TENNESSEE 

STRIKE OVER: Union strikes new deal with NAS

STAFF WRITER Erin McCullough
Jul 16, 2021 

Members of the Air Engineering Metal Trades Council toast to the new collective bargaining agreement reached between them and negotiators with National Aerospace Solutions, LLC. The Council membership ratified a new three-year contract with NAS after a two-week strike over unfair labor practices.Erin McCullough photo


The strike against unfair labor practices by National Aerospace Solutions, LLC (NAS) and the Air Engineering Metal Trades Council (AEMTC) has come to a conclusion, according to officials on both sides of the picket line.

According to Jimmy Hart, President of the Metal Trades Department, AFL-CIO, a tentative agreement between the parties was reached late Wednesday night, July 14. The AEMTC membership then took three hours Friday morning, July 16, to vote on the revised offer from NAS and Chugach.

The tentative agreement was “wholeheartedly endorsed” by the AEMTC negotiating committee and the affiliated local unions, Hart said. He further noted that the agreement amounted to “what is proven to be the best contract offer their council has ever received,” in that the negotiating committee was able to address member demands “with sizable gains without giving up any previously earned ground.”

“The struggle that Metal Trades working families and the surrounding communities of the revered Arnold Air Force Base endured during a two week strike resulted in the council being able to negotiate a proposed contract that contains fair wages, protects much needed, hard earned healthcare and disability benefits, while significantly beginning the process of restoring dignity to skilled tradesmen within the Metal Trades workforce that have been selfishly exploited by a 35-year-plus practice that solely served the contractor at the workers’ expense,” Hart said in a statement.

NAS Communications Specialist Sheila Gideon confirmed the agreement late Friday morning, saying a new three-year collective bargaining agreement was ratified by the AEMTC membership.

“The negotiations teams worked closely together to come to a fair and reasonable agreement that recognizes the valuable contributions our union employees make to the Air Force mission,” said NAS General Manager Richard Tighe, Ph.D. “This new agreement will ensure the important work at AEDC will continue in the same outstanding manner as it has for decades.”

Gideon said NAS was appreciative of the efforts from both negotiations teams to resolve the AEMTC strike.

“We look forward to our union colleagues returning to work,” Gideon said.

According to Hart, the ratification vote had a three-to-one approval and was “a great effort by a great bunch of people.”

“They were forced to strike over wages, health care and dignity in the workplace, and they achieved all their goals,” Hart told The News Friday afternoon. “I’m very proud of them. They got good raises that’ll help them defray the inflationary society we’re living in. They kept long-term disability benefits, which were very important because of the dangerous work they do at Arnold Air Force Base, and just as important, they negotiated away the cap, which is a sharing mechanism between the employer and the employee on paying for health care.”

Negotiating team members told The News the union was able to secure a 3% raise, kept the Individual Disability Plan (IDP) coverage at 18 months and secure an 80/20 cost-sharing plan for health insurance—items all members were keen on gaining or keeping at the negotiating table. Additionally, union workers were able to preserve their vacation accrual process with a small sacrifice of wages.

“We gave up money in our wages to do so,” Hart said.

He said waiving the cap on health insurance meant both AEMTC union employees and NAS held a stake in the workers’ health care.

“No matter how much the costs go, there’s a partnership there,” he said. “We’re very thankful to NAS and to the Air Force for seeing their way through to do that.”

Another thing the union was able to re-establish was “dignity in the workplace,” Hart said.

“For many years at Arnold Air Force Base, they had a progressive salary scale—it goes back maybe 30, 40 years,” he told The News. “The workers decided to strike over that issue and to try to mitigate it somehow, to alleviate it and recognize someone who has skills. What the agreement is now, if you are a graduate apprentice—if you have gone to school, learned your trade, have experience—you’ll be recognized for that education in that skillset with appropriate pay.”

Hart noted that while it was sad that the union workers had to lose two weeks’ worth of pay, which was a strain on every working family and an inconvenience to Tullahoma, Manchester and the Arnold Air Force community, the union “couldn’t be more thankful” for the support locally and nationally.

“At the end of the day, the metal trades and NAS came to an agreement that we both can live with,” he said, noting that the process was a fair negotiation. "We appreciate the fact that the company came to the table and got serious. We’re looking forward to a great partnership in the metal trades on Arnold Air Force Base and do great things for our country and its national defense mission.”

Negotiating team members echoed Hart’s feelings on the new agreement.

“I’m thankful we had a resolution that…we can live with, and we’re happy with the outcome,” Paul Mosely, a 15-year pipefitter at the base said. He added it was “definitely” worth the two-week strike to fight for the wages and benefits they wanted.

“I think the agreement is very fair and equitable for the employees; I think it’s a plus for us,” Jason Kelley, recording secretary for AEMTC and operating engineer said. “I’ve been here 29 years. This is the first time we have not had to give up or take a major loss or hit to get a contract in. We didn’t sacrifice basically nothing. It’s a very good, equitable contract.”

Bobby Walker, an operating engineer for the last 14 years, agreed the new contract was a good agreement.

“We’ve fought hard to get what we’ve got,” he said. “The people seem happy. I’m happy. It could be a whole lot worse; it could be a whole lot better, but we’re happy with what we’ve got. This one will work for me, and I think it’ll work for the majority of people out there.”

Operating Engineers Business Agent Manager John Taylor said he was impressed that the workers were able to negotiate the 3% raise, as the raise percentage had not previously been that high in previous contract negotiations he was party to.

“I’ve been in probably six or eight negotiations when I worked out there, and it’s never been a three percent raise,” he said. “It’s always been less than three percent. Getting a three percent raise plus having stuff being left alone, like their insurance, no cap on the insurance—it’s a good contract. It’s absolutely a good contract.”

Walker added that he and the other union workers had to show NAS that they were “tired of the same, old status quo.

“Sorry we had to do that, but this didn’t have to happen,” he said of the strike.

Now that the strike is over, Hart said, union members would return to work any time between this afternoon afternoon and Wednesday, July 21, depending on their schedules.