- Feb 15, 2006
- 3,244
- 274
With this new contract no one loses .
So here we now sit , a splintered union striving to return to what we once were before the 2001 terrorist attacks that devastated the airline industry .Our brothers on the east have endured an unheard of TWO bankruptcies to keep their company alive , and we on the west have worked for YEARS at sub par wages going just a little longer to see the job through .
We have now crossed the threshold and In terms of strategic thinking This contract is a watershed . What our negotiators have done is take nothing less than three distinct work groups , merged them together as one and given each group a pay raise without taking away anything of significant importance to any particular group .
We have lost profit sharing … Tell me , how many of you before you read this contract had enough faith in this company and it’s leadership to assume that we were going to get profit sharing for the next 4 years ? While profit sharing was nice , no one would be crying about giving it away right now if we hadn’t made profit this last quarter .A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush , and if our JNC had to give it back to the company in order to get our pay raises so be it ..
When it comes to our future we shouldn’t gamble . I like many in this world would rather take a sure thing over chance any day of the week . I’m speaking about the east’s arbitration award outcome . Now that this company ‘s offer has been presented to our membership we are in a unique position . People have said that we need to use the possibility of a favorable court ruling in order to secure a better contract , well we’ve just done that ladies and gentlemen . If we now go to arbitration and LOSE the company will in all likely hood take something from this contract OFF the table . In my mind winning would have been unlikely because how many judges do we have sitting on the benches these days that take the WORKERS side ? I urge all of you to take a moment and remember the POLTICAL situation of our country , and that the disposition for the last many years has not been toward protecting or compensating the worker, Especially the blue collar worker .
Even IF we had won , the first thing this company would have done was inform it’s lawyers to start an appeal and tell them to push it as far ahead into the future as possible ,The next thing the company would then do is tell it’s negotiators to work even slower than before at any new contract agreement , constantly citing the fact that arbitration was in lieu . Do you know what the West side fleet workers would then do at this point ? Demand section 6 and the ability to strike , but unfortunately for them the EAST side fleet workers wouldn’t be interested in hearing of such a thing because now that they had won a court case they would all seek to hang on as long as humanly possible for that day in which they might get their “back pay†checks . They would tell us to “be patient†and to suck it up for the union , knowing full well that while our union stalls the west workers would continue on for years at sub par wages and that in the event of a final court victory that NO west worker would EVER receive any profit ,check or gain from such a victory .
In my view it’s better that we are divested of such a possible future outcome because this would have bitterly divided us for years to come .
I want to take moment to remind all of you why this is a GOOD contract and not a BAD contract , it’s good because it UNITES us as never before . After we pass this contract there will be no west workers , there will be no station two workers and there will be no east station one workers , there will only be US .While it’s hard for each of us to see this as a huge plus from our own different self interests, it’s awe inspiring for the next time talks come around . Do you realize that our negotiators have had to bargain with a company that has probably come back with a response of “ well we’re giving your west workers and your station two workers a raise , why should we give the east workers one as well! Do you know how much money we’re spending ??†We cry because our sick pay is at 50% but would you rather we get it at 100 % yet our east workers in the class ONE stations get a negligible raise ? We are all getting those two things which are the most important to any worker , job SECURITY AND PAY .
I now want to speak to the matter of time , I talked about arbitration before , and as you all know in any event it would have taken a lot of time , but we should also be mindful that it will take further time for this company and our union to put together a new contract for us to vote on . To my west brothers and sisters and to a large part the east station two workers , how much longer do you want to go on getting paid crap ? I mean honestly , we complain about portions of this contract , but we are going to get what we want ,MONEY baby ,lots and lots of money … Do any of you really want to delay this contract any further? Shall we push back the end result another year only to make an extra 30 cents at each pay level ? Because that’s about what it would amount too , remember that in order for us to even GET this contract proposal we had to have outside mediation to help us . Some say we need to push this company , push it hard ! Well who among you feels like striking eh ? I have the feeling that we talk tough , but when push comes to shove it would dismaying to see how many would cross the picket line , and do you want to know what the response would be of those who would cross “ I have to feed my family “ . A strike with the west workers would never have succeeded because they never would have had the economic means to hold out .Furthermore if any of you have been paying attention to business news you’d see that it appears we are heading into another recession , Striking workers are easily replaced during economic downturns .
