Tim Nelson
Veteran
One of the problems is that big stations like CLT or PHL should have their own AGC who has a hub and NO other stations. Part of the streamlining of my platform is to make sure that PHX, CLT, PHL have their own AGC who is responsible for ONLY a hub and that's it. The reason why it isn't like that now is because this district is run by United and limits the resources that go to US AIRWAYS. For instance, the avg UA Ramp AGC has a per capita representation of about 600 or so members to represent. OTOH, you only have 5 AGC's but if the same resources went to US AIRWAYS as it does to United, you should have 8. With 8 AGC's, each hub can have their own AGC and not have to worry about their AGC serving 6 or so other stations. This will actually cut down on cost and offer more resources to the members. When the US AIRWAYS members committed to block vote for Delaney, it was with the promise that he would not treat them as second best and provide the same resources. He agreed and also said that he would spend more time in the CLT's, PHL's, etc. Unfortunately, the exact opposite has happened therefore he lost my support.
As far as me being transparent, that's the way it has to be. It's not just about US AIRWAYS being treated equal with United but it is also about fully disclosing to the membership each proposal that has been presented and keeping the masses fully informed every step of the way. I will not be signing any confidentiality papers and we will also allow employee observers in our negotiations.
More importantly, we have to get greed out of the union. It's not good enough for our AGC's to cry poor for not taking a pay raise and being stuck with only making $101,000 a year. That's OVERPAID! Cripes, if I won prez, I would be making $126,000 which is ridiculous. Therefore, all members on my ticket have been asked to pledge back money to the members. My pledge will be a $50,000 pledge back. I'll be making the least, me and my S/T have decided that the best way to lead is to make the least and to wash the feet of the members. Even our AGC's will be making more than us. But, it's essential since our membership has lost all trust in the union.
The best way to build trust is sacrifice, so we will be pledging close to $500,000 back to the locals in the form of scholarships to send folks to EAP training, shop steward training, and delegation teams to conventions. Harry, our locals are broke and it's about time the District help them out. I know of no better way to build solidarity than to dump hundreds of thousands of dollars BACK to the members for education. We have to build solidarity and that's the bottom line. And the only way you can build solidarity is by being transparent so folks can see through the otherwise dark glass. Transparency also means giving the members information which should lead to knowledge which is power. Keeping folks ignorant by keeping the cloth up is just silly but very pro management.
When we changed out Canale for Delaney, the paradigm didn't change when Delaney decided to keep the curtain up. We have to tear down the curtain and have FULL DISCLOSURE and transparency. Another problem is that even if you see your AGC, they watch what they say. Do they ever say anything other than "Negotiations are progressing"? They ought to disclose what they proposed to the company and keep you fully informed.
When deciding to support the Delaney ticket or my ticket, the most important thing to do is to go by the actions of each of us. Folks say that Delaney hasn't done anything, but that is incorrect. He has done plenty. He single handedly blew off aloha airlines and lost them to the Teamsters. He signed the Hawaiian airline contract that is a disaster. He lied to United and now put himself in a corner with transition talks which can go on forever unless he finally figures out how to build solidarity or signs a weak contract. He signed attendance policies at UA and hasn't fought the attendance policy like he said he would at US AIRWAYS. He hasn't addressed all the contract discrepencies at US AIRWAYS like he said he would, and my AGC admitted to me that he has no idea about which end is up with your contract.
OTOH, when I signed on to help fix the IAM, I did so with the idea that I would Direct the organizing and help stop the outflow of IAM members. And today I am proud of our accomplishments that preserved our district by winning two organizing drives, the only two that the IAM won in this century, and getting 17,000 voters to vote for the IAM. Even though we were up against the anti union law firm of "Ford and Harrison" and the Teamsters. We did it and we did it by people building and team building. It's called solidarity.
Unfortunately, I also signed on to help fix the IAM by agreeing to support Delaney who promised that he would be less management friendly and would be fair to the members. He has failed and the citations are numorous. Therefore, it was simply unacceptable for me to give him 'blind' support. People in Delaney's camp say they don't understand my politics. Well, I don't have any politics so that's why they don't understand it. Here's a hint though, when I told them that my boss was the membership, they should have listened and they also should have served the membership and not served the man Delaney. The boss is the masses. Bottom line but your AGC's simply don't understand this concept.
regards,
Tim Nelson
