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AVIATION PROFESSIONALT E A M S T E R

Newsletter of the Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition

Students from all over Southern California participated in the first-everClippers SoCal SciFest, sponsored by USA Science and Engineering.While it was on a smaller scale than the Washington, D.C. festival there

was no lack of enthusiasm on the part of the students, their parents or the ex-hibitors. The event attracted approximately 40,000 to the Los Angeles conven-tion center over the weekend.

The festival kicked off with “Sneak Peak Friday,” a day for school groups only.Thousands of students and teachers stopped by the Airline Division’s exhibit tolearn about careers in aviation. The kids were able to watch a time-lapsed video ofa Boeing 777 engine change, interact with aircraft parts, test equipment, buildTeamster model airplanes andspeak one-on-one with pilots andmechanics. The students heardfirst-hand what it takes to get apilot or mechanic’s license andhow studying math and sciencewhile in school will help themachieve that goal.

Saturday’s event was open tothe public and drew even morestudents and families than origi-nally anticipated. A new video loop including a Boeing 747 landing gear swing,tire and brake changes, CFM-56 engine operation animation and Boeing 787Dreamliner avionics was added. The students and parents were fascinated, withmany of them exclaiming “I had no idea!” At one point, the entire booth turnedinto an airplane building station. Teamster pilots and mechanics were helpingthe kids build their airplanes while discussing careers, schooling requirements,the cost of getting a license, wages and the huge demand both now and in the fu-ture for pilots and mechanics.

April 2019 | Volume 10, Issue 1

SciFest SoCal!

TAMC Attends Aero EnginesAmericas Conference

The Aero Engines Americas (AEA) Confer-ence was held on January 29 and January30 in Dallas. The meeting was an

overview of the engine overhaul industry withcommentary and panel discussions given byindustry experts and analysts. Attending forthe Teamsters Airline Division were NationalMechanics Coordinator Vinny Graziano andTAMC Chairman Chris Moore. The confer-ence provides a candid look at what is goingon in the engine overhaul sector of the Main-tenance, Repair, Overhaul (MRO) business.Opening remarks and state-of-the-industryupdates were presented by consultants fromICF International, who also covered topicssuch as “the Flying Fleet,” “Engine Overviewand Forecast,” “Mergers and Acquisitions” and“Analysis of Aero Engine Trends.”

Bloomberg Intelligence provided a macro-economic outlook of the industry that in-cluded global markets, analysis of geopoliticalissues, fleet demographics, oil prices, and fi-nancing and investor perspective.

Industry outlook is still strong despite anincrease in oil prices. Currently low oil pricesincentivize keeping older, less fuel-efficient

continued on page 2continued on page 3

The annual US Chamber of Commerce Aviation Summit is adiscussion by industry leaders about the future of the airlineand aerospace industries. Speakers included the CEOs of

United Airlines, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and FedEx AirFreight. Boeing, Airbus, GE Rolls Royce and Collins Aerospace werealso represented. They shared their thoughts on industry perform-ance and what the future will hold. Most agree that (barring anymajor incident) the predicted fleet growth of roughly 8,800 aircraftin North America over the next 20 years is still a good estimate andthat the overall outlook is positive. They all also recognized that theshortage of pilots and mechanics is upon us. Many of the panel dis-cussions throughout the day touched that subject.

Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao gave the keynote ad-dress. She pointed to the future and that we are now entering thethird great phase of commercial aviation. We started with propellers,and then moved on to jets, and now we are looking at passengerspace travel with the Boeing Star-Liner. Vertical integration in per-sonal travel with Uber Elevate and Urban Mobility will take trafficfrom the streets to the air. The technology is here. Most importantlyNext Gen Air Traffic Control must get done in order to continue thegrowth of the industry.

