Checking it Out said:
AMFA wants us to believe thay can represent us better than any Union currently Representing the Mechanic's and Related?
AMFA wants you to believe they were created to save the members from the Industrial Unions? Please explain why this is?
The TWU, IBT,IAM and the hundreds of others were created to protect us from Corporate America and the injustice our Brithers and Sisters were subjected too.
Please explain why we should support AMFA?
Lets see if you can show some real examples and just answer the questions!!!! 🙄
Imagine that!
You asking for questions to be answered!
Will you do likewise?
If AFL-CIO affiliation is such a plus then how come we are in such a mess? The fact is if your leaders are weak and incompetant, affiliation will not help.
If we were to look at how our pay has performed vs inflation you will see that for 20 years we have been in a downward slide. Not only were we losing on the wage side but we were also losing benefits and language also. To be frank, the unions were doing a lousy job but no other union was doing as bad as the TWU/ATD. The TWU led the way towards decline.
The TWU/ATD seems to have a vendetta against A&P mechanics. They negotiated away more A&P jobs than any other carrier and they have been doing it for over 20 years.
The TWU/ATD was the first to take pushbacks away from mechanics. I worked both union and non-union jobs before coming to AA, at all of those jobs mechanics did the pushbacks. This resulted in the loss of hundreds of A&P jobs and reduced the number of stations available for mechanics to bid to.
The TWU/ATD also took deicing away from A&P mechanics. This reduced the amount of overtime available to mechanics.
The TWU/ATD also failed to gain work done on AA property by other carriers for the A&P mechanics while they did get it for other groups like Fleet Service. This allowed other carriers to bring other mechanics on to AA's ramp while TWU Fleet Service members unloaded the planes. So much for Solidarity!
The TWU/ATD eliminated thousands of A&P jobs, good paying jobs, by adopting the SRP, later changed to the OSM program. A&P mechanics that were assured by the union that they were safe in the shops soon found themselves displaced because the union added the word "system" in front of attrition.
The successful program that AA was able to get with their lapdog union, one of getting the low price of outsourcing while maintaining the control of in house, then using those low wages to hold down the wages of A&P mechanics was a win-win situation for the company and the union- but a disaster for A&P mechanics. The recently proposed agreement at Eagle is nothing more than the continued assault on the profession A&P mechanics by the TWU/ATD. The TWU/ATD has done more harm to the class and craft of A&P mechanics than any other union.
The TWU/ATD not only negotiated mechanics wages that were so low that the company could not hire or keep qualified personnel in high cost areas but they also allowed the company, at their sole discretion to raise and lower starting pay whenever they felt like it! They called this "Flexible Starting Rates". Any real union would have said" You wanted those rates, now you have to live with them".
The greatest threat that A&P mechanics face is the TWU/ATD. A few years back a revision was proposed that could further the use of low paid OSMs. This revision would make it easier to bring OSMs to the line by giving them company issued FAA certificates.
These non-portable certificates would allow the company to tell the public that it still uses FAA licensed mechanics to fix their planes. However these would not be A&P mechanics. Our Local was informed about this revision-FAR66, not by our International, but through our alert section chairman in Boston.
Prior to ratification of the 2001 agreement (and Sept 11) our Local, 562, was making a big stink about FAR 66 and the lack of protective language. We were making so much of a stink about it that Art Luby, counsel to the TWU/ATD cornered me in August to talk to me about the issue and ask me to back off on my criticism of the agreement. The language that I'm sure was written by Luby mentions FAR66 dismissively and provides us absolutely no protection from the revision should it be put in place.
If FAR66 is not the threat that we felt it was then why didn’t they make the language stronger, strong enough to protect us? Instead a key word was omitted -A&P. The whole problem that we as A&Ps have with FAR 66 is the creation of a whole new class of "licensed" mechanics who are not A&Ps. (Contract Article 1(g))
In 2001 our pay surged for a brief moment to where our rate actually brought us right back up to where we should be, less benefit losses however within 2 years we were back on our former track, still losing at the same rate. At the current rate, assuming that we have the average 30 year inflation rate of 3%/yr we will be approximately $30,000 per year behind where we would be if we had a COLA.
