Steve Connell said:
So what you are stating is obvious that you have NO faith in Delle's ability to debate one on one, understandibly so. If it was a taped event then we would be able to cypher what was spin and what was not, and of course, Delle could tape his own so you followers would not yell edit.
The fact is that Delle would not have a broad understanding of our conbtract...so the truth comes out, hurts doesn't it. Mr. Little is the Pres. of the ATD, not Sonny Hall, you have to look outside your tunnelvision sightscope to understand, but give it a go.
Why should Delle stoop down to Jim Little?,possibly to learn something Bob, you telling me the Pres of amfa for how many years has no comprehension of this industry to draw upon in a solo debate? Or Bob, are you really afraid of the truth and amfa?
Not at all.
I saw his debate against Burchette.
We know how that vote turned out.
Delle would probably be puzzled as to why the TWU has been doing such a lousy job.
He would probably wonder why we tolerated paying out two hours pay per month for an agreement that put our working conditions and benifits below non-union companies.
Cant you get anything right? Little is a VP, and the appointed ATD director. Why should the President of AMFA debate with another one of Sonny Halls lackeys? Why should he settle for anyone other than the President of the TWU?
Delle learning from Little? Such as what? How to make yourself rich while lying to your members? Besides charecter, Delle is also accountable to the class and craft of mechanics. Little is accountable to nobody, except Sonny who needs for Little to keep them dues flowing so he can collect his $200,000, pay the rent and fly his $100,000/year secretary around the country.
We know why Sonny wont debate Delle, because he not only knows nothing about our contract but he knows nothing about our industry, He said so himself at the COPE Convention. We have someone who sits there collecting $200,000 a year making decisions and appointing people who have lead us through 20 years of concessions. At what point would you say enough is enough and we need to try a new strategy such as all mechanics in one union?
Afraid of the truth? Hardly, I know the truth. The truth is that the TWU/ATD has been giving concessions for over 20 years. They are a disgrace to the labor movement. Dont believe me? Go ahead and talk frankly and off the record to any of your old IAM reps like Sito Pantoja and ask him how past TWU contracts were always putting pressure on them at contract talks. I had dinner with him and Ed LaClair, he said that they knew the structure of unionism was all wrong in this industry and they had approached the TWU and other unions about consolidating years ago, but the other unionjs said no (the IAM probably wanted the whole ball of wax). The appointed leaders of the TWU push for concessions then when the members realize it was a bad deal they blame the members for voting yes, or the Presidents council. They have failed to lead. They have failed to strategize or come up with any plan whatsoever to resist concessions. Instead of trying to lead a resistance to concessions they do everything they can to cause the members to be fearful. While they chant slogans the real message that they send to the members is "you are weak, accept what the company is willing to give you, its the best you will get, its more than you are worth".
I know from the discussions I've had with Sonny Hall, Jim Little, Mike Bakala and Art Luby that these people have nothing but contempt for the members. All of us, not just the mechanics. Last May DeMarco(VP from LAX) and I met with Mike Bakala who said that we lost everything because the members are weak, they are spoiled, they will not fight, they want everything handed to them.
The only thing that the members expect is to be led. How would they know that the members are weak when they never asked them to fight? In fact they have done everything they can to discourage us from fighting. The fact is fighting is expensive and the TWU leaders would rather spend the money on themselves than the members. "We cant afford strikes, there wont be anything left for our salaries, perks and pensions!"
The fact is that most members want nothing to do with the TWU. The TWU has turned most members against unionism. You can see this by the attendance at union meetings. Its not the quality of the members that is lacking, its the quality of the leaders.
If we were under RTW how many people do you think would fork over two hours pay per month to the TWU?
AMFA has had Associate members who voluntarily pay dues to them, how many associate members does the TWU have?
So far AMFA has collected 52% of the Class and craft. An even higher percentage of Aircraft mechanics, and about 90% of the line mechanics. Next you will see the AGW moving through Fleet and other ground workers. With any luck we will all be rid of Hall, Little and all the rest of those clowns before the end of next year. Hopefully we will all be on our way to building an airline labor movement made up of airline labor unions instead of overpaid thugs with names like Hall, Buffenbarger and Hoffa. All people who never worked in the airlines and could care less about us.
