=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2008/03/06/BUQSVEAGS.= DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, March 6, 2008 (SF Chronicle) United mechanics to vote on joining Teamsters Tom Abate, Chronicle Staff Writer For the third time in five years, the aircraft mechanics who work for United Airlines are voting on which union they want to represent them in an election that revolves around whether the struggling airline plans to outsource 4,500 jobs at San Francisco International Airport. Teamsters President James Hoffa barnstormed through the region Wednesday as part of a campaign to unseat the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which now represents about 9,300 United workers - roughly half of whom work at San Francisco International Airport with the rest spread over 30 other United facilities. Now those workers have until March 31 to indicate whether they want to switch to the Teamsters or stick with the Aircraft Mechanics - which used a similar process to unseat its predecessor, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, in 2003. Aircraft Mechanics President Joe Prisco fired back at the Teamsters, saying the outsourcing of those jobs "is not gonna happen" because a clause in the current contract requires that the closing or other big change at a repair facility would have to be voted on by union members. This union infighting has occurred against the backdrop of an airline industry that has been in turbulence since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and is now being hit with soaring fuel costs. Hoffa - son of America's most famous missing person - led a rally on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall, where he stood alongside Mayor Gavin Newsom and touted letters of support from Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. Hoffa aimed his critique at what the Teamsters say is "a plan by United = to outsource nearly 4,500 jobs" now performed at SFO - the hub of the airline's repair division and the place where local mechanics service jets from 18 foreign airlines. Newsom said in a statement that those jobs belong to "men and women who live right here in San Francisco. ... I would like to see them remain at SFO." United Chief Operating Officer Pete McDonald said in a statement that the Teamsters "either don't understand the facts or choose to distort them." United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said the airline is thinking about spinning off or finding a partner to help operate its $180 million maintenance business but wants "the San Francisco facility to grow" in any such change. She confirmed that the contract that is in force through 2009 would give the 9,300 unionized maintenance workers "a say" in whether United spins off its maintenance business. Prisco, president of the incumbent Aircraft Mechanics union, said his lawyers tell him that contract requirement makes the worker vote closer to a veto than a survey of attitudes. But Prisco and United are already in a dispute over language in the current contract that allows the airline to outsource a certain percentage of airline maintenance work. The union says the airline has exceeded that percentage. The airline says the union is wrong. The dispute is being arbitrated. San Francisco aircraft mechanic Rich Petrovsky, leader of the current dissident faction, said it's just that kind of legal pussyfooting that prompted him to invite the Teamsters into the fray. "If the workers vote no, the company can just say, 'Take us to court,' " said Petrovsky, who said he'd put his faith in the clout the Teamsters showed at City Hall. The votes of the 9,300 workers will be counted at the end of March by an independent federal agency, and the results should be known shortly thereafter. E-mail Tom Abate at tabate@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------= ------------------------------------------ Copyright 2008 SF Chronicle <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".