Covenant Aviation and the Art of Deception!

Tours of the Checkpoint and Baggage screening locations of Covenant Aviation in SFO are being lead by local TSA. So Covenant, ever wanting to give the appearance of a professional and well-managed company, has decided to put fresh lipstick on this pig!

We were told not to speak to any members of the tour group (in order to keep our trade secrets from getting out). What, if any, trade secrets do we have? How about none!  We follow, or at least should follow, the exact same SOP. 

Which brings us to this question: Why are other airports thinking of opting out of the TSA screening program and considering going to private contractors?  If we all follow the exact same SOP, there should be no difference in wait times or performance! In fact, a private contractor's main objective is to generate a profit at the expense of their employees. Worker morale and motivation deteriorates as more and more is taken away from the employees! These airports should seriously reconsider this course of action. Be careful what you wish for.

SEIU-the union that gave back.....

our parking and shoe allowances and much, much more wants to use the dues money received from the workforce to fund their favorite political candidates in the upcoming elections!
Threatening letters have been sent out to those workforce members who have not been paying dues.  With those letters comes a dues authorization form that they want you to sign and return to them. Failure to become a dues-paying member will result in termination of employment with Covenant Aviation.

So, what is wrong with all of this? SEIU has not told you that you have the option to become a union member at a reduced membership rate of 1.74 percent instead of the full rate of 2.3 percent.  This is a blatant violation of the Beck Rights law. And, if you read the fine print on the full membership form, you acknowledge that your dues payment begins 31 days after you become a Covenant employee. If you have not been paying dues at all and sign this form, you could be liable for payment of back dues.

But, you do have some recourse!
You can file a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, (NLRB) against SEIU for not offering you the option to become an "agency" fee member.

You can also file a complaint against Covenant Aviation for threatening loss of employment for your failure to become a member of the union.

These complaints fall under the National Labor Relations Act, sections 7 and 8. How far you are willing to go with this is purely up to you!

Just why is Covenant Aviation Security LLC so confident?

Upper management has recently stated that "the contract for SFO is ours to lose."  How did they reach that conclusion?  Did they make another backroom deal?

What they refuse to acknowledge is just how tenuous the positions of upper management are.

Should another company assume control of security at SFO, they would inherit an experienced workforce that has done fairly well under the Covenant management team. Upper management would be replaced with a leadership team from the acquiring company.

Just imagine what the workforce could accomplish with a management team that actually cared about their employees! Just imagine what it would be like to work for a company that puts product before profit.

Remember, "it's performance versus potential."  Can and will the workforce improve their attitude and professionalism under new leadership? 

Fear not the future; things have a way of working out!

Are you enjoying your quarterly bonus?

Covenant Aviation, the profit before product company, announced last week that our quarterly bonus would be in our paychecks dated 5/29/15.

For screeners, that amounts to 83 cents per day; for supervisors it amounts to $1.66 per day.  Just how much did our stellar management team get?

Are you feeling appreciated? Are you motivated to provide "world class customer service"?  Or are you following the lead of our management team and are only in it for the money?

Once again, we will state the obvious:  "The quality of the only product that you have to offer is determined solely by the example set in place by management!"

U.D voting update!

The Counting of the Mailed in Ballots has been cancelled by The NLRB

On Monday the 19th at 3:00 PM the NLRB cancelled the counting of the mailed in UD ballots for the next day, Tuesday the 21st at 10:00 AM. It was cancelled due to the fact that only 393 ballots (mostly ‘Yes’ votes) were mailed back, 703 employees did not vote. The measure needed 549 votes to pass (50% plus one), half the CAS workforce. Unfortunately, we are still a closed shop as of now; you must pay dues (2.3% of your gross earnings) or get fired. The workers want an open shop! We will try again with a new walk-in election at the Airport!

The Committee of Covenant Screeners will be filing an “Objection to the Election” as soon as possible at the Regional office and also in the main board in Washington D.C. We have asked for a walk in election at the airport before this vote to get a high turnout. In addition, many workers did not get ballots. The harassing methods used by SEIU to intimidate and spread falsehoods are against Federal law. SEIU actions have severely compromised the laboratory conditions for a free, fair, and honest election!


The Good news is SEIU will disappear now for years, will not return phone call or e-mails and will not help you!
All they cared about was your money!

Don't fall for Union Scare Tactics. TAKE BACK YOUR RIGHT TO CHOOSE!

