Negotiations
Your IAM joint contract negotiations committee met from Monday, July 20, 2015 and continued through Thursday, July 23, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia.
Proposals were passed on the following Sections:
Section 5 Travel Expenses
Section 6 Training
Section 9 Sick Leave
Section 11 Leaves of Absences
Section 23 General
We expected much more progress to be made on these Sections, unfortunately due to inaction on the Company’s part that was not possible. In addition, vast division remains on several key issues contained within these Sections.
In Section 11 Leaves of Absence, one of the most extensive sections in the CBA, we focused on sick and vacation accruals, along with medical benefits while on different types of leaves. Section 5 Travel Expenses has very few open items but those contain substantial differences. We were able to resolve most issues in Section 6, Training. Section 9 Sick Leave has been whittled down to just a few open items as well but some of those items have the potential to greatly impact the membership, which is not being taken lightly. Section 23 General, encompasses many different topics such as out of base parking, commuter clause policy and jumpseating. We are aware that these issues will affect the day-to-day quality of life of our members, so we are continuing to fight hard to protect your rights.
We remain determined to achieve an industry leading agreement, while the Company has shown that it is their intent to negotiate a subpar agreement. Your negotiations committee is unified in our resolve to bringing our membership a contract that they deserve, as safety professionals.
Negotiations will continue on September 14 through September 17, 2015 in Houston, Texas.
The dedicated website for negotiations can be accessed at: www.iamoneuniononevoice.org
FMLA Tools
All grievance representatives have been provided tools to use in their respective bases to assist members with the FMLA process. These tools include a step-by-step comprehensive guide, along with an example of an FMLA certification form that would be approved and one thet would be denied due to commonly made mistakes. If you are beginning the FMLA process or having difficulty getting your FMLA certification approved please contact a grievance representative to provide you with guidance.
CRJ
Seatbelts
It was also brought to the Unions attention that Auditors were informing Flight Attendants that seatbelts had to be positioned and pulled straight, the Union immediately addressed this with the Company, to remind them that we have contract language on crossing seat belts. The Internal Memo that was put out to our Flight Attendants addressing the “positioning” is also in direct violation of our contract and has been addressed with Inflight Management and there will be a follow up meeting with the VP of Inflight on August 5, 2015. If you have been called into the office or have any questions or concerns, please contact your Grievance Representative immediately. We encourage all Flight Attendants to follow your contract as follows:
Section 28
- J. A Flight Attendant will cross seat belts in the aircraft cabin after each flight except at an overnight out-station.
Grievance Update
On Wednesday, July 29, General Chairperson Sara Gonzales and Special Representative Marche’ Johnson-Cooper met with the Manager-Contract Administration and Compliance to resolve outstanding grievances, prior to Grievance Mediation.
An MOU that outlined exactly when leveling will begin and that it will be reflected in the bucket list. This will alleviate issues that have arisen with the accurate reflection of the bucket list when the leveling process begins. Now there should be total transparency in the bucket list and the order in which reserves are assigned.
There was another MOU signed that clarifies the interpretation on when flight attendants are considered “assigned” Ready Reserve. According to the CBA a flight attendant cannot be assigned Ready Reserve more than five times in a month. We have had issues in the past that flight attendants were assigned to Ready Reserve but were reassigned so while they were called to be assigned Ready Reserve more than 5 times they never actually worked more than 5 Ready reserve shifts within a month. After researching the issue the intent of the CBA language was to prevent flight attendants from actually working more than 5 Ready Reserve shifts within a month. The MOU was put in place to clear up any interpretation issues with that language.
These MOUs will be available shortly at www.XJT.com > Navigation > Labor Relations > CRJ Flight Attendant CBA
Grievance Mediation is August 5 and August 6, General Chairperson Sara Gonzales and Special Representative Marche’ Johnson-Cooper will be hearing 4 new appeals at Grievance Mediation.
ERJ
Disciplinary Letters and “Failure to Acknowledge”
Please keep in mind that any time you receive a disciplinary or attendance letter you can request a meeting with your supervisor and union representative to review your attendance record and the attendance policy. It is of the utmost importance to maintain both a strong understanding of the Attendance Policy and your own attendance record.
Also, we have received many questions about “Failed to Acknowledge” letters. These letters do not have any discipline associated with them. Also, keep in mind the following CBA language:
Section 16.D.
Negative reports, material of an unfavorable nature, or documents related to discipline that are more than 12 months old may not be used to assess or support discipline, or make performance evaluations. If a flight attendant makes a request and such documents are more than 12 months old and are no longer required to be retained by law, they will be removed from the flight attendant’s personnel file
and promptly destroyed. This paragraph will not apply to recurrent training.
This means your “permanent record” or any disciplinary records can only be held for up to 12 months. If you would like to request that your file be purged of older records please email your supervisor with a request and CC your grievance representative.
If you have any questions on the policy or your attendance record please contact your local grievance representative.
Grievance Update
On Wednesday, July 29th General Chairperson Sara Gonzales along with Special Representative Melissa Brennan met with the ERJ Director of Inflight along with the the Manager-Contract Administration and Compliance to hear Step 2 grievances. Along with the six Step 2 grievances heard last Wednesday there have been three other grievances appealed to Step 2 which will be heard on August 20th in Houston, Texas.
Also, at the meeting we signed an MOU that will provide another option in our grievance procedure. If both the Company and the Union agree we will now be able to refer a grievance to Grievance Mediation. Grievance Mediation is something that was already existing in the CRJ CBA and we have seen great successes in this process. This new option will allow us to have a third party mediator appointed from the National Mediation Board (NMB) to assist in resolving our grievance disputes. We will be meeting quarterly with the mediator to hear cases that have been appealed to this process. This MOU will be available shortly at www.XJT.com > Navigation > Labor Relations > ERJ Flight Attendant CBA
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