Worker Justice

Interfaith

Fairnessin Flight

A Report on Republic Airways Mechanics

Organizing to Improve Conditions

Monitoring Committee

Fairness in Flight 2

Executive Summary

In February 2012, Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) was asked to help ensure that the me-chanics and related employees (henceforth referred to as mechanics) of Republic Airways are able to exercise their right to organize without pressure or intimidation from their employer. IWJ responded by forming a moni-toring committee that consists of religious leaders, labor experts and academics. On March 8 and 9, 2012, a fact-finding delega-tion from the monitoring committee met with Republic Airways mechanics in Indianapolis and Columbus, respectively. These mechan-ics come from three of the thirteen Republic Airways facilities that employ mechanics: In-dianapolis, IN; Columbus, OH; and Louisville, KY.1 This report documents the concerns and stories of these mechanics.

Republic Airways Holdings is an airline hold-ing company that owns four airlines: Chau-tauqua Airlines, Frontier Airlines, Republic Airlines and Shuttle America. The headquar-ters and the CEO, Mr. Bryan Bedford, are based in Indianapolis, IN and its airplanes fly under the following airline partner brands: American Airlines, Delta Airlines, Frontier

1 The thirteen facilities of Republic Airways that em-ploys mechanics are: Charlotte, NC (CLT); Chicago, IL (ORD); Cleveland, OH (CMH); Columbus, Ohio (CMH); Denver, CO (DEN); Indianapolis, IN (IND); Kansas City, KS (MCI); Louisville, KY (SDF); Newark, NJ (EWR); New York, NY (LGA); Philadelphia, PA (PHL); Pittsburgh, PA (PIT); Washington, DC (DCA)

Airlines, United Airlines, and US Airways. Mr. Bryan Bedford was brought on as President and CEO in 1999. The Monitoring Committee has reached out to Mr. Bedford on a number of occasions and, to date, has not received a response. Instead, Republic Airways has cho-sen to hire the union-busting law firm, Ford & Harrison, and the mechanics have since expe-rienced an intensified anti-union atmosphere in the workplace.

In order to establish safe working conditions and treat the mechanics with fairness and dig-nity, IWJ calls upon Republic Airways to take the following steps:

1. Respect mechanics’ right to organize with-out employer harassment or interference.

2. Address worker concerns through a pro-cess of collective bargaining.

The mechanics like their jobs and want Repub-lic Airways to prosper and grow. They be-lieve that they can help the company become a safer, more efficient and more productive airline by forming a union and negotiating a contract that addresses their concerns, thereby strengthening the company.

Report on Interfaith Worker Justice Fact Finding Delegation

March 8, 2012 Indianapolis, IndianaMarch 9, 2012 Columbus, Ohio

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Fact Finding Delegation

Interfaith Worker Justice (IWJ) is a national organization that works with religious lead-ers from a variety of faith traditions on issues of worker justice. In February 2012, IWJ was contacted to assist the mechanics of Republic Airways to exercise their right to orga-nize a union without influence or intimidation. IWJ organized a monitoring committee composed of religious, community and academic leaders. The following are members of the Interfaith Worker Justice Monitoring Committee2:

Rev. Tim Ahrens, Senior Minister, First Congregational Church UCC (Columbus)Ms. Kim Bobo, Executive Director, Interfaith Worker Justice (Chicago)Dr. James Childs, Professor of Ethics, Lutheran Theological Seminary (Columbus)Dr. Paul Clark, Department of Labor Studies & Employment Relations, Penn State University (University Park, PA)Ms. Erin Cordle, Office for Social Concerns, Catholic Diocese of Columbus (Co-lumbus)Rev. Darren Cushman-Wood, Senior Pastor, North United Methodist Church (Indianapolis)Ms. Kimberly Freeman-Brown, Executive Director, American Rights at Work (DC)Dr. Dan Graff, Higgins Labor Studies Program, Notre Dame University (South Bend)Dr. Chris Howell, Department of Politics, Oberlin College (Oberlin)Rev. Troy Jackson, Senior Pastor, University Christian Church (Cincinnati)Rev. Dr. Felipe Martinez, Whitewater Valley Presbytery (Indianapolis)Dr. Bill Mirola, Marian University (Indianapolis)Fr. Jack O’Malley, Diocese of Pittsburgh (Pittsburgh)Mr. Charlie Wiles, International Interfaith Initiatives (Indianapolis)Rev. June Wilkins, Senior Pastor, Gethsemane Lutheran Church (Columbus)

On March 8 and 9, 2012, the monitoring committee met with mechanics to hear their stories. Although there were some differences between the experiences of the mechanics from the Indianapolis, IN; Louisville, KY; and Columbus, OH facilities, there were many common themes that emerged from their stories. The issues outlined below were identi-fied by the mechanics as issues of concern in their workplace.

