1606 replies to this topic

[Tim Nelson]

700UW, on 22 February 2012 - 12:49 AM, said:

Back your figures up on saving $50,000, negotiations take two years minimum, how do you suppose to pay for a lawyer?

Hire one on staff or use billable hours?

And the international has a whole legal department.

You dont need an attorney in every single negotiation session, only when it becomes necessary.

The District pays around $150,000 for legal fees in representation. And no District uses the INTL's attorneys exclusively. Even your previous District 142 spent $115,000 on an attorney last year. All Districts also use the INTL attorneys for a tremendous resource also.

Labor attorneys make from $85,000 - $150,000 at the high end. Carla Seigel, the Deputy director of the legal department of the IAM makes the high end at about $150,000. David Neigus, a very experienced Railway Labor Act attorney has a salary of $113,000. Other Railway Labor Act attorneys make from $85,000 +

Hiring an attorney will make things much more professional and will provide an additional resource. Win Win.

Onward www.occupyiam141.com

regards,

[PHX Devil]

Tim,
Who is your 2nd agc out of PHX? Are you planning on coming out here to talk to us?

[Tim Nelson]

PHX Devil, on 22 February 2012 - 08:24 AM, said:

Tim,
Who is your 2nd agc out of PHX? Are you planning on coming out here to talk to us?

The second AGC out of PHX will announce his candidacy next week.

The problem with PHX is twofold.

1. PHX doesn't need anyone from LAS or the east coast flying in to be their AGC.
2. PHX and the america west culture gets double whacked from not only having it's own AGC right there, but it also gets whacked because it's grievances have to go across country and there are only 5 US AIRWAYS AGC's handling all the work.

US AIRWAYS has supported Delaney twice. Myself and others have begged Delaney to stop treating the US AIRWAYS rampers second best but he has been unresponsive. OTOH, the Occupy 141 ticket and platform recognizes that there needs to be a re-allocation of resources insomuch as all members of this union, regardless of airline, should have fair representation. As PJ correctly noted, there is a backlog of grievances. That's not acceptable but PJ and others will be able to bank on a continual backlog if we put this union on a collision course for the next 4 years with only 5 AGC's for your members. Me and PJ can disagree all day about who that AGC should be, but it can not be denied that any support for Delaney will cut off any idea of increasing resources for the US AIRWAYS dues payers.

A member shouldn't have to keep calling his AGC over a process of YEARS wondering what the hell is going on. But, it's the exact sorta thing we ought to expect if you have a skeleton crew of AGC's at US AIRWAYS but a wealth of AGC's at United ramp. Everyone should be treated fairly. Makes 'good sense'.

The thing that our membership has lacked entire is empowerment. There are local chairman on the occupy ballot, but there will be other local chairman who are with the establishment who don't want the masses to abolish the current system that they sit on. That is understandable considering many of them see themselves 'next in line'. Looking at the Occupy 141 platform, it isn't any secret that much of what we know about the current 'good ole boy' structure will be abolished. I wouldn't have it any other way and I wouldn't have left my cushy District job if that's what I wanted. The members of IAM 141 have had sucky unprofessional representation for all of the 15 years I have been a member of it. And the AGC's have proved themselves insignificant at United, Hawaiian, and at US AIRWAYS. The system strips them of any power due to the fact that we have a President who circumvents Local Chairman, negotiations team, and AGC's when he signs LOA without the consent. Even the LOA that supports managements continual lockout at US AIRWAYS. That was a very serious LOA that supported an action that destroyed the lives of 250 members. They didn't even get 20 pieces of silver for that betrayal. But, nobody can do anything about it since the Occupy 141 platform is not installed. What we have is a broken type of paternal unionism from the last century that needed a tuneup about 50 years ago to get with the times, and still hasn't gotten one. With the current system, management is just kicking our members butts, regardless of airline. Just terrible.


Yes, I plan on coming out to PHX before the June elections.

Onward www.occupyiam141.com

regards

[Jester]

700UW, on 22 February 2012 - 12:49 AM, said:

And the international has a whole legal department.

And was it "Free Unlimited Brats and Beer Day" around the International when our CBA arrived in their offices for review? Seriously, this contract is awful in terms of the vagueness and authority given to Management, in particular, on determining an attendence policy. I am going to assume in-between rounds of beers and brats someone's mustard stained fingers reviewed the terms and the language of the CBA, and thought it was an acceptable agreement? We should be demand much more from our legal representation, not only in reviews of our CBAs and LOAs, but in terms of termination hearings and greviances.

With this suspect representation in mind, I'll ask you again... what is the point of the International and why are we paying dues to this organization, especially if we bring our own attorneys in-house?

So Repeats Jester.

[Tim Nelson]

Jester, on 22 February 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

And was it "Free Unlimited Brats and Beer Day" around the International when our CBA arrived in their offices for review? Seriously, this contract is awful in terms of the vagueness and authority given to Management, in particular, on determining an attendence policy. I am going to assume in-between rounds of beers and brats someone's mustard stained fingers reviewed the terms and the language of the CBA, and thought it was an acceptable agreement? We should be demand much more from our legal representation, not only in reviews of our CBAs and LOAs, but in terms of termination hearings and greviances.

With this suspect representation in mind, I'll ask you again... what is the point of the International and why are we paying dues to this organization, especially if we bring our own attorneys in-house?

So Repeats Jester.

Jester,

I'm actually amazed at how some of these individuals are so politically minded that they can't seem to understand the added value of having professionals at the negotiations table with us. What counts is that our members, who are not politically motivated, understand that this is a no brainer. Our members pay good money and, IMO, they deserve more than Delaney, Nelson, or anyone else without a law degree, in negotiations. Myself and our AGC's will have such an advantage over the current regime with this reallocation of resources and bringing in the work in-house.

Again: Negotiations = AGC + Attorney > AGC + cell phone

Onward www.occupyiam141.com

regards,

[niblet]

Jester, on 22 February 2012 - 12:55 PM, said:

And was it "Free Unlimited Brats and Beer Day" around the International when our CBA arrived in their offices for review? Seriously, this contract is awful in terms of the vagueness and authority given to Management, in particular, on determining an attendence policy. I am going to assume in-between rounds of beers and brats someone's mustard stained fingers reviewed the terms and the language of the CBA, and thought it was an acceptable agreement? We should be demand much more from our legal representation, not only in reviews of our CBAs and LOAs, but in terms of termination hearings and greviances.

With this suspect representation in mind, I'll ask you again... what is the point of the International and why are we paying dues to this organization, especially if we bring our own attorneys in-house?

So Repeats Jester.

Here Here. I'll toast to that. And the dues keep going up, with no raises on this end.

[700UW]

Having a lawyer in every single session is a waste of resources, your lack of ever being in negotiations shows that.

When we T/Aed and article it was sent to the lawyer for review.

[wings396]

Waste of money, now that's an oxymoron when it comes to the IAM. Just think of all the better things that they could waste money on instead. Why spend it on anything that may actually benefit the membership. I can tell that you drank a lot of their koolaide over the years...