The Teamsters Union announced today that it is assembling an experienced team of experts to ensure its members’ jobs and interests are protected should the proposed merger of United and Continental be approved by federal regulators and shareholders.

“Our most important responsibility is to ensure that the proposed Continental-United merger doesn’t harm our members,” said Teamsters Airline Division Director David Bourne. “Our team of legal and financial experts has extensive experience with mergers and acquisitions and will watch this process carefully so that the interests of our mechanics and fleet service members are protected.”

In an unrelated move, Continental Airlines said today that it is reversing a decision announced in March to close seven stations. The closures would have affected about 150 fleet service workers located in Greensboro, N.C.; St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo.; Norfolk and Richmond, Va.; Pensacola, Fla.; and Providence, R.I. The fleet service workers handle baggage and cargo, and they perform other essential jobs, including directing jets to the terminal gates.

“We understand there will be no layoffs if the merger is completed, and that attrition will be through the normal attrition process of retirement and resignation,” Bourne said.

The Teamsters represent about 8,000 mechanics at United, 5,000 mechanics at Continental and 8,000 fleet service workers at Continental.

IBT Airline Division Director David Bourne and other IBT representatives, including IBT Representative Clacy Griswold met with UAL senior management on March 3, 2010 in Chicago. The parties met and discussed at length their respective positions regarding outstanding work-rule proposals as well as pension-related matters. Representatives from the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust participated by teleconference with respect to the pension-related matters. Discussions concerning scope were deferred to a follow-up meeting which is tentatively scheduled for later this month. The parties anticipate returning to the bargaining table after the follow-up meeting, and after they have had an opportunity to fully evaluate each others’ bargaining positions.

Negotiations originally scheduled for the week of February 15th were postponed while the Company compiles information requested by the Union. Over the course of the last several months the Union negotiating team has spent countless hours meeting with the Company in sub-committees exploring solutions to numerous articles in the collective bargaining agreement. In those meetings the Union has asked specific questions related to each article and made numerous information requests. Receiving this information is necessary to proceed productively with bargaining.

Teamster leadership has been informed that the Company is actively collecting the information and the Union anticipates the parties will be back at the bargaining table in the near future.

Bargaining Moves to San Francisco
Negotiations resumed this week in San Francisco. Bargaining took place on Tuesday, February 2nd and Wednesday February 3rd. During the two days of negotiations sub-committees reconvened to discuss Article 4, Article 6, as well as Training. The entire negotiating team would like to thank SFO Inspector
Kevin Sloan for participating in the Article 4 sub-committee discussions and providing expertise on inspector issues.

Upcoming Negotiation Dates
The parties have agreed to take a recess during the week of February 8th and reconvene on February 16th in San Francisco.

Bargaining Focuses on Training and Integrating MPA’s into the Contract
Negotiations continued on January 26th, 27th and 28th in Chicago. The week’s bargaining centered on talks regarding Training as well as integrating the Maintenance Planning Analysts (MPA) into the Mechanics Agreement. The training sub-committee made significant progress on a number of issues and discussions will continue in the coming weeks. The sub-committee tasked with discussions on integrating the MPA’s into to the Mechanics Agreement was extremely productive, and although very close to reaching agreement, there are a few legal/technical issues that need to be resolved.

Top Union and Company Officials Meet to Review SCOPE
Teamsters Airline Division Director David Bourne, along with union chief negotiator Clacy Griswold and IBT attorney Ed Gleason, met on January 28th with top Company officials including VP of Labor Relations Doug McKeen and VP of Maintenance Jim Keenan. The meeting was arranged to review the Union’s SCOPE proposal that is designed to ensure job security.

General President Hoffa, Airline Division Director Bourne Meet with United Management

International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President James Hoffa and Airline Division David Bourne met with United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton and Senior Vice President for Labor Relations Douglas McKeen at Teamsters Headquarters in Washington this week. General President Hoffa and Director Bourne expressed their concerns to the executives about ways that the airline and union can work toward common strategies to help the airline further stabilize its operations while protecting and enhancing employee job security and reducing outsourcing.

General President Hoffa and Director Bourne were both pleased at the positive tone of the meeting. “This was the first time that we have had an opportunity for both sides to sit begin building a relationship,” Bourne said. “ It also gave us a chance to discuss a number of issues that our members are currently dealing with that concern both UAL and the Teamsters,” he went on to say. “I’m confident that these discussions will continue in a spirit of openness and that by working together, we can and will find areas of common agreement that will benefit our membership and United Airlines.”

Talks Focus on Sick Leave/Dependability, Training, Field Service, RIF, and Discipline

The first two days of negotiations this week involved extensive discussion on the sick leave/dependability issue. The Union provided the Company with numerous examples of flexibility in scheduling and incentive programs that the Union feels will address the Company’s concerns regarding sick leave while protecting the spirit of the language in the collective bargaining agreement. During the final two days of the week’s bargaining, the parties broke out into four sub-committees to discuss specific areas of the Agreement. The topics covered in sub-committee included training, field service, reduction-in-force, and discipline. Negotiations will resume Tuesday, January 19th.

On Tuesday evening, Walter Pentz from the Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Trust held a three hour question and answer session with the Union bargaining team. The Western Conference of Teamsters Pension Plan is the largest Union pension plan in the nation, and in terms of its funding status, remains in the “green zone”. Mr. Pentz also went over plan details such as the two-for-one past employment credit for new groups entering the pension plan. This special one-time credit would mean a mechanic with at least ten years of seniority who works for 5 years after entering the plan would be credited with at total of 15 years of service for benefit calculation purposes.

Prior to the start of bargaining on Thursday, IBT Economist Norman Weintraub spent the morning providing the negotiating team with an analysis of the industry and bargaining unit’s placement in the industry in terms of wages and fringe benefits.

The Union bargaining team arrived in Chicago on Tuesday, January 5th and promptly held a union-only meeting to begin preparing for month-long “accelerated” negotiations.

This accelerated negotiation process will involve a slightly different approach to bargaining. As opposed to simply passing proposals back and forth, the parties first identify the core issues that need to be addressed in each Article. After identifying them, the parties collectively discuss the underlying issues and work to develop possible alternative solutions until an agreement can be reached.

Teamsters to Closely Monitor Continental-United Merger

Preliminary Indications: No Layoffs Expected