Teamsters Airline Division Representative and TAMC Chair-man Chris Moore took part in a panel discussion titled “AdvancingAviation Manufacturing and Maintenance.” The discussion in-cluded the future of training using new technologies, how develop-ments in robotics will aid the workforce and most importantlyhow to get young people interested in the field. Recent TAMC andAirline Division outreach endeavors were acknowledged, as well astheir plans to become more visible to students across the country.The Teamsters’ dedication to workforce development was ap-plauded by the participants. The moderator also talked aboutTMAP, the Teamsters Military Assistance Program. The panel dis-cussed how it helps to provide a pathway from military separationto a civilian career and TMAP’s role in getting TAMC and the Air-line Division involved. The TAMC is leading an effort to provide apathway for veterans with aviation experience to become licensedA&P mechanics.

“I am very proud of the hard work and dedication shown to ourveterans by the TAMC,” said Airline Division Director Capt. DavidBourne. “Brother Moore’s focus on behalf of the Airline Division inoutreach to our veterans and to our nation’s youth with his tirelessparticipation in STEM programs and schools to promote aviationcareers is a testament to the meaning of being a Teamster. Alwaysthere, and always reaching out to help the next generation, whilenever forgetting those who have helped our nation.”

The panel also covered apprenticeship programs, the use of Arti-ficial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality(VR) as part of maintenance training, the use of these tools on thejob and how they can aid in reducing mechanic fatigue. The need toupdate the Airman Certification Standard (ACS) skills test, the A&PExam and the FAA Part 147 school curriculum rewrites were alsodiscussed. Congress mandated in the FAA reauthorization bill a 180-day window for a Part 147 curriculum update. It appears that this isa few years from completion but the ACS test standard will be outsometime this summer. To sum it up, the new test standard will beout years before the schools are required to teach to it and that isputting the cart way before the horse.

The TAMC is honored to have been the representative for theTeamsters and the Teamsters Airline Division at this year’s USChamber of Commerce Summit and we look forward to bringingyour issues to the summit again next year.

Newsletter of the Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition 2

Teamsters Airline Division RepresentsLabor at the 2019 US Chamber ofCommerce Aviation Summit

On hand for the inaugural event were Air-line Division Director Capt. David Bourne andDeputy Director Allynn Allen. Airline DivisionMechanic Representatives and TAMC Board

Members Bob Fisher and Chris Moore alongwith Atlas Air 747 Captains Daniel Wells andAnna Eivor Ivarsson were also in attendance.

“These events are so important as we buildour outreach program,” Capt. Bourne said.“Students need the one-on-one conversationswith folks who fly and fix aircraft in order tohelp them choose a career in aviation.”

As part of our growing outreach pro-gram, Capt. Bourne commissioned the expobooth. The expo booth enhances the AirlineDivision’s ability to demonstrate throughvideo and other means the many Teamsteraviation careers that exist. We will be using

the booth at events from coast to coast tobring more visibility to the Teamsters AirlineDivision, the TAMC and the need for futurepilots and mechanics.

SciFest SoCal! continued from page 1


If Anthony Weiner and Roseanne Barr have taught us anything, it’s that a failure to exercise cautionwith social media platforms can have a devastating impact on your career. Fortunately there are anumber of preventative measures that you can take to avoid having the same fate as them. With thatin mind, here are some tips to keep in mind so you can avoid a lot of potentially uncomfortableconversations at work, or worse, end up having to fight to keep your job in front of an arbitrator:

DO: Keep your accounts private: It’s normal to want the freedom and flexibility to say what-ever you want online, even things that might be considered controversial or unprofessional.Having said that, if your employer can access your social media accounts they definitely will,and in some cases what you put online can be used against you at work. Every social media plat-form allows users varying degrees of privacy that you can utilize to keep the things you posthidden from your employer, so if you plan on saying whatever comes to mind, make sure thatyou’re paying close attention to what is accessible outside of your friend group, and do not listyour employer online. If you do want to keep your accounts public or list your employer online,don’t put anything out there that you wouldn’t say at work.

DO: Exercise caution when adding co-workers or supervisors as friends:You’re probablyfriends with a lot of people you work with, so it’s natural that you’re friends with them online.Even if you have a good relationship with your supervisor, if there’s a photo of you partying at atailgate on a day where you called in sick, he or she might take it the wrong way and have somequestions for you when you get back. Many people these days keep two social media accounts –one personal and one professional. Another option is to keep one account, but live by the news-paper rule – that is, don’t put anything online that you wouldn’t want to be associated with onthe front page of your local newspaper.

