TWU - Fear Based Union Leadership and Intimidation

[2ndGENAMT]

I for one do not want you censored, you are the best example of the die hard supporter of what is clearly failing us all that we have left. Beyond that, my of opinion of you is please stick around and keep trying to control the number of threads and their topic, while claiming others are trying to censor you!

Controlling threads and topics is the sole purpose of some on here as they CAN NOT refute the topic of this thread! And I believe it is intended to instill fear in the many guests who look to this site for information that is lacking from our paid representation...

 

[OldGuy@AA]

Odd how some are trying to tie B scale to AMFA when the TWU was proud to be the first union to "Negotiate" a B scale for mechanics in the airline industry.  They were also the last to get rid of it.  Nice try though Reality.  TWU leads the way when you talk about concessions.  Nobody else close.  
 

 

[AP Tech]

TWU & the IAM seem to be running" neck in neck" in that category......Did see that BA voted down their contract, have to give them credit!

 

[Realityck]

Odd how some are trying to tie B scale to AMFA when the TWU was proud to be the first union to "Negotiate" a B scale for mechanics in the airline industry.  They were also the last to get rid of it.  Nice try though Reality.  TWU leads the way when you talk about concessions.  Nobody else close.  
 

 
 
In case you missed my earlier post:
 
 
 
                                                         The B-Scale Plague
 
American Airlines adopted the benchmark B-scale in 1983, permanently reducing pay for newly hired pilots by 50 percent. In fact, under the AA system—negotiated while the Seham firm sat on the labor side of the table—pay rates and pensions for new employees would never merge with those of then-current employees.
 
Martin Seham wrote proudly of this accomplishment in Cleared for Takeoff: Airline Labor Relations Since Deregulation.
 
As general counsel to the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the independent certified representative of the American Airlines pilots, I was close to the negotiations that resulted, in 1983, in the earliest realization of the two-tier system. APA was not faced with an insolvent or failing carrier; it was, however, forced to deal with an economic environment that had changed dramatically because of the effects of deregulation and was, by virtue of its independence, mandated to reach an agreement consistent with the needs and objectives of its constituency. — Martin C. Seham
 
Although B-scales were not a new concept, their initial format was unique to the airline industry. Following American’s lead, other airlines began to demand similar packages—forcing the entire airline labor movement into a new era of concessions. Good for management; bad for pilots, flight attendants, mechanics, and all of the airline industry’s workers.
 
 
                                               The TWU did not approve nor recommend the 1983 Contract
 
 
As I recall, we were on the countdown and management (Charlie Pascuito)  gave the Negotiating Committee a copy of their yellow dog contract & told the Negotiating Committee if they didn’t recommend the offer on the table, it would be implemented at midnight. John Kerrigan told the company to stick it, and the offer went out with no approval or recommendation. It passed by a +75% vote.
 
 
                                                     UNION OKS AMERICAN AIRLINES PACT
 
Author: United Press International
 
Transportation Workers Union officials said yesterday that union members have ratified a new contract with American Airlines, averting a strike that had been scheduled for 12:01 a.m. today. 
 
TWU leaders had recommended that the contract be rejected. 
 
The airline set the strike deadline on the pact after the union backed out of a strike three weeks ago and submitted the contract to the membership. 
 
American had said it would use nonunion personnel to run the airline if the TWU 's 10,000 ground workers struck. It also said if the contract was not ratified, it would begin laying off TWU workers. 
 
The airline 's offer includes 21 percent pay raises over the three-year life of the contract; a clause the airline calls a "lifetime" job guarantee, and incentives for early retirement at age 55. 
 
But it also grants the airline the right to ask TWU employees to do work not covered in their job descriptions; establishes a separate wage structure for new employees up to 27 percent below union scale, and allows the airline to contract for building maintainance work outside the union. 
 
It was these clauses that prompted TWU officials to recommend that the contract be rejected.
 
