United Airlines Mechanics Vote for Teamsters Union

United Airlines mechanics overwhelmingly chose the Teamsters Union as their collective bargaining representative by a vote of 4,113 to 2,631, the National Mediation Board announced March 31.

The 9,300 active and furloughed mechanics who comprise the bargaining unit became Teamsters upon certification of the vote by the NMB April 1.

The Teamsters victory culminates a two-year effort by United mechanics and related personnel to gain strong representation. A key issue was the failure of their former bargaining representative, the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, to hold United to its contractual obligation to limit outsourcing.

“We’re thrilled that United mechanics voted to join our union by such a large margin,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “United mechanics will now have the Teamsters strength behind them in their fight against outsourcing to foreign repair stations.”

“United has cut more maintenance positions than any other U.S. airline,” Hoffa said, noting that United outsourced 45 percent of its aircraft maintenance expenses in 2006, three times the amount it outsourced in 1998.

Hoffa also said the Teamsters would support the mechanics in their efforts to curb excessive executive compensation and restore their own retirement security.

“We’ll stand shoulder to shoulder with United mechanics as they try to rein in management greed and hold them accountable for foisting their pension obligations on U.S. taxpayers,” Hoffa said.

“After two years of hard work, we now have the opportunity to work with the strength of a true union behind us to secure our futures,” said Rich Petrovsky, a mechanic and chairman of the Committee for Change, which spearheaded the organizing campaign.

Petrovsky said that under the rules of the Railway Labor Act that govern airline unions, the current contract between UAL and the union doesn’t change, but becomes amendable in December 2009. He said the Teamsters inherited the ongoing arbitration case regarding UAL’s interpretation of the percentage of work that can be farmed out. The Teamsters have pledged to fight to stop the outsourcing of maintenance work and bring back work to United’s SFO Maintenance Base.

Petrovsky said that “A lot of things are in flux. United has been talking to the Teamsters about the possibility of selling or spinning off maintenance operation to a third party. Our contract includes a protective covenant to keep mechanics in the union if a new operator takes on the maintenance work.”
The United mechanics will be represented jointly by Teamsters Local 856 in San Bruno, and Teamsters Local 986 from southern California, which is the largest Teamsters local representing airline mechanics.

Another issue facing United employees is a possible merger with another airline. Petrovsky pointed out that United CEO Glen Tilton has an incentive to do a merger as his contract would give him a $30 million golden parachute payout if he succeeds in merging the airline, versus a $13 million bonus without a merger.

Petrovsky said that the six million member Change to Win coalition that includes the Teamsters has signed a resolution to support the workers in case of strike or other actions.

Teamsters Local 856 Business agent Peter Finn said that the union is also working with the Aviation Mechanics Coalition and the Business Travelers Coalition to highlight the need for quality standards for maintenance, and work collectively to bring the issue to public’s attention.

Petrovsky said that the recent upheaval regarding lack of FAA oversight of maintenance comes out of that effort to build public awareness of the need for strengthening oversight of maintenance operations.
“United mechanics voted for the Teamsters because there is strength in numbers and for the power that comes from that,” Petrovsky said. He pointed out that when mechanics with the unaffiliated AMFA went on strike at Northwest Airlines, “the union was demolished.”

He said the Teamsters can put more pressure on United to make sure the quality of work is higher. “That’s the bottom line,” Petrovsky said. “Mechanics care about our jobs but we also take great pride in the quality of our work. We fly the airlines also, we put our families on those planes. We have a vested interest in making sure maintenance is done at a high standard.”

Petrovsky will be the new Business Agent for Teamster mechanics at United.