The (TSA) letter used to frighten screeners says nothing about taking away our pay and benefits (In fact, the author is content with the current contract, but would like to consider the SCA [McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act] being used in future contracts, which guaranties screeners earn the same or better of their TSA counterparts. The only people who would not benefit from the SCA would just be upper management).

Voting YES in the election lets YOU determine whether to contribute your HARD-EARNED money towards SEIU.

Voting YES gives YOU the power to show what you think of SEIU and how you expect them to EARN their dues in the future.

SEIU currently collects over $60,000 per MONTH for their "Protection". They won't just up and leave if you vote for Open Shop. They actually might start doing what they are paid to do.  ;-)

Submitted by a reader.

Our Take on the Town Hall Mettings!

It is obvious that the current level of effort put forth by the workforce is not quite what Covenant wishes it to be. They want us to smile and be more tolerant.

Management is just in denial and refuses to admit that the workforce has responded in a way that doesn't give Covenant what it wants. Jeff:  it comes down to "Production versus Potential." A workforce that is appreciated and respected for their contributions is more motivated to put forth a better effort!


Jeff Pugh has reportedly stated that we can have a raise or we can have our parking back, but we can't have both! For a company that is trying to get the workforce to be more courteous and customer friendly that approach just will not do. We find this to be an extremely arrogant and rigid position.

Once again, the quality of the only product that Covenant is able to provide can only be raised to a higher level by management improving morale.  Stop the threats and intimidation!

What is the truth? Where does the dues money go? (Submitted by a reader)

SEIU right now compels all Covenant workers to pay Full dues (2.3%) or agency Fee- Becks rights of (1.8%). We are the only airport in the U.S.A. that has to pay to keep this Job! How Insane! This is fundamentally wrong.

SEIU is telling all of us that they need all of our due's money. This is a lie!

The Facts are very little stays in the unit (chapter). The bulk of the money first goes to the San Francisco Labor council under Tim Paulson and then to the San Mateo County Labor council under Shelley Kessler and each take a “CUT” of it and do nothing for us! The rest of the money goes to the main International SEIU in Washington D.C. This helps pay SEIU President Mary Kay Henry a ludicrous salary of $350,000 (Not including benefits, perks, expenses and bonuses) and they also do nothing for us!

A "yes” vote – will release your obligation to pay union dues, and you can Continue to work at Covenant without paying S.E.I.U. The Collective Bargaining agreement will be unchanged except S.E.I.U. and their Shop Stewards will actually have to earn your money.

.

The choice is yours; it is time to vote!

Whether you vote yes or no is completely up to you. If you don't vote at all, it will be counted as a "no" vote. A "yes" vote will rescind the practice of forcing payment of union dues to keep your job..If you are undecided as to how to vote, just examine SEIU's past performance. Look at their track record regarding what they have done for, and to, the workforce.

Do you honestly feel that they have worked for what was in the best interest of the workforce?

This union has shown that the "only" thing that they care about is the collection of dues which they have failed to earn.

Have they ever negotiated or submitted an alternative counter offer to anything that Covenant has wanted?

Who can they blame for all the take-backs and give aways that Covenant has asked for and received?

Now they are asking the workforce to tell them what issues are important to us. Shouldn't they know the answer to those questions already? How about everything that that they gave away for starters?

A "yes" vote only removes SEIU's ability to force us to pay dues -- it doesn't relieve them of their responsibility to represent the workforce. Why should we, and why would we, want to pay dues to a union that has done absolutely nothing for us?

Updated UD information!

Committee of Covenant Screeners for Deauthorization

Mail in Ballot for the Deauthorization (UD) Election, Vote Yes!

Fellow Covenant Employees:

The lying liars of SEIU and Covenant have a contract governing our employment. This contract contains a “union security clause” which requires each employee to pay dues to SEIU as a condition of employment. This is insane! Vote Yes!

However, under the National Labor Relations Act of 1951 (NLRB), employees have the right to call for a special, secret ballot election to have this forced-security cause deleted from the contract. This is called a “Deauthorization election”, (UD), because employees “deauthorize” the forced-security clause and remove it from the contract.

If 50% or more of the eligible employees vote in favor of the UD, the clause is struck out of the contract, and no employee will be forced to pay dues or fees to the SEIU. In short, a UD election has only one purpose: to remove the forced-dues clause from the contract, and require SEIU to earn its dues through voluntary contributions, instead of forced collections and threats to terminate you if you don’t pay up!

