CWA Files for Representation Election

[TWU informer]

http://www.cwa-union.org/news/entry/cwa_transport_workers_union_form_new_partnership#.TzWix65SjnA
CWA, Transport Workers Union Form New Partnership

The two unions represent more than 120,000 airline workers and are joining forces to support bargaining and organizing at American Airlines and campaigns at other airlines.

Funny they should have to make this announcement.

For years we have been told AFL-CIO Affiliated Unions are already in and for years have been in forces joined for this purpose.

But yet, this type of announcement indicates something otherwise. Idiots, living is fantaasy land on our dime!

Maybe if they would stop the public campaign and fluf and actually represent their membeeship's interest, they would not have to announce this crap as if it were some new and novel idea within labor.

 

[737823]

Funny they should have to make this announcement.

For years we have been told AFL-CIO Affiliated Unions are already in and for years have been in forces joined for this purpose.

But yet, this type of announcement indicates something otherwise. Idiots, living is fantaasy land on our dime!

Maybe if they would stop the public campaign and fluf and actually represent their membeeship's interest, they would not have to announce this crap as if it were some new and novel idea within labor.

Dues money at work!

Josh

 

[Buck]

Dues money at work!

Josh

There has to be a plan, Jim Little always has a plan. Maybe he is looking for an affiliation for those laid off at AMR.

 

[Tex-Mech]

http://www.cwa-union.org/news/entry/cwa_transport_workers_union_form_new_partnership#.TzWix65SjnA
CWA, Transport Workers Union Form New Partnership

The two unions represent more than 120,000 airline workers and are joining forces to support bargaining and organizing at American Airlines and campaigns at other airlines.

Just the second part of the merger. The first start was when they moved in together.

TRANSPORT WORKERS UNION
OF AMERICA AFL-CIO

501 3rd. St. NW 9th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20001

----------------------------------------------------

Communications Workers of America, AFL-CIO
501 3rd Street NW, Washington, DC 20001


.

 

[damajagua]

Rumor @ JFK is that the majority of nAAtive agents are against the union. The big push is coming from
former TWA employees. Not sure about other bases but @ JFK it will fail.

 

[Bob Owens]

Rumor @ JFK is that the majority of nAAtive agents are against the union. The big push is coming from
former TWA employees. Not sure about other bases but @ JFK it will fail.

That's not what I hear. Mention what they want to jack the medical up to and you have another yes vote.

 

[TWU informer]

When are ballots going out and when are they counted?
There is no question that AA has not dislcosed the cuts and raping to this group due to this activity.

 

[eolesen]

Doubtful that a rumor from a CWA/TWU organizer has anything to do with this, Dave.

If anything, the agents are a step ahead of you guys in the process -- AA wasn't obligated to engage in a S1113 hearing with them, and thus, not obligated to release a term sheet as a basis for consensual negotiations...

If 2001 is a template, the plan for what needs to take place with the airport agents is already done, but won't be implemented until the 2555 issue is settled with the TWU.

Why? Because there's no point in proposing to outsource the agent jobs if the ramp ultimately remains insourced. If you're going to have to keep management in place to supervise the TWU, you might as well keep your the agents since the GM & CSMs are a sunk cost.

That's not what I hear. Mention what they want to jack the medical up to and you have another yes vote.

That might be true with the senior employees, but the agents have a much higher turnover rate than mechanics, pilots or FA's. At JFK in the 90's, we'd see 50% of the new hires quit within the first 24 months, not because of the working conditions, but because it was just an entry level job they were working while they went to school. And not much has changed -- ticketing has been largely automated since then, so there's even less and less of a skilled aspect to the job. With some of the international carriers I've worked with, maybe 10% of the workforce has more than 5 years seniority at both the call center and airports.

I just don't see any of the unions winning a challenge over the healthcare or retirement benefit changes, Bob. The company has made it clear they want a uniform policy across all workgroups, and I don't see any outsider, be it a judge or a PEB, disagreeing with that type of an approach.

 

[TWU informer]

My opinion on this has nothing to do with any organizers rumor.

My opinion is based on 28 years of working for AA, and watching management manipulation.

 

[eolesen]

My opinion on this has nothing to do with any organizers rumor.

