IAMs true interests

usjacket

Senior
Aug 30, 2002
310
52
The next 10 days will tell the tale!Will the IAM negotiate whats best for membership or whats best for the IAM? My bet is IAMs interest.
 
As you have already stated, the IAM did just that already. They want unskilled workers making skilled labor wages at the expense of the truly skilled workers, all for the sake of more numbers in the ranks of the IAM. I can't believe the IAM was not voted out long ago, what does it require anyway to make people wake up, obviously this very situation we all find ourselves in right now is causing an awaking, just hope it's not too late.
 
I too will never understand why the IAM lumps the licensed skilled mechanics in with everyone else. It seems to me to favor the IAM greatly at the expense of the mechanics. If it were me, I'd want my own representation as well. IT seems to be strickly a numbers game...more is better, however the concerns and issues are so greatly different for mechanics vs. cleaners or fleet service that I can understand how upset they must be. I just wish we could have seen it handled in a different fashion.

A320 Driver
 
A320driver
What is so different about the mechanics?
Are they the only ones w/families?
Are they the only ones w/mortgages?
Seniority is not even an issue when in many stations P/T Fleet Service agents are senior to most mechs.
And as for being licensed, that's fine.
I guess like Ms.Laura McKee a.k.a. "Airline Big Shot", you are ignorant to the fact that MANY Fleet Ser. Agents have college degrees. The worst thing is that those college degrees aren't worth the paper their written on in this economy. So YES, Flt. Ser. agents are just as worried as the Mechs. or anybody else. Please try to understand everyone's situation here.
Thank you.
 
This thread reminds me of 4 blind guys describing an elephant - the description depends on what you've got a hold of!

As a ramp rat, I can assure you I wish we were NOT in the IAM - I voted Steel. The reason? We would always play second fiddle to the mechs, and the mechs would never accept us.

This is exactly how it has played out. Our local, run for and by mechs, totally pissed on us from the get-go. Ditto the District. When you look at the timing and issues of our first contract, it was plain we are cannon fodder. When I asked would the mech support our strike if we voted out the first POS contract, the local prez said, you don't have a contract or status quo, we will not honor your strike. As soon as the ink dried on our contract, the District prepped us to support the mechs if they had to strike.

I am also familiar with the "we the unwashed, riding on mech coattails" line of thinking. It might be smarter to compare your wages with your peers across the industry. I'm not holding you back, I'm the piggybank.

And you might want to review your union history. Specialists unions either price themselves out of the market, or because the scope of the contract is narrow to keep the riff-raff out, get bypassed by technology. Unions with a broad base survive longer.

We rampers didn't like this deal, or how the IAM handled it. But most believed Dave will take the shot.
 
Gentlemen, please allow an outsider to jump in here. I am a 20 year AMT at UA , also IAM. For years at UA the AMT's and ramp/fleet service had an "umbrella" contract covering both work groups. Repeatedly, the IAM would negotiate a deal the ramp would readily accept, but did not meet the needs of the AMT's. The reason was simply numbers=dues. At UA, the ramp/fleet service out number the AMT's by approx. 10,000. Eventually, the AMT's persuaded the IAM to form a seperate district exclusively for the mechanic/related (141M). Good luck in the future, we are headed down similar paths.