FA's urging Obama on NMB

[Garfield1966]

FWAAA:

That kind of dumbass isn't fixable.

That's very true. I find it hard to believe that anyone could be that ignorant about the world but then I think back to all the idiotic things I have heard people say or admit that they did not know. Perino (Bush's spokes person) did not know anything about the Cuban Missile crisis. We have students who cannot find the US on a map. For her sake I hope it was added in. Were I POTUS and received that letter I am not too sure I would act on it. I might think that if the constituents voted someone that ignorant, you get what you deserve.

As Goose said, that kind of dumbass you just cannot fix. You take it to school on the short bus and hope for the best.

 

[FWAAA]

Please..... You're reading too much into it... It's not the worst thing to call him.... he may like it!!!!

That's possible. Maybe he prefers errors and faulty protocol. His Secretary of State showed off her proficiency with English-Russian translation today:

When Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greeted Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva on Friday before sitting down to their working dinner, she presented him a small green box with a ribbon. Insclide was a red button with the Russian word "peregruzka" printed on it.

"I would like to present you with a little gift that represents what President Obama and Vice President Biden and I have been saying and that is: 'We want to reset our relationship and so we will do it together.'"

Clinton, laughing, added, "We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?" she asked Lavrov.

"You got it wrong," Lavrov said." Both diplomats laughed. "It should be "perezagruzka" (the Russian word for reset,) Lavrov said. "This says 'peregruzka,' which means 'overcharged.'"

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/07/us.russia/

D'Oh!

 

[Bob Owens]

I would have expected better.

Thats a laugh.
You do nothing but seek out the most insignificant "faux pax" and try to use that to detract from a valid point thats been made.

As we see the pro-management types (FWAAA Eoleson) rally around their claim that replacing one member of the NMB wont mean a thing then we can pretty much bet that it does. Hell companies do that all the time. They fire one person to set everyone else in line. If Obama removes this person its sends a clear message to everyone else on the board.

Ms Gladding was correct in her assertions that the the NMB has been biased, but her timeframe is way off. The NMB has been screwing airline workers for decades. We've seen that on multiple occasions, when the company wants to be released to self help it happens in a matter of weeks, like NWA(2005), Continental, EAL, however when the unions want to be released it takes years. When companys demand concessions the NMB stays silent, when unions demand raises the NMB threatens the unions that unless they reduce their demands they will be held in status quo forever-NWA(2001).

I'd like to see the whole thing(the NMB) abolished and let us have the same freedoms that other workers have. We have the restrictions of government workers without any of the plusses of a government job.

 

[eolesen]

It hasn't been the NMB screwing workers, Bob... The unions have done that pretty well without any outside help, by allowing their officers to bring in six figure salaries while workers take paycuts, making too many broad and sweeping promises which couldn't possible be delivered even in good times, and lastly, being outclassed at the bargaining table by continuing to believe that laypeople can go up against professional negotiators and succeed.

Look at the fall of GM. I almost hate to keep bringing them up because it's like clubbing a baby seal, but y'all were pretty proud of what the UAW was able to achieve for its membership. I don't hear nearly as much chest thumping about their current situation as I did ten years ago...

The NMB is made up of career bureaucrats. They survive the administration changes with little disruption. Change the figureheads, but it won't change what the organization does.

I'm in agreement, by the way, of abolishing RLA and the NMB. Level the playing field. And allow for open shop, while you're at it. No reason why you can't have both AMFA and TWU representing the same craft and class like they allow for in other countries and even in some professions and trades here in the States.

 

[sprflyr123]

I find the letter a little embarrassing quite frankly. If it had been written with an appropriate heading, the correct name for APA, etc.etc. as well as without the appearance of being overly strident, fine. Unfortunately, this kind of boondoggle may further erode our credibility and public perception which is important no matter what anyone else says.

 

[FA Mikey]

The alternative was for Laura Gladding to do nothing. Like it or not doing something is always better than sitting there and doing NOTHING.

