TWU and IAM representation alliance vote

[blue collar]

OK lets look at the worst case serrano, the twu/iam get voted in, US Airways has only one date which I believe is company time does that mean the TWA guys use their company time if they have been a AMT all these years. I have herd some TWA guys saying the IAM is pushing that. Just rumors.

No, us airways has more than one date. They have 1) company time, 2) classification time, and 3) premium classification time. Premium classification time is the time that you've been a lead or inspector (each has their seperate time).

 

[Real tired]

No, us airways has more than one date. They have 1) company time, 2) classification time, and 3) premium classification time. Premium classification time is the time that you've been a lead or inspector (each has their seperate time).

Correct.
 
Plus, many of us have a classification date in a classification BELOW the one we are in.  Such as a Mechanic that has Stores time, or a Stores that has Utility time.  Or a Mechanic that has Utility time.

 

[AMFAinMIAMI]

OK lets look at the worst case serrano, the twu/iam get voted in, US Airways has only one date which I believe is company time does that mean the TWA guys use their company time if they have been a AMT all these years. I have herd some TWA guys saying the IAM is pushing that. Just rumors.

runwaysticker
 
The TWA issue is dead, the answer is the TWA guys although I disagreed with what they did get at the time they will keep the occupational they have. No Matter what the IAM says.

 

[AMFAinMIAMI]

Real Tired 
 
Hows the card drive in Pitts.?
 
Have the guys signed the downloaded sheets and mailed them?

 

[Runwaysticker]

Thanks blue collar I figured it was a BS rumor.

 

[MetalMover]

OK lets look at the worst case serrano, the twu/iam get voted in, US Airways has only one date which I believe is company time does that mean the TWA guys use their company time if they have been a AMT all these years. I have herd some TWA guys saying the IAM is pushing that. Just rumors.

Put it this way..If the IAM is "pushing" for that, guess what? Then the "OTHER" on the alliance election ballot will probably be TWU. The IAM is promising to revive the dead seniority issue so they can guarantee themselves at least yes votes for the alliance. 
 
Then I guess the former TWA pilots and f/a's will also be going back to court.

 

[Real tired]

Real Tired 
 
Hows the card drive in Pitts.?
 
Have the guys signed the downloaded sheets and mailed them?

The best that can be expected for PIT.
 
As OldGuy@AA so eloquently posted elsewhere, PIT also suffer from the disgruntled, fed up with the IAM, Yes voter syndrome.
 
Here in PIT, over the last few years, we have lost near 13,000 jobs, and Maintenance is down to somewhere around +/- 350 jobs in Overhaul and Line combined.  We are one of the most senior stations.
 
But many of the guys are very scared of change.  They have been coming here day in, day out for years, doing the same job over and over, driving the same cars, with the same old lunch box, and are afraid if they sign an AMFA card, things will change and they'll be pulled from that safe little rut they have been living in for years.
 
Although they bad mouth the company, bad mouth the union, what they fear most is change.  That's why here in PIT, we always vote YES.
 
I sure hope we are the minority.

 

[AMFAinMIAMI]

The best that can be expected for PIT.
 
As OldGuy@AA so eloquently posted elsewhere, PIT also suffer from the disgruntled, fed up with the IAM, Yes voter syndrome.
 
Here in PIT, over the last few years, we have lost near 13,000 jobs, and Maintenance is down to somewhere around +/- 350 jobs in Overhaul and Line combined.  We are one of the most senior stations.
 
But many of the guys are very scared of change.  They have been coming here day in, day out for years, doing the same job over and over, driving the same cars, with the same old lunch box, and are afraid if they sign an AMFA card, things will change and they'll be pulled from that safe little rut they have been living in for years.
 
Although they bad mouth the company, bad mouth the union, what they fear most is change.  That's why here in PIT, we always vote YES.
 
I sure hope we are the minority.

 
 
Real tired
 
I do remember that PITT was a big station at one time, I also knew a few of the Mgrs and the Regional Dir there. EX Eastern people.
 