DON’T: Say anything negative about your job or your co-workers online: The barrier be-tween what you say in real life and what you say on social media doesn’t exist, because socialmedia is real life. It’s best not to talk about your job or your co-workers online at all. If you aregoing to do it, keep in mind that for the human resources department at most major carriers,bashing your boss or a co-worker online is in their mind the same as doing it to the person’sface while you are on the job. As far as your employer is concerned, if air your company’s dirtylaundry publicly or make something public that they want to keep private, that could begrounds for lawful termination.

DON’T: Use social media on the job. You might think it’s cool to take a video for Facebook ofyour co-worker showing you how he/she won the fastest time in a category at the AMC lastyear, and it probably is. As far as your company is concerned, however, you’re taking videoswhen you should be working and you run the risk of a disciplinary infraction. There might betimes where you want to take photos/videos to promote the craft online, but make sure that be-fore you do that, you get approval from your supervisor.

DO: Familiarize yourself with your company’s social media policies. Social media platformsare now an accepted part of daily life and most if not all major carriers have company policieson the books regarding online conduct for their employees, both inside and outside of theirbargaining units. Ask your shop steward for a copy of your company’s policy and make surethat you are familiar with how it applies to you.

SOCIAL MEDIA

DO’S ANDDON’TS

for Aviation Mechanicsengines in service while increas-ing the number of engines to beoverhauled. This is mixed newsfor the engine MROs. The workis there, but the industry cannotfind enough skilled labor orparts to do it. The scarcity ofavailable parts and manpower isnot just a problem in NorthAmerica, but worldwide. Com-petition from other industriesrequiring the same skill set isfierce, and the Deloitte Manufac-turing Institute estimates thatthe manufacturing sector islooking to fill roughly 4.6 mil-lion jobs between 2018 and2028, with an expected shortfallof 2.4 million jobs.

Advancements in new tech-nologies such as virtual reality,augmented reality, artificial in-telligence for troubleshooting,3D printing and robotics arehelping to streamline the over-haul process. Hopefully thesenew technologies will exciteyoung people about a career inthe aviation industry. The highdemand for skilled labor will re-quire some outside-the-boxthinking and outreach in orderto attract and retain workers inthe aviation industry. Withoutthese new workers the industryruns a serious risk of stagnation.

TAMC AttendsAero EnginesAmericas Conferencecontinued from page 1


UPS Air Cargo UPS aircraft mechanics and related em-ployees at UPS Air Cargo have voted toratify their newest contract with thecompany. The contract, which becomesamendable on November 1, 2023, makesUPS Air Cargo mechanics the highest-paid air cargo mechanics in the countryby a wide margin.

“We knew if we stuck together andstayed committed to protecting the payand benefits we’ve earned over decades ofhard work, we’d do what many thoughtwas impossible and win big for our fami-lies, the future of our company and ourcustomers,” said Teamsters Local 2727President Tim Boyle. “This contract doesjust that, along with raising standardsthroughout the aviation industry.”

Some of the improvements in thecontract include an immediate 17.72percent pay increase, raises each year re-sulting in a 32.61 percent increase in payfrom current rates by the end of the con-tract and the protection of an unparal-leled health care package with nopremiums.

“I want to extend my congratula-tions to the Teamsters Local 2727 negoti-ating committee. This agreement is theculmination of over four years of longhours, hard work and dedication fromthem. Their focus on improving the ex-isting agreement and quality of life forour UPS members is what enabled us toratify this industry-leading contract,”said Capt. David Bourne, Director of theTeamsters Airline Division.

Southwest AirlinesWith over 90 percent of the bargainingunit participating in the election, Team-sters material specialists voted over-whelmingly to ratify their tentativeagreement with Southwest Airlines.

The ratification vote marks the con-clusion of negotiations that first began inSeptember of 2013. The collective bar-gaining agreement covers more than 300material specialists that deliver, store and

stock aircraft parts and are members ofTeamsters Locals 19, 104, 210, 455, 769,781 and 986.