2 Note: the organizations are listed for identification purposes only.

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Worker Concerns

Republic Airways mechanics are seeking to organize a union in order to have a stronger voice on the job and address concerns they experience through collective bargaining. Although the Monitoring Committee cannot adequately judge how widespread these con-cerns are, the nature and scope of the issues raised necessitates discussion and negotia-tion between the mechanics and manage-ment through a collective bargaining process. The following issues were raised with the Monitoring Committee by Republic Airways mechanics.

Overtime policies encourage unsafe, long shiftsMost workers are protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that requires employ-ers to pay workers time-and-a-half for hours worked over 40 hours. This law creates an economic disincentive for employers to work people more than 40 hours per week because they must pay them at a higher rate.

Workers employed by railroads and airlines are covered by a different law, the Railway La-bor Act (originally passed in 1926 for railway workers and then extended to cover airline workers in 1936). This law allows employers to calculate workers’ wages based on 80 hours over a two-week period before the overtime premium (1.5 times regular wages) is required.

Airlines often need their mechanics to work long hours to address maintenance problems and even to fly to other airports to help out in difficult situations. Most other airlines are unionized and thus provide economic incen-tives and support for employees doing this important work. For example, in most union-

ized airlines, mechanics who work more than a 12 hour shift are paid 1.5 times the regular rate, and if they work more than a 16 hour shift, they are paid double time. This system rewards employees who work terribly long shifts and yet allows the employer to have the flexibility needed to address mechanical problems.

Republic Airways does not provide this extra support for those who work really long hours, and thus mechanics who want to receive over-time for the extra hours must also continue to work their regular shifts as well. This creates a dangerous work environment when mechan-ics are not adequately rested. One mechanic reported the following case:

He worked his regular shift from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. (10 hours) and was then asked to fly to another town to address a crisis. There, he worked another 14 hours straight and arrived back to the home airport at 8 p.m. (he has now worked a total of 24 hours straight). The reason-able and “safe” thing for him to do is to go home, rest and return the following evening. However, he stayed on for his next regular shift; it was the only way to ensure that he gets the extra overtime pay for that extra work (now working a total of 34 hours or more).

This is not uncommon, as the mechanics told the monitoring committee that they will often stay on to work for another 10 hours to fin-ish their shift. It is the way Republic Airways pays overtime to mechanics that encourages them to work longer hours than they should, safely, in order to get the extra overtime pay.

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There has been some evidence that Republic Airways management has begun to address these issues, but the mechanics believe this is not enough and this is one of the key safety is-sues that many of the mechanics would like to address through collective bargaining.

Safety concernsSafety was a recurring theme that emerged from the mechanics’ stories. Issues of safety were raised in nearly all of the mechanic’s comments, including fatigue and lack of ad-equate rest arising from the schedule problems described above.

Mechanics expressed concerns about time pressures around inspections. Republic Air-ways has begun using timing guidelines for inspection with a process called the “Beta system.” Under this system, each part of the airplane inspection pro-cess needs to be complet-ed within a specified time period. Mechanics were concerned because some safety inspections take longer than others and they should be encour-aged to explore problems that arise in the process of inspection without pen-alty or pressure.

In addition, several me-chanics told stories about managers pressuring them to sign off on forms before an inspection was either complete or the plane was ready to fly. This puts mechanics in jeopardy of losing their mechanic’s license because they are held per-sonally responsible for any problem that may arise if the problem was signed off premature-ly. There were a few stories about managers either pressuring mechanics to sign off that the problem was fixed, or have signed it them-selves. One case was particularly revealing:

“The Director of Maintenance said the plane can’t fly until they identify the

problem. This was in the meeting at 4a.m. A spare plane was ready to go [to take its place]. But, an accident in Co-lumbus took that plane at 5 a.m. At this time, we had the floors tore out and we identified the bad wire. It ran the length of the plane. The director then ordered the plane put back together, so they spliced the wire back together – the same wire – and flew that plane at 7 a.m. That plane did not meet the minimum equip-ment list.”

In this case, the supervisor signed off to release the plane because the mechanic re-fused to put his license in jeopardy. This story reveals the mechanics’ concern when they feel pressured by supervisors to finish projects in a set amount of time, where some projects may take longer. This raises questions to many of them as to the quality and safety of the planes

that are being used.

