First and foremost, Happy New Year to you and your loved ones. May the new year be filled with success, happiness, and prosperity. As we look forward to the new year, it is important for me to acknowledge some of the progress that was made in 2022. When I was elected to serve as Vice President of our Local 579 Union, I was fortunate enough to inherit a solid group of Interim Grievance Committee members. The transition has been a pretty smooth process and for that I am truly grateful. In their Presidential Update, President Tyesha Best, mentioned several Individual and Class-wide Grievance wins. Some of the wins included topics such as 12-Hours in Base Rest For Reserves, Inappropriate ASB assignments, Improper Reassignments, Failure To Provide Hotels, Failure To Pay E14/16/18 Pay, as well as getting unjustly terminated Crewmembers reinstated.
So, let’s get to the numbers. In 2022, a total of 303 Grievances were officially filed. 246 of those Grievances were concerning potential contractual violations (Non-Disciplinary). Out of the 303 Grievances filed, 98 are still waiting to be heard by Jetblue’s Management. At the end of 2022, we were having Grievance Hearings twice a month (alternating between Non-Disciplinary and Disciplinary). Management has expressed interest in increasing the frequency of VP Hearings which in my opinion is a good thing. As of today, every Crewmember whose grievance resulted in a settlement has been contacted. We continue to thank our fellow Crewmembers for their patience and will be constantly working on improving the Grievance Process.
One of my goals for this year and the rest of my term is to be able to handle these violations in real-time. One way you can help me achieve this goal is by getting to know your CBA. The CBA can be found in Comply365 as well as on our Local 579 website. I also have the CBA saved in Books on my mobile device to make it easier to search whenever I need it. We have started to receive messages from fellow Crewmembers informing us about instances in which they respectfully used verbiage from the CBA to avoid a contract violation being committed by Management. Keep in mind, it is a learning process and sometimes this won’t always be the outcome. The Grievance Process is here for those times.