 

[Hopeful]

I'm in agreement, by the way, of abolishing RLA and the NMB. Level the playing field. And allow for open shop, while you're at it.

Yes, but airline management love these two entities. This way they can appeal to congress and the public how greedy unions are and how devastating to the industry a strike will be.

 

[nbmcg01]

Yes, but airline management love these two entities. This way they can appeal to congress and the public how greedy unions are and how devastating to the industry a strike will be.

What fun, then just like it has been suggested for the auto industry, bk could be filed and all union contracts abrogated. Note union contracts, not executive level management....because we all know what a fine job they are doing.

 

[butchord45]

The problem is not the mediation board, the problem is holding on to things that are going obsolete. I am not saying it is right what management is doing but it is the way all managements work these days. Cut costs, hold costs steady, create value for the shareholder. Packing up one's toys and saying Mommy is not giving me what I want can i get it from Daddy doesn't work. Bad analogy I know but changing mediators won't work. Changing your stand and coming up with creative solutions will. For instance, taking the locks off of the sacred cow....(our pensions.)and at least be willing to discuss it. Now I don't want it given away. But I see the writing on the wall.

Butch
(DAMN my 8 track just ate another tape )

What fun, then just like it has been suggested for the auto industry, bk could be filed and all union contracts abrogated. Note union contracts, not executive level management....because we all know what a fine job they are doing.

 

[Barfbag]

It hasn't been the NMB screwing workers, Bob... The unions have done that pretty well without any outside help...........

Amen;

At TWA our IAM contracts kept us from joining the more generous IAM Pension fund and we did so only during the last 16 months of TWA's demise. Hence many TWAers, now retired can look to about $ 160.00 a month from the National fund, and another $ 300 from the PGBC.

Less that $ 500.a month for some 35 years at TWA, WOW. :down:

 

[MCI transplant]

Amen;

At TWA our IAM contracts kept us from joining the more generous IAM Pension fund and we did so only during the last 16 months of TWA's demise. Hence many TWAers, now retired can look to about $ 160.00 a month from the National fund, and another $ 300 from the PGBC.

Less that $ 500.a month for some 35 years at TWA, WOW. :down:

<_< ------- Your numbers are a little off barfbag, but I think they get te idea.

 

[FrequentFlierCA]

This is a gratuitous waste of time and energy. It's starting to look like the FA negotiators are not taking this seriously. If they were they would give mediation a chance to work. Ms. Glading needs to put down Captain Hill's playbook.

 

[Winglet]

This is a gratuitous waste of time and energy. It's starting to look like the FA negotiators are not taking this seriously. If they were they would give mediation a chance to work. Ms. Glading needs to put down Captain Hill's playbook.

Mediation is working real good with the pilots, isn't it? The pilots move toward center, and the company moves in the opposite direction and the mediator is fine with that. Mediation only works if the mediator is neutral.

With the present people controlling the process, there is zero hope for a settlement as it is not in management's interest to actually bargain in good faith. Hopefully the new administration will correct the corruption of the NMB.

In the meantime, it's just all a Kabuki Dance in which management controls all the process.

 

[FrequentFlierCA]

I'm sorry, but how have the pilots moved toward the center? They maintain their ridiculous demand for a 50% wage increase and - I just learned on this board today - that Super Bowl Sunday be a paid holiday.

What a joke. The only thing the pilots are going to negotiate is themselves out of their careers and retirements.

 

[Royal Ambassador]

Why should the President do anything to help her out when she ignored and refused to follow the examples of shared sacrifice which he praised in his inaugural speech?

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies.

It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break; the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/polit...pagewanted=all#

Jason Davis, AA Northeast general manager, told several f/a's who are being furloughed that management proposed to avoid furloughs by slightly lowering the average line values. The APFA was not even interested in discussing it. He then told my friend not to blame AA for this furlough, her union did this to her.

Last Friday, President Obama appointed Linda Puchala, a former president of the Association of Flight Attendants union, to the National Mediation Board.

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printe...17/nmb0317.html

She is not likely to be too sympathetic to LG and the APFA.