You get the representation you deserves because the law allows for you to take action to change and vote in a different Union. If you are one of those unwilling to do so, then stop complaining and eat your crap sanwhich.
Yes, and No. Yes those who wont sign cards yet complain are full of BS, No the law really isnt impartial, they erect barriers and people are denied the representation they deserve. Sure its legal to climb Mt Everest, but its not easy and most who try will fail. By including people who are not on payroll the "law" makes it that much harder for the people who are on the property to determine what representation they will have. In 2004 AMFA had submitted over 9000 cards yet were still denied a vote. In reality the majority spoke, and legally they were ignored. When USAIR gets added into the mix it will be even harder because they have lifetime recall and many are from stations that will never reopen. These workers will likely never return yet they are counted.
This deal between the TWU and IAM is about two unions wanting to keep all their structures and dues flow intact. Keep in mind that the structures they want to preserve have brought their members to the very bottom of the industry, below non-union and locked one group in that position for at least six more years.
Unions preach to members that in the end its better to put aside your immediate self interests and collectively form one efficient organization to represent the members as one, but here we see two unions that are more concerned about keeping their inefficient and ineffective structures, and people they removed from the misery of working under the substandard deals they negotiated, in place, to continue to produce horrible contracts for their members to the benefit of what will likely emerge as the most profitable carrier ever (arent you glad Jim Little gave away your six years of profit sharing for a two year increase in pay?) .
If its OK for the members to be split between two unions then why didnt the TWU argue to allow the Line guys, who have been dissatisfied with the TWU for decades to go to AMFA and just keep Overhaul? Instead they agreed to not only keep us divided and split up between members in maint locals with some in Fleet locals, with still yet others in OH Locals and still others such as sim tech and tech services in their own Locals but now they want to split us all up geograhically, with some in the IAM and the next city over some in the TWU.
The Unions need to practice what they preach, if they dont want to fight over the members then give the members away to someone who may be willing to fight for them. One needs to bow out and do what is best for the members for a change, or both need to be removed. We dont need to be all split up even more than we are. If this is the only option they can come up with we may be better off to choose no union at all and save the $600 bucks. While it may be considered very risky the fact is with no union there is no contract, no six years till we get another shot, the company can no longer blame the union for offering their workers substandard deals. At this point what exactly does the contract give thats advantageous over our non-union peers? Just cause? OK, how many people here think they would be fired if we had no union? Less pay, less vacation, less sick days, Less Holidays than Non-union, sure it could get a lot worse, then a new union would come in and start off at square one. If it would be worse without a union then why arent things worse at Delta and Fed Ex than at AA? Obviously, sometimes the threat of getting a real Union can be better for workers than having a fake one.