Every man has his price.

[Realityck]

TWU Informer: Screw change from within, get your badge before they stop giving them out. This will be the last TWU Kangaroo Courts for any AMT in this industry! Get it before it is gone.

Odie01: We have a waiting list at AFW of members wanting to be put in bad standings.
Congrats, and keep up the good work!!!


Two of our behind the scenes hero's. For a couple of characters that profess to have such strong beliefs, why don't you stand up and show everyone how it's done rather than hide in the bushes...

 

[Lloyd Grey]

The letter from Bob to his local clearly emphasises how our bargaining agent has misrepresented the membership. Go be a goon for TWU if you want. I guess it is a career decision. Want honest work? Try working. If you want to work in a union shop in the airline industry, go to SWA. Your chance of changing the culture at AA is very limited.

AMR paying the TWU legal expenses proves the TWU is in collusion with AMR management.
If we - as the client of TWU were a business, we would sue the TWU. Sending dues to those clowns is a waste of money.

Until I leave or we get AMFA (fat chance) I'm changing my TWU membership status to "Agency FEE" and going to Hand-Pay.

 

[1AA]

The TWU did so much harm that it can not be reversed. Now all we can do is get rid of them and have a craft union (AMFA) take control to minimize any further deterioration of our craft. The TWU can no longer be trusted or belived.

It amazes me watching the video of Jim little in NYC standing at the court house steps ranting like a man with a mission. Accusing the company of criminal acts. Then he says he will fight like hell. We all believed him and he sold us out when AA said they will pay for their legal fees if we pass this LBO. That is a criminal act!!
Shame on Jim Little and shame on us for believing him. We have been taken for a ride once again.

 

[Overspeed]

Overdone, just because she is an attorney doesnt mean she is a good one. We had our ass handed to us because members like you are to busy crawling up underneath the desk, which obviously you enjoy. When is enough, enough? When your full? This BS has to stop and stop now. Its time we started acting like a union, instead of a bunch of pansies that are unwilling to fight for anything. That is obviously the TWu's way of thinking and it is getting us nowhere but further behind. Change from within? Oh, its happening, but it does not involve our worthless company union who knows nothing but waving the white flag of surrender everytime the company cries poor. Proud Tulsa 26er!

Disagree (but you knew that I would) telling a client the truth is a good one. Did you know that the APA and APFA attorneys also told them to accept the deal before them or face certain abrogation? I guess their lawyers are awful as well according to you. Now the APA members did vote the deal down and Lane did not abrogate...yet. Lane did something unprecedented in BK by giving AA the road map on how to seal the deal on abrogation. He did not give the APA more leverage, in fact he validated all of AA's arguments on labor costs. Of course Bob likes to state that our term sheet was worse than the others on the property however he fails to note past precedent in BK. Outsourcing at all other carriers in the US is at 50% on average while ours was going to go to 40%. Yes our industry compensation is lower than average however, we are in BK and the others are not. When UA, US, NW, and DL were in BK they went below industry average as well in fact, they set the new industry average LOWER. Because we are the last one in BK we are doing our time at the bottom six years after everyone else but we have light at the end of the tunnel now. We have a wage adjustment that brings us to industry average in DOS+36. That clause is an industry first and gives us added protection in the event UA, DL, or US negotiate the average higher.

Yes we will never know now what would have happened in BK and I am very content about that fact.

 

[Overspeed]

Overdone, just because she is an attorney doesnt mean she is a good one. We had our ass handed to us because members like you are to busy crawling up underneath the desk, which obviously you enjoy. When is enough, enough? When your full? This BS has to stop and stop now. Its time we started acting like a union, instead of a bunch of pansies that are unwilling to fight for anything. That is obviously the TWu's way of thinking and it is getting us nowhere but further behind. Change from within? Oh, its happening, but it does not involve our worthless company union who knows nothing but waving the white flag of surrender everytime the company cries poor. Proud Tulsa 26er!

And even your beloved AMFA knows BK is a labor screw fest. And AMFA gave up all AO in BK which is not what the TWU did. We are keeping NB AO.


[font=Times New Roman']The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) tells ANN that its members working at United Airlines ratified the tentative contract agreement with the company through electronic balloting. Details will be forthcoming.[/font]
[font=Times New Roman']According to AMFA National Director O.V. Delle-Femine, "Our members accepted this agreement through democratic voting. Our choice was to consent to concessions from the company or risk even worse terms imposed by the bankruptcy judge, who has shown a proclivity to agree to company demands. The bankruptcy laws, the court system and federal agencies like the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation are strongly biased in favor of the large airline corporations. Thanks to Congress, these laws show little concern for average workers."[/font]

 

[Overspeed]

The letter from Bob to his local clearly emphasises how our bargaining agent has misrepresented the membership. Go be a goon for TWU if you want. I guess it is a career decision. Want honest work? Try working. If you want to work in a union shop in the airline industry, go to SWA. Your chance of changing the culture at AA is very limited.

