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Post by bluesky on Jun 15, 2023 21:39:45 GMT -5
Hello Everyone,
It appears it's time to start using this site again. The admins over at the FB site are shutting down threads and silencing people. Which keeps us from having a real conversation.
As of right now many of us employed by ibex are waiting to see if we get paid, and if we will be paid our accrued vacation. We're still getting over the sting of losing our Sunday pay.
There is also news of ibex fouling up peoples taxes, both federal and state.
I tried contacting patco, only got the machine. SSDD
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2023 7:03:54 GMT -5
We did hear that ibex was holding payroll…blaming everyone but themselves…From what i gather they were one of the worse arrogant sobs out there…also the new contractors aren’t much better, always trying to demand more out of the employee…or saying “we dont do sundays, and we dont do CBAs …these types of clowns need a dose of reality …contrary to popular belief, contractors must honor the CBA until a new one is in place…you can’t just arbitrarily not negotiate and throw out agreements…thats a violation of law…if you want to play the lawyer game with the DOL it’ll cost you way more than you imagine…Contractors, instead of being confrontational, cooperate instead…life would be much easier for you…(btw just because you may have bid way too low on the groups that you were awarded, is not the employees problem…stop being greedy!!!
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Post by alstein on Jun 16, 2023 10:45:28 GMT -5
Which contractor is saying we don't do CBAs.
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Post by bluesky on Jun 16, 2023 23:10:29 GMT -5
I have received a pay stub from ibex, checked Intuit to verify. It looks ok but no money has been deposited into my account.
This is a three day weekend. I'm afraid that no one's pay will be deposited until Tuesday.
I'm other news....
patco still isn't answering the phone.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2023 6:58:11 GMT -5
The contractor that took the majority in the last bidding round bid it way too low basing the bid on the DOL wages in most cases and not any underlying CBA…So their remedy is to cut Sundays and or make FT work 39 hours to skirt the rule and one of their management types admitted they didn’t even know there were CBAs out there which i find hard to believe or PATCO isn’t doing their job (which doesn’t surprise me!)…This comes to me from my pilot community, which has a few people on the alledged inside of the FAA contractor workings…so take it for what its worth
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Post by bluesky on Jun 17, 2023 23:35:12 GMT -5
Unfortunately this is true. Observers in Ibex areas lost Sunday pay, holidays, and vacation. Patco knew it was happening and did nothing.
Now I'm hearing that other contractors are going to stop paying Sunday pay also.
I'm not anti-union, I'm just anti patco.
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wxguy
New Member
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Post by wxguy on Jun 18, 2023 23:20:21 GMT -5
How can this happen when a CBA is in effect? Is Patco signing off on these changes? It's really disheartening to see a contractor able to pull this crap. Isn't there a federal agency to contact about this?? Or a lawyer who specializes with union issues? I just can't believe this isn't illegal and able to be stopped.
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Post by vorticity on Jun 19, 2023 13:17:26 GMT -5
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Post by bluesky on Jun 20, 2023 9:33:42 GMT -5
Wxguy I've asked the same questions myself. With the last contractor, he simply ignored patco until they gave in. Why didn't patco ask the AFL-CIO for help? Why didn't patco organize us to resist? Why do we have a no strike clause in the cba which directly aids the contractor? Why have we never voted for a president. We vote for the other positions, but the president of patco has always been appointed.
Something smells fishy!
In other news, I did not get paid today.
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Post by movedsouth on Jun 25, 2023 7:46:08 GMT -5
Folks, PATCO is in disarray because chief organizer Henry Santana is in a battle for his life with cancer. PATCO attorney Lance Geren does nothing - won't even answer tel calls - without Henry's okay, as they become billable hours. This will play out in our favor... eventually. According to PATCO Board Vice-President Rich Perez (KLGA), they have a plan for replacing Henry if/when worse things happen.
Regarding the claims of PATCO doing nothing: They're there for you; WE are PATCO - quit bellyaching and get your butt involved; If you expect them to force the contractors to let us run their businesses or otherwise be in an adversarial relationship with the contractors, I must say your understanding of unions and your general worldview are deficient. PATCO (and other unions I've dealt with) understand that the best thing they can do for their members is be on friendly working terms with the contractors/employers - they need to be able to NEGOTIATE, not dictate, on our behalf. CBAs are contracts - with enforcement provisions for breaches by either side. Yes, I agree that the union needs to communicate with us far better than the last letter we received years ago...
