Teamsters Protest United Airlines Outsourcing

Assemblymember Ira Ruskin, Teamsters Local 350 Secretary-Treasurer Bob Morales, and Teamsters General Secretary James Hoffa at SF City Hall March 5.

The Teamsters union held a rally on the steps of San Francisco City Hall March 5 to protest a plan by United Airlines (UAL) to outsource nearly 4,500 jobs at its San Francisco International Airport (SFO) maintenance facility. The rally occurred as 9,300 UAL mechanics nationwide were voting on whether to retain the Teamsters union as their bargaining representative over the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) that currently represents UAL mechanics. About 100 Teamsters and supporters rallied, while a small group of pro-AMFA mechanics stood by with their banner and signs.

UAL mechanic Rich Petrovsky said that he was one of a group of mechanics at UAL’s SFO facility who had reached out to the Teamsters union, saying that AMFA had let the workers down. “We are joining with the Teamsters to say ‘enough is enough.’ It’s time we had the kind of representation we once had,” said Petrovsky, a mechanic at UAL for 38 years and former member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) who represented mechanics before AMFA.

“In Indianapolis, United closed down the maintenance base and thousands lost their jobs; it devastated the community,” Petrovsky said. “It’s time to stop outsourcing and mechanics at United are drawing the line. We want a strong union that will fight to keep jobs at SFO.” He said that AMFA had agreed to allow outsourcing in its contracts at Southwest and Northwest Airlines, but that the Teamsters union had the size and experience to fight to keep jobs in the U.S. United currently outsources 45 percent of all its maintenance work to foreign repair stations that are not held to the same standards as their U.S.-based counterparts. Nearly 4,500 jobs at the UAL SFO maintenance facility are at risk of being lost.

UAL mechanic Rich Petrovsky

Teamsters Union General President Jim Hoffa spoke at the rally and said the union would fight to keep good jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area. “The Teamsters union will work tirelessly to make certain that the San Francisco maintenance facility remains open,” Hoffa said. “United must treat you as the highly trained and valuable workforce you are and respect the hard work you and all the United mechanics nationwide do day in and day out to ensure that our families fly on safe and secure aircraft.

“There are 700 repair facilities all over the world; none have our standards,” Hoffa said. “Our mechanics are worried about this risky practice.”

Other speakers supporting the Teamsters and speaking out against outsourcing were San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom State Senator Carol Migden, Assemblymembers Ira Ruskin and Fiona Ma, and San Francisco Labor Council Executive Director Tim Paulson.

UAL’s outsourcing and plans to close the SFO facility has also drawn criticism on a national level with U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Barack Obama authoring letters of support for the workers.

“I am concerned about the future of the approximately 4,000 aviation mechanics who service aircraft at the San Francisco hub of United Airlines,” Boxer said in her letter of support to the airline mechanics. “It is essential to maintain a domestic aviation mechanic workforce that is highly skilled and provides a superior level of safety and security.”

Obama, who the Teamsters have endorsed for president in the Democratic Party primary, was also critical of UAL’s actions. “The practice of outsourcing aircraft maintenance overseas raises security concerns and pits our skilled mechanics making a middle class living against less skilled, less well protected workers abroad,” Obama said in his letter addressed to the Teamster Aviation Mechanics Coalition. “I applaud your efforts to organize a strong union at United Airlines, and look forward to working with you on the critical issue of outsourcing now and in the years ahead.”

After the rally AMFA supporters and Teamsters spoke to the media. Somsong Abrahamian said she had worked for United for 24 years and that AMFA hadn’t done enough to keep jobs at SFO. She said her unit had gone from 500 workers to 15 since AMFA became the mechanics’ union. “They do nothing for us and give us no information,” she said. “The Teamsters are a better way to go. I’d like to join a bigger, stronger union that can fight for us and protect our rights.”

The election was set by the National Mediation Board to be conducted between February 26 and March 31. The Teamsters announced March 31 that UAL mechanics had voted for Teamster representation.

- By Paul Burton