This anomaly where we saw a huge bump should be labeled "The AMFA Surge". It was a bump in pay for mechanics that was driven by the contract that AMFA got over at NWA that changed the industry. Anyone who claims anything different is lying. We all know why we got the raise we did in 2001, because AMFA raised the bar for Passenger airlines mechanics. AMFA came into NWA after the IAM brought back a crap contract despite record making profits. The time span between the IAMs proposal and the AMFA settlement did not give AMFA any more of an advantage than the IAM had. The shortage of mechanics was already in effect when the IAM negotiated for the NWA mechanics.
While AMFA can be credited with pioneering the double digit raise for mechanics the TWU/ATD get the credit for the following;
-Double Digit pay cuts
-Negotiating away more holidays than any other union-even those up against a bankruptcy judge
-Negotiating away vacation, setting the standard for paid vacation for new hires below that of non-union Wal-Mart.
-Negotiating away over half of sick time accrual, and reducing sick pay to half pay.
-First to give away pushbacks
-First to give away deicing
-First to give away shop work by creating a class of workers that earn third party wages at a major airline.
-First to eliminate double time regardless of how many hours worked
-First to have mechanics pay for retiree health benefits
-First to have mechanics pay for their own uniform cleaning.
-First to pay for Medical coverage
The list goes on.
As an A&P mechanic I see a union that has been hostile to my interests. I made an investment in getting my A&P and this union is doing everything it can to diminish the value of that license that I worked hard to get. Its creation of a sub class of workers, who perform work that used to done by A&Ps, was a major blow to our profession. It watered down our collective power as A&P mechanics. It inspired FAR 66, a program that transfers standards for mechanics basic training from a government agency that is responsible to the public to private companies that only care about profits. This is being facilitated by a union that only cares about its dues and could care less about our profession. A union that has the nerve to put such a patronizing article such as Article 1 (g) in our agreement.
For over three years I tried to alter our unions course. I tried to "change from within". To make a change that would benefit ALL airline workers as I recognize the fact that mechanics were not the only workers who have lost over the last twenty years. While TWU represented workers led the decline, IAM and IBT workers have all lost out. Baggage handlers, Dispatchers, Stock Clerks, Ticket agents, Flight Attendants and scores of other workers have been losing ground at a pace that exceeds the rest of the economy, and we have been in constant decline for 20 years.
Clearly the present course with our present unions is a dead end. We need change, change from within is not likely as long as we are stuck with leaders who will ruthlessly fight like hell against change from within while rolling over to every concessionary demand put forth by the companies.
Industrial Unionism is not the problem, business unionism, franchise unionism; "Company" unionism is the problem. The grip that Sonny Hall and his "company luvin" minions have on this union is so complete that our best option, our best hope for change is to start with a new organization. We know what the TWU has done for the last twenty years; decimated our profession, led the industry in concessions, bartered away our dreams in the name of more dues. The fact is that there is no reason to stay with Sonny Hall, Jim Little, Gary Yingst and Bobby Gless because even if we did change them we would still be separated from our brothers at all the other airlines by the company unions that pretend to be industrial unions that represent workers in this industry.
AMFA gives us the chance to be represented by people who do not detest us.
AMFA gives us the opportunity to join with our brothers/sisters at other airlines. Stand alone? My ass, stand together with all the other mechanics!
AMFA gives us the opportunity to choose one of our own, someone who has as much concern for the profession as we do, to represent us.
AMFA can give us hope for a better future.
Can the TWU give us any of that? If they could, then why haven’t they?
I know “Its all the members with the 15 minute attention spans faultâ€.
Well 15 minutes is plenty of time to fill out a card and vote for change- and the only avenue for change that the International cannot block is a vote for AMFA!
