Bull,
The ibt took money from CO when the ibt AMTs took concessions last year, to reimburse them for expenses.
I was in IAH at the same hotel where the negotiations were taking place. As I was there with CO IAM F/As and the ibt was just down the hall.
Ok so none of the unions are pure.
But, what are the options here?
Stay the course with the IAM, with a fractured labor movement where airline workers are spread out through all different unions lead by old, inefffective , visionless "leaders" whose response to the utter failure of unions in this industry is to "blame the members"? Isnt that what you have been doing?
Or, should we all try to regroup in one union and gain back what we lost?
The fact is if you stay IAM that will never happen. The IAM will not raid TWU because of AFL-CIO affiliation. The only reason why this is going on at USAIR is because of the merger, the fact is the TWU has not, and probably will not file because they barely got in at AWA and their reputation among unionized airline workers is the worst. If the TWU files, those workers will end up non-union, which may be a good thing, because then the IBT only needs to get 35% to file for those workers.One of the reasons why the IAM did not file at AA (with the aquisition of TWA) was because they were concerned that AMFA may get in.
The only viable option at this time to try and all get into one union is the IBT because they are no longer constrained by AFL-CIO rules.
700UW, what would prevent you from becoming an IBT official? Can you honestly say that you believe that the structure we have in place as workers has been effective since deregulation?Or are you so terified of change that you would rather stay on a sinking ship and take all your coworkers, the people you say you care about, down with you?