Drippy Quill said:
So did you guys , while representing TWU , attempt to secure AMFA for your bargaining agent? Hand out cards or try and recruit for AMFA. It's easy to skirt around the issues and change them to fit your needs but how about telling the truth? You forced the TWU to ask for signatures by your inability to concede your positions willingly and then persue your dreams of AMFA , unless of course all the charges are trumped and you are loyal to the TWU.
You seem to deny the facts here...
What are you talking about?
What signatures?
I have been trying to bring changes from within.
I did not write to Sonny Hall three years ago urging change in order to get rid of the TWU.
I did not write to every President that had an E-mail urging them to propose that an accountable, accurate voting process be put in place for the next Convention to get rid of the TWU but to strengthen it.
I did not urge Jim Little to offer strong support to United airlines during the PEB and bankruptcy proceedings to help AMFA but to show the power of the AFL-CIO.
I did not urge Jim Little to picket Delta Airlines to protest their termination of a TWU organizer to hurt the drive but to show Delta workers how unions can stand behind their members. Jim Little wrote back that most members dont really care.
I did not tell Bobby Gless not to include titty bar bills on his expense reports and try to build our locals treasury in order to hurt the TWU. I did it so we could show the members that we could build an effective local even with the TWU.
Prior to the Separate Locals I did hand out and collect cards for AMFA. No different than Bobby Gless who not only was an organizer but also hosted an AMFA meeting at his home (I did not attend). I did not subscribe to the baggage handler bashing that many AMFA supporters followed. I had no problems with our Local 501 officials and attended union meetings even though I felt that mechanics should control their own destiny.When we were offered the separate Locals I convinced many members to support it. The process however has never been completed. How come its ok for SWA flight attendants to have a seperate Local (556), contract etc from other SWA TWU workers (Local 555) but wrong for Mechanics to want a similar setup?
I think that the AMFA vote will force the TWU to finally change, if not, and maybe even if they do, they will surely lose the mechanics. The fact is prior to this agreement there was no AMFA drive to speak of. Not only did we take massive cuts, but we undercut bankrupt airlines. We already had given AA low costs, low enough that there really was no reason to outsource. Economics kept the work in house, not strong contract language. We do not fly to Asia, European Overhaul is not cheaper and South America does not have the capacity and most of those countries are not considered that stable.
The fact is we gave much too much, and that is why there is not only an AMFA drive but the dispatchers have petitioned to leave and now Fleet has started with a drive towards the newly formed AGW. The fact that Jim Little is still in place gives none of these groups any reason to believe that things will ever improve. Yanking elected officers who are voicing their members fustrations will certainly not slow down any of these drives. Just as Koziatek had to go because of the 95 agreement so too does Jim Little and his crew, its just the way it is. If we had real democracy there is no way that either the 95 or 2003 agreements ever would have come back for a vote. We shall continue to see Presidents replaced. Nester Rodriguez was bounced out so will Mike Chiafalo, Jack Maddish, Duke Hingley, Tim Gillespie, Tony Gonzalez, Randy McDonald, Curtis Gentry, John Plowman, Ortengren and all the the yes men who are all due to face election before 2006. The International will not have room for them all. The members have no confidence in the Little regime, but they cant vote them out and many know that sending a new President will not change the results of the old President but since they are the only ones they can vent on, they are history. Why is sending Little, Yingst and Gless back to the floor, to work under the agreements that they said we should accept such a terrible fate? Is it worth losing one third of the Union to protect these guys?
By the TWU training departments own admission only a minority of the membership is ever active. To get a majority of the members to do anything is very difficult. Well according to the AMFA card count a majority of Title 1, has filled out cards for an election. I think that we all can admit that its very likely that AMFA will file before March 17, 2004, right after we get our big 1.5% raise. It is also very likely that since the TWU under Sonny Hall will not make the neccissary changes to give the members accountability and democracy that not only will AMFA win, but that others will also leave the TWU.
Three years ago I told Hall, Hoffa and Buffenbarger (all of whom never worked in this industry) what should be done. I came to this conclusion after talking to hundreds of airline workers from many different airlines in many different classes and crafts and other unionists. I warned them of what might happen in the future if they did not take at least some steps towards a restructing and consolidation of the airline labor movement. They ignored it. We all paid the price, and now the bill lies on their doorstep, and its past due.
lol, lol, lol,lol,lol,lol,
