Amfa Vs. Twu Debate

[twuer]

Spin?

How about official COURT DOCUMENTS instead?


" The UNION'S REASONABLE AND CONSISTENT INTERPRETATION"

I too have a copy of this case. Remind me again. . .what was the outcome????

This appears over and over and over in this case. . .

. . .plaintiffs have not demonstrated a clear likelihood of success on that claim. . .I find that plaintiffs are not likely to succeed on the merits of this claim.

The court agreed with the TWU!!! I am not going to go through this particular case with a fine tooth comb with you. The fact is the court agreed with what the TWU did and the interpretation of the constitution. 562 had the oppurtunity to make their case and they failed (didn't I already say that a few posts back!) You can spin it any way you like but even the federal courts don't agree with your right-wing views!!

Now, you will have to excuse me but I have some household duties to take care of. I'll be back later.

 

[Bob Owens]

Well actually that is not what happened. This was for a preliminary injunction, not a final ruling on the case. A full case was not presented where we would have had the opportunity to go over the ballotting process and other irregularities. There was no trial, no testimony, witnesses etc, just a review and comments about the briefs.

However the ruling on the preliminary injunction did prove several points about the TWU;
1) it proved that the Presidents council has no power over our contract.
2) it proved that with the TWU we do not have the right to vote on our contract.
3) since contracts are amendable under the RLA, they never expire so we never get an entirely "new" contract the TWU never has to let us vote on our contracts.
4) it proved that the TWU International will go to any lengths to screw its members on behalf of the company, even standing in court as co-defendants with the company against its members.
5) it proved that while the International tells us one thing as far as our rights to our contract they believe the opposite of what they tell us. It exposed them as liars.
6) It proved that with the TWU we have no control, no voice, no power and that if we are to retake control over our lives and careers we must first get rid of the TWU.

Considering all that, plus the fact that this will likely help us get AMFA, I would in hindsight say that it was a success!

 

[TWU informer]

twuer,

You sound extremely proud, even victorious that the Court Ruled that TWU Leadership can dictate "without ratfication" terms of your bargaining agreement. And you call this unionism?

I feel this to be a sad but true testimony to the anti-worker, anti-democracy of the TWU, yet you pound your chest with glee.

If the AMFA Constitution said the terms of a labor agreement could be dictated by Delle-Femine or any other leader of AMFA, I bet we wouldn't have many cards signed to date. I can see the TEAM TWU bringing that to the forefront of their campaign. Yet, you and others continue to hold AMFA to a standard you refuse to hold your own union accountable too.

Not only do you joyfully celebrate the Dictator Decides Everything Ruling, you also removed from Office the elected officers who challenged the dicatators. How many of our fellow Americans in the Armed Services have lost their lives recently getting rid of the same type of leadership in Iraq? Maybe, instead of an NMB election, the TWU should be removed by force. An election seems to kind and gentle for the TWU, and their Court proven ways of unionism.

Pardon me for saying, but something appears extremely wrong with this picture and your claim of unionism for all.

Do you have anymore words of strong unionism, wisdom, and democracy this afternoon? Without guys or should I say gals, like you, this debate would be boring.

 

[TWU informer]

Another famous case regarding Democracy and TWU Leadership:

ATTEMPTS to supress a group calling themsleves "New Directions".

 

[TWU informer]

The current senoirity list is 12,099 title 1 Mechanics does anyone know what it was Feb. 2001 ? what seniority number is our card count based on at this time at one time it was about 16,000 ?

and TWUER as I said the 3200 not getting to vote came from the TWU Informer posted above did the TWU lie to us ?

Raptor,

I went searching for some data for you. According tha National Mediation Board at the time of the AA/TWA_LLC merger, there were 16,629 Mechanic and Related as of April19th, 2002.

see:
NMB Certification of TWU Single Carrier

or look at this screen capture:

Now that is NOT the date you wanted, however, it is credible documentation.

I look for these submitted and documented numbers to become a real contention once AMFA files the cards in March calling for an investigation of dispute.

 

[mojo13]

A blast from the past (TWA's past)
Sound familiar?

IAM union 'leaders' bargain away contract gains at TWA

By GERRY FIORI



The workers of Trans World Airlines, the country's eighth largest carrier, have been without a real raise since 1983. The 16,000 workers represented by the International Association of Machinists, 75 percent of the company's employees, have given up an average of $100,000 each since 1992.

These concessions were supposedly necessary to keep the company from going out of business (TWA continues to exist despite claims to have turned a profit only once in 20 years).

