"If you dont have a union the company can do as it pleases."
Hmm, like slash your pay and benifits?
Seems to me that you people pay dues but you dont have a union. The company has done as it pleases already. In two years they have slashed your pay three times.
I dont know any non-union workers who have had their pay slashed three times.
You really have to wonder just what the company would do if you had no union.
Well 80% of the workers in this country dont have unions, yet the average wage in the country is $15/hr.
What is the starting wage at USAIR?
Union workers are not the only workers who have pensions or health benifits either.
Most workers do not work Sat/Sun and have the Holidays off.
Did your union get you anything extra for working these days?
Union workers normally make more than their non-union counterparts. Is that the case with USAIR? How do you compare to Delta? You really cant use Jet Blue yet because they have not been in business that long, although I think that their mechanics, non-union, make more than USAIRs do. I know several mechanics who quit AA and went to JetBlue. They like it better.
Pit Bull, I think what Tim is saying is that if you decertify the IAM and go without a union, that without any union in place at the time it was decertified, you effectivly no longer have a CBA, the company can do as it pleases, which they pretty much have already with the IAM, then after a period of time (the next day?) start a drive for the AGW the AGW would come in without a CBA in place so they could start to negotiate from day one for a contract. So no you would not be stuck with this contract till 2012.
Its no less extreme than what the airlines have done in order to get new contracts-go bankrupt, or in the case of AA and Delta "threaten" to go bankrupt, but it could be the only back door that workers have in order to get out of these contracts.
Actually you guys would be in a better position without a union than you are with the IAM because the company would more than likely give you back more in order to keep a union out. But with the IAM they have the best of both worlds, they can give you nothing, blame your union, and not have to worry about a more militant organization that would actually unify the members showing up on the scene.
With the IAM in place there is nothing you can do until 2012, you are screwed and you have to pay $500 a year for that priviledge. There is no reason to believe that once 2012 comes that the IAM will be any different than they are today.
By having a gap between decertifying (Two separate drives, one to decertify, then immediately followed by one for the AGW) and getting a union that can unify the members you may have a way out of the 2012 term. So if you decertified the IAM in 2005 and then got the AGW in 2006 you would be able to negotiate(or at least start) in 2006 instead of 2012.
Once you decertify the IAM they no longer have ANY rights to anything between the workers at USAIR and the company.
"Non union companys promote and layoff or fire at will, with no regard for seniority, and pay as little as they can get by with."
Like Delta and Jet Blue? I believe that for many, many years Delta had a no-layoff policy while the unionized carriers had massive layoffs. "At will" is the law of the land but Unions normally insert a "Just Cause" clause in the contract for terminations.
The fact is if you do your job, especially as a mechanic where the company has made an investment in training, the company is not looking to fire you. They may want to screw you and not give you a fair value for your labor but they usually dont hire you just to fire you.
The value of a union shouldn't be in that they can keep a screw up on the job but rather in the fact that they get the most in pay and benifits that they can possibly get for their members. Most workers like doing a good job and sometimes the "Just cause" clause can be abused by some workers, this causes division among the members because they see the union as an organization that keeps screw ups on the job and they end up picking up the slack. If on top of that the Union is not able to get premium wages then the bulk of the members who are not screw ups justifyably feel that being in the union really does not afford them much for the money.
The common perception that bad workers benifit more from being in a union than good workers is probably one of the reasons why unions, despite falling living standards are still in decline. In a recent TWU Express Paper they twice made note of the fact that retiring President Sonny Hall was a screw up who "should have been fired". Sonny admitted that he should have been fired but then says that the experience "Showed me (him) the value of being union". Yea, be a screw up and a burden on your fellow workers and have the union keep you there. The real kicker is that those same workers who have to carry the screw ups on the job also have to finance the unions efforts to keep him on the job. Sonny Hall continued to be a burden on his coworkers his whole career, as he moved up through the organization it consisantly gave away hard earned benifits, lagged inflation in wages and altered work rules but made sure to keep its reputation for keeping screw ups on the job intact.
We join unions to get the best wages and benifits available, when they are no longer able to do that, and USAIR now makes less that non-union airlines, then unless you are a screw up, the union no longer serves its purpose.
While I dissagree with Tim in that unions are "left wing"(the unions purged themselves of the "left wingers" back in the 50s-todays unionists are not "socially conscious zealots" who see unions as a means of radical social change but rather incompetant "business" unionists who give just enough lip service to "liberal" ideology to isolate right wing workers while accepting the continued trend towards wealth consolidation-as long as they get a piece of the action), I agree with his idea of all airline workers in one democratic union across the entire industry. I think that the decertifing strategy makes sense. Do you really think that USAIR will do any more than they already have? At this point you guys already are non-union, the only difference is you pay dues so people like Buffenbarger can live like kings.
If you stay with the IAM this contract remains in place, however if you decertify and go non-union then it does not. If there is a pause with no union then there is no contract, if a new union comes in they are not bound by the terms of the dead agreement, they start from day one. Decertifying, while it has its risks also is the only means to opportunity, unfortunately those two things almost always go hand in hand, in the end you wind up dead anyway. The question is do you really think that there is safety in poverty? Is the risky way really risky when you consider the alternative?
While I strongly believe in unionism, and I dont feel that its a neccisary "evil" I think that this situation that we find ourselves in requires unconventional actions, such as going non-union in order to achieve the dual objective of unburdening ourselves from these horrible agreements and the just as horrible organizations that put them in place. It makes sense, why change unions if you are still stuck with this till 2012? You really have nothing to lose, at the very least the company may throw you a bone to keep the IAM in place. Start your decertification drive now!!