Going from 350+/- flights down to approx 30 is big. so I expect the seniority is quite high there.
 
Most I would assume are almost ready to retire, Not much will change in the next three yrs JMHO, so if you can get them to think that they can help the next gen of mechanics
by signing cards so that they won't have to go through what I and those guys have.
 
That may help.
 
Their IAM pension is safe even if it gets frozen. AA froze all employees pensions.
 
I understand what happened with the two BK's that's a big thing.
I am at airline #5.
 
The old way of thinking has changed the way airline and unions do business so we the mechanics must change as well.
 
Keep the faith, CLT and PHX are doing ok from what I hear so as long as we can get the Tulsa guys to keep signing and the NMB gives us a chance we may be ok.
 
Keep your fingers crossed.

 

[TRAVIS]

13,000 jobs with MX to +/- 350 OH and line combined that light you see is all the sunshine the IAM has packed up yell's arss.

 

[1AA]

http://www.local591.com/mobile/index.cfm?zone=/unionactive/view_article.cfm&HomeID=444033 Transport Workers Union Local 591
 

TWU/IAM Association NMB AppealPosted On: Aug 24, 2014

August 21, 2014

VIA UPS

Mary Johnson, General Counsel

National Mediation Board

1301 K Street, NW, Ste. 250E

Washington, DC 20005

Re:       Single Carrier Filing by the TWU-IAM Alliance

            NMB File No. CR-7131

Dear Ms. Johnson:

The National Mediation Board (NMB) has issued a Notice to Employees stating that an entity identified as the Airline and Related Employee Association TWU/IAM (hereinafter, TWU/IAM Association) seeks to represent the Mechanics and Related Employees and Stock Clerks of the single carrier resulting from the merger of American Airlines, Inc. and US Airways, Inc.  (Exhibit A).  The Notice identifies the incumbent union representatives of the Mechanics and Related Employees and Stock Clerks as the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) at American and US Airways, respectively.

This letter is submitted on behalf of Local 591 of the Transport Workers Union in opposition to any ballot to be issued by the National Mediation Board (NMB) that would designate the TWU/IAM Association as the incumbent for purposes of a single carrier union election for the craft or class of Mechanics and Related Employees and the craft or class of Stock Clerks.  It is Local 591s position that, in violation of the Railway Labor Act (RLA) and the NMB Representation Manual, the TWU/IAM Associations application seeks to obtain a position on the NMB ballot as an incumbent to which it is not entitled and undermines the right of the Carriers employees to vote for their actual incumbent union representatives.

In addition, the designation of the TWU/IAM Association as a union candidate on the NMB ballot would violate the statutory requirement that the representation of a craft or class at a single carrier be delegated to a single labor union.

Local 591 represents approximately 3,800 Mechanics and Related Employees and 570 Stock Clerks at the pre-merger American Airlines, Inc. (American).

Factual Background

The NMB Notice to Employees recognizes the TWU as the incumbent union representative of the Mechanics and Related Employees and Stock Clerks at American and the IAM as the incumbent union representative of these same two crafts at US Airways.  Recent NMB decisions confirm the separate incumbency status of the two unions at the respective carriers for the craft or class of Mechanics and Related Employees.  In re Representation of Employees of US Airways, 40 NMB 257 (August 13, 2013)(NMB certification of the IAM as the exclusive representative of the Mechanics and Related Employees at US Airways); In re Representation of Employees at American Airlines, 40 NMB 259 (August 19, 2013)(NMB recognition of the TWU as exclusive representative of the Mechanics and Related employees at American).  Likewise, a recent NMB decision recognizes the incumbency of the TWU and the IAM for the craft or class of Stock Clerks at American and US Airways, respectively.  American Airlines, Inc. and US Airways, Inc., 41 NMB 174, 184-85 (2014)(referred to by the new job classification title Material Logistics Specialists).