Edition: FINAL
Section: BUSINESS
Dateline: DALLAS

 

[FWAAA]

No need to use the really big font;   it looks like you're compensating for something.    In this case, no useful content.  
 
Union stooge probably wears a really large wristwatch as well.      

 

[ThirdSeatHero]

It really makes me laugh when someone trying to bash AMFA brings up Seham and the APA  "B" scale.
 
They talk as if Seham conspired with  AA management behind APAs back and crafted this horrendous deal without their knowledge.
 
Pure unadulterated BS!  Hindsight is 20-20, and while I'm sure most if not all pilots today will talk in the worst terms about that contract, the fact is that no contract between AA & APA could be ratified by Seham on his own.  Say what they will now - the fact that the contract was passed means that a majority of APA pilots at that time LIKED the idea enough to ratify the agreement.
 
Only after the industry as a whole turned on them did they decide to throw the lawyer under the bus.
 
You want to blame those responsible, then start with the pilots at APA at the time.

 

[swamt]

Keep posting Overspeed, keep posting, LOL, gotta LUV this stuff man.  Notice he refers to the "pilots" B scale was first, LOL, what a Dum aS$...

 

[TWU informer]

Seems we have lost track of the topic here. Not about AMFA, not about Seham, not about other airlines. It is about the TWU and more specific Local 514 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
 
[SIZE=medium]Fighting Intimidation with Intimidation[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]TWU Local 514 leadership is out once again communicating to the membership in the workplace and once again they are using fear and intimidation to attempt to get us to cower down and once again follow their lead. The only purpose of this intimidation and fear based leadership is to protect themselves from exposing their own weakness and incompetence.  This time the fear is that if you fail to vote for the TWU/IAM alliance, you are going to be without a union. The TWU has used TWA employees (2003), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (2013), and now the USAIR/AA merger (2014) as a fear based tool to prevent you from ever receiving a ballot or voting in a way that might displace them from AA property.  I submit that no union at all would be better than one that is weak, incompetent and currently only the property by using fear, intimidation, and political influence. How strong can your union be, if the majority would vote to remove them if given a chance? Every fear they have used (Bankruptcy, Outsourcing, Job Loss, and Failure in the Political Arena), has come to pass despite the fact that we have cowered to their fear and voted in concession after concession, and allowed them to remain our representative, all in the belief that we would prevent these horrible losses if we would just do as they fearfully tell us to do.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]Over 30 years of TWU Union experience has given me a front row seat to observe all the tricks and treats of intimidation in industrial union survival, which is really nothing more than overall failed results for the TWU Membership. From that experience, one observation clearly stands out: Those who consistently use their position or power in an organization to intimidate others do so in response to their own inner anxieties of insecurity, weakness and fear of being exposed as incompetent. This type of union leader uses intimidation as a defense mechanism and protective moat intended to prevent the membership from breaching the leadership’s wall of insecurity. I remember back in the 1980's during a Presidential Election Year, I was young, knew little about unionism and politics, and was told that "If Ronald Reagan were to be re-elected President, that there would be a for sale sign on the Union property and I would return to sweat shop work for minimum wage". Needless to say, I made political opponent signs at the sign factory, spent hours at precinct meetings, conventions, and labor council sessions living in total fear of Ronald Reagan. Well guess what? Reagan was re-relected, and not only was the Union Hall not sold, a bigger and better building was instead built after the fact. [/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]So the first step to dealing with intimidation in union workforce is to recognize that it is thrust upon us from a sense of insecurity and weakness, rather than confidence and strength. Once we recognize the purpose of intimidation, we are well on our way to thwarting its impact. This understanding gives us the power to rise above the situation and turn it against the intimidator. Think of it in terms of reverse intimidation. This is the embodiment of the old saying, “Fight fire with fire!” That is, creating a “back-draft” that turns the intimidation back on the intimidator. AA Management does this to the TWU leader, but the membership fails to implement the tactic against the leadership of the TWU.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]Like a mirror used to reflect and increase the power of the sun, intimidation reflected back on intimidator magnifies its impact. The person who consciously uses intimidation in an effort to gain control is like the schoolyard bully. He will keep pushing so long as he thinks he can get away with such action. On the other hand, as soon as the intimidator realizes you will not be intimidated, then the whole relationship will change, as well as the outcome of your union experience.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]You may be thinking that challenging the intimidator is easy to say, but that it is only Pollyanna and not realistic in the real world of Aircraft Maintenance, and especially if you are in overhaul. It is true that standing up to the intimidator may, in and of itself, be intimidating and career-threatening, but as long as we hold to this attitude we are, in effect, validating the power of intimidation. It may seem like a risk to stand up to the intimidator, but once we scrunch up the courage to do so, the weakness of the intimidator will be exposed and the power will shift.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]This is not to suggest that how we deal with intimidation in the workplace will be as dramatic and impactful, but it will be for us and our future. At the very least, understanding intimidation and the motivation for some to use it will enable us to better deal with it. But we can actually do more than that. We can use the understanding of motivation to intimidate the intimidator; exorcising it from our lives and allowing us the freedom to achieve all that we have the potential to achieve.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]And the moral of the story …[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]Intimidation sucks! It creates an artificial feeling of fear that inhibits its victims from performing to their potential. But intimidation is a cold fact of life – especially in the workplace – that can only be conquered when confronted. The way to neutralize the impact of intimidation is to understand it and recognize why it is being used. When we identify intimidation as a desperate tactic of a weak and insecure union leader, it loses its fearsome influence and can, in fact, be used against the intimidator to nullify it.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]The truth is that only by understanding intimidation and identifying its purpose and then turning it back on itself, will we be truly free from its impact and influences on our performance. When we conjure up the vision of the TWU leading intimidator as nothing more than a schoolyard bully and comprehend that the only way to stop them is to stand up to them, we will have discovered the only antidote to intimidation.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]STOP COWERING TO FEAR AND INTIMDATION AND STANDUP TO THE BULLY.[/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]YOU ARE SKILLED, CAPABLE, and COULD BE MORE COMPETETIVE WITHOUT THE BULLY IN YOUR FACE![/SIZE]
 
