POST ON ALL IAM BULLETIN BOARDS
Dear Sisters and Brothers:
Your IAMAW District 142 leadership is aware of and closely monitoring the situation with Hurricane Ian. The severity of this storm requires everyone to pay close attention to all communications from company management, your union leadership, and the storm tracking center. The safety of our members is of utmost importance during this time.
District 142 has members in Florida from several carriers/employers including, but not limited to Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Amentum/Border Patrol Contract, and Bahamasair. We are actively engaging the leadership at these companies regarding their preparations and/or contingency plans for employees/members in the path of the approaching storm.
THE FOLLOWING UPDATES ARE FROM SOUTHWEST AIRLINES LABOR AND GROUND OPS MANAGEMENT, PERTAINING TO THE EMPLOYEES/MEMBERS AT SOUTHWEST:
• All Stations are working though their Hurricane checklists. All will be impacted in some regard.
• RSW, SRQ, TPA, and MCO Leadership Teams have secured hotel rooms for Scheduled Employees/Leaders.
• Anticipating heavy rain and flooding in RSW, SRQ, TPA, MCO.
• RSW expecting tropical storm force winds Tuesday, 9/27 into Wednesday, 9/28.
• TPA and SRQ will have the highest chance of hurricane force winds Tuesday night into Wednesday.
• MCO expecting tropical storm force winds all day Wednesday.
• TPA Airport Authority has made the call to suspend operations at 21:00 Tuesday 9/27.
• SRQ Tower to close at 20:00 Tuesday 9/27.
• Bridges in RSW, SRQ, and TPA to close at 35 mph sustained winds.
• Zone A in TPA (anything near the water) is now under a mandatory flooding evacuation.
• There is also a possibility that MCO may have a suspension of operations sometime Wednesday. If you are not working, or cannot because of family, get yourself and your family out of harm’s way.
We have also been in contact with American Airlines leadership regarding all our members in Florida. AA is committed to following the language in the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement with the TWU-IAM Association and is in discussions with Tech Ops and Customer Experience. We are reaching out to leadership at Alaska Airlines, Amentum and Bahamasair to get assurances that the safety of our members is the top priority.
Please note that all updates are subject to change as the situation changes with the path, severity, and impact of this storm. We will update all members as necessary as things change. Please reach out to your General Chairs with questions and/or concerns. With best wishes we remain,
Sincerely and fraternally,
John M. Coveny, Jr.
President-Directing General Chair
