanimous in their decision to authorize a strike, after Teamsters Local 509 and Durham reached a standstill because of the company’s unwillingness to negotiate in good faith over decent working conditions....
Teamsters Reject UNFI Offer  Supermarket News   ..."In spite of record profits, UNFI has committed multiple violations of federal law, including the unlawful replacement of workers at its distribution center in Seattle..."

Teamsters help write the book on saving the airline industry

Why has air travel become so miserable? It's fraught with delays, lost luggage, fees, congestion and all manner of unpleasantness.

A recently published book by consumer advocate and journalist William McGee examines the airline industry’s race to the bottom and what we can do to stop it. He quotes Teamster leaders in the book, Attention all Passengers: The Airlines’ Dangerous Decent – and How to Reclaim Our Skies.

McGee, a former airline dispatcher, links the industry's degeneration to executives’ relentless efforts to cut costs. They outsource aircraft maintenance and farm out flights to smaller regional carriers. The results have been devastating for travelers and workers -- but lucrative for legacy airlines. They've made billions from checked baggage alone.

Among his many interviews with industry experts,  McGee sat down with both Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa and director of the Teamsters Airline Division, Capt. David Bourne. McGee also interviewed Airline Division representative Chris Moore and United Airlines mechanic Dave Saucedo, both of whom are on the Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition steering committee. He also interviewed pilots, mechanics, flight attendants, CEOs, and government inspectors.

McGee describes how major airlines contract out repairs and other maintenance work to unlicensed mechanics in places like El Salvador and Mexico. Bourne told him,

This is not a paper argument. I have personally encountered problems with outsourced maintenance. We could tell where the repairs had been done when we flew the planes after servicing.

McGee describes his conversation with Hoffa:

If the battle lines are being drawn, I moved from one side of the skirmish to the other, interviewing airline executives and financial analysts, as well as labor officials and academics. But in the annals of the American labor movement, one name undoubtedly stands out from the others: Hoffa…

Once inside the office of James P. Hoffa, the general president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, I was equally struck by the spectacular picture-window view of the Capitol dome and the striking resemblance to his father, James R. Hoffa…

I asked to visit Hoffa because I wanted a big-picture perspective, and his opening remarks were as expansive as our view of the Washington Mall…“Corporate America has betrayed America and American workers,” Hoffa said. “Executives don’t see their obligations. All they think about is the next quarter.”…

“There’s a way to pay fair wages,” he responded. “A 747 pilot flying to Japan with three hundred people on board? Look how productive he is. He should be paid well.”…“The airlines are part of a bigger picture. They’re moving back all borders. And American corporations are dodging taxes. That’s why there are no jobs.”

It doesn’t have to be that way. McGee lists a number of changes needed to reclaim our skies. They include: partial reregulation; enforcing fair competition and international emissions standards; an end to maintenance outsourcing; higher standards for regional airlines and more transparency for foreign ones; revamped corporate bankruptcy laws; and a passenger bill of rights.

We hope McGee's book inspires more workers and the flying public to come together and take back our skies.

-- Union Thug

Teamsters stand up to ABX for wrongly firing pilot

Who do you trust more when it comes to your safety on an airplane? The pilot who is flying the plane or airline bosses on the ground?

We think it’s the pilot who knows best. So does the Federal Aviation Administration. But cargo airline ABX Air seems to think differently.

ABX fired a pilot last month because he refused to operate a plane based on a flight plan that violated FAA-approved procedures. The Airline Professionals Association, Teamsters Local 1224, has announced that it filed suit against the airline and is demanding the captain’s reinstatement.

Today, the Teamsters put out a statement supporting the pilot, who worked for ABX for 27 years and had no disciplinary history:

“The Teamsters will use all of our resources to defend and preserve a captain’s authority,” said Teamsters Airline Division Director Capt. David Bourne. “In the aviation industry, the captain’s authority is the cornerstone of safe and secure flight operations.”

In June, the pilot was operating an ABX flight in Japan when he requested a change to the flight plan after raising safety concerns. Following the incident, the airline took disciplinary action and fired the pilot for refusing to sign a coerced statement that said the pilot was not justified in questioning the flight’s safety.

The pilot was exercising his FAA-mandated rights, which give the captain of an aircraft the final authority in determining the safe operations of a flight.

Adding insult to injury, ABX notified all its captains that it fired the pilot. Bourne said this was an obvious attempt by the company to create a chilling effect on pilots and their ability to make decisions about flight safety:

This was clearly meant to intimidate pilots and curtail their ability to make sure safety is the top priority on every flight. The Teamsters will not let an injustice like this go unchallenged.

Capt. Dan Wells, president of Local 1224, told Aviation International News,

What worries us the most is that the captain was fired for making this decision. Why else would the company send out that letter other than to scare pilots into making the decision [the company would regard as] right in the future?

The Teamsters demand that the pilot be fully reinstated. They also want the airline to outline future protections for flight crews so they can exercise their authority on flight safety without fear of retaliation by management.

Capt. Wells explained why airlines should respect pilots’ rights to make the call on safety:

When operating a highly complex, multimillion-dollar machine in the dynamic real-world environment, a captain is required to make rapid decisions based on the regulations, his experience, procedures, and the immediate situation at hand to complete a flight safely. To impede a captain’s authority to evaluate or even question the safety of a flight undermines the safety protocols upon which our entire aviation system is built.