On or about May 9, 2013, the TWU and IAM entered into an Association Agreement pursuant to which the two unions agreed to share representation rights at the single carrier emerging from the future merger of American and US Airways with respect to Mechanics and Related Employees.  (Exhibit B).  The agreement does not provide for a merger of the TWU and the IAM, but rather designates the two unions as Labor Partners that will continue to operate autonomously with respect to the representation of mechanics at those maintenance stations predominantly staffed by employees represented by the respective unions.  In other words, at pre-merger stations predominantly staffed by American mechanics, the TWU will continue to provide representation services and at pre-merger stations predominantly staffed by US Airways employees, the IAM will continue to provide representation services; however, adjustments to representation can be made by the TWU and IAM International Presidents or their designees.  (Exhibit B, ¶¶ 3-4 at 2 and Appendix B).  The TWU and the IAM pledge their ongoing cooperation so that both Labor Partners are able to properly represent the Craft or Class of Mechanic and Related Employees of the Carrier.  (Exhibit B, ¶ 6 at 4).

The Association Agreement does not provide for employee membership in the Association; rather, the Association Constitution defines membership as limited to the International Presidents of the TWU and the IAM and their designees.  (Exhibit B, Appendix A at 3).  ).  An employees union membership will reside within the TWU or IAM, not the Association, depending on their location, and will transition from TWU to IAM or IAM to TWU, based on which union handles the representation in the location; irrespective of whether the employee voluntarily transfers or is involuntarily moved by a reduction-in-force.  Furthermore, the amount of monthly union dues will vary for the employee depending on whether he is required to become a member of the TWU or the IAM. (Exhibit B, ¶ 8 at 5).

The craft or class of Stock Clerks is subject to a parallel agreement with substantially similar provisions.  (Exhibit C).

With respect to both crafts, the duration of the Association is coextensive with representation of the craft at the new American Airlines or until dissolved by agreement of TWU and IAM.  (Exhibit B, Appendix A at 1; Exhibit C, Appendix A at 1).

Violation of Employees Right to Vote for Incumbent Unions

The NMBs grant of a ballot listing to specific union candidates provides those unions with an electoral advantage which, historically speaking, is virtually insuperable.  Consequently, the NMB Representation Manual closely regulates under what terms unions receive this government-provided advantage.

In order to be listed on a single carrier union election ballot, the NMB Representation Manual provides that:  All applicants must submit evidence of representationor showing of interest from at least fifty (50) percent of the employees in the craft or class.  NMB Representation Manual § 19.601 (emphasis supplied).

Nevertheless, the NMB draws a sharp distinction with respect to the form in which incumbents, as distinguished from non-incumbents, may satisfy their showing of interest:

Evidence of representation or showing of interest from incumbent organizations or individuals on the affected carrier(s) includes, but is not limited to, a seniority list, dues check-off list, a current collective bargaining agreement or a certification, or other indicia of current representation.

If the organization or individual filing the application does not represent any of the employees covered by the application, showing of interest is proved by valid authorization cards. (See Section 3.0).

Id.  Thus, pursuant to the NMB Representation Manual, the incumbent TWU is entitled to a listing on the ballot because over fifty (50) percent of the employees in the combined American/US Airways crafts or classes of Mechanics and Related Employees and Stock Clerks work under a TWU-negotiated collective bargaining agreement  (CBA) andhave executed dues check-off cards in favor of the TWU.  The incumbent IAM would be entitled to a listing on the ballot if it were to supplement its CBA-based showing of interest with a number of authorization cards sufficient to demonstrate the support of  at least fifty (50) percent of the employees in [each] craft or class.

By contrast, even assuming that the TWU/IAM Association could be properly designated as a single labor union which Local 591 disputes, as discussed in the section below it is a non-incumbent labor union that cannot lawfully be listed on the ballot without providing valid authorization cards executed by at least fifty (50) percent of the employees in the combined craft or class.

The fact that the TWU/IAM Association constitutes a new entity, which cannot be accorded incumbent status, cannot be disputed because it has been repeatedly asserted before a federal court by the TWUs legal counsel. 

