The Teamsters SFO -- 856/986 Grievance Committee Election nominations will take place on June 11. Please click below for complete guidelines. 

The Teamsters SFO -- 856/986 has been extended to Friday, May 15, 2020. Sons and daughters of Teamsters SFO members who are graduating high school seniors and have been accepted to an accredited university, college, trade or vocational school are eligible.

I have once again asked the Airline Divisions Senior Transportation Analyst, Kyle Schoembs, to review the first quarter earnings report posted by United Airlines on April 30th, and the first quarter 2020 earnings call which took place on May 1st. The following is what he concluded:

In these trying times I hope everyone is staying safe and remaining healthy. While we work through the stresses the pandemic is causing for our families and on the job, I wanted to take the time to write to address an issue that has arisen regarding the status of the Continental Airlines Retirement Plan (CARP). You may have been alerted to the recent distribution of several documents related to the funding and status of CARP contained in the Annual Funding Notice (AFN). United is required by law to issue this document and related materials each year to provide insight into the performance of your defined benefit retirement plan. The document itself contains a number of measures of the solvency and performance of CARP, but they can be more confusing than helpful due to the actuarial language and complexity of assumptions, accounting rules, and calculations. I thought it best to have the funding notice reviewed and analyzed by our Actuary and Economist trying to explain how best to understand the funding notice and how to evaluate the best option available to you during this time.

Yesterday, a federal court issued a judgment in the Beier vs. IBT litigation many of you may have heard about. We can say that all but one of the plaintiffs’ claims were dismissed by the judge. A single claim survived because at this phase the judge cannot make decisions based on evidence, and must assume that everything the plaintiffs claim is true, although this is certainly not the case.

I've asked for a report from the Airline Division’s Senior Transportation Analyst, Kyle Schoembs, on the financial situation at United Airlines given the dire outlook communicated by the company recently. The following is what he has concluded;

On April 20th, United Airlines (UAL) filed preliminary first quarter results with the SEC that showed a pre-tax net loss of $2.1 billion. On an adjusted basis, which strips out special onetime charges, UAL reports a loss of $1.0 billion. Total revenue for the quarter was $8.0 billion, a 17% decrease from first quarter 2019.

Brothers and Sisters, we are in an unprecedented time in our industry. As essential workers you are on the front lines of the coronavirus battle. Your dedication and professionalism will ensure that when the time comes to fly again our fleets will be ready to launch. In the meantime, please protect yourselves and your families by practicing social distancing, following CDC guidelines and your company’s COVID-19 response plan so that we can all get through this safely, together. Our thoughts are with you and your families. Be safe.

We write to inquire about your timeline for disbursing the payroll grants to aviation workers provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 (CARES Act). Although Congress stipulated that these payments should begin this past Monday, April 6th, it is our understanding that no payments have been made. We ask that the Treasury Department begin disbursing the payroll funds immediately to prevent the hundreds of thousands of layoffs that will result from further delay

We are surrounded by the uncertainties of current national and world events due to the COVID virus.

Because of the fast pace of changes currently in our industry; in many cases hour by hour, the normal publishing of The Week In Review has been placed on hold. We encourage you to remain in close contact with your individual Local, Shop Stewards and Committee representatives as we all navigate this crisis.

On behalf of nearly 400,000 airline and airport workers representing every frontline job classification in the industry, we are writing today to provide our views on the most effective use of your authority under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (PL 116-136). This historic, pro-worker legislation will protect millions of jobs in our sector and across our entire economy. As you distribute grants, loans, loan guarantees, and other federal credit instruments, we believe your department should take the following steps to ensure that these funds are reaching working families as quickly as possible and preparing our economy for recovery after this pandemic ends.

I am writing to you on behalf of the more than 85,000 Teamsters working in aviation. Earlier this week, the President noted in a tweet the efforts of Teamster-represented Atlas pilots, who are flying tons of medical supplies to the places that most need them. Last week, America’s aviation workers won a huge victory in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act of 2020 (CARES Act) that should be the model for how we deal with the entire economic crisis caused by COVID-19. Under the provisions that the Teamsters and other unions fought to have included, the federal government will pay the wages, salaries, and benefits of more than two million airline and airport workers, most of whom were facing layoffs or furloughs due to the near total collapse of air travel in this country.

Subtitle B of the CARES Act- Grants

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (Act) authorizes the Secretary

of the Treasury (Secretary) to issue grants to passenger air carriers, cargo air carriers,

and airport/airline contractors (e.g. catering, ramp, or cleaning companies) that must be

exclusively used for the “continuation of payment of employee wages, salaries and

benefits.”

Congressional leadership has produced a historic $2 trillion stimulus bill that provides significant relief to aviation workers. The 96 Senators who were present for the vote supported the legislation unanimously; it was voted into law by the House of Representatives earlier today and is expected to be signed into law by the President.

Please review this revised message from Airline Division Director Capt. David Bourne -
To All Of My Fellow Teamster Members In The Airline Industry:

Our country is currently gripped by a pandemic the likes of which nobody has ever seen in our lifetimes, causing our entire society to be at a standstill. The crisis caused by the Coronavirus (COVID – 19) is one that promises to have a pronounced impact throughout all sectors of the economy, but particularly in the field of aviation. During this time most if not all of us in the industry are worried about what the future holds, so with that in mind I’d like to provide you with some information regarding what our union has been doing to ensure that our interests are protected in any legislation that is being or has been drafted to address the impact of COVID – 19:

During these difficult times the IBT and Aflac have been looking at ways to help our members. Aflac has agreed not to lapse coverage for any participant in the Teamster Supplemental Benefits program in the event they might find themselves in a furlough situation and are not able to make payments through payroll deduction. This will cover 60 days initially and will be reviewed by Aflac on a monthly basis thereafter.