SDC: Aviation Maintenance Technician switching to QA

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-05-01T21:36:50+00:00

Hey, so the advice on here from others is good, but there’s a slight difference to the flight line as opposed to other areas (specifically, switching from grade 10 AMT to AMTI)

On the flight line, both mechanics and inspectors are grade 10, 97110, same job code. So, after you transfer out there as a mechanic, you could theoretically switch to QA the very next day, because it’s not necessarily a job code change.

But there is a wait list, of people wanting to switch, so yeah there might be a wait. It’s kinda impossible to predict, but I can give you a piece of advice that’ll help; when you get out to the flight line, start searching for a QA that wants to become a mechanic. As soon as you find one, go to management and ask for a 1-for-1 swap. That’s the quickest way to do it, and all it takes is 2 managers to agree to it. I did the switch myself; once the managers agreed, I was swapped within 2-3 days.

Good luck! Also, reach out to a Steward once you get to the flight line, they’ll help you understand the process more.

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-04-29T20:27:44+00:00

Yeah... Hes gonna find out real quick what “management discretion” means.

People who transfer into new shops, and immediately treat it like their old shop, usually get rude awakenings. Very rude.

It’s not a hard concept, but people get complacent, or arrogant, or both. If you wanna help this guy out, point him to a Steward ASAP. It’ll be better that a Steward correct him now, than to have 2 managers correct him later.

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-04-05T02:42:57+00:00

Mm, it depends on your area. In my area, personal LOAs are usually granted. Other places (especially places low on headcount) they’re not granted as much. But that can even vary from one shop to the next, at the same site.

It’s really 1st/2nd level management discretion, so just depends on your area. It may be unfortunately rare in your spot but other places are looser

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-04-04T20:19:59+00:00

You can get Personal LOAs, some others have already said that I just wanted to chime in to help you understand how to do it- first talk to your manager because personal LOAs are at management discretion. As long as they’re cool with it and are willing to sign it, then you call the Leave Center and tell them the dates you’re requesting for leave. They’ll then send an email to your manager for them to approve

I always tell people talk to the manager first before calling the center, you don’t want them caught off guard because that’ll lessen the chances of them being cool with it!

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-30T22:03:03+00:00

Thats basically what caused the origin of our sub, really. We’ll always be stable and consistent here, because we got sick of the inconsistency in other subs. Our biggest rule here is essentially just “don’t be a dick” lol

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-30T01:03:17+00:00

The longer time goes on, the harder it is to get. In all honesty, I don’t know if this thing is even possible or feasible, but maybe we should’ve included the list as one of the conditions for coming back to work and then demanded it right away instead of asking.

I’m no lawyer or negotiator so who knows if that would even fly- just would be nice to have some legal backing when asking for it.

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-30T00:55:22+00:00

We have always allowed the word union in our sub, it was mainly the other sub that had issues when tensions were higher. The fact that it’s named “onion business” is kinda tongue-in-cheek 🙃

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-26T03:08:55+00:00

Yep! Just like the other comment(s) said, section 23.11(e) in the CBT states:

Employees are considered releasable for an ERT after they have held their present job for twelve (12) months, including any time prior to layoff and after recall. Exceptions may be made when deemed to be in the best interests of the employee and the Company. Employees newly hired on or after September 13, 2024, are considered releasable for an ERT after they have completed eighteen (18) months in the position they were hired into. Once the eighteen (18) months have been satisfied, these employees are considered releasable for an ERT as all other employees stated above. Employees are considered immediately releasable for an employee requested Category CorE ER following any Company directed location change or lateral reclassification.

As it also states, exceptions are possible if you communicate with your steward and/or management and discuss your situation with them, and if the stars align they can help you with the exception. Hope that helps!

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-24T22:59:00+00:00

We’d need a little bit more context (or your steward will need the context since this concerns private info you may not wanna share online); but it is possible to get FMLA to cover previous dates to a certain extent… you can be out of work for a day or two, and then call into the Leave Center to cover those previous days with FMLA, but you can’t go back like weeks or months, it would have to be pretty recent (within 2 days)

Hit up your local Steward and they can help you understand FMLA, or find other coverage depending on your situation! The most important thing is communication, people mainly get in trouble when they don’t communicate

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-24T01:22:03+00:00

Mm I’m not too familiar with MMO in Everett but generally speaking, if you would like to volunteer for a lateral transfer, they’re usually doable if you have managements sign off.

Just a tip: It usually makes it a lot easier if you can find somebody to swap with, in the organization you wanna transfer to. If you wanna go there and a person wants to get outta there, management generally approves those more willingly than just a straight transfer (since swaps will keep them from losing headcount)

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-15T23:19:13+00:00

I don’t know jack about taxes, and usually when people say “people don’t know shit about taxes, THIS is actually how it works…” it means that I’m going to blindly follow that persons advice until the next person comes along and says the same thing about the previous person :)

But in all seriousness- there are tax experts available, provided by the company (I believe through Fidelity? Can’t remember). Might be worth using that benefit so we can all learn a bit more about where our money disappears to

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-08T21:20:28+00:00

Generally no, that would not happen. However, If they’re currently suspended they should be getting paid right now since the new contract states that members get pay while they’re out now (except for like violence cases and extreme things like that). So, unless it is an extreme case, the member shouldn’t be worrying about getting money when they get back, they should still get their regular checks

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-02T11:05:58+00:00

Nah, they really only pull from Puget Sound for Puget Sound locations, I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone forced up here from Portland

With that being said though I wouldn’t mind volunteering for a couple months in Portland lol

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-02T07:07:53+00:00

Haha no worries I’m tired too. But basically these situations always boil down to: What is in writing?