AMR paying the TWU legal expenses proves the TWU is in collusion with AMR management.
If we - as the client of TWU were a business, we would sue the TWU. Sending dues to those clowns is a waste of money.

Until I leave or we get AMFA (fat chance) I'm changing my TWU membership status to "Agency FEE" and going to Hand-Pay.

Both the APA and APFA have the same language. This is normal for BK proceedings to have legal and expert expenses paid for by the company upon ratification. Read my brother, read up and educate yourself.

Anger only leads to the dark side...

 

[Realityck]

And even your beloved AMFA knows BK is a labor screw fest. And AMFA gave up all AO in BK which is not what the TWU did. We are keeping NB AO.


The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) tells ANN that its members working at United Airlines ratified the tentative contract agreement with the company through electronic balloting. Details will be forthcoming.

According to AMFA National Director O.V. Delle-Femine, "Our members accepted this agreement through democratic voting. Our choice was to consent to concessions from the company or risk even worse terms imposed by the bankruptcy judge, who has shown a proclivity to agree to company demands. The bankruptcy laws, the court system and federal agencies like the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation are strongly biased in favor of the large airline corporations. Thanks to Congress, these laws show little concern for average workers."


I agree with you Brother! The problem is the AMFA initiates don't know the complete history of their sacred organization. I've know AMFA for about 40 years and the one thing I learned early on was "you know when they're lying, it's when their lips move". That comment goes for their founder Delle and his non-licensed sidekick who started the AMFA as well.

Read these items and you'll see what I mean. They have very short memories and the way they deal with something they'd rather forget is, just make believe it never happened.


No concessions and always have observers - sure, and I've got a nice bridge in Brooklyn
I'd like to show you.



About AMFA

Overview
 The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association is a craft oriented, independent aviation union. It is not an industrial union and represents only airline technicians and related employees in the craft or class in accordance with the National Mediation Board Rules and their dictates. AMFA is committed to elevating the professional standing of technicians and to achieving progressive improvements in the wages, benefits, and working conditions of the skilled craftsmen and women it represents.

AMFA was created in 1962 but did not represent any carrier until 1964 at Ozark Airlines. It later represented Pacific Airlines, Airlift International, Hughes Airwest, Southern Airways, United Airlines, and ATA. AMFA's craft union now represents aircraft maintenance technicians and related support personnel at Alaska Airlines, Mesaba Airlines, and Southwest Airlines. Except for negotiations under bankruptcy, AMFA has never accepted concessions, give-backs, two-tier pay scales, or "B" rate mechanics. One reason for this is that the local airline representatives, who are well-acquainted with their airline's problems, are at the bargaining table with the national officers. AMFA also believes in having its members attend and observe contract negotiations. Although this is considered by many to be a novel idea, AMFA has been doing this in negotiations for years, and it has helped both sides to understand the problems and issues that must be resolved at the bargaining table.

Northwest Strike Over, AMFA too?

Thursday, February 21, 2008






The Aircraft Mechanic Fraternal Association (AMFA) and 
Northwest Airlines (NWA) reached a tentative agreement 
on October 9, 2006, that, if approved by the membership, 
ends the 14-month strike. 
 The deal includes NWA withdrawing all protests against
 strikers receiving unemployment benefits; offering
 vacation accrual with a maximum 10 weeks severance pay 
for resignations or, as an alternative for those 
strikers who elect to remain with the company with 2-
year recall rights, vacation accrual with up to 5 weeks
 severance. 



Since NWA shut the doors of its Minneapolis maintenance 
facility and contracted out janitorial and cabin cleaning jobs, few expect many of the 4400 original
 strikers to be recalled.

 All 800 mechanics who crossed picket lines, mostly AMFA
 members, will remain working and cannot be displaced by
 strikers according to the tentative agreement. 

It is a tragic end to a dismal chapter of failed AMFA
 leadership and strategy.



Most unions considered the strike ill conceived from the 
very beginning.

 AMFA had no strike fund and, reflecting its separatist 
philosophy of mechanics acting alone, went on strike
 while the Pilots, Flight Attendants and Machinists'
 Union were still negotiating under pressures of 
bankruptcy court proceedings.

 AMFA bolted ahead of all the other unions,
 characteristic of their often-stated mantra that 
"strength in numbers doesn't necessarily mean strength. "
This was the wisdom offered by AMFA Assistant National
 Director Steve MacFarlane on the eve of the August 2005
 strike.