The five-year agreement includes 3-percent annual wage increases and a top-out rate of $35 per hour, the highest inthe industry for material specialists. Thecontract also includes a guarantee thatthe company will hire more materialspecialists in addition to a ratificationbonus equivalent to 30 percent of eachworker’s wages for last year.

“This was a long and tough negotia-tion, but the SWA Material SpecialistsNegotiating Committee stood strong toensure that the members got what theyneeded in the agreement,” said TeamstersAirline Division International Represen-tative and SWA Negotiating CommitteeChairman Bob Fisher.

“I am very pleased that our member-ship decided to ratify a mutually satisfac-tory agreement that was reached byunion negotiators and Southwest Air-lines working cooperatively,” said Capt.David Bourne, Director of the TeamstersAirline Division.

Frontier AirlinesFrontier Airlines mechanics and relatedclassifications have voted to ratify theirmost recent contract with Teamsters Local455 by a margin of 96 percent. The agree-ment will be in effect until March 2023.

“We are thrilled that we were able toratify such a great agreement for our mem-bers at Frontier Airlines,” Local 455 Secre-tary-Treasurer Steve Vairma said.“Congratulations to everyone who workedso hard to get this contract ratified.”

“Much thanks to all of the workerswho voted by a massive margin to im-plement their latest contract with Fron-tier Airlines,” Teamsters Airline DivisionDirector Capt. David Bourne said. “Theenthusiasm and solidarity that our nego-tiating committee and Local 455 Busi-ness Agent Don Ramsey displayedduring negotiations led to the outstand-ing wages and benefits that these work-ers will enjoy throughout the lifetime of

this agreement.”The new agreement contains signifi-

cant wage increases, including a 15 per-cent wage increase that went into effectupon the date of ratification, an overallwage increase of more than 25 percentover the lifetime of the agreement, and a$3,000 signing bonus. Frontier AircraftAppearance Agents ratified their mostrecent contract unanimously last year,making this the second Frontier Airlinescontract that Teamsters Local 455 hasratified by more than a 95 percent mar-gin in less than six months.

ExpressJetThe union in early January presented thecompany with an opening offer for aone-year extension that included a 5-percent pay increase (a combination ofwage and license premiums) as well as a10-percent signing bonus. The newmanagement team is getting organized.Our thinking was that we could get youan extension to vote on that would rec-ognize your commitment to stay withthe airline during the transition period.At that time the ownership of ExpressJetwas in the process of being transferred toMana Air, LLC. That deal was completedon January 22.

On February 5, Airline Division Di-rector Capt. David Bourne and Interna-tional Representative Chris Moore spokewith new CEO Subodh Karnik and VicePresident of Maintenance Jamie Hill. Wereiterated our position that an extensionwould go a long way toward building thetrust that had been destroyed by Sky-West. We also told them that any indica-tion that the company was going to dragout or stall negotiations would result inyet another wave of departures by ourmost senior mechanics, who have beenwaiting patiently to see which directionthe new management team would take.

We had scheduled a meeting to dis-cuss the extension on March 14 in Hous-ton with the expectation that we wouldsee a counter offer from the company.What we got instead was an email on

NEGOTIATIONS ROUNDUP –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Sunday, March 11 stating that the com-pany was not going to be available tomeet on March 14. When pressed for ananswer the union was told that the com-pany is not interested in an extension and

wants to start negotiations for a long-term deal. From our perspective thismeans opening the entire contract, whichcreates uncertainty as to how long it willtake us to reach an agreement.

We hoped to be sending a more posi-tive update but that is unfortunately notthe case. We have tentative dates set upfor mid-April and early May and a surveyis available at teamsterair.org.

NEGOTIATIONS ROUNDUP continued –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––----------------------------------------––––--


TAMC ONLINECheck out previous issues of the Teamster Aviation Professional atwww.teamsterair.org/tamc/newsletter.

You can also find us at aviationmechanics.org and https://www.facebook.com/theaviationmechanicscoalition.

To receive the newsletter via email, sign up at http://ibt.io/tamc-nl.

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