News Flash

[Rusty]

As far as the International dictating policy are you relating to the Cunningham trial that I was involved in? I was told by witnesses at the original trial that Gary and Dan attempted to make a mockery of our system of discipline..if this is true then they got their just rewards...I was not at the original, just the recent trial in Dallas as requested by the local to be held by the International.

Buck presented you with a very good question that I am very curious about myself. "Why was a member of Local 530 needed at a 567 trial?"

 

[Steve Connell]

Excellent question Rusty...and I will attempt to answer same. Dan was representing himself as an AMFA organizer in KCMO on August 9th at a friend of mine's house. This party was advertised as a TWA first annual party by the individual that gave it at his residence. It was also noted on the flyer, posted @ MCI/AA that AMFA reps would be present. I went to the party as a TWU supporter, I notified my E-Board members that I would be attending and also notified the man that was holding the party that I would be in attendance. Upon my arrival I was quickly taken , by the host, to meet the AMFA org. team...I met Gary Schaible, Don Rogers , Dan Cunningham , and another man I fail to remember his name, though he was very informed and served his mission well. I found all AMFA reps to be of good nature and represented AMFA's mission well, except for perhaps Dan who seemed to be more concerned about flexing his biceps than answering my questions. Dan related to me in his multitude of conversations that he was an E-Board of Local 567 and that he was, in the same breathe, asking me to sign a card. The International requested my presence at the trial and I agreed after several days of misgivings. I did not and do not like to testify against my brother, but when he adimantly and with a "In your face" attitude attempts to ridicule my union I sir will do my best to rid the floor of his obvious neglect.

Let it be known that I let both the TWU and the AMFA supporters locally know I was to be in attendance...and it was up to them, both parties, to let the future unroll. I hid nothing from anyone and still do not.

This sir..is how a member of the 530 was involved in the trial of a 567 member to the best of my knowledge...next question?

Sorry for the edit...forgot to answer peeps...PEEPS=peoples, just a shortcut...no offense meant.

 

[Rusty]

The International requested my presence at the trial and I agreed after several days of misgivings. I did not and do not like to testify against my brother, but when he adimantly and with a "In your face" attitude attempts to ridicule my union I sir will do my best to rid the floor of his obvious neglect.

Even if you cannot take "In your face" ridicule, I fail to see your point, did he act aggressively toward you, and or did he push or shove you like Randy McDonald did??? Did he threaten you in any way??? The international asked you to attend. Did they say "you are doing a great job and we are watching you, we believe you would be very good international material"??? ROTFLMAO

You see this has nothing to do with Dan Cunningham except that you find it hard to argue with truth. This is about keeping the membership suppressed and AMFA out!!!

Life is to short to live in the past. The TWU will be gone faster than you can blink an eye. You would serve yourself well to look to the future, there is a new beginning just around the corner where the mechanic and related here at AA and across the U.S. commercial airline industry, where we will have a new chance to become more than a TWU international piñata.

By the way, there was a Crew Chief at the AMFA meeting that was a loyal TWU supporter. He went to the meeting just to hear what was being said. He left the meeting and walked into Art Luby bitching out a UB boy that had not asked a question correctly. The Crew Chief explained; Art was bitching this poor dude out because if he had asked the question like he (Art Luby) had wrote it he would have gotten the answer he wanted.LOL Needless to say the Crew Chief immediately signed a card. Just thought you might like to hear about that incident.

In Art Luby's defense I have to admit the UB patsy was being paid!!!

 

[Superside]

Name one airline that AMFA has attempted to recruit where the airline in question was not under duress or in a time of recession? Can you please name a few...thx..oh...my bad...forgot to question the fact that you stated you weren't bashful but yet you use an alias...there's credibility at work...thx again.

Mr.Connell,
As I have been out of town for a few days I have been catching up on this BB.
obviously I just got to your post.

HERE FOR ALL TO READ Again. As posted on Sept. 13,2003.
I once again state: I am not bashful!

Please re-read the post, OR scan the bottom. THERE at the bottom of the Post is
Derek Mills,Hydraulic shop, Tusla.
I await you apology.....never mind I'm not gonna hod my breath.
Oh! by the way THANKS AGAIN.

