May 9, 2026
Local President Update
When I was elected president last fall I committed to visiting all stations in local 4. Station visits are critical to serving our members. It is important for our members to know that the LEC is here working for them and protecting their interests. My belief in station visits has only strengthened since that time. Getting information in person and on the ground allows us, as the LEC, to help improve the work lives of our members.
We started by traveling to Atlanta. The ATL station is a very big operation with members working in facilities maintenance, plant maintenance, ground service equipment, appearance and aircraft maintenance. Each group has their own challenges and we were able to address some of these challenges just by being present at this location.
On February 20 and 21 we were in Minneapolis, MN for a station visit road show for the Sun Country Airlines new TA. We had four meetings over the course of four days to present the members with the details of the new tentative agreement. Shortly after leaving MSP, the members voted overwhelmingly to accept the TA as their new collective bargaining agreement by 97%. We are looking forward to working with our new SCA brethren to implement this new era as this is the first time SCA AMTs have been unionized.
Next was Baltimore. BWI has a new hangar that is planned to be staffed by the summer of 2027. Along with this new hangar comes more challenges and more opportunities for assisting our members with the teething problems that come with a new work location. Our Safety and Standards chairman, Kevin Stauske was able to secure some much needed equipment for this new location.
We visited Milwaukee on March 11th and 12th. We spoke with the members and then I was able to bring some of their concerns to my meeting with Kurt Kinder on April 7th. On April 1st we were in Nashville, TN. BNA is undergoing some expansion this year with the addition of Line RON positions. This is expected to be implemented by the end of 2026. Working with management, we were able to secure some much needed new vehicles for their current line operation.
On April 21st members of the LEC traveled to Orlando, FL for the Aerospace Maintenance Competition. This is an annual competition for maintenance teams from around the world. 90 teams compete over the course of the week in 29 events with the winning team announced at the awards ceremony on Thursday. AMFA sponsors teams from Alaska Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Horizon Air, Centennial College and others. I was there to interview some competitors to be released as a podcast in the next few weeks.
April 28th was our General membership meeting, at this meeting we adopted a new rule regarding our annual AMFA Local 4 scholarship. From now on, each scholarship is valued at $1,500. This is an increase of $500 from the original amount and it reflects our desire to help the members of local 4 with the rising cost of college tuition. Our contract proposal meeting and bylaws amendment meeting also took place on April 28th. I want to thank the members of our contract proposal committee and our Bylaws amendment committee. With their help we were able to process 130 contract proposals and almost 20 proposed bylaws amendments.
Thank you for getting involved and thank you for staying engaged with AMFA Local 4.
