TonyB said:
j7915 does make a valid point. The situation today is pretty much like it was back in the 1930's. Robber Barons like Rockefellar, J.P. Morgan, etc. had their foot on the neck of the working class. It's a miracle that this country did not have a revolution. FDR and his New Dealers with all their government programs saw to it that this revolution did not occur. Lyndon Johnson further pacified the masses with his "Great Society" programs.
The main difference between today and the 1930's is that we as a society are asleep. We are allowed to borrow freely so we go into heavy debt. With all this debt we need to keep a job to pay for it. Make a little too much noise and you may not have a job in some instances and then you're out on the street. Corporate America with the help of the media has greatly pacified the masses with sports. NFL, NBA, MLB, NASCAR you name it, much like the Romans were pacified with Gladiators.A great ally of the corporate elite that runs this country in pacifying the working class is the mighty AFL-CIO. In doing so they keep the politicians and big business happy. They could care less about the working class. They are in it for themselves.
Samuel Gompers, George Meany, Lane Kirkland and now John Sweeney have worked hand in hand with corporate America to keep any radicals in check and any real unionism dead.. Ever wonder why there are no European style general nation-wide strikes in this country?
I have news for you j7915. Karl Marx is dead over 100 years but the communists are still alive and well. Americans, however are too busy rading the sports section to notice or care.
Tony B;
You are confusing ideologies again. However with the way we were educated in this country its not suprising that you and many others make the same assumptions.
First of al ALL forms of government are a means by which freedoms are supressed. This is not always a bad thing since society, if it is going to function must curb certain types of destructive behavior (violent, carnal etc)
Thomas Paine said over two hundred years ago-before Karl Marx was born- "Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness;the former promotes our hapiness positively by uniting our affections. the later negatively by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the other a punisher. Society in every state is a blessing, but government even in its best state is but a necessary evil,,,,,"
To imply that the Robber Barons were Communists is absurd. To claim that they robbed people of the freedom to enjoy their lives because they alone possessed the means of production and therefore lowered the status of others to serfdom is more but of course not entirely accurate. Communists may be alive and well however they are few and far between and most certainly do not pose a threat to the working people of this country, if anything they are unquestionably, if misguided, advocates for working people. The threat we face is much more familiar, and it is a Capitalist face. However like anything else one should not paint with a broad brush as many Capitalists are aware of the dangers that some Capitalists pose to the freedoms of us all.
Capitalism does not equal freedom, it can be just as oppressive as Dictatorial Communism. The benifits of Capitalism to society as a whole rely on perpetual competition, however the object of competition to to come to a conclusion-to win. The only way to maintain perpetual competition is for the government to maintain controls to prevent one party from gaining a competative edge. The trend over the last twenty years has been to allow competition to come to a conclusion and allow the stronger competitors to make the rules to suit themselves.
Democracy is the key to Freedom. True Democracy can only exist with an informed electorate. This can only happen with a transparent and accountable government.
On the one hand you praise the actions of Euorpean unions, who are in fact unabashed Socialists. They dont try to hide it. Yet you claim that Sonny Hall, and the Robber Barons are Communists. They act more like Fascists, not Communists or Socialists. In fact the Fascists of Germany recieved a lot of support from Capitalists even here in America, until they realized that Hitler posed a threat to their power base. If I remember from reading about it Ford was an early backer of the facsists.
This country did in a way have a Revolution, a very subdued one but still there were radical changes. It was a democratic revolution. While modern ultra right wing critics of FDR blast him as a Socialist, due to the fact that like his cousin before him (Teddy Roosevelt) he took and adopted populist and socialist platform issues as his own, more moderate historians realize that FDR in fact saved Capitalism. The fact is that the system of lassaize faire has and was failing soiciety as a whole. The Communist Party was the fastest growing party in the country, years later many of the young niave idealists who signed on would be persecuted during the McCarthy inquisitions.
In a way our situation with our union is like a mini-government. A government that has become corrupt , dicatorial, self serving and un-democratic. While we suffer they continue to rob us of our rights. They hide behind doing it "for our own good". However they of course refuse to "share the pain".
With this corrpt organization or mini-government, we find that as our discontent with their anti-democratic and unproductive ways grows they react just like some bannana republic. They stifle criticism and enact harsh measures which in turn lead to even more resentment from the masses(members). Instead of correcting the problem they go after the things that the problems create.
Over the last year we have seen more of our rights stripped away.
- We never had the right to choose the ATD Director who has complete control over our agreement.
-We never had the right to vote for the President of the Union who appoints the ATD Director.
-We had the right, per our Constitution, to vote on changes to our contract however Sonny Hall was able to make this an uneforcable right and gain the ability to interpret the Constitution as he sees fit.
-We no longer even have the right to choose leaders of our own at the Local level as the International reserves the right to remove those officials who say things that they do not agree with.
So basically the International has made itself a Dictatorial body that is isolated from and unaccountable to the members. Like other despots in history Sonny Hall no longer even pretends, other than his monthly column in his propagada paper to be a "man of the people". This was displayed by his lack of attendance at the Labor Day parade, even Stalin would show up to watch the annual May Day Parade. In fact there was NO Representative from the International present on the podium for this highly symbolic display of NY Labor.
Over the years I've come to the conclusion that the "leaders" if you could call them that, resent the members. From Jim Little saying that the members "dont really care" to Mike Bakalas saying that all of the problems of todays labor movement is not the fault of the leaders but of the members who are not willing to fight, like they did, to Sonny Halls telling officers at the Meany School what a "thankless job" they have taken on. Over and over again the message is subtle yet consistant-the members are not worth it, get what you can out of this for yourself and if you work with us we can make it happen for you like it has for us.
The question that lies before us is not whether or not its time for a Revolution against this oppressive mini-government but what is the best route. Is there a means by which our institution can be changed from within? If there is would the reformed Institution still leave us just as vulnerable to the 10 year crisis cycles that have devastated our careers over the last 20 years? Or, should we seek a new way, where we join with our fellow mechanics throughout the entire industry, so that we are no longer left isolated and vulnerable by corporate lines that are reinforced by organizational lines?
The current structure of unionism in our industry makes the bond between company and union more important than the bond between union and member. This bond is reinforced by checkoff, where the union recieves a check from the company instead of directly from the members. Initailly Check-off was a huge gain for both the members and the union, however now it simply allows the leaders the right to disregard our needs and wishes since the money comes in automatically whether they service us or not. Over time, the unions have come to the conclusion that they work for the company, even though they of course would never admit it, their actions however make it very clear who their boss is, as with everyone else-the one who writes the checks. Check-off allows the company to write their check with our money.
One way to fight this is to go to Hand Pay. Going to Hand Pay reminds the International who they work for. While this is cumbersome for the union and the Local it is one of the few avenues of resistance to the junta's policies left to the members. It is one of the few rights that Sonny Hall has not taken away. And it is one of the few things that may drive more Local Leaders to back off supporting Sonny Halls dictatorial policies.
This act supports change. It sends a clear message to the International that they work for us, not the other way around. So let them come to you and say pay-up, instead of thanking American Airlines for our money. It also puts us in a better position to wage a "dues strike" in the future if we need to.
Hand Pay Now!