Mechanics in both loca-tions shared a strong concern that timing the inspection process (as is done with the Beta system) runs the risk of missing a problem, because the in-spection process naturally takes a varying amount of time depending upon what the inspector finds.

The mechanics reported that they were gathered for a meeting and were told that if they cannot get a plane checked and completed within the allotted time table, their work line would be outsourced by closing down their line and sending the work to a company that would follow the time line.

It is important to note that the two lines that management threatened to shut down and outsource had the most pro-union activists. This raises concern that the workers are being targeted based on their union support, which is a clear violation of the RLA.

It is important to note that the two lines that management threatened to shut down and outsource had the most pro-union activists. This raises concern that the workers are being targeted based on their union support, which is a clear violation of the RLA.

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Mechanics are also concerned about the lack of training for new staff or for existing staff who are asked to service planes on which they are not adequately trained. This training problem is particularly acute given the 51 percent turn-over rate in the workforce at the Columbus facility. Mechanics believe that the lack of ad-equate training led to the following incident:

Chemicals were used to remove the painted lines from a parking area in front of the hangar. Two mechanics were taken to the hospital after they were overcome by the fumes. The company did not disclose what chemical was used. One worker expressed frustration say-ing, “This company is really concerned with ‘just get it done at whatever cost’.”

Mechanics take a lot of pride in the work they do to ensure the safety of the flying public. For many years, Republic Airways has managed to maintain an excellent safety record, thanks in large part to the effort and care of its mechan-ics. The mechanics feel, however, that manage-ment does not support them in addressing the safety concerns they raise.

Pay and BenefitsThe mechanics raised the issue of the pay scale and how many years of employment it takes for a mechanic to reach the top of the pay scale. Wages at Republic Airways are lower and it takes longer for a mechanic to reach the top of the pay scale than at comparable air-lines within the industry.

One of the mechanics reported to the Monitor-ing Committee that he gets paid $23 per hour after seven years at Republic Airways. His pay was increased by 75 cents per hour after two

years of experience. It will take eight more years for this mechanic to reach the top of his pay scale. In comparison, he said that the same job at Comair would earn $27 after seven years. ExpressJet also tops out after eight years. This expresses the difference between union-represented airlines such as Comair and ExpressJet and Republic Airways.

In addition, the health care costs have been shifted to the workers. Thus, even at the same pay scale, a mechanic will have a lower take home pay due to the health care costs. One mechanic recounted that he received a dollar a year raise for six years, but his take home pay has not increased in the last 4 years due to the shifting of the health care costs.

Favoritism versus seniorityUnionized airlines utilize seniority as a fairer system for determining schedule choices, vacation days and overtime work rather than simply allowing a manager to make decisions based on friendships and favoritism. In most workplaces in which people have comparable positions, seniority decides who gets first choice on various schedules, vacations and other issues.

The mechanics expressed concerns about the lack of respect for the seniority system, par-ticularly the lack of access to training, over-time and promotion provided to longer-term employees. Many mechanics believe there is rampant favoritism that is not based on ei-ther seniority or skill. As one mechanic said, “Seniority means nothing to this company.” Mechanics expressed concern that Republic Airways is seen as a stepping stone for young mechanics to move on to unionized airlines, thus adding to a very high turnover rate.

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Confusion on policiesMechanics in Columbus, Ohio expressed con-cern about the lack of concrete policies, such as the shift bid. (A shift bid is when workers get an opportunity to bid on which shifts they will work. Usually workers get to bid based on seniority rotation. This is important because it allows the mechanics to figure out how best to accommodate their work and family sched-ules.) The mechanics we met with claim that it has been over a year since they had a shift bid. They were told by management “we don’t have a shift bid because we have everyone pretty much where they want to be.” How-ever, the mechanics feel this is not the case.

Anti-union work climateAs serious as the issues are that the mechan-ics want to address through organizing and collective bargaining, the Monitoring Com-mittee is most concerned about the anti-union behavior at Republic Airways that is intended to undermine the mechanics’ basic rights to organize and suggests that the company does not want to work with people to address is-sues through collective bargaining.

