Dear Members,
Representatives from the Airline Division were notified on Friday, April 8 that United Airlines has finalized plans for outsourcing narrow-body heavy maintenance work to MRO facilities in Columbia and El Salvador. Thirty-two Airbus Aircraft remain parked due to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
All of them must be up to date with the required FAA maintenance checks before they can be returned to service. All but five aircraft are scheduled to undergo maintenance in the US in later months this year and the following year, however, the carrier wants this equipment back in service as soon as possible. For that purpose, the carrier determined they would send the first five of these aircraft to facilities outside of the United States.
This is a direct violation of Article 1 B. 11: The Company shall not perform any regularly scheduled heavy maintenance, with the exception of only B767, B777, B787, B747 and A350 fleets, in a non-U.S. location without the Union’s approval.
The language is clear and unambiguous, narrow body aircraft heavy checks MUST be done within the US!
During a meeting in Houston in the last week in March, United Airlines Tech Ops advised the Airline Division of the challenges it was confronting regarding current capacity within the United States and the time constraints to meet the needed demand.
The IBT Airline Division representatives identified alternative ideas that would allow the work to be brought back in house for all 32 of these aircraft and more. The counter-proposal was for the carrier to examine the long-term benefits of restarting an Airbus Heavy-check line staffed by UAL Teamster Technicians at any one of the current base maintenance stations. Rather than respond to this reasonable and favorable counter proposal, the carrier opted to willfully violate the agreement.
To say we are disappointed is an understatement. The Airline Division has officially objected to this, and we will appeal the Carrier’s decision to expedited arbitration as provided for in Article 1.
In Solidarity,
Vinny Graziano
National Mechanic and Technician Coordinator
Teamsters Airline Division