[SIZE=medium]SO STOP LISTENTING TO AND REACTING TO FEAR BASED UNION LEADERSHIP[/SIZE]

 

[AANOTOK]

What, a topic that went of track...say it ain't so! I have just lost faith in all humanity, specifically the pro and anti AMFA mouths, the IAM pumper(s), the TWU pumpers, and yes, sadly, the boys and girls representing fleet!  B)

 

[2ndGENAMT]

Seems we have lost track of the topic here. Not about AMFA, not about Seham, not about other airlines. It is about the TWU and more specific Local 514 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

This is what they do when they can not refute the Topic at hand!!

 

[scorpion 2]

The letter to the shop stewards actually says that we will lose our CBA if we don't vote for the alliance and that the company can fire at will.   

 

[CMH_GSE]

The letter to the shop stewards actually says that we will lose our CBA if we don't vote for the alliance and that the company can fire at will.

That's almost funny.
Does anybody really believe that the company would not honor the contract and start "firing at will"?
Delta doesn't fire at will and btw, their paychecks are bigger than ours, without union dues.
Not advocating anything, just adding perspective.

Every time we got raises, so did Delta, no union, go figure.

 

[bigjets]

The letter to the shop stewards actually says that we will lose our CBA if we don't vote for the alliance and that the company can fire at will.   

 
 
So I guess if you go to work and earn your pay check you'll be fine, but if you like to go on "break" with shoes off and can't be found, you might have something to worry about.

 

[Kev3188]

Delta doesn't fire at will...

Don't be too sure about that.

Not a fan of this whole alliance thing either, but careful what you wish for...

 

[700UW]

If you are non-union you have no contract and you are an employee at will with no protections.