Yes and we saw the TWUs union building skills in action over at Continental didnt we? What did they spend on that failed drive, another $2million like the failed drive at Delta? All that money and they lost by around the same amount as they did the last failed election, it seems that my efforts to give them the facts about the TWU were a lot more effective than all your money was. I know at least one pro-TWU Continental ramper said he changed his mind after reading my posts.
Pretty sad isnt it? Despite the fact that those workers took deep pay cuts they still chose not to go with the TWU. Once they found out what the TWU was all about thats not suprising. I would bet that well over 90% of current TWU members never voted for the TWU and if given the chance would likely vote for somebody, anybody else. Who in their right mind would want to belong to a union run by a former member of AA management who lies about having college degrees in order to impress people and conceal the facts that he has no real accomplishments as a unionist?
So how does the TWU ATD grow? Well at Eagle the company just recognized a card count, in other words the majority of the workers did not vote for the TWU THE COMPANY welcomed them in without a vote. AMRs purchase of TWA gave them another 7000 members. Eagle and AA have the same parent company, AMR, and since AMR was so happy with the industry leading concessions that the TWU had been giving AA for years then why not get them into Eagle? Better to bring in the TWU than take the risk that the workers join a real union.
What happened to the TWU drive at USAIR? That fizzled.As bad as the IAM is the TWU didnt have a chance over there. We also found out from a little incident in PHL that the TWU doesnt know how to fight the IAM. Well anyway, it seems that the TWU can only get members through some sort of default, winning elections has not been their strong point. The TWU is better at scheming with the company to prevent elections than winning them.
"the company made an offer at the table to close down heavy maintenance"
Sounds more like a threat than an offer. They could have simply said no, since we had a contract in place. Besides from the documents I saw it said layoffs of around 2000 mechanics, it did not say "overhaul".
Did they vote against outsourcing or layoffs? The fact is that not only did the company get the dollar figure they sought directly through paycuts and the elimination of benifits they went on to eliminate more than the figure they presented to the Concessions committee. So as a group we alraedy doubled the concessions because the company got both, straight concessions and job eliminations. The pilots got credit for the additional savings and got back 10% the first year, what did we get? We got the TWU telling us we have to give the company even more without asking for anything in return!!!
Dont call it a negotiations committee because negotiations are give and take, in this situation the only proposed purpose of the committee was to decide how they were going to meet the companies demands for savings which was non-negotiable.
He was thinking like a unionist. What is the purpose of a union? To establish through collective bargaining adequate wage standards, shorter hours of work and improvents in the conditions of employment for the workers in the industry.
Unionists accept there will be occasional layoffs but they must preserve the quality of the job. It was obvious that AA had overhired in the years prior to 2003, using the excuse of claiming to protect those positions, which were lost anyway, as the reason for giving away hard fought for and long standardized benifits was inexcusable. The eefects of the TWUs concessions are even more severe than what happens when a union is successfully decertified through corporate actions.
Once again, the company made the offer to meet the savings objective through job eliminations, which they later withdrew because they claimed if they went that route they could not operate their business, as it turns out that was another lie because through layoffs and attrition they have surpassed that number.
We make less than Continental and SWA. SWA is AMFA and they make around $15,000 a year more than we do.
More twisted logic from the TWU.
Hows that? Please present one iota of fact to back that statement up. We took our concessions two years prior to the AMFA battle at NWA. How is AMFA resposible for the TWUs industry leading concessions?
The fact is as far as unions go and the sad state of airline workers no organization is more at fault than the TWU.
It was the TWU that agreed to B-scale.
It was the TWU that first agreed to transferring Recieve and Dispatch to lower paid ramp workers.
It was the TWU that agreed to 12 year progressions for ground workers.
It was the TWU that agreed to replacing A&P mechanics with much lower paid SRPs.
It was the TWU that agreed to Junior Fleet Service Clerks.
It was the TWU that agreed to part timers.
It was the TWU that agreed to 25% compensation cuts, and they did so outside of BK which promted all the carriers that were in BK to seek yet another round of concessions in order to try and catch up with AA.
So, the TWUs destructive effect has not been limited to TWU members, members of other airlines have suffered thanks to the TWU since long before AMFA reemerged.
The post 9-11 collapse of the airline labor movement was in no way connected to AMFA. Clearly, when one looks at the long history of TWU industry leading concessions that eroded the foundation from every other unionized, and even non-union truck carrier out there, there is the actions of one union that stands out as a leading cause in the erosion of standards for airline workers-the TWU. When USAIR went BK in 2002 many of the concessions they sought were things the TWU had given to AA in 1983, nearly two decades earlier. For two decades unions like the IAM resisted the TWUs concessionary strategy for union growth, they paid for it. What they should have done was raid the TWU at AA twenty years ago when this all started and then today the overwhelming majority of airline workers would have been united in one union.
The AMFA boys at SWA are still doing pretty well arent they?
Who is making money?Maybe TWU officers such as yourself and AA are but TWU members arent.
And when might that time be? Jim Little claimed that we put the openers in so we could get it back in 2006, well we can see that isnt going to happen. Lets say in 2009 you get us back to where we were in 2006, well its still a paycut, in fact it comes out to about an 18% paycut thanks to inflation. Now lets compare that to a dues funded TWU International pension. Over that same period of time wher the best we could hope for is restoration of our 2003 wage in 2009 as a TWU member retired TWU officials will see their pension increased by 30%, so even after figuring in inflation they would see a real inrease of 12%.
So, now we know your motivation for coming here under the alias of Laughing@u and spreading lies and disinformation. Because as a TWU officer thats exactly what you do to the ventire membership, laugh at them as you get them paycuts and get yourself pay raises, laugh at them when you say "the union is you". Laugh at them for accepting the excuse "Well thats what the members voted for, dont blame me". Go ahead and laugh, someday will come a day of reckoning.