 He couldn't have been more wrong.



Underestimating solidarity with other unions on the 
property was only one of AMFA's strategic mistakes.

 Extremely damaging to unity with other unions was AMFA's 
negotiating proposal that NWA take more concessions from
 IAM members and less from AMFA members.

 As reported by Robert Roach Jr., IAMAW General Vice-
President Transportation: "AMFA, as an institution, has
 proposed and is actively advocating, that Northwest 
Airlines demand $150,000,000 more [from IAM members] in concessions than the $107,000,000 Northwest has 
requested from our membership. "

While AMFA supporters dismiss these claims as slander,
 most 'unskilled' airline workers who have been the
 target of AMFA's scorn since their formation in 1962,
 are not at all surprised by AMFA's breach of solidarity 
at NWA during the 2005 summer contract negotiations.

 In fact, this breakdown in solidarity is exactly what
 occurred only a few months earlier in an AMFA settlement
 with United Airlines that directly led to 550 IAM jobs 
being contracted out.

 As a result of complex legal proceedings between AMFA
 and the IAM over the jobs in question, AMFA negotiators
 demanded and received from UAL financial 'credits' for
 this IAM job loss; thus increasing the hardship on 
fellow workers, IAM members, but reducing concessions of
 AMFA mechanics.



The whole AMFA experience has been a bitter, devastating 
blow to airline workers. It has led to division and
 defeat by an organization that claimed to be more 
militant and democratic than established unions but was 
not.

 None of AMFA's major claims have stood up; they are neither more democratic nor more militant than
 traditional unions they seek to replace.



AMFA suffers from the same political weaknesses as other 
unions only compounded by active attempts to split 
unions and separate 'skilled' workers from other employee 
groups 



Less than 3 years ago when AMFA won an election to 
represent 9000 UAL mechanics, AMFA's major campaign slogan was that they would never negotiate concessions. 

They claimed to always have rank and file observers at
 negotiations.

 They claimed to be the most democratic.



None of these claims have stood up; during NWA
 on concession bargaining for example, AMFA members were 
never given an opportunity to vote on the 'Final and
 Best Offer' by NWA before the strike was called in
 August 2005, and 'rank and file observers' were barred 
from the recent negotiations with NWA on the tentative 
agreement.



Only 10 years ago, AMFA's divisive sales pitch attracted 
a measly 439 total members, picking up steam only during 
recent years of devastating rounds of airline concession 
bargaining. After only a few short years with a
 significant membership, their numbers have dwindled, the 
organization is in crisis and the whole project can be
 declared a miserable failure.



Instead of division into smaller craft unions, we need to confront employers with unity. 'One Airline, One 
Union' is the answer to AMFA's retrograde separatism.

 Perhaps some misled radicals are infatuated with AMFA's 
talk of more militancy and democracy. Most airline 
workers are not.

 AMFA's program is nothing more than elitism starkly and
 tragically revealed in the failed 'go-it-alone' strike 
strategy at NWA that in the end proved to be just as arrogant as it was misguided.

 Not surprisingly, lessons are being drawn by AMFA 
mechanics themselves who are abandoning the sinking ship 
in droves.

There is an active AMFA decertification drive 
at the United Airlines San Francisco Maintenance Base,
 the only remaining viable AMFA unit in the country. 

AMFA leaders are feeling the heat. Several months ago in 
an election, 12,000 NWA Flight Attendants, ousted their AMFA-originated union in favor of the Association of
 Flight Attendants, AFA-CWA, AFL-CIO.

 There are other signs of internal problems.

AMFA recently fired its founding national attorneys, moved 
its national headquarters thousands of miles away from
 where its aging National Director resides, declared
 itself to be in major debt and announced in a huge reversal of direction, that it is openly investigating affiliations and mergers with the AFL-CIO.

 The fundamental tenets of AMFA have been discredited.

 Sadly, lessons of unity and solidarity had to be relearned at the cost of thousands of jobs and disrupted
 lives.

 

[Bob Owens]

Realityck
Show me the language that says we are keeping NB in house? The only reason why we may be keeping it in house is because our labor rates are so low it's not cost effective to outsource it. The fact is that AA can outsource at least 35% of maintenance spend before we can say anything. As older high maint Narrow bodies get replaced the spend will decrease, that means more jobs eliminated. With the widebodies going overseas we get a compounding effect, job cuts as we lose the work and even more job cuts because the savings from shipping it overseas will allow additional work to be outsourced, that means more job cuts if they chose to. If the company finds somebody to do the NBs overseas there is nothing stopping them from shipping work overseas. The 65% of maintenance spend includes line maintenance and parts so it would not be hard for the company to dump half the people in OH and stay within the 35%.

