Twu, Looking Out For Our Best Interest?
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High Speed Steel
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- Feb 14, 2004
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1AA, In reference to your chart. Dosen't it require around 15yrs. of active employment to be eligible for the pay rates at the second Airline referenced on your chart? Didn't approximatley 45% take a 100% pay cut? Rember to hold up your hand if you have less than 1989 seniority......!
TWU...#1
- In retaining major O/H work in house, also in bringing back prior outsourced goods.
- In retaining pensions...we do not have the BK judges going after ours now do we?..I know..Delle stated..."we'll fight that!..HAHAHA...amfa has no punch in it's fight as proven time and time again. Wait...what's that?...We can trade it for a 401K w/ amfa...HAHAHAHAHA
- In job retention..we are in this battle for "us"..not "me".
- In keeping American Airlines a viable airline and keeping an open gate for you to drive through each day!
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Retaining pensions???NyQuill said:
The pay cut and half sick day affected our pensions and the 401K contribution.
So how was our pension protected?
AA has third world salaries when it comes to in house work, does the OSM payscale reflect this? I think it does, just take a look at the OSM payscale.
The battle for us means who?
The union payrole?
The company/union agreements without membership approval?
Look at the chart again. Pay close attention to United. Remember that they are in BK and have better financial compensation as well as vacation,sick time, etc...
Please make comments or replies on the information on the chart.
That is what affects our bottom dollar and everyday way of life.
I hope this is not asking too much of you.........
High Speed Steel
Veteran
- Feb 14, 2004
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Hey Bob, I am confused to your continued reference to the TWU/ATD as to being the Walmart of the industry. To me the word Union means job security, and a livelyhood to benefit all they represent. The last time I checked Walmart was non-Union, and referred to their employees as associates! In recent years since the passing of their founder they have become one of the lead distributers of forein goods to this country. Isn't AMFA in fact an ASSOCIATION? Aren't they currently leading the industry in outsourcing American jobs to forein Maitenance Facilities? Did AMFA strike all reference to the word UNION in the Northwest agreement and replace it with the word ASSOCIATION...? Maybe AMFA just calls there members associates because they know they will not be with them after the outsourcing begins...! Just confused
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Allied Pilots AssociationHigh Speed Steel said:
Association of Professional Flight Attendants
IAM
ALPA
Guess what the A stands for??
This subject came up a few years back. In your thinking I guess the TWU is the only real union.
PDiddyQuill
Member
- Jan 22, 2004
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Well...In Mesaba's contract amfa is never mentioned as a union, in fact , the word union is not in the contract.
If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck....
If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck....
You are obviously confused if you still support the TWU.High Speed Steel said:
Walmart has adopted a strategy of low wages in order to become the largest retailer, and the largest employer, in the country. They exploit their workers in order to funnel funds that should go to wages into expansion and profits. As Walmart has grown its expansion has resluted in the loss of better paying jobs at other retailers.
The TWU has joined together with American Airlines with a simliar strategy. The TWU arranges for the company to get a labor cost advantage over their competitors. This enables the company, along with the TWU to expand. The company gets cheap labor and the TWU gets more members. In the meantime all wages suffer downward pressure due to the fact that AA is the largest carrier in the industry. The TWU and AA are driving wages and benifits down in this industry just like Walmart is in the retail industry.
Unionists are alarmed at the pattern that Walmart has set, they should be even more alarmed at what the TWU has done to this industry.
Other unions like the IAM and the IBT have lost members in this industry because of the TWU.
These unions promoted a strong union culture. A culture that went beyond rhetoric.
However due to the 20 years of Industry leading concessions that the TWU put in place and the fact that AFL-CIO affiliation discouraged inter-union criticism, these other unions were pressured into concessionary deals lest the AA/TWU TeAAm would walk away with the whole industry. As it was AA expanded from a minor player to the largest airline in the world.
UAL and USAIR ended up in Bankruptcy court and sought the types of workrule, pay and benifit concessions from their unions that the TWU had been giving to the AA for twenty years. They finally got many of them. These companies could only get close to equilibrium as far as labor costs through bankruptcy. However it did not last long, the TWU once again drastically lowered the bar to the point where union conditions with the TWU were actually lower than most non-union conditions. This included the elimination of holidays, vacation, sick time, IOD time, shift pay, they never had a weekend differential, doubletime and many other benifits that most union members get, all things that were still retained by the companies that went bankrupt. The IAM and IBT members, who thought like union people in that you fight before you lose, expelled their unions for leading the surrender. Finally, after sinking way below most other non-union employers as far as working conditions, benifits and pay, the TWU represented mechanics will likely get rid of the TWU, followed by other ground workers who have finally had enough too and have started up their own union-the AGW.
By the way Walmart may call their employees Associates but they do not call Walmart an Association. AMFA does not call their members associates, they call them members, or associate members.
The purpose of a union is to get adequate wages and benifits. Thats even written in the TWU Constitution, not to trade away hard fought for wages and benifits for the illusion of job security. Unions support the "safety net" of unemployment benifits and other programs for when there is a surplus of labor, the main reason for their support of this safetry net is so that things like what just happened to us-dont happen. The safety net is there so employers can not exploit economic downturns to drive down and take away long fought for wages and benifits. So employers could not use the fear of unemployment to make employees desperate and short sighted enough to give away what was gained over the last fifty years, for the unenforcable promise of a job for the next couple of years. However in our case it was not the company promoting such fears it was the TWU!