Workers have a right to organize a union without a work climate of fear and intimida-tion. For workers, this is a right that is legally protected. The Railway Labor Act of 1926 pro-tects the right of workers, specifically airline and railroad workers, to organize a union. If 50 percent of a class of workers, in this case the mechanics of Republic Airways, signs a card indicating their desire for union repre-sentation, they will be able to hold elections. The law protects the rights of workers to freely choose their representatives without interfer-ence, coercion or intimidation. In order to protect a worker’s right to organize freely, the employer is not allowed to:

• Attend any union meeting or engage in any activity of surveillance to determine who is and who is not participating in the union organizing efforts.

• Tell employees that the company will fire or punish them if they engage in union activities.

• Layoff, discharge, or discipline any em-ployees for union activity.

• Grant employees wage increases or spe-cial concessions with the intent of keeping the union out.

• Ask employees about union matters, what they think about the union or a union representative, or how they intend to vote, if they vote at all.

• Threaten employees with reprisal for par-ticipating in union activities.

• Promise benefits to employees if they reject the union.

• Give financial support or other assistance to a union.

• Announce that the company will not deal with the union.

• Threaten to close, or in fact close or move the business in order to avoid dealing with a union.

• Make distinctions between union and non-union employees when assigning overtime work or desirable jobs, including purposely teaming up non-union em-ployees to keep them separate from union employees.

• Transfer workers on the basis of union af-filiations or activities.

• Choose employees to be laid off to avoid dealing with a union.

• Discriminate against union people when disciplining employees.

• Create conditions intended to get rid of an employee because of his or her union activity.

• Fail to grant a scheduled benefit or wage increase because of union activity.

• Deviate from company policy with the purpose of getting rid of a union sup-porter.

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• Take action that adversely affects an employee’s job pay rate because of union activity.

• Threaten workers or coerce them in an at-tempt to influence their vote.

• Tell employees that overtime work (and premium pay) will be discontinued if the business is unionized.

• Say unionization will force the company to lay off employees.

• Say unionization will do away with vaca-tions, flight privileges, or other benefits currently in effect.

• Start a petition or circular against the union or encourage or take part in its cir-culation if started by employees.

• Visit the homes of employees to urge them to reject the union.

• Bar employee union representatives from soliciting employees’ membership on or off the company property during non-work hours.

Despite the above legal protections, the me-chanics at Republic Airways reported a work-place climate of anti-union coercion, including fear and intimidation tactics against union organizing efforts. The mechanics reported the following experiences that contribute to a cli-mate of fear and intimidation in the workplace:

“The supervisor said that if you union-ize, [name] will have you pushing brooms until 7:30pm.”

“If you guys sign union, they’ll close the doors.”

“You guys get the union contract and I’ll beat you on the head with your contract.”

Even if these comments are made as “jokes,” when managers and supervisors, who control workers’ livelihoods, make anti-union com-ments, it creates a chilling environment in the workplace. A common anti-union tactic is to make an ever-increasing level of tension in the workplace and then blame it on the union

organizing campaign.

Republic Airways Holdings very recently instituted a new rule on bulletin boards that prohibits all posting except Company business postings. As listed above, the RLA is fairly clear on this type of activity. The company must allow union supporters the same access and exposure as those who are against union-ization. Unfortunately, even though anti-union literature has been posted in the Indianapo-lis, Indiana location (Indianapolis Airport), when the union-supporting literature was also posted, it was altered to target one of the Indianapolis-based activists by name. Further, union-supporting literature has been removed daily, while leaving the anti-union literature untouched. This is seen in the following case.

When the mechanics confronted the night supervisor as to why the pro-union literature was removed from the bulletin board and were now on his desk, the supervisor answered that they are unap-proved documents that management gave permission to remove because the lawyers advised management that the workers could not put them up.

Even though the Railway Labor Act protects workers’ rights to display and wear union campaign goods (buttons, lanyards, pins), at least one worker said he was told to remove his Teamster lanyard. Another worker claimed that he was denied essential training because of his union activities. These examples, and the following, are clear violations of the RLA.

One mechanic was instructed to remove the Teamsters shirt for being “out of uni-form” when a fellow mechanic was on shift wearing a t-shirt and blue jeans.

Management and anti-union workers have been able to freely use the company’s internal email system, but workers promoting pro-union messages find that their emails are not being sent. In addition, anti-union workers have been increasingly sending out intimidat-ing emails that accuse co-workers of violating

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privacy and sending out inappropriate jokes. Recently, a mechanic in Indianapolis who is working on the union campaign was able to get a pro-union response through the email system at work to counter an anti-union email that went around. As soon as the email went out, the company forbids mechanics from us-ing the company email to distribute pro-union information. However, this did not prevent the company from sending out anti-union litera-ture. Again, the RLA is very clear in prohibit-ing a company from allowing or promoting an anti-union message, while simultaneously blocking union supporters from expressing their position.