Teamster pilots are on the frontlines when it comes to keeping our skies safe. They should be praised, not fired.

-- Union Thug

Today's Teamster News 07.31.12

The CEO Plan to Steal Your Social Security and Medicare  Truthout   ...the top executives of some of the country's largest companies are getting together to craft a budget package that they will try to push through Congress and get the president to sign…At the center of their proposal are big cuts in Social Security and Medicare...
Criminals are choosing free room and board over freedom  Financial Armageddon   ..."Some people that are coming to jail are not bonding out because of economics," said Thomas County Sheriff's Office spokesman Capt. Steve Jones. "It's cheaper to stay here and to sit for a couple weeks and then go to court."...
There Are 25 Million People Unemployed, Underemployed or Out of the Workforce Altogether and NPR's Presidential Debate Moderator Just Wants to Talk About the Budget Deficit   Beat the Press   ...the deficit is actually shrinking...
Teamsters: Will Republic Airways CEO, Board Show At Shareholder Meeting?  IBT   ...On Wednesday, Aug. 1, Republic Airways Holdings [NASDAQ: RJET] will hold its annual shareholders' meeting in New York City amid worker protests and growing investor concerns about the company's mismanagement and weak governance structure...
Teamsters file suit against ABX Air  Teamsters Local 1224   ...The lawsuit stems from an incident in June, in which an ABX Air captain operating in Japan requested changes to a flight plan after identifying safety concerns. The captain was terminated last week following his refusal to sign a coerced statement that would have required him to acknowledge that his reasons for questioning the flight's safety were invalid and that he had unreasonably used his captain's authority...
Teamsters say no new offer was made to Waste Management  NWCN.com   ...A Teamsters spokesperson on Monday disputed a statement from Waste Management that the union had made a proposal through a federal mediator to end the 6-day-old strike by drivers of the company's garbage and recycling trucks.  Brenda Wiest with Teamsters Local 117 said the union is in frequent contact with the mediator on how to approach the situation, but a formal proposal was never made...

Today's Teamster News 01.06.12

Corporate Profits Have Rebounded To Pre-Recession Levels, But Corporate Tax Revenue Hasn’t  ThinkProgress   ...Corporate tax revenue has plummeted for several reasons, but one of the big ones is the growth of deductions, loopholes, and outright tax evasion that helps companies limit, or entirely eliminate, their income tax liability. 30 major corporations, in fact, paid no corporate income tax over the last three years, while making $160 billion in profits...
Need jobs? Call on government (opinion)  Los Angeles Times   ...International experience shows that direct job creation by governments is one of the very few options that has succeeded at raising employment levels more than just marginally during a crisis...
Bank charge of the day, mortgage-payment edition  Reuters   ...Citi is getting a big advantage from you making half your mortgage payment two weeks early — and then it has the chutzpah to charge you hundreds of dollars for the privilege. They even charge you $1.50 per extra transaction, as though that costs them any money at all. (It doesn’t.)...
SCOTUS expected to weight Montana campaign finance appeal  Politico   ...Campaign finance experts predict that the court will almost certainly address the ruling, since it’s seen as a direct challenge to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision that allowed corporations, unions and other special interests to use their treasury funds to make or fund political ads that support or oppose political candidates...
Airline Safety Soars  paulkedrosky.com   ...According to new data, 2011 was the safest year in global commercial aviation history...
Democrats bemoan rush on labor bill  Indianapolis Star   ...This morning's joint House- Senate committee may be the only chance the public has to weigh in on the controversial legislation targeting labor contracts that for the second year has forced a legislative standoff...
Former aide to Scott Walker arrested with two others  Politico   ...Three people, including a former aide to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, were arrested Thursday as part of a secret criminal probe that found two of the men stole funds intended for wounded vets and families of U.S. soldiers who died in Iraq and Afghanistan...
Teamster Strike Halts Pipeline Projects  Youngstown Business Journal   ...a strike by more than 700 pipeline construction workers has already halted work on projects related to the Marcellus shale play in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and could lead to stoppages across the country...

Links 08/27/10

For Workers Who Find Jobs, Lower Wages Wall Street Journal ... 55% of those who did find work were earning less than before.

A Thriving Industry Built on Low-Compensated Temp Workers New York Times ...thousands of workers in the Chicago area’s massive warehouse complexes ... are laid off and rehired every few months by temporary-staffing agencies.

Sarah Palin Will "Go Down in History like McCarthy," Says Labor Leader CBS News ...Trumka complains about Palin railing against "union thugs" despite the fact that her husband is in a union.

States Press Workers on Health Care Wall Street Journal ...Kentucky, Connecticut and Texas... join a growing number of governments that have cut health benefits in recent years without major challenges.

American Will Fight Record FAA Fine Wall Street Journal ...American Airlines vowed to fight a proposed $24.2 million federal penalty alleging intentional maintenance violations on some 280 jetliners.

Tea Party Rocks Primaries Rolling Stone ...this summer’s media hate-fest is different than anything we’ve seen before.