August 28th, 2020

IAM TO DEMAND GUARANTEED RECALL TO EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS FOR REPUBLIC AMTS WHEN VOTED IN

The IAM is working day and night in Washington DC to get an extension of the Payroll Support Program (PSP) of the CARES Act. An extension of the PSP would mean an additional six months of no layoff protection. The hope is by extending the PSP, the airline industry can recover and the need for future layoffs would be reduced. But, it’s not a done deal yet and our current no layoff protection from the CARES Act ends on October 1st.

How will IAM representation help us if there is a layoff on October 1st?

Right now, we DO NOT have the right to be recalled to our jobs if laid-off. Republic management is free to leave us unemployed and hire whoever they want to perform our work when the airline industry recovers and the need for AMTs increases. And our industry will recover. IN FACT, REPUBLIC MANAGEMENT IS TRAINING UNLICENSED WORKERS TO PERFORM AMT WORK RIGHT NOW.

What do you think their plan is? Republic management has made ZERO commitment to us IN WRITING and without a legally binding contract, we have absolutely no rights.

When we vote for IAM representation, we will immediately we will IMMEDIATELY have representational rights and will begin negotiations with Republic.

Our first order of business will be to negotiate an agreement regarding recall rights of laid off Republic AMTs. This does not have to wait until a complete contract is negotiated. We can do this separately and then include it when we ratify our first contract. In fact, the IAM just extended recall rights for its United Airlines membership from a minimum of six years to unlimited. The agreement was negotiated and reached outside of regular contract negotiations.

The IAM is prepared to mobilize every resource it has to obtain guaranteed recall rights for Republic Airways AMTs, INCLUDING LEVERAGING ITS STRONG RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE MAJOR AIRLINES THAT REPUBLIC PERFORMS REGIONAL FLYING.

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