We don’t have what the East had before 9/11 , but then most major airlines don’t either .So calm down , take a breath and remember why you chose a job in the aviation industry . Enjoy a few days off and go somewhere , then tell all of your friends who don’t have airline jobs how great it feels to just “fly “ . To my east station one workers , I want to speak directly to you now , I know you’ve lost a lot through these two bankruptcies and that since the merger the hope of not only going back to the pre bankruptcy wages but also getting back pay has kept you going . That’s a hope that’s hard to let go of , I know if it were me I’d want to hold onto what could be my “ticket “ to the very end , at least emotionally I’d want to do so . But you need to think about yourselves for a moment , I mean think about what’s going to be best for you and your families long term health .Is the stress of the arbitration case REALLY worth it ? Watching it getting battered around in court for years and then maybe losing and thinking to yourself what could have been ? What do you think would be best for you, long term right now ? Waiting to see which way the case might go , or accepting an offer that has considerable advantages for you right now ? Your gonna get more money , that means more food for your family and more dough in your pocket , that sounds like a good deal to me . In fact , in many ways , what your now faced with is a lot of like the game show DEAL OR NO DEAL , if you haven’t watched it , take a moment and check it out (it’s got some hot models! Oh yeah!) . Are you going to walk away with the 300,000 or the 1 cent ? It’s up to you .
Finally if I’ve read this contract right it does something that I think needs to be done ASAP , it rights a tremendous wrong , a sin of one union brother against another . With this contract we can finally recall our union brothers that we expelled ,home with their pay and seniority at the time they were cast away .It is time to pass this contract and wipe away this horrid sixty day rule . Take a moment to Remember your friends that are no longer here .
I cant’ see what’s coming , and neither can anyone else , but we can plan using the information that we have at hand .Our boy doug LOVES to merge , so who knows , maybe this time next year we will be calling ourselves united instead of US AIRWAYS .. I don’t know about most of you , but I’m now tired of fighting the good fight , for me this offer is now a chance , a chance for me to lay down my burden , won’t you ?
Your union brother
Freedom
So here we now sit , a splintered union striving to return to what we once were before the 2001 terrorist attacks that devastated the airline industry .Our brothers on the east have endured an unheard of TWO bankruptcies to keep their company alive , and we on the west have worked for YEARS at sub par wages going just a little longer to see the job through .
We have now crossed the threshold and In terms of strategic thinking This contract is a watershed . What our negotiators have done is take nothing less than three distinct work groups , merged them together as one and given each group a pay raise without taking away anything of significant importance to any particular group .
We have lost profit sharing … Tell me , how many of you before you read this contract had enough faith in this company and it’s leadership to assume that we were going to get profit sharing for the next 4 years ? While profit sharing was nice , no one would be crying about giving it away right now if we hadn’t made profit this last quarter .A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush , and if our JNC had to give it back to the company in order to get our pay raises so be it ..
When it comes to our future we shouldn’t gamble . I like many in this world would rather take a sure thing over chance any day of the week . I’m speaking about the east’s arbitration award outcome . Now that this company ‘s offer has been presented to our membership we are in a unique position . People have said that we need to use the possibility of a favorable court ruling in order to secure a better contract , well we’ve just done that ladies and gentlemen . If we now go to arbitration and LOSE the company will in all likely hood take something from this contract OFF the table . In my mind winning would have been unlikely because how many judges do we have sitting on the benches these days that take the WORKERS side ? I urge all of you to take a moment and remember the POLTICAL situation of our country , and that the disposition for the last many years has not been toward protecting or compensating the worker, Especially the blue collar worker .
Even IF we had won , the first thing this company would have done was inform it’s lawyers to start an appeal and tell them to push it as far ahead into the future as possible ,The next thing the company would then do is tell it’s negotiators to work even slower than before at any new contract agreement , constantly citing the fact that arbitration was in lieu . Do you know what the West side fleet workers would then do at this point ? Demand section 6 and the ability to strike , but unfortunately for them the EAST side fleet workers wouldn’t be interested in hearing of such a thing because now that they had won a court case they would all seek to hang on as long as humanly possible for that day in which they might get their “back pay†checks . They would tell us to “be patient†and to suck it up for the union , knowing full well that while our union stalls the west workers would continue on for years at sub par wages and that in the event of a final court victory that NO west worker would EVER receive any profit ,check or gain from such a victory .