 

[Buck]

Steve:

I have been an AMFA supporter since 1989. It is not the airline being under duress, it is the membership. Part of the membership being compensated 1/3 less than the rest, the OSM. And you speak of a fair days pay?

As for my question: 530 in 567 business? So you were there at the behest of the International, thanks for the answer. My point made the International runs the TWU not it's locals.

 

[Thomas Paine]

"My point made the International runs the TWU not it's locals. "

Just ask Local 562!!

 

[Steve Connell]

I won't fault you for your opinion of the International, I'm not here to discuss opinions. The International was requested to hold a trial, had they not responded to this request I believe those concerned would have found them to be negligent in their duties.

My involvement in the trial does not add any weight to the International running anyone's local...unless of course due to the fact there exists no real accusations you can prove then you desire to twist this information.

By your own admittance your local is run by the International, sounds as if your floor does not empower it's Pres and E-Board thus causing less than favorable performance...and that's the local's fault? Put 1/4 of the effort I have seen to promote AMFA into your local, then see who runs who.

 

[Bob Owens]

I won't fault you for your opinion of the International, I'm not here to discuss opinions. The International was requested to hold a trial, had they not responded to this request I believe those concerned would have found them to be negligent in their duties.

My involvement in the trial does not add any weight to the International running anyone's local...unless of course due to the fact there exists no real accusations you can prove then you desire to twist this information.

By your own admittance your local is run by the International, sounds as if your floor does not empower it's Pres and E-Board thus causing less than favorable performance...and that's the local's fault? Put 1/4 of the effort I have seen to promote AMFA into your local, then see who runs who.

As a member, and at one time officer of Local 562 I can say that the International does not run our local but they do have complete control over our contract. Since all the power lies with the contract then the power lies with the International. So maximum effort into the local will not necessarily lead to better contracts and improvements for the members. The arena where the local does have input is with disciplines and local enforcement of the contract. Most of the time and effort of the local goes to a minority of the members instead of towards improvements that effect all their members, the majority of which simply come to work and don’t get into trouble.

You stated that you found the International to be adequate. I say give it time. Over time you will find, as I have that Jim Little is a liar. Bobby Gless is not to be trusted either. How people conduct their personal lives can be an indicator of trustworthiness in their professional life as well. And after three years of working with him I can say that I do not trust him. Bobby Gless lobbied for the International position and got it despite the fact that the representatives of the group that was to be his primary responsibility did not want him. He desperately wanted the job because he knew that he was not going to get re-elected. Gary Yingst I don’t know that well but my perception of him is that he is one dimensional and dogmatic. He lacks common sense and the ability to see any side other than what he believes is true. He sees that Tulsa has the majority and that means that Tulsa rules and everyone else’s needs are irrelevant. Not only that but he also feels that everyone else should just accept this as fact and live with it. With people like this its no wonder that we are in such trouble.

Our members, stores included, have expressed satisfaction with the local but extreme dissatisfaction with the International. So much so that the majority have filled out AMFA or AGW cards. This stems from the actions of the International, not the local.

In my case I was removed from office supposedly by Sonny Hall. I'm certain that in reality it was Jim Little who was behind it. Sonny is a tired frightened old man who really has no idea of what is going on in the ATD. He is preoccupied with Local 100 and what they might uncover. My guess is that the fear of what could be uncovered should he retire is the main reason why he stays in office. He certainly is not helping the union and his two pensions should provide him a comfortable retirement. If you had a six-figure pension waiting for you would you put up with all the BS? Kerrigan, who could not even stay awake during the Convention, is in the same boat, except that he might not get that much from his Pan Am pension. Bakala is another one. Why do these guys stay?

Traditionally top union officials attend the Labor Day parade. They stay in a special Grandstand with all the other top officials of the NYC Central Labor Council. No Top TWU officials attended. The TWU Top Brass Boycotted Labor Day!!! These are the same guys who blast the members for not participating yet to have them give up one day of the weekend once a year to show support for the cause is too much to ask! What do you want for $200,000 a year? What kind of leader is afraid to face his members? Sonny knows that most of his members in NY, the ones that really know him, don’t like him, so why does he stay? He knows that his presence is divisive. Yet he stays. The main problem with the TWU is the International and the structure which keeps these people unaccountable and in power. Participation at the local level is unlikely to change that. If you try, they will simply remove you from office as they did those of us from Local 562.