Our UD election is a mail in ballot from the NLRB.
The ballots will be mailed after 10-2 and will come to
your home address, we have till 10-16, Thursday to send
back the filled in ballots to the NLRB, the votes
will be counted on Tuesday the 21st at 11:00 AM.

It is Critical that each employee vote during the voting period! In order to win this election, we need a majority of all employees who are eligible to vote. An employee who fails to vote is, in effect, “Voting” for forced dues, and is voting to have no choice except to continue paying outrageous dues and fees to SEIU!

A strong union is not predicated on how much money you pay in dues! The Union is weak because of a POOR CONTRACT, POOR LEADERSHIP, and NO ADVOCACY!

Vote yourself a Raise! Vote Yes!

What a load of horse manure!

Just who do they think they are kidding?  We all know better!

The mouth that roared is at it again!  John Mica should walk away and leave this alone.

( By the way, focus on the part that talks about what will happen to the current federal TSA screeners.)


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/os-tsa-sanford-privatize-20140923-story.html

Really, Uncle Mike?

Uncle Mike just doesn't seem to grasp the gravity of the situation between the workforce and management. Doesn't the evidence speak for itself?  Why is he failing to acknowledge that his style of management just doesn't work?

Does he honestly think that the steps that management has taken will inspire the workforce to increase performance? Just what motivation does he think will be created by withholding the 3rd quarter "Courtesy and Helpfulness" bonus? Quite the contrary!  This step has only inflamed the workforce. It didn't work before, why would you expect it to work now?  

Covenant Aviation Security placing 26th out of 30 in Courtesy and Helpfulness should be a wake up call.  Let's just continue along the same path and see where it leads.  Let's just continue to stick it to the workforce as usual!

Uncle Mike, why don't you try something that might work? How about showing some respect and appreciation? How about treating the workforce in a way that acknowledges the reason that CAS has lasted over 11 years? Do you still think that all the backroom deals and cozy relationships will save this contract?  You even acknowledge this point in your own "Internal Company Confidential" letter, dated November 26, 2013.  To quote: "our expectation is that our TSA contract will run through July 31st, 2015."  The key words here are "our expectation" -- in other words, there is no guarantee!

Uncle Mike, you are right about one thing:  that the expectations of the stakeholders remain as high as ever.  Just what is your plan to create an atmosphere that will produce a service that meets these goals?

The workforce will once again follow the examples displayed by management.  Start showing that you value the contributions made by the workforce!

How and why?

Just how did a company like Covenant Aviation Security, who puts profit-before-product, get a contract renewal? What backroom deals were made to accomplish this?

As a reminder...

 SEIU, has been sending out letters demanding that employees once again start paying dues.  We feel that this is an attempt to persuade and intimidate the workforce into paying dues that are not required.

Has anyone seen a signed copy of the contract?

Has anyone seen a printed CBA handbook?

Information has been passed along to us regarding the status of the motion to disallow the results of the recent de-authorization vote. We have been informed that the National Labor Relations Board will be making a determination some time in October.

In the meantime, don't be intimidated into paying dues that are not legally required!

SEIU, produce a signed copy of the contract and a printed CBA handbook!

A pass along message!

If you received a second letter from SEIU,  use this form letter that was written by a attorney, and send back to the Union and send a copy to Covenant Payroll.


Sept. __, 2013



Secretary-Treasurer

United Service Workers West-SEIU

Northern California HQ

3411 East 12th St., Suite 200

Oakland, CA 94601



Dear Sir:



I am employed by Covenant Aviation Security at SFO, and I am in receipt of your “second notice” dated _______________, 2013. Your notice demands that I sign union membership and dues deduction authorization cards, and pay full membership dues to the union. However, your records should indicate that I am not a member of the union, and that I am already on record as being a Beck objector. If your records do not indicate this, then I will reiterate the following: I have no wish to be a member of the union, and I object to supporting any of the union’s political and nonrepresentational activities, as is my right under the National Labor Relations Act and CWA v. Beck. This objection is permanent and continuing in nature.

I request that you provide me with my procedural rights, including: reduction of my fees to an amount that includes only lawfully chargeable costs; notice of the calculation of that amount, verified by an independent certified public accountant; and notice of the procedure that you have adopted to hold my fees in an interest-bearing escrow account and give me an opportunity to challenge your calculation and have it reviewed by an impartial decision maker. Once you provide me with the appropriate reduced fee amount I will meet all lawful financial core requirements.



