PurduePete
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- Jun 15, 2006
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http://www.startribune.com/1778/story/553356.html
After 12 years representing workers at Northwest Airlines, IAM District President Bobby DePace was voted out of office Friday, as union members signaled their displeasure with the recent employment contract that will cut their pay by 11.5 percent and eliminate about 645 jobs.
DePace, president of District 143 for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, was defeated by Stephen Gordon. The vote totals were not disclosed.
Gordon, a ramp, baggage and cargo handler in Detroit, joined the IAM in 1990 and is the president of the Detroit Air Transport Local Lodge 141.
Gordon said Friday that although he thought new leadership was needed, DePace had provided solid leadership.
"I can assure you that the negotiators did the best possible job that they could with this contract. These are terrible times in the aviation industry," he said.
DePace said IAM members were "very angry and very upset" with their recent contract, which they felt forced to ratify in order to avoid harsher terms and heavier job cuts that Northwest had threatened as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.
The IAM members couldn't retaliate against Northwest CEO Doug Steenland or other managers, "so they feel like they have to take it out on us," DePace said.
"This was the best of a bad deal. Nobody's happy with this contract," said DePace, whose current full-time union job expires in October. He then probably will return to the bag handling/ramp worker job he held at Northwest 12 years ago, he said.
DePace is the second labor leader at Northwest to be removed from office in recent weeks. Mark McClain, the head of the pilots union, lost his chairmanship last month. Like DePace, McClain had negotiated a concessionary contract that also was approved by his union's members.
The flight attendants at Northwest, meanwhile, cast their lot with a new union this month after rejecting an concessionary labor deal. Sixty-two percent of the members of the Professional Flight Attendants Association voted to replace their union with the Association of Flight Attendants, an AFL-CIO union representing attendants at 20 airlines.
IAM members, who handle bags and push planes back from gates, voted in Gordon to a four-year term as president. Also elected were Candice Hendrickson, vice president for Minneapolis-St. Paul and the Upper Midwest; Steve Dunn, secretary-treasurer, and Vickie Cheek, trustee.
After 12 years representing workers at Northwest Airlines, IAM District President Bobby DePace was voted out of office Friday, as union members signaled their displeasure with the recent employment contract that will cut their pay by 11.5 percent and eliminate about 645 jobs.
DePace, president of District 143 for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, was defeated by Stephen Gordon. The vote totals were not disclosed.
Gordon, a ramp, baggage and cargo handler in Detroit, joined the IAM in 1990 and is the president of the Detroit Air Transport Local Lodge 141.
Gordon said Friday that although he thought new leadership was needed, DePace had provided solid leadership.
"I can assure you that the negotiators did the best possible job that they could with this contract. These are terrible times in the aviation industry," he said.
DePace said IAM members were "very angry and very upset" with their recent contract, which they felt forced to ratify in order to avoid harsher terms and heavier job cuts that Northwest had threatened as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.
The IAM members couldn't retaliate against Northwest CEO Doug Steenland or other managers, "so they feel like they have to take it out on us," DePace said.
"This was the best of a bad deal. Nobody's happy with this contract," said DePace, whose current full-time union job expires in October. He then probably will return to the bag handling/ramp worker job he held at Northwest 12 years ago, he said.
DePace is the second labor leader at Northwest to be removed from office in recent weeks. Mark McClain, the head of the pilots union, lost his chairmanship last month. Like DePace, McClain had negotiated a concessionary contract that also was approved by his union's members.
The flight attendants at Northwest, meanwhile, cast their lot with a new union this month after rejecting an concessionary labor deal. Sixty-two percent of the members of the Professional Flight Attendants Association voted to replace their union with the Association of Flight Attendants, an AFL-CIO union representing attendants at 20 airlines.
IAM members, who handle bags and push planes back from gates, voted in Gordon to a four-year term as president. Also elected were Candice Hendrickson, vice president for Minneapolis-St. Paul and the Upper Midwest; Steve Dunn, secretary-treasurer, and Vickie Cheek, trustee.
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