Management's promises to restore the givebacks once the company's financial situation improved were reneged on at the first opportunity. In fact, the arrival in 1997 of a new management team led by Gerald Gitner (a protege of union buster Frank Lorenzo) heralded a new level of confrontational anti-union policies.

When the old contract expired on Sept. l, 1997, the company's new proposals demanded the absolute right to eliminate, combine, and/or cross-utilize job classifications, contract out any and all work, sell off any assets, subdivide the company, and set up subsidiary companies flying so-called "regional" jets.

Maintenance facilities in New York, Kansas City, and Los Angeles, and one of the two terminals leased at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, were singled out for elimination, despite protective covenants existing from the last contract (and despite the fact that these facilities were being used as securities for loans from creditors).

In fact, as TWA continued to concentrate its operations in its hub, St. Louis, where it is the largest employer, the jobs of workers systemwide were at risk.

The company's position was strengthened through the divide-and-conquer tactic of buying off the Air Line Pilots' Association-the only other significant union aside from the IAM. ALPA leader Bill Compton was named TWA president in December 1997 and CEO in May 1999 (while Gitner became chairman of the board of directors).

In July 1998, ALPA and TWA signed a new contract, which included a 40 percent wage increase for the pilots over four years. Two small unions soon reached their own agreements. This left only the IAM to deal with.

The leadership of District 142 of the IAM has been largely responsible for the condition of their membership, having colluded for years with management to extract concessions "to save the company."

The new and obvious threat from Gitner and Compton, however, seemed to have finally opened their eyes, and they took up a militant posture in negotiations, declaring "the concession stand is closed'.

The company's attitude throughout negotiations was completely unserious and in bad faith. However, due to provisions of the Railway Labor Act (which also applies to airlines), the union was hampered by being given a whole series of hoops to jump through before it could have legal recourse to strike action.

Despite an obvious impasse having been reached, the federal mediator overseeing the talks refused to release the parties to the 30-day countdown to "self-help" until May 11, 1999, one year and eight months after negotiations began.

Workers reject offer, authorize strike

On May 28, TWA presented its "final" offer to the IAM, saying take it or leave it. The company's proposed contract, to expire in 2002, included:

1) Raises of 18 percent for mechanics and higher classifications, 9.6 percent for related classifications below mechanic (ramp service, fleet service, janitor, guard, etc.), 14.1 percent for passenger service employees (ticket agents), and 26.7 percent for flight attendants.

The last of three wage hikes would be contingent on TWA's reaching a target operating profit margin. Pay raises would not be retroactive.

2) Lump sum payments of $4600, $4100, $2100, and $5000 for the respective employee groups.

3) The flight attendants only would receive payment of the "Me Too" grievance.

(This refers to a provision of the last contract in which any raise given to one classification would have to be given to all. The company was taken to court by the flight attendants when it granted non-contract employees an 8.5 percent raise, and lost. All IAM classifications should have been entitled to the same award.)

4) Company contribution to the IAM national pension plan of $.50 per hour worked.

5) Regional jets to be introduced, according to arrangements agreed to by ALPA, not the IAM.

6) The company agreed to "work to obtain" leases at a terminal and maintenance hangar at New York, and a hangar at Kansas City.

The company pushed hard for this offer with a barrage of propaganda letters sent to workers' homes, praising the offer, claiming there was absolutely no more money to give, and threatening dire consequences if the offer was rejected.

But the union leadership responded within a few days, calling for the membership to reject the company's offer.

In a special bulletin, they pointed out that the company's offer contained substantially less in wages than what the pilots got, that wage and benefit increases were distributed usually to different classifications, that there were no protective covenants over facilities in dispute, and that the regional jet clause would allow a third party to operate TWA routes without TWA employees and with no limit to the number of planes.

They said they would hold out for nothing less then industry-standard wages, full protective covenants, no less than $1 per hour in the pension plan, and no loss of jobs.

Ratification votes were held June 8-9 systemwide for the flight attendants, who vote by mail, which takes a month. By June 9, though, the stance of District 142's leaders, combined with the determination of the membership not to give in to the company again, resulted in a vote of 90 percent to reject TWA's offer and to authorize a strike.

The next day, company negotiators got in touch with the union, as did Dick Gephardt, congressman from St. Louis and Democratic Party leader of the House of Representatives. On June 13, a tentative agreement was reached.

Anger swells as victory turns into defeat

After nearly two years of negotiations, and many more years of givebacks, the workers sensed that their determination to stand up had finally paid off, and victory, a contract they could afford to live on, was finally at hand.