In my view it’s better that we are divested of such a possible future outcome because this would have bitterly divided us for years to come .
I want to take moment to remind all of you why this is a GOOD contract and not a BAD contract , it’s good because it UNITES us as never before . After we pass this contract there will be no west workers , there will be no station two workers and there will be no east station one workers , there will only be US .While it’s hard for each of us to see this as a huge plus from our own different self interests, it’s awe inspiring for the next time talks come around . Do you realize that our negotiators have had to bargain with a company that has probably come back with a response of “ well we’re giving your west workers and your station two workers a raise , why should we give the east workers one as well! Do you know how much money we’re spending ??†We cry because our sick pay is at 50% but would you rather we get it at 100 % yet our east workers in the class ONE stations get a negligible raise ? We are all getting those two things which are the most important to any worker , job SECURITY AND PAY .
I now want to speak to the matter of time , I talked about arbitration before , and as you all know in any event it would have taken a lot of time , but we should also be mindful that it will take further time for this company and our union to put together a new contract for us to vote on . To my west brothers and sisters and to a large part the east station two workers , how much longer do you want to go on getting paid crap ? I mean honestly , we complain about portions of this contract , but we are going to get what we want ,MONEY baby ,lots and lots of money … Do any of you really want to delay this contract any further? Shall we push back the end result another year only to make an extra 30 cents at each pay level ? Because that’s about what it would amount too , remember that in order for us to even GET this contract proposal we had to have outside mediation to help us . Some say we need to push this company , push it hard ! Well who among you feels like striking eh ? I have the feeling that we talk tough , but when push comes to shove it would dismaying to see how many would cross the picket line , and do you want to know what the response would be of those who would cross “ I have to feed my family “ . A strike with the west workers would never have succeeded because they never would have had the economic means to hold out .Furthermore if any of you have been paying attention to business news you’d see that it appears we are heading into another recession , Striking workers are easily replaced during economic downturns .
We don’t have what the East had before 9/11 , but then most major airlines don’t either .So calm down , take a breath and remember why you chose a job in the aviation industry . Enjoy a few days off and go somewhere , then tell all of your friends who don’t have airline jobs how great it feels to just “fly “ . To my east station one workers , I want to speak directly to you now , I know you’ve lost a lot through these two bankruptcies and that since the merger the hope of not only going back to the pre bankruptcy wages but also getting back pay has kept you going . That’s a hope that’s hard to let go of , I know if it were me I’d want to hold onto what could be my “ticket “ to the very end , at least emotionally I’d want to do so . But you need to think about yourselves for a moment , I mean think about what’s going to be best for you and your families long term health .Is the stress of the arbitration case REALLY worth it ? Watching it getting battered around in court for years and then maybe losing and thinking to yourself what could have been ? What do you think would be best for you, long term right now ? Waiting to see which way the case might go , or accepting an offer that has considerable advantages for you right now ? Your gonna get more money , that means more food for your family and more dough in your pocket , that sounds like a good deal to me . In fact , in many ways , what your now faced with is a lot of like the game show DEAL OR NO DEAL , if you haven’t watched it , take a moment and check it out (it’s got some hot models! Oh yeah!) . Are you going to walk away with the 300,000 or the 1 cent ? It’s up to you .
Finally if I’ve read this contract right it does something that I think needs to be done ASAP , it rights a tremendous wrong , a sin of one union brother against another . With this contract we can finally recall our union brothers that we expelled ,home with their pay and seniority at the time they were cast away .It is time to pass this contract and wipe away this horrid sixty day rule . Take a moment to Remember your friends that are no longer here .
I cant’ see what’s coming , and neither can anyone else , but we can plan using the information that we have at hand .Our boy doug LOVES to merge , so who knows , maybe this time next year we will be calling ourselves united instead of US AIRWAYS .. I don’t know about most of you , but I’m now tired of fighting the good fight , for me this offer is now a chance , a chance for me to lay down my burden , won’t you ?
Your union brother
Freedom