Regarding Ibex: I worked as an SWO for Steve for ten years (I'm semi-retired and relocated to another station) - he can be cheap, and he definitely is in business to grab as much loot as he can - but he is not so stupid as to think he can pull the same illegal tricks as certain other contractors and get away with it for long. I had no trouble working for him - and even the occasional glitch in payroll got favorably resolved. Note - my understanding is Ibex no longer has any contracts.
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Post by alstein on Jun 25, 2023 19:29:52 GMT -5
Does Steve own this forum?
I heard something along those lines?
I can say that my opinion on Steve is similar to movedsouth's. I didn't see him do anything super shady, and the payroll issue did not seem malicious, unless one other instance I had in the past. He handled a delicate situation I have and protected me from fellow employees where I worked if needed.
I don't trust the union to fight too hard for us , legal action is expensive and there's not many of us.
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Post by kenneth on Jun 25, 2023 22:13:04 GMT -5
I believe that it is the Facebook group that Steve owns.
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binovc
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Post by binovc on Jun 26, 2023 1:39:27 GMT -5
PATCO has had its ups and downs. But for my dues (long-time member) I am better overall vs Service Contract Wage Determination.
Over the years our station gained not only higher wages and H&W (with annual increases), but Sunday pay for ALL, more personal days (7), and better vacation benefits (5 weeks/15 years). I do not know how this was achieved, but it was. And our station is (was) middle-to-low end of the spectrum, C.O.L. indexes considered.
When Ibex became our contractor, that all went away over night (except for annual wage/H&W increases). I don't know how this was achieved(?) either, but it was. Not knowing how "bargaining" works (apparently), I don't understand why PATCO couldn't hold our ground.
So is PATCO useless? No, but they did let us down significantly, and I sincerely hope they restore what we had. The (remaining) membership at our station is concerned.
I do not dispute (or condemn) that contractors exist for-profit, that's how it's supposed to work. But reducing the economics of the workforce in order to increase their own is wrong. This is why unions came into being, to prevent (among other things) this very act. PATCO didn't.
Did Ibex under-bid for the purpose of getting contracts? I don't know, I would hope not, so how did they get out-bid this time around? I do know that my wallet (and many others) took a significant hit beginning 10/1/2022.
Or was this done to save the CWO program because we are all over-paid and over-benefited? Hmm, I vote no on that one.
It is my understanding that Steve was instrumental in forming the USCWOA, which I commend, and of which I've been a member from day one. Good on him, and for all the other work he has done promoting our continued existence (most of which I'm sure I don't know the half of but wish I did). If there are no CWO's, there's also no CWO contracts to be had, so in that respect we're all in it together.
My thoughts go out to Henry, I did not know about that.
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WX1
New Member
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Post by WX1 on Jun 26, 2023 12:33:10 GMT -5
I believe that it is the Facebook group that Steve owns. The FAA Contract Weather Observers Facebook Group has three admins, all are CWO employees and not contractors. |
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Post by movedsouth on Jun 27, 2023 9:38:19 GMT -5
Thanks BINOVC. Sunday pay is part of the FAA contracts, not just our CBAs. Where it got dicey was in a conflict between federal labor laws defining who is "full time" and the FAA contracts - which is where non-union sites lost a lot of their differentials when scheduling cut hours to below "full-time". We circumvented that problem by having the CBA provision that all employees, regardless of status, received the same pro-rated holiday pay, and the same differentials. Anyone working more than 30 hours per week on their regular schedule were "full-time", but it didn't matter since all employees were treated the same for benefits. We can make this work - and no, we are NOT overpaid. While PATCO said they would try to get our pay raises to be retroactive to Oct.1, 2022, don't count on that - none of the contractors can afford that out of pocket, and I don't believe the FAA will pick up a retroactive tab. The FAA wants their pay raises too - NATCA only got the ATCs 4.6% last October, when the inflation rate was "8%"+ (not withstanding that food prices have more than doubled). We have much work to do - my current contractor forbade me to speak with Steve Derrickson as Steve was blamed for the protest situation that was finally solved after 4 or 5 rebids resulting in Ibex losing out of everything - but now that the others have "won", we will have to recover from the damages inflicted on us. Please support both PATCO and the USCWOA - they have both done a great deal of good.
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