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Local 591 Administrative Executive Board Member Russ Dittmer
May 2022 Activities
Quick synopsis:
Scheduled meetings, teleconferences & calls include:
Weekly Executive Board teleconference, Monthly EAP/MAP Coordinator call, Bi-weekly ASAP/Safety Call, Friday President’s Call, Monthly Executive Board Meeting, C (via Zoom), NE, SE, SW, & W Regional Quarterly Membership Meetings
Unscheduled meetings & teleconferences:
Line Maintenance & GSE Process Standards WebEx
Projects:
Assisting Pres. Schaible with campaigns and legislative efforts, Tracking JCBA questions/answers, Compiling Executive Committee interpretation of JCBA language, Grievance tracking and management system updates and improvements, Tracking Art 33.B Presidential grievance evidence, Podcasts prep and recording.
Details:
May was a pretty busy travel month for me, mostly attending the five Regional Quarterly Membership meetings. I attended these meetings in all five Regions, though some I needed to attend virtually due to health concerns. At the beginning of the month, after the Southeast Region Quarterly Meetings, some of us on the Executive Board were also able to schedule in Floor visits to both TPA and MCO. I always look forward to the floor visits, because they provide us, as your elected representatives, the ability to talk with you in your workplace, and often see first-hand the issues you are having. It’s often difficult to schedule these, but, as time and airplane seat availability permits, we do try to add these in whenever possible.
In these and other subsequent floor walks, we heard the growing frustration from Members in a few select stations that the company seems to be attempting to schedule more aircraft maintenance workload than the available manpower can reasonably accomplish, all while complying with the company mandated expectation of working safely and 100% In Accordance With (IAW) the manuals and maintenance program. This is a serious and growing concern to us as Union Members and your Union Representatives.
The most obvious concern is that by the company scheduling more workload than can reasonably be accomplished, AMTs might feel subtly pressured to deviate from working safely and/or 100% IAW as required by that mandated company policy and as well as FAA requirements. As professional AMTs, our # 1 goal is to provide the best maintained aircraft for the company and our passengers, and this simply takes time. We AMTs simply cannot permit ourselves to be distracted or influenced by any externally imposed time pressure, whether it be under-manning or unrealistic maintenance scheduling. If you believe that your workload is unrealistic, compared to the available manning, regardless of if it’s Regular and Overtime in Station or even while on a Field Trip, please reach out to your Station and Regional Local 591 Representatives to assist in working to resolve those issues with station or regional management. In addition, those Local 591 Representatives will also relay such issues, with tangible examples provided, to the Local 591 Executive Board who will continue to work on this serious issue systemwide.
The Union has been informed that TSA security vetting requirements recently changed for U.S. based airline employees. This new TSA requirement requires all U.S. based employees to update their Employee Central profiles by August 5, 2022. The new information which the company needs to provide to TSA now includes your country of citizenship and your place of birth. Please take the time to resolve this new TSA imposed requirement before August 5th, 2022 in Jetnet in Employee Central.
In closing, while not actually from the month of May, I want to highlight the fact that the “Global Safe Aircraft Maintenance Standards Act” [H.R. 7321] passed the House sub-Committee markup process on Wednesday June 15th, and was sent to the Floor of the House of Representatives. This legislation continues to be aggressively supported by the TWU International as well as TWU Local 591. The Bill was reintroduced in the House on March 31, 2022, and the goal of the Bill primarily is to, among other things:
- Require all foreign aircraft repair stations be subject to at least one unannounced safety inspection each year;
- Requires air carriers to submit monthly reports to the FAA with respect to maintenance, preventive maintenance, or alternations of an aircraft accomplished in any all foreign aircraft repair stations;
- Set minimum qualifications standards for mechanics and others working on U.S. registered aircraft at foreign repair stations; and
- Establishes a moratorium on FAA certification of new foreign aircraft repair stations if certain regulations are not implemented within one year.
While this amended Bill currently enjoys strong bipartisan support, I am still calling on each Local 591 Member, your families, and your friends too, to take the time to contact your elected Congressmen and Congresswomen and ask them to support this legislation. This legislation strengthens our borders, provides improved FAA oversight of foreign aircraft repair facilities, and is a good start at leveling the field with regard to minimum qualification standards. You can easily send your emails directly from the link on our Local 591.com website, or use that same link to locate the phone number and office locations for your elected representatives in the House and the Senate. I will be writing more on this as this important Bill progresses through the legislative process.
Fraternally
Russ Dittmer
Local 591 Administrative E-Board Member
russ.dittmer@local591.com
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