From: Grievance Committee <
cltgrievancecmtte@gmail.com>
Date: June 2, 2014 at 10:44:24 PM EDT
To: baskett62@hotmail.com
Subject: DISTRICT ELECTIONS
6-2-14
DISTRICT ELECTIONS
I want to take a few minutes to explain to everyone personally what we are facing. We are about to face the most important election at US Airways since I have been in the union. There are two different teams running for positions at the district level. I have always promised I would do whats best for this membership. I have even turned down the opportunity in the past to run for a much larger district position with much better pay. So I ask all of you to believe that I am here for all of our best interest. I am the current grievance chair here in clt and also the VP at large for the district. The district job is a Pt job that makes 75.00 a month. So its not for the money that I do this job. Clt,s day to vote is set for Thursday June 12th. And since I wont be here due to being in negotiations there are some things that everyone needs to know about this election.
FIRST: We are outnumbered already at the district level by United Airlines. They have 30,000 plus members to our 6,000 members. Due to their larger size they get 34 positions on the district board to our 8. However the Unified for change team that is running against us, thinks that those numbers should be 36 to 6. Yes they are supporting taking two board positions from the US side and giving it to the UA side. Due to UA being so much larger than US. These are two positions if they are successful that we will never get back on the board.
SECOND: There are currently 4 members on our negotiating team that could be voted out of their positions. The unified for change team is trying to replace these people with agents that have very little experience. Some of them have not even been shop steward before. But yet they want to replace the AGC,s and VP and Trustee positions, all of which are on the current negotiating team. Everyone that is currently on the negotiations team, was placed there by Delaney because we have the support of our membership in our respective cities. This sends the company a very strong message. If we now show them at this late stage in negotiations that we don't have the support of the membership, then that would kill us in negotiations. So Delaney would probably have no choice but to replace us. Which by the way, would mean that we would have nobody representing clt our largest hub left on the team. We are right at the end of our section 6 talks, and will very soon be going into talks for the joint agreement for a leading industry contract. Even if you put the lack of experience from the other team aside, there couldn't be a worse time to want to change 4 members out of the negotiating team. Bringing in new people at this point could very well put us back to square one in negotiations. Of course the other team will tell you this wont or cant happen. Simply Not True..
THIRD: This is the most important election for US airways, because as you can see from the numbers above we are vastly outnumbered by united. However, its US airways that is right in the middle of negotiations, not united. I hope all of you can see by the numbers how important it is for the US employees to show up and vote. We MUST turn out a high percentage to protect what is best for us. You need to come out on the 12th and vote. Not only you, but tell your buddy next to you to get up and come and vote. All of us need to care enough, or we will be regretting this for a long time to come.
FOURTH: It is very disappointing to me to see some US people that are supporting the unified for change team when by doing so, will be so detrimental to us fleet service. We will be setting ourselves back for no reason, other than just wanting change. I hope those few people after reading this will reconsider supporting a team that is not in it for the best interest of us fleet.
FIFTH: It is not only disappointing to me, but actually unbelievable that one of our own grievance committee guys here in clt is supporting the unified for change team. Tracy Russo is running for AGC on the unified for change team. I understand Rick wanting to support his wife, but I cant understand Rick wanting to support the whole team, when the unified for change team is only going to screw the Us members if they get in. When I mentioned the things above to him, and how detrimental they were to our membership here at US airways fleet, his only response was " well they don't know that " . I can only guess its because of the money his wife has a chance to make if she gets elected, for his reason to not tell you this. Yes Rick and I have been friends for a long time, This is nothing personal against him, but he is the one that chose to support their whole team. I am the one that decided to tell you the whole truth, including even the part that you didn't know. I have a lot of other good friends out there that I represent, and you need to know whats going on. Because I know for certain, he or his wife is not telling you these things. Everyone should ask him about the above issues in my opinion when he ask for you to vote for the unified for change team. Or for anybody that supports that team. They should tell you why they support doing whats mentioned above. If they tell you it cant happen, they simply aren't being honest with you.
In the end, you will have to decide who is really here for the membership. Someone that is telling you the whole story? Or someone that is only telling you the parts they want you to here. You will be getting two different stories. You will be the one that has to determine who is telling you the truth. I needed to let everyone know the severity of next weeks vote on the 12th since I wont be here, and you probably will only be hearing one side of the story. Please think hard and serious about this election. Think about what is best for you and your family and our contract.
I think if you give it some consideration, you will know this is not the time to change things now. I don't think there could be a worse time. I ask all of you to vote for the 141 Rising slate. It is this slate that will keep everything intact, and will keep us moving forward and not backwards. YOU MUST DECIDE AND VOTE. WE HAVE TO GET THE NUMBERS OUT. VOTE 141 RISING
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Mark Baskett