There is even a case of a manager accusing, in a written email, union-supporting work-ers of breaking into his office in order to get home addresses. This accusation, combined with the previous letter sent out by Wayne Heller (COO-Republic) in which he implies that the organizing committee violated their coworkers’ privacy, creates a workplace where mechanics feel fear and intimidation towards associating with the organizing committee.

Republic Airways appears to be demoting supervisors back into the bargaining unit in

order to increase the number of anti-union voices and votes against the union when Get Out The Vote begins. Although it is not un-usual for a supervisor to occasionally return to an hourly position, the number of supervisors doing so right now raises the suspicion that the company is attempting to infiltrate the bar-gaining unit. The RLA specifically prohibits a company from grouping anti-union workers and/or distinguishing between union and anti-union workers on decisions of promotion and demotion. Despite being legally prohibited, one mechanic reported that their position on organizing a union was raised when consider-ing promotion.

In an interview for a supervisor position, one mechanic was asked if he was pro-union or anti-union.

The total number of mechanics’ complaints of anti-union behavior by supervisors and managers demonstrates a company-led effort to create an anti-union climate in the work-place. The Monitoring Committee is deeply concerned about these anti-union activities and the undermining of the mechanics’ rights to organize.

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Conclusions

The information that the Monitoring Com-mittee has gathered through these fact-finding delegations to Indianapolis, IN, and Columbus, Ohio points to a clear pattern of anti-union activities undertaken by Republic Airways against their mechanics’ rights to freely organize a union. Many of these activi-ties appear to be in clear violation of the RLA. As people of faith and community leaders, members of the Monitoring Committee believe that all people were created in the image of God and thus deserve the highest dignity and respect.

U.S. faith traditions not only affirm paying people fairly, they also sup-port the rights of workers to organize unions if they so choose. Catholic Social Teaching is particularly strong on this topic:

Pope Benedict XVI, in Caritas in Veritate, states, “The repeated calls…for the promotion of workers’ associations that can defend their rights must therefore be honored today even more than in the past.” (#25) In Laborem Exer-cens, Pope John Paul II calls labor associa-tions “an indispensable element of social life, especially in modern industrialized societies,” but also reminds unions “to secure the just rights of workers within the framework of the common good of the whole of society.” (#20)

Trade union organizations experience greater difficulty in carrying out their task of rep-resenting the interests of workers, partly because Governments, for reasons of eco-nomic utility, often limit the freedom or the negotiating power of labor unions. Hence, traditional networks of solidarity have more and more obstacles to overcome. (Section 25)

What is meant by the word ‘decency’ in regard to work? ... It means work that ex-presses the essential dignity of every man and woman… work that is freely chosen… work that permits the workers to organize them-selves freely, and to make their voices heard; work that leaves enough room for rediscover-ing one’s roots at a personal, familial and spiritual level. (Section 63)

Republic Airways employees will decide whether a majority want a union. The Monitor-ing Committee affirms that Republic Airways mechanics deserve to make their decisions without being pressured by management. The

anti-union campaigns that far too many companies organize “against” workers, usually led by “union avoid-ance” law firms such as Ford and Harrison, are unethical, often unlawful, and harmful to long-term positive work-ing relationships between workers and managers.

The Monitoring Committee encourages Republic Air-ways to stop its anti-union

campaign against the mechanics and allow the Republic Airways mechanics to make a deci-sion without feeling pressured or intimidated by their managers. Ethical business leadership is always difficult, especially in these challeng-ing economic times. We have seen Bryan Bed-ford’s inspirational appeals to religion that get distributed to the employees, but we now call on Republic Airways to be consistent in living up to those writings. The Monitoring Commit-tee respects the important work of Republic Airways and its employees. Together, through collective bargaining, they can rebuild and expand the company.

Members of the Monitoring Committee will

U.S. faith traditions not only affirm paying people fairly, they also support the rights of workers to organize unions if they so choose.

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keep the company’s management and me-chanics in their thoughts and prayers and stand ready to be an advocate for the mechan-ics in whatever ways possible. Given the atmo-sphere of intimidation and harassment that the mechanics have described to the monitoring committee, we believe that Republic Airways needs to respect the mechanics legal right to organize by stepping back and maintaining neutrality throughout the election process.

AppendixRepublic Airways Holdings: http://www.flychautauqua.com/