AMFA Post

tug_slug

Veteran
Sep 9, 2002
550
0
www.usaviation.com
I was doing a little web surfing and came across amfanuts.com. I thought Id share this particular post you.
Name: The Technician
Date: Friday, September 13, 2002
Time: 11:16 PM
Comments
When is a raise not a raise? In May of 2002 AMFA delivered the 3% negotiated raise for the NWA Technicians. Their base wage rose from $28.00 to $28.84 with the total compensation for an average NWA AMT set at $33.79 per hour. The pay raise is an additional $67.20, before taxes, per pay period . This equates to a monthly, pre tax ,increase of $134.40 per month or an annual, before tax, increase of $1,747.20. Their raise WILL BE SHORT LIVED and will still placed the average NWA Technician $1.12 behind the average UAL Technician. This equates to the average NWA technician NOT receiving $89.60, before tax, per pay period. To carry this a little further the average UAL mechanic is paid an extra $179.20, before tax, per month or $2329.60, before tax, per year. Now comes the tricky part! When AMFA negotiated the last contract they allowed a huge hole to exist in their contract concerning medical benefits. AMFA did not negotiate any caps or language to keep the company from unilaterally increasing the medical costs. On Tuesday September 10, 2002 NWA announced that beginning in January 2003 all Technicians and Related employees would have to start paying 20% of their medical costs. Prior to this the company paid the premiums. The vast majority of NWA Technicians are enrolled in the managed-care and preferred-provider programs, Technicians who enroll in those two plans for 2003 will have to pay 20 percent of the premium costs. Next year a single person in the managed-care program would pay a monthly premium of $58. The family payment would be $174. In the preferred-provider program, a single person would pay $61 a month and a family would pay $191. A Technician’s family who selects the $174, per month medical plan, will take a pay cut next year of $.0.24 per hour. A technician’s family who selects the $191, power month, medical plan will lose $0.35 per hour less than his 2002 earnings. This move by the company not only negates the pay increase ,but caused a NWATechnician to see his monthly , before tax, income to be reduced by between $38.40 to $56 per month or $499.20 or $728 , before tax, per year. This means that every Technician at NWA will be paid less money for the first five month of 2003 then they were paid in 2001,when they signed the agreement. The average NWA Technicians should have seen their income increased by $1.70 per hour in May 2003. But in reality they will only achieve a, before tax, increase of $.62 or $0.52 for two years. In reality the average NWA AMT will only see an approximate 0.08% increase per year for 2002 and 2003 rather then the 3% for 2002 and 3% for 2003. This is just another example of AMFA “IRON CLAD LANGUAGE such as seniority protection, lay off and farm out protection.
 
Tug-Slug,

Had to go to the site you mentioned since it was a new one for me. Really eye-opening! The writing on this site is like the writing in the Victory News for the Local Lodge 1725 in Charlotte. It's hard to understand with numerous grammatical errors and writing that is less than clear. Perhaps the same editor is working for both. Oh, well.

Anyway, below is a bit I copied and pasted from the amfanuts site. It is referring to O.V. Delle Femine, I believe. What I found rather funny is that the writer of this blurb is stating that NWA mechanics are going to be fifth in line once USAirways mechanics get their PARITY. Excuse me, but with this vote yesterday there will be no such thing as parity. The NWA mechanics' wages look pretty good compared to what we'll be getting for the next six years. And, let's not forget the deduction coming out of our paychecks for the next 16 weeks.

Tug-Slug, there's a lot of misinformation out there. You've got to wade into it and think it through.

From the amfanuts.com site:

He kind of missed the mark on the separated district as well, the mechanics did get a contract, and the other side is still negotiating. Once USAirways gets the parity their contract provides for the AMFA represented mechanics at NWA will be #5 in line, right where they were before the AMFA takeover, the only difference is their contract is gutted, their seniority is worthless, and they are still in the same old uniforms. Oh those missed opportunities! It’s no wonder some of the UAL mechanics can’t wait to sign an (I want to get screwed like NWA card).
 
Tug-Slug (great name, by the way!),

Can I assume you're an IAM supporter and would rather not have the campaign to get AMFA cards signed? If so, clue me in on why we should continue with our present representation? This last fiasco called the IAM Restructuring Agreement really shone the light on the IAM and their blatant abuses (in my opinion).

I believe no union (company, group, etc.) is completely free of self-serving individuals, but what I read in the AMFA constitution is 100x better than what I've experienced in my 20+ years in the IAM.

Jet Mechanic
 
Amfanuts and the-mechanic are both good for a laugh once in a while but that is about it. The spin is so unrelentingly pro or anti AMFA on those sites that there is really very little actual useful information.

