The Pilots are probably going to Vote this down
If we reject this and the pilots and Flight attendants accept this the TWU would make you vote on it again before abrogation (is this the life preserver we’re supposed to be holding on to – in case you’re wrong again, as you were in 2010?)
BTW, I don’t have a crystal ball like you do, but my instincts tell me the Pilots will vote for the T/A. No telling what the Flight Attendants will do.
Bob Owens: In spite of your crystal ball gazing, I don’t believe your predictions are any better now than they were when you and your AMFA buddies recommended a NO Vote on the 2010 T/A. You keep telling us to vote no, and things keep going down hill.
As an AMT, I’ve been through the struggle brought on by Deregulation that was introduced in 1978, whose full effect didn’t hit the airline unions until the early 1980’s. Although some members, as they do now, claimed it was all a farce and we should just strike and shut the company down, in 1983 the TWU’s membership in a +75% ratification vote, decided to deal realistically with the issues that threatened us all.
Under these adverse conditions even though every union struggled to protect their respective members, most carriers were eventually forced to file for Bankruptcy. Some several times, and some went out of business altogether because their managements’ couldn’t adapt and compete in the new deregulated environment.
There were no easy answers then, and there aren’t any now.
I’ve seen and heard the AMFA rallying cry for most of my career at American. I’d even spoken to Delle on one of his visits to meet with AA AMT’s. I was not impressed with his grasp of the problems we faced, nor how he intended to deal with them. His advice to me then was “Management will recognize that we’re professionals, and address our concerns”. That sounded great, but my experience with management up to that point convinced me he was pretty naïve in his understanding of how to deal with the company.
Subsequent actions by AMFA like the NWA strike strategy that led to the loss of thousands of AMT jobs by blindly walking into a strike they couldn’t win, convinced me I should stay with and support the TWU. There’s no doubt in my mind they were set up by a calculating management, but it was also a classic case where AMFA’s (Delle’s) rallying cry of “we never gave concessions” forced him into a corner that he couldn’t get out of.
I firmly believe that the 2010 T/A which was recommended by the TWU, while not all we would have liked it to be, would have addressed some of the issues we needed corrected, and positioned us to fight another day. I also have a problem with the “just vote no” mentality that many of the AMFA supporters/sympathizers have. It reminds me of Delle’s naïve approach in expecting some miracle to save us from ourselves should the T/A fail, the Judge revoke the contracts, and leave us hanging on the end of a rope while the NMB muddles through some unknown exercise that has failed to produce anything of value to us yet.
Do I believe everything this or any other union does is above reproach, no. But neither do I believe jumping off a cliff just to prove you can, will do anything to enhance our careers and provide for the security of our families.
BTW, I walked the TWU picket line on the 21day strike in 69, and have been suspended for “alleged” job actions, so I have no problem with confrontations. What I do have a problem with is blindly following the pied pipers in our midst who preach the just say no theme without a clue as to how that’s going to drastically change the situation we’ve placed ourselves in by turning down the 2010 T/A.