For your reading pleasure!

Please post the flyer below. Thank You!
Committee of Covenant Screeners for Deauthorization

UD petition for 2014

What is a De-authorization (UD) petition? In 1951 Congress granted us, the workers, the right to hold a secret ballot election to nullify the compulsory unionism clause (Closed Shop-the requirement to join the union and pay dues as a condition of employment). A successful election will give CAS workers the ability to de-authorize the security requirement. (Open Shop-employees cannot be fired for refusal to pay any dues!) CAS workers can use their own best judgment when deciding to financially support SEIU.

If a majority of employees at Covenant vote to remove the authority of SEIU-USWW to collect dues will the Collective Bargaining Agreement become unenforceable?
ABSOLUTELY NOT! The new contract remains in effect; the sole effect of the election is the removal of the security clause (Closed Shop). All other provisions and terms of the contract remain in full force and effect. Unfortunately the Lying Lairs of SEIU will crawl out of the rocks they live under and again attack the UD petition and upcoming vote! They will spend tens of thousands of (Dues) dollars! Why can’t they fight Covenant instead? Remember! It is in SEIU’s (The purple dues machine) best interest to lie and confuse you. They just want your Money!

If you haven’t signed the de-authorization (UD) petition yet, please give it your utmost consideration. Remember we are the only airport in the United States that has to pay to keep this Job! This is insane! Let’s keep our money! (Open Shop)


SEIU: The Union that sold us out!

The votes have been counted!

The votes have been counted, and the totals are: 498 "yes" votes to 121 "no" votes. Too many of us did not vote, and the measure missed passing by 72 votes.

We will be filing an "objection to the election" as soon as possible.  The illegal and harassing methods used by SEIU to intimidate and spread falsehoods was completely against all rules.

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.

The Interested Contract Bidders Walk-Throughs Have Started!

Did you happen to see the tour that was given last Friday?  We were told not to speak to them and to not answer any questions.  (Any questions that they may have had should have been answered by reading the blog-site.)

BTW, our union of concessions, SEIU, was part of the tour group.  Were they trying to the plant seeds for their retention? Were they trying to show that they are still representing us to the best of their limited ability?


Do we not have a signup sheet to have SEIU  removed?  How is that coming along?  It is way past the time for a change.  Stand up and be counted! 

Take the first step towards a better tomorrow, remove SEIU. 

In case you are wondering what our life would be like without SEIU, go to the NLRB.Gov website and click on " employee rights."

These Are Your Rights...

according the the National Labor Relations Board.  With or without a union we do have rights under the National Relations Labor Act.

Don't feel that we need a union to make our wants and needs known to the company.


http://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/employee-rights

It's time for you to show where you stand!

There is a form letter going around that challenges the collection of union dues and what you can do about it.

We are not going to spoon feed you this bit of information, but if you are really fed up with this do nothing union, start a little detective work.

No, we are not pulling your leg, it's real. The onus is on you to find out where you can pick one up, why and how it was generated and how it might benefit you.

Get a move on it; the clock is ticking!

Your Thoughts on SEIU!

We would like to hear from you what you think about SEIU. Do you think that they have been stellar? Less than stellar? Or, just so-so?

Do you feel that they have earned the money that we pay in dues? What do you feel they have done for us? And, what would you like to see them do?

It's time to evaluate SEIU for better or for worse. We would use your input to explore our possible alternative options if it comes to that.

Every comment submitted to us will be kept confidential and no names will be used.

We are here to help deal with the issues that affect us all.

Money on a String

As reported on this blog, the private contractors in the Pilot Program, now within the Screening Partnership Program, once were found to be a mere 17% more expensive than their federal counterparts. If this were the end of the story, probably the Screening Partnership Program would be done and buried since the TSA is required to keep costs similar between fed and private operations.

At least one contractor pushed back on this report, wanting to avoid a Career Decision Day. This contractor argued that the taxes paid by the contractor is money that comes back to the government, so this amount is not an actual expense to the government.

But folks, that would be a rebate. The difference is taxes are made to be avoided. One year you might be taxed, it might tick you off, and you might find a way to lower your tax obligation the next year. There is no guarantee the taxes will be paid consistently.

Sadly, though, it looks like the government bought the argument to some degree. And this bought the contractors time until TSA could raise wages enough for the contractor at SFO, Covenant Aviation Security, to undercut TSA's wages for experienced personnel in comparison. The next time they run the numbers private might come out even. Well played, ladies and gentlemen. You're "innovative" private sectors ideas haven't benefitted the public but you didn't lose the deal.

During this period, Covenant can be identified in one very public way. They've hired lobbyists to speak to Congresspersons and to speak to the General Accounting Office (source: OpenSecrets.org, listed as 'Covenant'). By law the lobbyists are required to file reports. They've been paying $15,000 a quarter for the past several years. They are using the same lobbyists (Smith Dawson Andrews) as San Francisco International Airport, maybe to save on cab fair or something.

It looks like hokey accounting must be in the mix when you talk about the Screening Partnership Program. First, note that Covenant Aviation Security has hired lobbyists. Next, note that experienced TSO's are better off federal. Finally, note that if someone is being paid to counter-balance this, why is that group doing nothing?

