Never been one of the restore and more advocates and never thought BK would improve my life. I truly thought, as Bob has said, there was money left on the table last year. The 65% of us that voted down the T/A agreed and hoped the economy would improve. It didn't and it was a gamble we lost. Is it now time to again throw fate to the wind? With so many near retirement, do we cut our loses, take the 3 year deal with the 6% structural raise, lump sum, holidays, and hope the pensions survive till we expire? Few have faith in the TWU to continue. Wage parity is a lost cause, but, the pilot cap on premiums and vacation restoration should be attainable in order to put this nightmare behind us.
If there were even one ounce of truth spoken when the TWU told us that their Political support for Obama had earned us a labor friendly mediator and favor from the NMB Office, then maybe things would have turned out different. My opinion was and still is that the TWU is weak, lies, and bluffs their way through representational issues from grievance handling to negotiations. The company knows this to be true. This is why they protected the TWU throughout the AMFA Drive, and why they fought with all legal tools available the AMFA vs AA Federal Lawsuit over distribution of union literature and the failure to remain neutral. It is simple, the TWU is predictable, easy to win against, and AA feared any change from that comfort. You are currently witnessing and perfect of example of why that defense of TWU was mounted. Docile, weak, unethical, immoral, and undemocratic labor organizations, have to be the best thing management have going for them in this industry. All the effort and money expended during the AMFA battle has now been recouped plus some extra.
We don't belong to a "union", and never have, we belong to a dues collection wing of the liberal democratic party, and the TWU doesn't really get much in return for that effort either. They have no strength, no earned respect, and even a majority of their members do not support them. If you combined those that favor a union change along with those that are just plain anti-union period, it is clear the TWU supporters are outnumbered by a long shot.
I would like to ask of those that voted against release, if not release at this point, then what is your strategy going forward? Because pulling a bluff of this magnitude, and that bluff being called, means you probabaly no longer even have a shot at what was previously on the table. This is a simple re-run of 1989. We voted no, then soon voted yes on a worse offer. History does repeat itself when leaders fail to learn from previous mistakes. TWU never learns anything period!
This thread titled "Jack Kane Sucks" is just one more "excuse" to blame by those that despise this union. They hate this union, cannot change this union, cannot replace this union, so they move from one thing, person, or group to blame to another. To name a few you have heard, Bus Drivers, Fleet Service Clerks, AFL-CIO, Tulsa Overhaul, Unlicensed Skilled, and now Jack Kane.
It is true that Jack Kane and the NMB sure as hell are not offering up any favors in exchange for millions in political contributions to Obama. But why did anyone expect something different? Because the weak TWU leaders fooled their asses once again by telling lies, and once again the gullible believed them. Everytime this union hoodwinks the gullible, then on que the gullible instantly create another blame object to complain about instead of accepting their own ignorance and weakness. It is like watching a "Three Stooges" rerun on TV Land over and over. How many times do these leaders have to lie before everyone no longer believes what they peddle? Just because we are unable to effect the changes we seek, doesn't mean we should retreat to believing them once again next time they lie to us. This is why I have always maintained that a belief that our fight is in the political arena is nothing more than a cop out from a weak labor movement. The fight has to be in the street and the workers direct area if you want to win, the union has to be "us" and "we" instead of "them" and "they", and neither the leaders nor the members of this union have the stomach for that.
I am not ready to make a statment of "I told you so" regarding my yes vote on the T/A
But I will now predict that it is game over, or in other words we just lost our Queen, Rook, and a Knight in one move so it is without question soon to be....
CheckMate! Company Wins again.
Who do Y'all think we should be blame next?