Sincerely,



______________________

Signature



_____________________

Name



_____________________

Address



Cc: Covenant Aviation Security HR/Payroll

We have been asked to post this bit of information

To all who received a letter from SEIU demanding that you start paying dues.

 Mr. Stephen Burke has filed a charge against the Union regarding a withholding of dues due to a lack of a contract. A "Hiatus" period was in effect since the beginning of 2012 which resulted in the temporary removal of our requirement to pay dues. A letter requesting  that the payroll department not take any dues from our paychecks was submitted. This letter also stated that if and when a new contract became effective that we would only resume our membership at a reduced payment rate according to the 'Beck" clause. That "Beck" membership rate would be at a reduced rate of  (1.8% ) not the full amount of 2.3%.

Do not send back the two cards to the Union. The National Labor Relations Board is now conducting an investigation and we feel very confident that the previous ballot results will be tossed out. We are requesting that a new vote take place on-site, not as a mail in ballot.

We will pass along any information as it becomes available to us.

Once again, has anyone seen a signed copy of the new contract?

What do we have?

The TSA has something called, "Workforce Engagement." Its stated purpose is to, "ensure that all employees at all levels are informed, inspired and supported so they can effectively contribute their expertise and enthusiasm to the success and performance of the TSA."  Do we have anything like that at Covenant?  Absolutely not!

What we do have is a management team that does everything it can to keep us uninformed. What we do have is a management team that does nothing to keep us inspired and motivated. This management team has shown its utter contempt for the workforce by sticking it to us as often, and as hard, as they can. 

We have all had a recent sampling of the value that Covenant places on the contributions of the workforce. We have just received a quarterly bonus of 100 dollars which, after taxes, nets out somewhere around 60 dollars.  Or, as we like to look at it, less than a net total of a dollar a day.

This profit-before-product company takes away several thousand of dollars in givebacks and take-away and in return they proudly announce this embarrassing quarterly bonus!  Does any employee not see how little they think of us?

Once again, we are stating, for the record, that there is absolutely and undeniably no cost advantage between a for profit-at-any-cost_private contractor and the TSA.  The budget would be the same, the only difference is that a for profit company, such as Covenant Aviation, is purely motivated by greed versus the TSA which is totally focused on providing the highest level of security possible.

We hope that Covenant is seen for what they are and that their days at SFO will soon come to an end.

Are you as stunned as we are?

In a letter from JLP, he attempts to address the rumors that he was made aware of through Facebook.

According to Mr. J.Pee, the likelihood of a TSA takeover of the screening operations at SFO will never happen. According to Mr. J.Pee, CAS does the best job of performing screening operations at a CAT X airport.  Perhaps he should share that information with Uncle Mike.

Yes, the same Uncle Mike who has decided to loosen the purse strings and dole out a $100 quarterly bonus to all of us.

Let's see, that breaks down to a dollar and a penny per day.  Gee, Uncle Mike, are you for real?  Is that how little you think of the contributions made by the workforce?  Is that how little you think of our performance, which has allowed you to keep your job with your lofty salary?  Isn't it nice to have a management team that recognizes the true value of the workforce?

Once again, this "profit-before-product" company known as CAS has shown that the only things that they really appreciate are the almighty dollars that line their collective pockets, courtesy of the workforce.




Now, why is it that they deserve to have this contract any longer?

And so it starts!

On Monday the counting of the ballots will begin at 1 p.m, and we hope that you let your voice be heard. Thanks to all those who have helped to make all of this possible.  We will post the results of the voting as soon as they are made available to us.

The rumor mill has been abuzz this past week with talk of a major announcement from the TSA which was expected to be released on Friday, July 26th, but was put off until this week. Let's cross our fingers that this announcement is just what the doctor ordered and is not a continuation of "business-as-usual" with the "profit-before-product" Covenant Aviation at the helm.

Good luck to us all, and thanks again for supplying the information needed in order to keep this blog-site your source of timely news.

Do you really want SEIU to represent you?

Is it not obvious to you that the money you would be paying to SEIU, in the form of dues, would not be money well spent?

SEIU is a union of concessions and give-backs. SEIU is a union with a long and sad history of corruption. SEIU leadership across the country has shown itself to be far less than trustworthy.

Do you want more proof?

Follow this link and read and learn for yourselves what we here already know:

 

 

 http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-union5-2008dec05,0,418393.story

Isn't it time to open your eyes and to make the right choice?

Vote "yes" to rescind the ability of this corrupt union to force you to pay dues in order to keep your job!