In the context of a duty of fair representation lawsuit brought by current members of Local 591 seeking to enjoin the TWU from discriminatory conduct, the TWU has argued that an injunction against the TWU would be meaningless because the effect of the single carrier union election process would be to oust the TWU as the incumbent union and replace it with the TWU/IAM Association as the new union.  Thus, in its Motion to Dismiss, the TWU asserted:

f American emerges from bankruptcy and merges with U.S. Airways, TWU has entered into a Joint Council representation agreement with the International Association of Machinists (IAM) under which the Joint Council would become the bargaining representative for a joint AA-U.S. Airways M&R craft or class.

* * *

TWU would thus no longer continue as the bargaining representative for the mechanics at the single carrier; it would be replaced by the Joint Council.

 (Exhibit D at 16-17).

The TWU reiterated its position, in a reply brief submitted to the federal court, that:

[T]he TWU may be ousted as the collective bargaining representative and the Joint Council [of the TWU/IAM Association] may assume that status.  As a matter of law, the duty of fair representation arises from a unions designation as the collective bargaining representative.  The duty of representation is owed by, and is imposed only upon, the entity that serves as the exclusive bargaining representative.  If the Joint Council, rather than the TWU, is designated as the collective bargaining representative of the mechanics at the merged American, than [sic] as a matter of law it is the Joint Council, not the TWU, that will owe the mechanics a duty of fair representation.

(Exhibit E at 9)(emphasis in the original).

Finally, at oral argument before the federal court, TWU legal counsel asserted that, due to the candidacy of the TWU/IAM Association, neither the TWU nor the IAM would be the future labor representative of the post-merger American Mechanics and Related Employees:

[T]here's going to be an Association -- not the Transport Workers Union, not the Machinists -- that is going to be the new collective bargaining representative.

(Exhibit F at 15-16)(emphasis supplied).

The TWU/IAM Association has never been certified as the union representative of Mechanics and Related Employees or Stock Clerks at American or US Airways.  No airline employee at either of these two airlines is covered by a CBA negotiated by this new entity nor has any airline employee executed a dues check-off card on behalf of the TWU/IAM Association.  In view of the representations of TWU legal counsel, even assuming arguendo that the TWU/IAM Association could be considered a single labor union, the Association must be required to submit authorization cards by at least fifty (50) percent of the employees in the combined craft or class in order to be listed on the ballot.

As required by statute and the NMB Representation Manual, American and US Airways employees must be allowed to vote for their incumbent representatives, rather than permitting the manipulation of an NMB ballot to shove a new representative down their throats that has never satisfied the requisite showing of interest.

Violation of NMB Policy of One Union Per Carrier Per Craft

In view of the federal court representations cited above, the TWU/IAM Association is estopped from arguing before the NMB that it is anything other than a new collective bargaining representative the goal of which is to have the incumbent unions ousted.[1]

Nevertheless, Local 591 anticipates that the TWU/IAM Association will argue that it constitutes a hybrid organization that is entitled to assert the united incumbency status of both the TWU and IAM.  Even if such blatantly inconsistent argumentation were to be allowed, the candidacy of the TWU/IAM Association must be disallowed on the grounds that it violates the statutory requirement that the representation of a craft or class at a single carrier be delegated to a single labor union. 

We are cognizant of the fact that the NMBs representation process is not concerned with organization status and that the legalities of union governance are within the purview of the federal courts and the United States Department of Labor. DHL Airways, Inc., 18 NMB 117, 124 (1991); Orion Lift Service, Inc., 15 NMB 358 (1988).  Nevertheless, oneof the key foundations of the RLA is that a selected representative is the exclusive representative of the entire craft or class of employees.  American Eagle Airlines, 33 NMB 243, 255 (2006).

