Kip Hedges, the former president of the IAM local said AMFA appealed to mechanics who were unhappy with the 1998 contract. “The AMFA made an elitist appeal suggesting mechanics as professional skilled workers could negotiate better on their own. They felt protected by their skill level, but they lost solidarity with the other workers,†said Hedges. While Hedges called the disaffiliation a big mistake, he honored the AMFA picket line. Hedges was among the 18,000 ground workers who stayed with IAM. Airline workers are governed under the Railway Labor Act. They may honor other union picket lines, unlike most organized labor who are governed under the NLRB. The IAM urged workers to cross the AMFA picket lines to get even for the disaffiliation. Hedges again: “IAM leadership feels AMFA are outside the labor movement. But once you have opened the doors to a lack of solidarity, you have opened the possibility of killing all the unions.â€
Ted Ludwig is the president of AMFA Local 33 and was an NWA mechanic for 16 years. The AMFA leadership, unlike the IAM, are active floor workers. The IAM, like most other unions, have full-time union bureaucrats.
