November 10, 2014
Participants for AMFA:
Earl Clark – Region I Director
Michael Nelson – Region II Director
Bob Cramer – Airline Representative Local 4
Matt Townsend – Airline Representative Local 11
Shane Flachman – Airline Representative Local 18
Danny York – Facility Maintenance DAL
Lucas Middlebrook – Legal Counsel
Participants for Southwest Airlines:
Mike Ryan - VP, Labor Relations
Gerry Anderson - Sr Director, Labor Relations
Cindy Nagle – Sr Director, Labor Relations
John Zuzu - Sr Director, Corporate Facilities
Clint Auton - Director, Corporate Facilities
Robert Dorsey - Director, Corporate Facilities
Tim Hooyman - Sr Manager, Corporate Facilities
The Negotiating Committee is providing this update to the AMFA Membership at Southwest Airlines. This report is the only official authorized written source of negotiating communications by the Committee.
We met with the Company in Dallas, Texas on Monday, November 3, 2014, for a scheduled two-day Facilities Maintenance Technician (FMT) negotiation session. The Company presented counter offers for Article 2: Scope, Article 4: Classifications, Article 9: Seniority, Article 5: Hours of Service, and Article 10: Filling of Vacancies. In the Company’s Article 2 counter, they omitted our language that would ensure that available FMTs were solicited to perform work after hours or on their weekend prior to using a vendor. In Article 4, the Company’s counter offer removed the classifications of Lead, Electrical Technician, HVAC Technician, and Locksmith Technician from our proposal and grouped all the FMTs into a general classification without Leads. In their Article 9 counter offer, in addition to reflecting their Article 4 changes, they also wanted language giving them the right to assign a FMT who is displaced from their station to a station of the Company’s choosing; therefore, ignoring the person’s seniority in regards to bumping rights. The highlights of the Company’s articles 5 and 10 counter offers were mainly their desire to manage only one shift, which would be days, Monday through Friday and other omissions reflecting their Article 4 vision of a single classification.
After the Company presented the above counter offers, we caucused as a Committee and worked on counter proposals to articles 2 and 4. The main item we presented to the Company in Article 2 was stronger language to protect a FMT’s position at his station by ensuring the Company could not downsize and give the work to a vendor. In our Article 4 counter offer we went back to our five classifications, including a Lead classification.
On Tuesday we spent the morning working as a Committee on the remaining articles the Company had presented. We met with the Company after lunch and presented counter offers for articles 5 and 10. In our Article 5 counter offer we inserted language capturing the current practice of a "flex" schedule that would be declared by a FMT at the beginning of the year. We also agree to the premise of all FMTs working day shift, but if the group expanded and required additional shifts, the Company and the Union would agree to additional related language. Our proposal for Article 10 omitted the Company’s language giving them the option of filling a vacancy as opposed to the group automatically having the right to bid and fill the vacancy. We also added back our language regarding the filling of permanent and temporary vacancies.
The Company stated they would work on the four articles we presented. Prior to concluding the session, they gave us a brief description of a concept that they were working on for a "selection" method for overtime and field service. Our next scheduled FMT negotiation session is December 8th and 9th. If you have any questions, please call your local representative or the Region I or II Directors.
Sincerely,
Your Negotiating Committee