NMB precedent starkly sets forth that the requirement of singleness of agency emanates from the United States Congress itself, allowing the Board no discretion to deviate from this standard:

[T]he Board is of the view that the idea of collective bargaining with a carrier denotes the collective participation of all the carrier's employees included in a single craft or class in its negotiations with the carrier by the method of representation.  The word "collective" denotes singleness of agency in the same sense as the phrase "e pluribus unum" symbolizes the national unity of the States.  It connotes not a part or parts of a subject but a collection of all the parts into one body, which applied in the case before us, means singleness of representation with a single carrier. On this point the Act seems literally definite as it reads:

The majority of any craft or class of employees shall have the right to determine who shall be the representative of the craft or class for the purposes of the Act.

Note that the Act speaks of a majority of a craft or class determining "who shall be the representative" (not the representatives).  The subjects "craft or class" and "representative" are both given in the singular number.

* * *

The Act leaves the Board in no doubt that Congress had in mind singlerepresentation for each craft or class on each carrier when enacting it; and that had the Congress thought of subdivisions of a craft or class or of a carrier as desirable methods of representation it would have made provision for their use.

New York Central RR Co., 1 NMB 197, 209 (1941)(emphasis provided).

If the TWU/IAM Association is permitted to circumvent the representations it has made in federal court in order to maintain that the Association is in fact a mere alliance of two pre-existing incumbents rather than a new union, then even a cursory analysis of the Associations structure confirms that it would result in the division of the craft or class into two subgroups each represented by an independent labor union.  Of particular note are the following:

Individual employees cannot become members of the Association;

Individual employees who are currently members of one of the two incumbents may, due to transfer or displacement, be compelled to join the other incumbent;

The Association Constitution provides that both Labor Partners will independently represent their respective members in their pre-merger territories of predominance

In sum, a single carrier election resulting in the designation of the TWU/IAM Association will effectively result in the perpetuation of pre-merger dual carrier representation.  The employees will suffer the most from this deviation from RLA policy due to the loss of collective power and coherence that comes with the statutes requirement of singleness of agency.

Where a single carrier exists, the RLA requires a single union representative for the entirety of the craft or class.  Local 591 respectfully requests that the NMB honor the employees right to an honest and lawful single carrier election process pursuant to which barring the requisite showing of interest by either the IAM or another union intervenor the TWU appear as the only specifically listed union candidate on the ballot, or, alternatively, that the TWUs certification be extended to cover the combined crafts or classes of Mechanics and Related Employees and Stock Clerks.

Respectfully submitted,

Gary Peterson

President

Local 591 TWU

 

[1] Judicial estoppel bars a litigant from asserting a position that is inconsistent with one that the litigant previously took before a court or agency.  See, e.g.,Taylor v. Mooney Aircraft Corp., 265 Fed.Appx. 87, 92 (3d Cir. 2008); Montrose Med. Group Participating Savings Plan v. Bulger, 243 F.3d 773, 779 (3d Cir. 2001).  It applies to assertions of both factual and legal positions, and may be applied based on the assertion of a party or a party's counsel. AFN, Inc. v. Schlott, Inc., 798 F.Supp. 219, 224 (D.N.J. 1992). "Thus, a position taken or a representation made by counsel in a legal brief or in argument to the court may provide a basis for estoppel." Id.



 Aug 21 2014 NMB Final.pdf 

  




 

 

[ThirdSeatHero]

So one of the TWU mechanic locals is revolting against the proposed Alliance?
 
The letter is dated 3 days ago, has there been any backlash against Local 591?

 

[1AA]

Local 591 has a lawsuit against the TWU international for what I believe is a DFR.
The International offered Peterson the president of local 591 a International position if he drops the lawsuit. He denied the offer and the lawsuit is still moving forward.

 

[TRAVIS]

I was wondering how long it would be before one of them ( IAM / TWU ) Turned on the other.  LOL

 

[1AA]

I was wondering how long it would be before one of them ( IAM / TWU ) Turned on the other.  LOL

Yea how about that. Internal union fighting. I am sure there is more that we do not hear about. I wonder what kind of fighting is going on over on the IAM side.

 

[TRAVIS]

I bet the something!!!!