Where should we be in pay?

We know there has been some confusion lately on some of our posts in terms of pay bands, TSA, money, etc. Let's try to clear some of this up.

TSA has a system called PASS (Performance Accountability and Standards System). This system is basically an incentive system. TSOs, LTSOs, and STSOs are graded on various metrics. Some of those include how well you scored on PSEs, IMAs, OMAs, OLC completion rate, quarterly reviews (yeah, when was the last time we had one of those?), et. al. How you score and are graded on those things determine your bonus and raise.

You can also get bigger raises by taking on additional duties, called collateral duties. Those duties can include being an OJT monitor, an instructor, being responsible for calibrating and general maintenance of various equipment.

There is some controversy within the TSA work force over PASS. People feel it can be unfair to have your raise determined by how well you do on a PSE. How many of us have had brain farts on it and failed? If you have a brain fart at that crucial moment, your raise can be lower. Hence, the reason many within TSA are arguing to become unionized. Many feel that the PASS system is an unfair system.

Keep in mind, TSA at the minimum, receives their COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) regardless. Most of the time that COLA is 3.9%. What has our raises been???

Ok, so let's get into numbers. A TSO starts at Pay Band D. The minimum that a starting TSO will make is $25,518 plus 35.15% locality rate for the Bay Area. That comes out to $34,487.58 as a minimum. A TSO at the D Band will max out at $38,277 with the locality pay of $51,731.37.  These are the base rates. They do not include the various incentives one can receive within TSA.

The above rates work out to approximately $16.58 per hour up to $24.87 an hour. These are for TSOs at the D band. LTSOs will generally start out at F band and STSOs will start out at G band. If you want to check out these numbers, go to TSA's page listing all the pay rates for the various pay bands. And remember when you are factoring the hourly rates for the various bands, to add the 35.15% locality pay.

Now there are some caveats. TSA rarely hires full time employees off the street. You will generally have to put in some time, as much as two years before you can even go full time.

Speaking of two years, their probation period lasts for two years. Unlike our four month probation period, they have a much longer time on probation. However, they don't enforce their attendance policies with the same vengeance that Covenant Aviation Security does. To be fair, the Federal Government gives Covenant Aviation Security more money if attendance is high. So it's in Covenant Aviation Security's financial interest to ensure we all show up to work.

TSA also has to pay for a certain percentage of their health and dental coverage. Unlike us, where we get free Kaiser (and a damn good Kaiser plan) for ourselves and a partner, they have to pay. This is not unlike most companies. We admittedly do have it good in terms of our benefits. Except for the fact that TSA has their Federal pension plans. When is ours kicking in?

Now you all have a general idea of what is what. The GAO (Government Accounting Office) concluded that SPP airports such as SFO cost 17.4% more than their federal counterparts. That GAO report is very interesting and worth giving a read.

Under our CBA, the workers that benefit the most from it are new people. They would make less under TSA. For those of us that have put in three, four, five, or more years, we're losing out. Plain and simple. So why is this? Who exactly does this CBA benefit? SEIU, Covenant Aviation Security, TSA, or us?

According to the ATSA (Aviation Transportation Security Act), we're supposed to be paid the same or more than our federal counterparts.  So why aren't we? Well, it could very well be because of our CBA. A legal loophole for Covenant Aviation Security not to pay us the equivalent.

It's time to decide guys. Which way are you going to vote in terms of our representation? What exactly do we get for the $500,000 approximately a year that goes to SEIU?

Petitions

I recently posted about petitions. I realize now maybe I should take a step back.

There are petitions and then there are petitions. There are online petitions, people power petitions, workplace petitions, people lurking around Safeway that are pushing ballot referendums petitions and then things that lawyers draw up such as a "petition for writ of certiorari".

Many of these non-ballot referundum or non-lawyerly petitions have no legal power, of course.
But there is a petition that employees can sign that does have standing. It's commonly known as a deauthorization petition. It sets up an election to choose whether to remove the requirement in the CBA to pay dues or fees just to keep your job. It's in the National Labor Relations Act, Section 9(e). 30% of bargaining-unit employees must sign this petition to move to the next stage: a secret-ballot election monitored by the federal government.

So if you are approached by a person with a petition, and he or she is being careful that it is a non-work area on non-work time (to avoid any charges of unlawful employer support), and they start talking about dues, they just might be talking about a legally-sanctioned procedure to remove the dues requirement. When the petition is turned in to the federal government, they will not push it back in the petitioners face like the "my (boy)friend is a popular supervisor and you changed his schedule" petition at Covenant Aviation Security. It will be processed and checked for compliance.

Then the real work begins. If the petition is approved and moves to the election stage, 50%+1 of the bargaining unit must vote "Yes" for the petitioner to win. So, hypothetically, if there are 900 eligible voters, 451 must vote "Yes" to effectively end the dues requirement. Any ballots not returned, or not cast, obviously don't help the petitioner.

30%, 50%+1. These numbers may be more important to TSO's than 40/40/I forgot.