Some of the things that have come out of this local over the last few years are more than likely the real cause for the Internationals actions.

After the Convention, when this local pushed the other line locals to vote against Sonny Halls slate, we contacted every President that had an E-mail address to push for an accurate, accountable process for conducting votes at the Convention. Only the line maint locals, Local 100, Local 501 and the SWA flight attendants responded favorably. You might ask your President why he/she does not support an accurate and accountable voting process for the Convention. Since then the flight attendants have gone 14 months without a contact, the Local 501 administration was fired by the company in the middle of an election, two officers of 562 have been suspended and Local 100 has been threatened several times. Sonny even tried to split Local 100 but the members rejected it. This is not coincidental; it is Sonny's normal way of doing business. In fact he was convicted in federal court of such practices back in 1995.

Can this union be fixed? Yes, it can, the first step is to get rid of Hall, Little, Gless and Yingst, (and you too Gannon, imagine paying someone $130,000 a year to pull up internet postings!).

This union can be fixed but the next question for mechanics is, even if it is fixed, is it a better alternative than belonging to a union that is a mechanics union first and foremost? Will this union ever be willing to devote a majority of it resources towards fighting FAR 145, Part 66 and against moving work away from A&P mechanics to lower paid employees? We have only recently seen movement against FAR 145. What happened over the last 10 years? Why didn’t they put as much effort into 145 when Clinton was in office?

While I agree that many of the attacks by AMFA supporters against other classifications are despicable I do have to ask "What is wrong with mechanics wanting to have a union that will defend the profession?". Clearly the TWU has little interest in doing so, as evidenced by their transfer of work to Fleet Service and the creation of the SRPs and OSM classifications within Title I. The decade long neglect of FAR 145 has only been reversed due to AMFAs rising presence.

Craft unionism, which is the basis of the beliefs of AMFA supporters, is not nearly as bad as Company unionism. Many members of the AFL-CIO are craft unions. Are they evil, selfish elitists too? What is wrong with people who have gone out and invested in themselves wanting an organization that seeks to maximize the value of that investment? Should the pilots give up their unions and submit to have Sonny Hall determine what they are worth?

While I can, and have, had many disagreements with AMFA supporters, Dave Stewart, RUM etc for example, there is one point that I have never disputed, the concept of all mechanics in one union. I have yet to find anyone, including Sonny Hall, who can tell me what is anti-union, or unjust or wrong in any way whatsoever with the concept of all mechanics in one union. Its true that other groups would be left more vulnerable but if they did the same thing, then they would no longer need the mechanics. I made this point to the AFL-CIO, Sonny Hall, Hoffa, & Buffenbarger three years ago. The AFL-CIO encouraged me to go forward with it, and I did, I even spoke to your reps from the IAM, Ed LaClaire and Sito Pantoja, that’s another reason why I'm suspended. I said that if they combined all three ATDs and let us have separate divisions we could stay in the same union with other workers. Imagine how effective and powerful such a union would be! The problem is that the Jim Littles, Sonny Halls and their ilk’s would have to sacrifice part of their little kingdoms to do so, and they personally might not benefit from this, so it will never get done from within as long as they, or self serving people like them are in power. When I encouraged Sonny Hall to do this three years ago I told him "Change will come, either through evolutionary or revolutionary means. They had the power to make it evolutionary, they chose not to, so now we are seeing the revolution in the form of AMFA, AGW and PAFCA. Thomas Jefferson said, "a little Revolution is good every now and then". This one should have happened twenty years ago when the industry went deregulated and these unions failed to restructure in order to meet the challenges of the new conditions.

The failures that we in this industry have seen manifested in loss of income, benifits working conditions and security were not caused because members failed to participate in their locals. No call that was ever made was not answered by the members. The fact is that the leaders failed to restructure the movement and failed to have enough faith in their members to ever make the call. Instead they have been the ones to tell us to give everything away without a fight always promising that we will fight another day, well I'm twenty years into this and I have yet to see any call to arms, just one surrender after another. After twenty years it should be clear that the call will never come from these institutions.