Well, so far it is just a rumor. You've got a USAir employee churning up the idea that there's even as much of a card drive underway. If there's something more substantial going on, show us.

My opinion is based on 28 years of working for AA, and watching management manipulation.

Exactly my point. You've got rage-colored glasses with your 28 years of abuse at the hands of base management and the TWU.

In the agent/rep ranks, without having anything current to substantiate it, I suspect the senior folks are a minority, which is the opposite of every other workgroup on the property.

It really wouldn't surprise me to see that half (if not more) of the agents and reps were hired after the 2003 cuts, and possibly somewhere around 15% hired since the recession started in 2008. The reps got a serious flush of senior folks when the ERO and CRO were closed -- a few took the option of moving to one of the remaining offices, but most simply stayed put & took their severance or retirement.

Those employees are going to have a much different view on AA as an employer than you or even I would.

Since the newly passed FAA re-authorization bill now has language regarding representation drives (50%+1 of the eligible classification are required to sign cards to trigger an election), I really don't see it happening now, next month, or anytime soon.

Not surprisingly, the TWU, NACTA and ALPA have no problems with the language change, but the CWA and a few smaller unions are pissed...

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/aviation/210103-labor-unions-left-sour-with-faa-bill-now-in-obamas-hands

 

[Buck]

Yes but doesn't the 50% +1 mean for only new organizing drives?

 

[eolesen]

Yes but doesn't the 50% +1 mean for only new organizing drives?

Here's the language:

Section 2 of the Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 152) is amended by adding at the end the following:
`Twelfth. Showing of interest for representation elections. The Mediation Board, upon receipt of an application requesting that an organization or individual be certified as the representative of any craft or class of employees, shall not direct an election or use any other method to determine who shall be the representative of such craft or class unless the Mediation Board determines that the application is supported by a showing of interest from not less than 50 percent of the employees in the craft or class.'.

Just reading as a layman, I'd say that it would apply to either a new drive or a bid to replace an incumbent (hence that's why the TWU is supportive?).

If AMP were to deliver cards worth 35% of the membership tomorrow morning, arguably they'd fall under the 35% requirement. But the CWA hasn't even announced a card drive. Good luck getting to 35% in the next day, much less 50%.

 

[TWU informer]

Well, so far it is just a rumor. You've got a USAir employee churning up the idea that there's even as much of a card drive underway. If there's something more substantial going on, show us.




Exactly my point. You've got rage-colored glasses with your 28 years of abuse at the hands of base management and the TWU.

In the agent/rep ranks, without having anything current to substantiate it, I suspect the senior folks are a minority, which is the opposite of every other workgroup on the property.

It really wouldn't surprise me to see that half (if not more) of the agents and reps were hired after the 2003 cuts, and possibly somewhere around 15% hired since the recession started in 2008. The reps got a serious flush of senior folks when the ERO and CRO were closed -- a few took the option of moving to one of the remaining offices, but most simply stayed put & took their severance or retirement.

Those employees are going to have a much different view on AA as an employer than you or even I would.

Since the newly passed FAA re-authorization bill now has language regarding representation drives (50%+1 of the eligible classification are required to sign cards to trigger an election), I really don't see it happening now, next month, or anytime soon.

Not surprisingly, the TWU, NACTA and ALPA have no problems with the language change, but the CWA and a few smaller unions are pissed...

http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/aviation/210103-labor-unions-left-sour-with-faa-bill-now-in-obamas-hands

Not even a Card Drive Happening at AA

 

[eolesen]

Certainly, CWA has been trying to get cards since last June. I've yet to talk to an agent who takes it seriously, and there are fewer & fewer pins on jackets anymore.

Best of luck if they can pull off getting it done, but the backing doesn't appear to be there. Heck, last time I looked, they were still using a SBCGlobal.net (tied to a home DSL account?) email address as opposed to a CWA email address.

Again, go over to the terminal and ask for yourself.

 

[FrequentFlierCA]

The CWA was too little, too late on this one. In order for them to have had any standing with the bankruptcy court they would have had to have won an election and been certified to represent AA's agents before the Chapter 11 filing. From what I read they are now semi-misleading the agents into believing that they can still make a different. They can't- AA is going to make unilateral cuts to that group without having to bargain.

Why vote them in now? That ship has already sailed; why waste more money on dues to the CWA?