But once the details of the agreement became known, the hope turned into disbelief, then anger. This was because a strange transformation had taken place.

The leaders of the union, who had led a two-year crusade against concessions, who had orchestrated work stoppages and sickouts, who had said they would settle for nothing less than what their members deserved, who had obtained that membership's solid backing to go on strike if necessary, had completely reversed themselves.

The tentative agreement was to be 18 months long, from Aug. 1, 1999, until 2001, completely conceding retro pay (and rewarding the company's intransigence in negotiations). Details include:

1) Wage raises of 11.7 percent for all job classifications except flight attendants, who would receive 21.3 percent due to the 8.5 percent "Me Too" award, which would be waived by the rest of the IAM.

2) Lump-sum payments (out of a separate grievance settlement) of $1000 for ramp service and above, $500 for classifications below, and $1000 for those who retired between the end of the last contract and the beginning of the new one.

3) Company contributions to the IAM national pension plan of $1 hour for mechanics and above, and $.75 per hour for others.

4) Regional jets to be introduced with set limits of jets, operated by TWA, subsidiaries, or partners.

5) The company to agree to "work to obtain" leases for the New York and Kansas City facilities.

6) The union to agree to the company opening up "focus stations," which would be non-union over reviewable six-month period for purposes of "competitive" expansion. (The first is to be San Juan and is already being heavily funded by the government of Puerto Rico).

This deal was sold by the union leadership as being necessary because the company had no more money to give (despite what they had said only days before) and that this was the only way to save everyone's job.

In reality, it represented the worst betrayal of rank-and-file Machinists who had shown themselves willing to take the fight to the end and believed their officials would be willing to lead them.

The worst part of the agreement is that, for all the concessions it makes, it offers no guarantees of saving any jobs at all. The disputed facilities may in fact never be leased, and would have no protective covenants anymore in any case.

(This is leaving aside the question of the second New York terminal, which was dropped by the union without gaining anything in return).

The regional jets may be operated by nonunion commuter affiliates, or by subsidiaries with separate, probably substandard IAM contracts (dues money in any case). These jets can ultimately displace TWA operations directly or indirectly, especially at hub cities, leading to loss of jobs.

The focus station concept leaves itself open to enormous abuse by the company, including shifting operations there from unionized stations.

Everything depends on the trustworthiness of TWA management, who have already amply demonstrated the opposite.

This is all leaving out the issue of the 14 stations that would be closed, something withheld from the membership in official union materials.

The ratification meetings for the tentative agreement, held two weeks after the final offer meetings, were extremely tumultuous, as workers one after the other expressed their outrage at being so cheaply sold down the river by those they had believed were finally doing the right thing.

Union spokespeople were unable to answer pointed questions from the ranks and in the end resorted to scare tactics, saying that any contract improvements would come only through job losses and work rule concessions.

As of the date of this writing, all the votes have yet to be counted. As far as is known, New York and Kansas City have overwhelmingly rejected the agreement; St. Louis, Los Angeles, and San Francisco have approved it.

The overall vote looks to be close. Regardless of the outcome, though, the Machinists of TWA have learned at least two valuable lessons:

The first is that their "leaders" are self-serving bureaucrats only interested in preserving their own privileges, and afraid to wage a real fight.

The second is that the rank and file have already demonstrated that they can unite to fight, and that their power is in that unity and the willingness to use it.

Where leaderships will not lead, they must step aide or be swept aside and replaced by fighters. All fighting Machinists should come together now, and organize to build a movement within the union capable of waging the honest struggle we all know is necessary.



Gerry Fiori works at TWA and is a member of IAM Local 1058, New York.

 

[TWU informer]

mojo,

Do you have a date on that document?

Thanks

 

[mojo13]

July 1999

 

[mojo13]

and another;

Vol.63/No.28 August 16, 1999


TWA Workers Approve Contract, Fight On For Better Wages, Benefits

BY BETSEY STONE
ST. LOUIS - "I was fighting to get something better." That was the reaction of ramp worker Rodrigo Castellanos to the news that all three union groups at TWA -mechanics and baggage handlers, flight attendants, and public service agents, had approved the company's latest contract offer.

When officials of International Association of International Association of Machinists (IAM) District 142 announced the results of the election July 22, they declined give the vote totals. So workers remain in the dark about how close the vote was.

What is clear to Castellanos and other baggage handlers at the company's hub here in St. Louis is there is a lot of discontent among TWA workers with the contract.

