I did I was a shop steward for 8 years when we were Teamsters, been in aviation since 1987! On a serious note if you look at our updates based on the information we have been provided by both sides, it appears AMFA was trying to bend on scope for economics, and realized they better get more money than they were asking, so that is why you saw the $62 jump to $64,, and the company balked because they said you were asking this now you want x number of dollars.The problem is once you go that route the company knows they have your number. If AMFA thinks they can do better with the federal mediator than the med/ arb because they wouldn't gain as much in economics for the scope language changes, they will not persue it! However what you end up doing is painting the membership into a corner because of the time involved trying to resolve this. The company knows AMFA won't commit suicide, so when you get a T/ A it gets voted in because they are going to target the biggest group they have to please to get it to pass! If you look at the dues money involved for the last five years, 2500 members , say an average of $70 dollars a month is $10,500,000 in dues money! We have no strike fund, so a strike is a no starter! Then your legal fees are approximately $47,000 a month, don't know what the pilots pay, that is a chunk of money that AMFA will not give up, and when you have apathetic people it's where we are at !