In a nutshell....here is AMFANUTS.....

AMFA bad....IAM, IBT, TWU, etc, good.

In a nutshell...here is The Mechanic....

AMFA good...all AFL-CIO industrial union cultists common liars bad...
 
Tell em all to stick it. I would rather see it go non union. No union dues, no petty bullcrap, no slugs..8 hours pay for 8 hours worked. It sure beats the crap we have had for many years...Hey there flyboys..if we Mechs do it, will you follow.?? I will not hold my breath.
Good luck to all.
 
[blockquote]
----------------
On 9/19/2002 2:25:11 AM willnotworkforfree wrote:

Tell em all to stick it. I would rather see it go non union. No union dues, no petty bullcrap, no slugs..8 hours pay for 8 hours worked. It sure beats the crap we have had for many years...Hey there flyboys..if we Mechs do it, will you follow.?? I will not hold my breath.
Good luck to all.
----------------
[/blockquote]

No seniority either, no furlough protection, no bumping rights - they might say you have them, but when the crap hits the fan, all rules are off. Ask the hundreds (thousands?) of non-contract, non-management employees who suddenly were management in October of last year, so the company could fire who ever they wanted to, without any recall rights.

There are somethings about the union that sucks (quite a bit about the IAM, especially the closed door secret nature of negotiations. I like how AMFA allows its members to vote for every letter of agreement before its implemented. The IAM would never give that power to its membership.). However, with no union, you'll never see a decent raise and have almost no protection from the whims of management.
 
From www.the-mechanic.com[BR]This is what AMFA thinks of you[BR][BR][BR][BR][IMG alt= src=http://www.the-mechanic.com/graphics/iam/usair/scab_01.jpg border=0][BR][BR][BR][BR]
 
[P]
[BLOCKQUOTE][BR]----------------[BR]On 9/19/2002 7:42:02 AM N513AU wrote:
[P]
[BLOCKQUOTE]No seniority either, no furlough protection, no bumping rights - they might say you have them, but when the crap hits the fan, all rules are off. Ask the hundreds (thousands?) of non-contract, non-management employees who suddenly were management in October of last year, so the company could fire who ever they wanted to, without any recall rights. [BR][BR]There are somethings about the union that sucks (quite a bit about the IAM, especially the closed door secret nature of negotiations. I like how AMFA allows its members to vote for every letter of agreement before its implemented. The IAM would never give that power to its membership.). However, with no union, you'll never see a decent raise and have almost no protection from the whims of management.[BR][/BLOCKQUOTE]
[P][/P]
[P]----------------[/P]
[P]Apparently when the crap hits the fan, all rules are off, whether you've got a union or not. Witness, U and UAL right now. What protections the unions offered in the good times are being negotiated away in the bad. How is this any different that having no union at all?[/P][/BLOCKQUOTE]
[P][/P]
 
T-MAN wrote I sent my AMFA card in a couple weeks ago,But I wonder if thats the right union for us.
Has anybody considered the Teamsters?

There is a little known agreement between AFL/CIO unions called article (X) anti raiding clause.
If 100 percent of the members petitioned teamsters for representation they would refuse because the IAM is also AFL/CIO.

AMFA is the clear choice although the mechanics at USAir are stuck with the contract struck by the IAM.

The IAM (idiots against mechanics) have lead the industry in concessions and have no place at USAirways.

Good Luck

 
[P]I would say it is a big no, we still have a contract and be it a concessionary one, people are failing to see the bottom line. US Airways is out of cash, plain and simple, otherwise they would not be in chapter 11. [/P]
[P]There were two choice facing the membership, to give concessions and still have gaurented scope, wages, work rules and benefits, or become employees at will with the company farming out heavy maintenance, plant maintenance, closing all the shops, eliminating utility, and go down to a few stock clerks, and maybe 1,000 mechanics instead of the 4,200 mechanics we have. Giving the company the right to basically tell you when, where and for how much you are gonna work for.[/P]
[P]You whiners and complainers really need to go out into the real world and see what it is like to work. This is not a job, it is a retirement home or country club. Where else could you play cards or watch sports on tv and still get paid? You all need to stop acting like immature babies and having the thoughts that the world owes you, take a look around the real world and see what it is like. If things are so bad, just resign so the rest of us don't have to listen you complain and carry your dead asses around.[/P]
 
Lakeguy,I'd say thats big yes.
Thanks yes voters.

I'm seeing that there is alot of talk about AMFA here in PIT.
I sent my AMFA card in a couple weeks ago,But I wonder if thats the right union for us.
Has anybody considered the Teamsters?
Southwest and UPS seem to be leading in pay scales but I don't know what their benefits are like.