www.goiam.org
Following an
announcement by US Airways that it plans to outsource heavy maintenance on
10 of its 121 Airbus aircraft, the IAM and District 141-M filed for a
Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to prevent the carrier from moving the
work to an outside facility.
The carrier revealed it had reached an agreement with Singapore Technologies Mobile Aerospace Engineering, a foreign-owned firm located in Mobile, AL, to perform S-checks on Airbus aircraft operated by US Airways.
“In the 54 years the IAM and US Airways have had a collective bargaining relationship, the Company has never subcontracted heavy maintenance of aircraft,” said the IAM in the court filing. “Such subcontracting is strictly prohibited by the parties’ collective bargaining agreement.
“US Airways’ attempt
to seize what could not be attained through the collective bargaining
process is equivalent to the destructive actions taken by Frank Lorenzo in
the late ‘80’s,” said IAM GVP Robert Roach, Jr.
“The move is an affront to the US Airways employees who brought the
Company out of bankruptcy and to the communities where they live and
work.”
http://goiam.org/territories.asp?c=4779
IAM Court Filing against US Airways:
Machinists at three Pratt & Whitney plants in central
Connecticut rejected a management proposal to cut workers’ pay by 15
percent in exchange for temporary job security. A total of 423 workers
cast ballots on the issue, which affects 468 materials workers.
On
the heels of the 219-203 vote, The Hartford-based aerospace subsidiary of
United Technologies Corp. (UTC) announced 160 P&W jobs in Cheshire, East
Hartford and Middletown would be cut and the work transferred to outside
vendors.
The proposal by Pratt management was viewed as a "lose/lose" situation for workers, who balked at pay cuts while UTC executives routinely get exorbitant bonuses. Many workers objected on principle to making financial sacrifices, even at the cost of layoff.
The IAM plans to meet as soon as possible with Pratt management to discuss how to preserve jobs without reducing workers’ pay. The IAM believes it is in the company’s interest as well as the workers to preserve the critical parts shipping operation.
"We had to bring this proposal back to the members, because management said it was their final offer,” said District 26 Assistant Directing Business Representative Jim Parent. “But we knew it was an ugly proposition, and this vote proves that. Now management has a chance to work with us instead of working against their own employees. Hopefully, they will take up that challenge."
House Puts Damper on
Bush Overtime Proposal
The U.S. House of
Representatives voted 221-203 to oppose a Bush administration proposal
that could spell the end of overtime pay protection for up to 8 million
U.S. workers. The vote reverses earlier support in the House for the OT
proposal, which would gut the landmark 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.
The vote was a major victory for working families and labor unions, whose members generated hundreds of thousands of e-mails and phone calls to legislators on the need to protect, rather than eliminate overtime pay protection.
The non-binding motion instructs members of the House conference committee to include an amendment that would deny funding for the Labor Department to implement the overtime scheme. Republican leaders are expected to hand pick supporters of the Bush proposal for the conference committee in a last ditch effort to revive the assault on overtime pay.
Seniors Win Voice,
Votes on DNC Committee
IAM seniors gained a
valuable new resource this week when the Democratic National Committee (DNC)
welcomed civil rights activist Dr. Eugene Callendar and Maria Cordone, IAM
Director of Community Services/Retirees, as voting members of the DNC’s
National Democratic Seniors Coordinating Council (NDSCC).
Callendar and Cordone were elected chair and vice chair respectively to the NDSCC and will officially represent the council as voting members of the DNC.
The mission of the NDSCC is to increase participation of seniors at all levels of the Democratic Party and to heighten the visibility of senior Americans as one of the Party’s core constituencies.
“We are going to recruit, organize and turn out the senior vote like never before,” said Cordone. “It is our job to ensure that seniors know the differences between Democrats and Republicans, and how destructive the GOP agenda is for seniors.”
Retirees Plan National Day of Action
for October 10
October 10 has been
designated a “National Day of Action” by the Alliance for Retired
Americans, who will coordinate “whistle blower” events around the country
to protest Medicare prescription drug bills now being considered by
Congress.
“The Oct. 10 activities are designed to inform the public and the media of just how devastating H.R. 1 and S.1 will be to older Americans,” said Alliance President Gourge Kourpias. “Our goal is to send Congress a message it cannot ignore.”
“From the beginning of this debate, the Alliance has fought efforts to dismantle Medicare, arguing instead for Congress to enact a voluntary, universal, comprehensive prescription drug benefit as part of traditional fee-for-service Medicare programs,” said Alliance Executive Director Edward F. Coyle.
Additional information about the Day of Action will be posted on the Alliance website at www.retiredamericans.org.
Jobs Disappear at U.S.
Blue Chips
The number of jobless
Americans continues to grow; with bellwether manufacturers Ford Motor Co.
and Eastman Chemical Co. announcing another round of job cuts.
Ford announced it will eliminate over 3,000 jobs in North America by the end of the year, cutting 1,700 contract workers and eliminating more than 1,300 salaried positions. The company also cut 3,000 jobs in Belgium and 1,700 jobs in their German division.
The layoffs are part of the automaker’s 5-year plan to eliminate 35,000 jobs, close five plants and discontinue four car models, all in hopes of improving profits by $9 billion.
Eastman Chemical, which produces the plastic for soda bottles and other chemicals, also announced 600 job cuts, blaming lower product prices and higher raw material costs.
Apparently the U.S. Department of Labor was unaware of the continuing erosion of jobs. It announced that the unemployment rate for September remained at 6.1%. It did, however, note that an additional 29,000 jobs were lost in the manufacturing sector, marking the 37th consecutive month for job losses in this critical sector.