Jim Littled fooled? Maybe, but I think it was a deliberate deception on his part.
Lets not forget Littles threat that if we do not approve the concessions that the company may go directly in Chapter 7.
This was repeated in the TWU express.
Other than Jim Little and the TWU Express I dont recall this coming from anywhere else.
The company denied that it was ever a consideration, for what thats worth.
Why would Little make such a threat? Clearly it was meant to intimidate the Senior members, who would not be affected by a layoff, into voting yes to concessions.
It would be interesting to find out if Little and the other TWU leaders made, or had any relations or close friends make any large purchases of AMR stock around the period of the ratification.
The TWU had many possible reasons for selling us out.
First of all, the leadership can not be held accountable by the members. So if Little says "I was fooled, sorry", thats as much as members can expect. WE cant remove him.
Lets look at some possible motives for the TWU.
1. The possibility that the company would terminate the $3.1 million a year they kickback to TWU officials.
2. Windfall in AMR stock. The TWU makes more money off other sources than they collect in dues. Where the TWU invests their money is not disclosed in the LM-2.
3.The possibility of increased stock market performance if they give the company everything they want vs the high legal costs of fighting the company in bankruptcy court.
There can be little doubt, that even if our contract was kept intact, that the cost to the TWU International would have been substantial. Unions like the IAM (over 700,000 members) or the IBT (over 1.4 million members) can easily absorb such costs, but the TWU probably would be heavily impacted. If the TWU fought they probably would not be able to provide International officers with all the perks they currently enjoy.
4. The possibility that by applying the Walmart philosophy to unionism that the TWU/AMR partnership can wipe out much of the competition.
This would provide AMR the opportunity to expand and swell the ranks of TWU dues payers. This would also, (in fact has already) provide the TWU a "back door" to raid other AFL-CIO unions without it being called a raid. Since the members of other unions become TWU members not by expressing their personal choice of unions but rather by the fact that they become AMR employees this is not considered a raid. The TWU has followed this strategy for twenty years and as a result has seen the ATD become the largest division in the union. While other unions have seen a decline in their ATD membership the TWU has seen an increase.
As the TWU becomes more of a force in the industry real wages have declined at a more rapid pace. Unlike other industries where growth drives wages up the TWU has worked closely with various employers to lower wages in both good times and bad.
TWU Membership at AMR has more than tripled, so despite the nearly 40% reduction in real pay, real dues has increased by well over 150%. This huge increase in the number of dues payers easily offsets the fact that real wages, and the dues that are a component of wages have steadliy declined.
5. While real wages have steadily declined they Leadership of the TWU has kept abreast of inflation. They do this by putting in extremely low starting wages with automatic step progressions to top pay. So even if no raises are won by the TWU in contract negotiations the formula for International officers uses a "weighted " formula of "increases". By providing AMR the opportunity to expand into the void left by competitors it increases the possibility that AMR will hire more workers at starting wages and give TWU International officers more raises.
6. This International pay formula also explains the TWUs willingness to give away benifits and premiums which do not increase the dues or their own personal salaries. By giving away our benifits they provide AA with lower costs and also open up the possibility of making more money by selling us insurance to cover what they took away.
7. Keeping skeletons in the closet. There is no doubt that if the TWU had chosen to fight, that embarrasing informatoion would have been brought out, and not just the $3.1 million. The fact is that the TWUs best legal arguement against the company would have been that the TWU has led the industry in concessions for the past twenty years. That these concessions helped make AMR the largest airline in the world. The company would have argued back that the TWU also prospered from this "arrangement". Needless to say that in Bankruptcy the dirty laundry would have been aired out for all the members to see.
There is little doubt that the TWU wanted to avoid this scenario at any cost, especially since the "cost" would be borne by the members, not the International. The fact is that there is only one reason why the TWU would choose to fight, because its the right thing to do, but since doing the right thing is not important to the International, since they cant be held accountable anyway, they chose to fight the members instead of the company.