When the agreement was first announced in St. Louis-area newspapers, there were articles touting the "double-digit" wage raises as a gain for workers. But, as Castellanos points out, when workers looked at the small print they found much of the raise cancelled by the removal of bonuses promised in an earlier offer.

"We still remain below the average in the airline industry," he said.

In the last three contracts - in 1986, 1992, and 1994 - TWA workers took big cuts. And they have been working without a new contract since l997. Yet no provisions have been made for back pay.

Jerry Nichols, a ramp worker for 18 years, was one of many who say they voted no. He is concerned about the lack of significant improvement in company contributions to the pension plan, contributions that were frozen in 1992 for seven years.

Nichols also pointed out the contract does not address the problem of forced overtime, which is getting worse. "We are 60 to 70 workers short," he explains. "When they are short TWA tells people they have to work a double." New hires who lack seniority are hit the hardest. Many are quitting over this issue, Nichols said.

Another issue that concerns workers is a provision that opens the way for a nonunion work force at so-called "focus" stations -stations that are slated to grow in the number of employees in coming years.

TWA workers have been battling for a decent contract since 1997 when the previous contract ran out. In the past 18 months they have walked off the job three times, effectively crippling TWA operations.

This is the second vote on a contract in recent months. The earlier offer was going to be defeated so overwhelmingly that the company did not wait for the vote to be completed before going back to the bargaining table.

In the earlier vote workers approved authorization to strike. The union also threatened to boycott targeted TWA flights if an agreement could not be reached.

There was a lot of pressure on TWA workers to accept the latest offer. Prominent politicians in the St. Louis area, most notably U.S. Rep. Richard Gephardt, played a role in the negotiations. Before the workers had a chance to vote, these politicians, businessmen, area newspapers, university "labor experts," and top IAM officials all lauded the contract as the best TWA could do.

The highly publicized annual losses posted by TWA for the past 10 years were a factor in influencing many of those workers who voted "yes." Workers were told that if they voted "no," they were voting to not have a job because TWA would be forced out of business.

The new contract runs out in l8 months. "The fight will continue," Castellanos said.

Betsey Stone is a member of IAM Local 1487 in Chicago.

 

[TWU informer]

So much for Indsutrial Union Concessions for Jobs Programs! :angry:

 

[AMFAMAN]

MOJO,

How about this TWA blast from the past:

"For $2 less, I'll do what I-CAN"

 

[AMFAMAN]

On the seniority list issue, AA's Mechanic and Related Craft and Class in August 2001 was close tp 14,500 per the combined seniority lists(no TWAers). Add in a TWA April 2001 seniority list of 4,300 to the 14,500, you have close to 19,000 total. The TWU doesn't like to talk about the large layoffs of the TWAers in 2001 in which almost none have been recalled. Today our craft and class sits at aound 14,000 on the clock. It appears to be a net job loss of close to 5,000 jobs. They must all be layoffs because after all, no one ever retired at NWA when their pension doubled.

 

[TWU informer]

Tulsa AMFA vs TWU Debate Notice:

http://www.amfanatl.org/Pages/05_Organizin...Flyer040117.pdf

Look for it in the Tulsa World today.

 

[Checking it Out]

You can spin all you want, the simple fact is amfa has failed to perform since taking over at NW and has cost the Industry dearly. It was amfa who has allowed the increase in outsourcing and the elimination of permanent positions. They do not have the balls to step up and call for picketing for the injustice that has been done.

Amfa has the highest percentage of members on layoffs than any other Union for Mechanics. Is this what you want to be a part of?

Amfa has continued to admit the language in our contract is no good and AA will take full advantage of this if Amfa was ever to get in!! See massive Layoffs and closing of Maintenance Bases, This is obvious to anyone with smarts!!!

Ask yourself are you prepared to be outsourced if Amfa gets in?? This is the issue!!!!

 

[PRINCESS KIDAGAKASH]

AMFA is a failure at Northwest? I seem to remember AMFA was the union that fought and won major wage and benefit increases at Northwest. If I remember correctly, they set the ball in motion at other airlines in getting major benefit and wage increases for the mechanics. Wasn't it the IAM and the EVIL TWU that gave everything away that AMFA got for us in 2001? CIO are you a surviving member of JIM JONES' cult? How much TWU Kool-Aid do you drink daily? CIO,when are you gonna realize that one of these days the EVIL TWU is gonna spike your Kool-Aid with cyannide just like your buddy JIM JONES did.