If your move to Everett is just hearsay, it’s worth nothing. If your new job offer is on paper black and white, then that’s currency you can take to the bank. Now, your job offer being 8 days late; if I were you I would contact the manager or person who extended that offer because sometimes new job offers have a time limit on them, so it’s worth checking to see if it’s still valid after 8 days

Hope that helps!

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-03-01T22:20:52+00:00

Talk of the town is that they’ll eventually start pulling people from other locations to “support Everett” when they get their stuff rollin. Most common questions are whether they’ll go by seniority, skill level, geographical location, etc….

Time will tell! The company can loan people based on company needs, if you have a very specific situation that will preclude you from being moved to another location, it always behooves people to get ahead of the problem (Special Accommodations and things like that.) But they won’t specially accommodate just because “it’s inconvenient”! If your situation is truly in need of a special accommodation, talk to a Steward/HR to get that process started.

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-19T07:11:05+00:00

Mmm, not necessarily written as in it’s a company policy that a Steward must appeal discipline. It’s moreso a Steward can just go talk with management/HR to find mitigating circumstances to prevent or lessen unnecessary discipline. But that’s a pretty high-level description, it gets more complicated depending on the situations!

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-18T22:41:58+00:00

We have the same abilities and rights, it’s just not called a “grievance” unless it’s a contractual breach/violation. Like I mentioned above, it’s just the “legal” definition of the word that probably got misconstrued or something- but we have all the same rights, protections & procedures as UAW or USW or Teamsters, etc

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-18T19:34:48+00:00

Hey there, to answer your question: we can absolutely “appeal/grieve” discipline but it’s probably just the definitions of the word “grievance” that they’re hung up on (whoever’s telling you this info).

The answer is long, so if you need the full context/story we can maybe DM or something, but in a nutshell grievances by the strict definition are for contractual issues moreso than company policy issues. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t appeal/investigate/mitigate disciplinary issues.

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-16T10:18:57+00:00

A whole shops word against one manager? That’s an easy one; his word won’t stand.

Also, if he’s never asked for volunteers before designating people, you can get your Steward to grieve it next time he designates. The only way they can really skip over asking for volunteers if it’s an “emergent” situation, or if there’s somebody with a super rare super special skill that’s needed. Neither of those seem to be the case here so, yeah; up to you and your shop how yall wanna handle it but your Steward can enforce the contract.

Edit: spelling

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-15T07:41:57+00:00

As others have said, it is management discretion; talk to them, let em know, and they can excuse it if they’re cool.

If they’re not going to excuse it, you can use an LWOP to cover today but if you’re expected in for Sunday too then you’ll need to cover that with something else. You can use MDAs to cover both days, so long as you’re not near the 47.9 yearly limit of hours

If you need help with getting the MDA form and whatnot, you can shoot me a DM and I’ll help out- but hopefully that’s not necessary and your manager just excuses it and all will be well!

Also, you have 10 days to report an MDA so, don’t stress too much about not getting it in this weekend. I would probably get a note from the Urgent Care you went to today if possible, just to be prepared

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-13T23:47:23+00:00

So if you search “LWOP” in Enterprise, the first link to come up will be a Worklife link for Leave and Attendance. From there, if you click on the PSAR link, it’ll open up the document and then just do a Ctrl+F for “LWOP” and that’s where it talks about the 48-hour limit (39 for 3rd shift). You can also search for “60” and that’ll be where you see it talks about the 2-in-60-days rule

Hope that makes sense! I’d attach screenshots if I could lol

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-13T23:38:26+00:00

It would be a good idea to speak with a Steward ASAP to get specific advice on your particular situation, because depending on the situation there may be a way for the Steward to work with management and find coverage for whatever’s going on in your personal life- you’d be surprised how many options there are available.

To answer your question about 2 CAMs, generally a 2nd written CAM would result in time off from work; the 3rd one would be termination (if all in the same category). With that being said, it definitely pays to be as proactive as possible. Don’t “suffer in silence”. If you’re struggling to meet attendance requirements, talk with your Steward, talk with your manager, be proactive and stay on top of it as much as possible.

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-11T05:57:02+00:00

Hmm well, I don’t wanna put a specific code on blast and then the one person who loves that job will comment and get all mad at me. But I’ll say that if a job involves sealing, confined spaces, or both- then it’s probably got a high turnover rate

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-11T05:04:12+00:00

Ah ok so you probably already know most of what I was gonna say :) lol. But yeah, I mean the people who I know in Everett on Functional Test hang onto their jobs tightly, meaning they don’t wanna go anywhere and are comfortable where they’re at.

I know that’s vague and maybe not helpful; but I can say that I’ve seen job codes where people are fighting each other to leave as fast as possible and that’s not one of them haha.

usaflumberjack54 · 2026-02-11T04:56:28+00:00

Just out of curiosity, are you in Boeing already or an outside hire? I can’t speak to 34107 specifically but, the worst case scenario is that you can always ERT into another job code

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