We gave away the store to a company that's already earning profits, we have nothing to be proud of.

 

[Bob Owens]

No she doesn't but she is an attorney and your not. Nuff' said Bob.

And that is not what Lane said. He validated everyone of AA's arguments except for the ability to have no cap on RIFs and unlimited code sharing. You still keep making stuff up. Lane gave unprecedented advice in a BK hearing by giving AA counsel a road map for abrogation. We would have surely lost and had our ass handed to us if we had not voted yes.

An attorney will make whatever arguement you pay them to make. Nuffield said.

 

[Bob Owens]

But Bob you failed to get that across to the 514 pussies..

74%

 

[Rogallo]

Both the APA and APFA have the same language. This is normal for BK proceedings to have legal and expert expenses paid for by the company upon ratification. Read my brother, read up and educate yourself.

Does normal make it right?

 

[TWU informer]

Realityck
Show me the language that says we are keeping NB in house? The only reason why we may be keeping it in house is because our labor rates are so low it's not cost effective to outsource it. The fact is that AA can outsource at least 35% of maintenance spend before we can say anything. As older high maint Narrow bodies get replaced the spend will decrease, that means more jobs eliminated. With the widebodies going overseas we get a compounding effect, job cuts as we lose the work and even more job cuts because the savings from shipping it overseas will allow additional work to be outsourced, that means more job cuts if they chose to. If the company finds somebody to do the NBs overseas there is nothing stopping them from shipping work overseas. The 65% of maintenance spend includes line maintenance and parts so it would not be hard for the company to dump half the people in OH and stay within the 35%.

We gave away the store to a company that's already earning profits, we have nothing to be proud of.

Bob, you will never get through to the dumbasses.

Just let it happen and move on.

Could damn sure use your help to remove the source of the problem.

 

[Realityck]

Bo Owens

Show me the language that says we are keeping NB in house? The only reason why we may be keeping it in house is because our labor rates are so low it's not cost effective to outsource it. The fact is that AA can outsource at least 35% of maintenance spend before we can say anything. As older high maint Narrow bodies get replaced the spend will decrease, that means more jobs eliminated. With the widebodies going overseas we get a compounding effect, job cuts as we lose the work and even more job cuts because the savings from shipping it overseas will allow additional work to be outsourced, that means more job cuts if they chose to. If the company finds somebody to do the NBs overseas there is nothing stopping them from shipping work overseas. The 65% of maintenance spend includes line maintenance and parts so it would not be hard for the company to dump half the people in OH and stay within the 35%.

If your crystal ball prophecy comes true (not like all your other ones that didn't) you'll have achieved your fondest wish. A decimated Ovhl operation with their reduced AMT headcount which would leave the Line Locals in charge. WOW, we can hardly wait.

 

[767 mechanic]

Bo Owens

Show me the language that says we are keeping NB in house? The only reason why we may be keeping it in house is because our labor rates are so low it's not cost effective to outsource it. The fact is that AA can outsource at least 35% of maintenance spend before we can say anything. As older high maint Narrow bodies get replaced the spend will decrease, that means more jobs eliminated. With the widebodies going overseas we get a compounding effect, job cuts as we lose the work and even more job cuts because the savings from shipping it overseas will allow additional work to be outsourced, that means more job cuts if they chose to. If the company finds somebody to do the NBs overseas there is nothing stopping them from shipping work overseas. The 65% of maintenance spend includes line maintenance and parts so it would not be hard for the company to dump half the people in OH and stay within the 35%.

If your crystal ball prophecy comes true (not like all your other ones that didn't) you'll have achieved your fondest wish. A decimated Ovhl operation with their reduced AMT headcount which would leave the Line Locals in charge. WOW, we can hardly wait.

AA outsources overhaul on the twu's watch and you blame Bob. This is typical logic for the twu believers. The twu has been reducing wages for years now to save overhaul and there dues. Now AA has had enough of the old whore and is kicking her to the curb. Never heard you blame Bob when MCIE shut down. Who's fault was that? AFW is shuting down. I guess that is Bob's fault also? Who's fault will it be when Tulsa shuts down? Let me guess Bob. If he had that much power he should kick Hortons ass out,take his position and get a raise along with all that money that Horton and the gang will get when we get out of this farce of a bankruptcy.

 

[Buck]

I can assure you that the 737 overhaul group at TUL had to bid for the work to the airline. Yes overhaul is a business unit that must function different from the airline. I just wonder if the line is part of the airline or just another business unit that must prove they can do the work. With our wage and benefit package where it is, we should be able low ball the competition, whomever that is, the MRO or the legacy carriers.