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Local 591 Administrative Executive Board Member Russ Dittmer
May 2023 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, Line Mtc & GSE Process Standards Meeting, Present at TOLS on behalf of Local 591, Seniority Protest meetings, Quarterly Membership Meetings, NTSB Runway Incursion Roundtable
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. I travelled to the SW, W & SE Regions for quarterly Membership Meetings, as well as presenting at Steward advanced training in the W, NE & C Regions. Local 591 was invited by Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy to speak as a roundtable panelist at the National Transportation Safety Board on the topic of runway incursions. President Schaible asked me to attend and represent the AMTs who perform aircraft movement functions, whether by taxi, TLTV tow, or conventional towbar tow, on various controlled airfields. The discussion explored Human Factors, Just Culture, operational priorities, improving airport design, emerging technologies, training issues, among other causes and processes. The goal of this NTSB Roundtable was to bring together the major stakeholders (FAA, NTSB, Airport Authorities, Pilot Unions, Airlines, Airport operations, Aircraft Mechanics for the first time!, etc.) to continue to work to find solutions with the goal of eliminating, or at least further reducing dangerous and potentially catastrophic runway incursion incidents. Our two Local 591 primary goals were to highlight the need for improved aircraft movement training, and also to promote the policy of only using licensed airmen to move aircraft at controlled airports. I am proud that my participation on behalf of Local 591 in this high-level venue brought valuable Aircraft Mechanic worker-focused perspectives, and also provided examples of the unique challenges of moving aircraft on airports from the vantage point of Aircraft Mechanics, at this critical NTSB safety discussion. The Roundtable discussion lasted well over 4 hours. Local 591 made a condensed video here of what we believe are some of the highlights of those discussions. You can also watch the full NTSB Roundtable discussion video here, and watch the NTSB key takeaways video here.
In this message, I want to focus on one of the more frustrating and finally no longer lingering issues, the efforts on getting formal and signed answers to all of the previously submitted post-JCBA ratification Arbitrator Javits Seniority Protests. First, I need to make clear that Local 591 does not have authority to or own responsibility to make the determinations for the contractual Seniority Protest process. That responsibility rests with the TWU and IAM Internationals of the Association and the company. We at Local 591 were strictly responsible for ensuring that those Seniority Protests submitted by protesting Members within the proper contractual time-frame were sent to the TWU International in a timely manner. Since the implementation of the JCBA, Local 591 President Gary Schaible asked each Title Group Executive Board Member to help coordinate with Local 591 Recording Secretary Jorge Rojas to ensure that all protests which are received from their Title Group were tracked. Second, I need to remind you that this post-JCBA ratification Arbitrator Javits Seniority Protest process was not like our old TWU pre-JCBA Seniority Protests, where any believed seniority issue could protested, regardless of how far back the issue occurred. The limited purpose and scope of this post-JCBA ratification Arbitrator Javits Seniority Protest process was solely to review any Classification seniority changes or Classification seniority issues within the small window of time from when the original Arbitrator Javits Recommendation was adopted until the JCBAs were ratified. Keep in mind that all seniority dates prior to September 16, 2016 were subject to an earlier final and binding seniority protest process.
Your Local 591 Executive Board both recognizes and understands the frustration many of our Members have regarding how long it has taken to receive their formal signed Seniority Protest answers. This Local Executive Board continued pursuing getting this issue resolved with the TWU International. We at the Local also know that our Members have continued to ask for status updates for the Seniority Protests submitted since the JCBA was ratified. Unfortunately, because the Seniority Protest process spans both Unions, as well as the company and Arbitrator Javits’ legal team, we at the Local level do not have any direct control over or direct input into this Seniority Protest process. That Seniority Protest process falls within the control and authority of the TWU-IAM Association, and more specifically the TWU and IAM Internationals.
Late in 2020, the TWU International informed the Local 591 Executive Board that the formal answers could not be provided to the Members due to a lawsuit having been filed on the subject in federal court by some Association Members. The Local 591 Executive Board was informed that any/all formal Seniority Protest responses would need to be put on hold until the lawsuit was resolved. That information regarding the cause of the delay was provided to the Members at several subsequent quarterly Membership meetings. Over two years later, in late October of 2022, we were informed by the TWU International that the lawsuit had ended, and that the process of providing the formal answers would then restart and begin to move forward.
That said, we at Local 591 have not been standing by silently. We have continued to communicate with the TWU International, and we continued to pursue getting those final formal answers to our Members that they rightly expect and deserve. The TWU International previously provided to the Local a list of the majority of the Seniority Protest answers, with very limited explanation as to why that decision was made. That list was provided to the Executive Boards, so that when Members inquired, they could be provided the basic yes/no/pending answer, even though the final and formal response had not yet been signed by the appropriate parties. Back then, that provided list of initial protest answers was not complete, and when the Local 591 Executive Board reviewed that list initial answers, there were a small few which were either blank, or did not satisfy the actual protested issue. Additionally, as a Local we demanded that the Seniority Protest determinations provide greater detail to the Members for their Seniority Protest.
During this slow process, and after the lawsuit was resolved, I was asked by Local 591 President Gary Schaible to review the Premium Classifications Seniority Lists back then, and compare them to what those Premium Classification Seniority lists look like at the three-year anniversary of the JCBA on 3/26/2023. The goal was to provide a visual snapshot of what the current impact of the 2016 Javits Seniority Integration decision looks like today for those Premium Classification Seniority Lists.
This project was actually nearly complete in April 2023, but after discussions we determined that it would probably be wise to provide this information around the same time-frame as when the post-JCBA ratification Arbitrator Javits Seniority Protest responses were sent out by the TWU International.
Frankly, we were quite surprised by the initial numbers, and we think you will be as well. You can find the comparison Seniority Lists with those who have left their ranked positions, and the summary numbers from the March 26, 2023 Premium Classification seniority lists, on our website here. When we were originally discussing the goals of this review project, we opted to use the JCBA DOR of March 26, 2020, and not the date of the Arbitrator Javits decision, simply because until DOR, the LUS and LAA groups were effectively still two fully separate work-groups, with separate bids, vacations, etc.
Please remember, this comparison information is not to be construed in any way as this Local defending or supporting that Arbitrator Javits Seniority Integration decision. Instead, this information solely intended to provide you, the Membership, with more accurate information on the current impact of the Arbitrator Javits recommendations, which were accepted by the TWU and IAM Association leadership. It is provided so that if you are considering bidding a Premium Classification, you do so with accurate knowledge of where you stand today. While updating this information is a very manual process, my goal is to update the actual details, numbers, and Seniority Lists no less than once each year, on the anniversary of the JCBA DOR, but I am hoping that I have enough time to update the files and numbers twice each year.
Fraternally
Russ Dittmer
Local 591 Administrative E-Board Member
russ.dittmer@local591.com
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