Wings 396,
Maybe it's time to quit blaming current and past representatives of the IAM for our problems. It's time to look in the mirror. It's time to see ourselves for who we truly are. A workgroup that is for the most part; self centered, uninformed, uninvolved, divided and apathetic. We have no one to blame but ourselves. When you point a finger... three point back at yourself. While we should be seeking common ground on issues important to all of our futures; too much effort is spent on personal attacks and blame of others for our current state of affairs. This lends itself to distraction from the pertinent issues and further division of an already fractured work group. There is already plenty of that with this group. The focus should be on finding common ground and future goals for this group. Building solidarity around those future goals and moving forward to achieve it. Until this is achieved this group has no hope of improving their current state. No one controls our futures but us. Let's act accordingly.
I respectfully disagree. The membership is witness to the leadership. If it is fractured or divided then it's the leadership which must direct. It wouldn't matter if the masses were all singing kumbuya if the leadership doesn't know how to bring about solidarity, or in the UA case, doesn't want to. IMO, the membership isn't as fractured as you may think. Let's say the masses are all singing kumbuya and there is no division, what then?
Couldn't disagree more. Working and leading the organizing drives for the IAM at United, I encountered a membership that was willing and quite able to help out in most any way I asked. It's all about leadership, in the organizing department that wasn't a problem as the leadership understood how to empower and engage the members and give them ownership and direction. Unfortunately, it was incredibly frustrating listening to the defeatist attitude of our leadership in the 'representational arm' at the office. A lot of laziness, ignorance and lack of education in formulating strategy to help build leverage in negotiations. If a labor rep is doing his job, it's never a 9-5 40 hour a week job. Almost always working if it's done right. At US AIRWAYS, the day is young, but at United and Hawaiian it is easily shown how there have been incredible missteps that gave leverage away to management without getting anything in return. The membership has all the tools needed. And any apathy or frustration is the collateral damage of being leaderless. Leading must involve academic and cerebral but unfortunately we are dealing with leaders who haven't even self educated themselves towards case models, research, etc., and have no idea how to apply any strategy to the culture of the masses. regards,
700. so nice of you to link my flyer I created in the United ramp campaign. The strategy I incorporated with the campaign against the Teamsters was one of contract comparison. At that time, the IAM contract at UA was superior to the contract at CO. However, it didn't necessarily follow that the representation was better in applying either contract. For instance, the IBT represented CalMicro for years and never lost a job or work. And even though stations weren't protected in the Continental contract, the Teamsters threatened management with severe consequences after management announced the closing of 7 stations. Management changed its mind and decided to leave the stations open along with cargo. OTOH, with IAM representation, management has contracted out 2,500 jobs in just 1 year because IAM representation is soft and not willing to fight. Of course, with all the job loss in most IAM contracts, the IAM bosses usually say "Well, the contract allows the company to do this" or "You voted for this". Both statements are a bit unfair since the leadership has always pushed the contracts and given 'gloom and doom' scenerios if a contract is voted down. And when jobs are lost, nobody wants to hear "Well the company can do it". Much better is how the Teamsters handled management at Continental and drew a line in the sand and notified management that even though management can contract out jobs, the union can do some things as well.
As stated... change and an awakening must come from both the membership and the union leadership. Don't be so quick to place all of the blame and accountability on the leadership. If I were to take a poll today...how many members would know who their DL or INt'l President was? How many members would have attended at least 50% of their Local Lodge meetings in the past year? I agree effective leadership would certainly improve solidarity but one has to be willing to get involved, engaged, educated and care for the common good as an individual member. I'm not convinced this initiative and drive exists with the vast majority of our workgroup and membership. I've seen changes in union leadership. Some that you have endorsed. I have yet to see a change in results Tim. I'm involved as a Grievance Chair, Safety Rep. and Recording Secretary of my local not because of my union leadership but because of my personal values and beliefs.
Fair enough. However, I'm not a big proponent of measuring the resolve of a membership by the attendance of union meetings even though I'm quite sure it is a barometer used by the Labor unions in measurements. regards.
I can't speak for all locals but the ones I've attended or been a member of have dismal turnout indeed. You're right attendance shouldn't be used to measure the resolve but I think it's fair to say for the most part we have a disengaged, uninformed, self centered and apathetic workgroup. This needs to be addressed and improved upon if we have any hope of improving our working conditions. Until then we can expect more of the same.
At this point everyone is on the same scale, but that wasn't always the case. The HP employees (west) were paid at a lower rate until 5/08 when a transition agreement was voted in systemwide. Prior to the US/HP merger, the US Fleet group had Class 1 & Class 2 stations, with the Class 2 being paid at a lower rate as well as being subject to outsourcing should their station fall below a given amount of weekly M/L flts. This is just another example of why there is very little harmony within the IAM Fleet group. The big stations threw everyone else under the bus in order to
