................ you're right. 3000 pilots stepped up once again. It sends a message to Herndon about our resolve and the "other guys" ability to communicate and get a response.
"American Airlines adopted the benchmark B-scale in November 1983..."
It was amazing (amusing) to read through the latest ACPC attack ad on Seham. The B-Scale was a plague. But APA pilots made the choice, not their attorneys. The choice was between protecting their own wages at the expense of pilots not even hired. Especially in light of Braniff's failure despite pay cuts in 1982 and Lorenzo's destruction of CAL the same month they accepted the "B" Scale, both of which ALPA handled so well (not). You've got to love the wording:
"...permanently reducing pay for newly hired pilots by 50 percent. In fact, under the AA system—negotiated while the Seham firm sat on the labor side of the table—pay rates and pensions for new employees would never merge with those of then-current employees."
So full of misrepresentations. First, at a time when no major (except CAL) was hiring and Paul Rice was still furloughed at UAL, Crandall promised doubling in size in four years if they accepted the "B" Scale. He delivered. Second, no attorney crammed the "B" Scale down AA's throats. Their pilots voted for it. Third, it wasn't "permanent" at all. By 1989 (six years later), the "Killer-Bs" controlled the majority vote and voted out the "B" Scale. What goes around, comes around.
"ALPA pilots throughout our industry are working to rebuild our contracts after the era of bankruptcy and ATSB constraints."
$160/hour is "working to rebuild our contracts?" They've got to be kidding.
"Simply put, USAPA’s law firm acts in a way that seeks to divide and conquer labor and, at the same time, helps management undermine contract standards and set legal precedent that is favorable only to management."
At least no Seham attorney ever pled guilty to a felony involving a case of laundering illegal management contributions into a Teamster presidential election campaign.
Fifth, Charney, Pleads Guilty in Teamsters Scandal
The lawyer who represented the disgraced and expelled Teamsters President Ron Carey in his 1996 reelection pled guilty Oct. 1 to one count of conspiracy for making false statements to a court-appointed officer. It’s the fifth guilty plea, with one indictment, in the money-laundering scheme which funneled over $538,000 into Carey’s campaign. Nathaniel Charney, of the labor law firm of Cohen, Weiss & Simon, admitted in U.S. Dist. Court in Manhattan to lying to former election officer Barbara Zack Quindel about contributions and to concealing that two employers had sent his law firm checks for the Carey campaign. It’s illegal for employers to contribute to union candidates. Reportedly, Charney vetted contributions to a special fund that took donations from non-Teamsters. He faces 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He acknowledged in court that he is cooperating with prosecutors, which implies that more indictments are likely. [N.Y. Times 10/2/98]
And while the ACPC is at it, maybe they will explain why Cohen, Weiss and Simon had to return their $4.1 million "success" fee in the UAL ESOP deal, after that little tidbit was discovered in:
"An internal pilots' union report by Thomas Sullivan (U.S. Attorney for northern Illinois), revealed that "pilot union leaders made secret agreements in 1989 and 1994 to pay millions of dollars in fees to lawyers already on the union's staff or on retainer. They did not disclose these fees to the rank and file.
"That Sullivan report said that Roger Hall, the United-ALPA-MEC chairman, had authorized a payment of $2 million to Charles Goldstein, who was the union's own staff lawyer, but he did not reveal that to his board. The report also concluded that Hall and Goldstein had violated union rules, and many of United's pilots openly complained that the advice from Goldstein could hardly have been objective if he knew the ESOP had to be successful in order to receive that $2 million fee. Union leaders agreed to let Goldstein keep $750,000 of that $2 million, after he threatened a lawsuit. Hall's predecessor, Frederick Dubinsky, also did not reveal to the rank and file that he had authorized a payment of $375,000 to Goldstein after the failed ESOP attempt of 1989. Both Hall and Dubinsky denied they ever did anything wrong, but Hall did resign upon request of the pilot union board.
"The Sullivan report also uncovered a $4.12 million "success" fee to be paid to Cohen, Weiss & Simon, which had been receiving hourly billing payments from the union for its work on the ESOP buyout. Again, that fee wasn't common knowledge until after the ESOP was completed. Once that became known, Cohen, Weiss & Simon agreed to return the entire $4.12 million."
http://www.skeysource.com/SEResource-7/united_airlines.php
"For example, in future issues, you’ll see that the firm has also worked to undermine other AFL-CIO unions like the IAM through their representation of AMFA..."
Yeah, I can hardly wait for the next spin cycle. ACPC is going to try to sell you on the evils of independent, non-AFL-CIO affiliated, legally elected unions like AMFA. What they won't tell you is how ALPA told NWA pilots to cross that picket line to break AMFA strike in August 2005. But then ALPA doesn't even honor the picket lines of fellow AFL-CIO unions. No better example than TWA pilots being ordered to cross the TWA flight attendant picket lines in March 1986.
But speaking of the evils of independent unions: APA, IPA, SWAPA. Who has better contracts?
