I would have to agree with a comment made by Jim Little pertaining to this forum that very few people read it and the ones that do are polorized heavily and blind to anything resembling objectivity or reasoning.. That's while I'll be signing off because my minds made up and it's a waste of time preaching to the choir.. Thanks it's been fun..
Maybe we should take the long view and look at the entire industry since deregulation, whats happened to pay and benifits? What have we lost?? What have we gained??Who has made greater gains during this time, industrial unions or craft unions.. Are our interests better served and are we stronger being split between more than one AFL-CIO industrial union I.E. IBT,TWU,IAM or could we do better being under one union and then come back under AFL-CIO as a larger group?? Has appeasment of management ( concessions) paid off for labor, go back in history compare the railroads and steel industries where same struggles happened, compare outcomes..
Is it fair to blame unions for management decisions that violate contract agreements as is the case with NWA which are being arbitrated as we speak, force majure, SARS, Iraq war??? I personally witnessed ST in Mobile Alabama doing maint. on UAL 737's over 2 yrs ago and on 3 different occasions when IAM represented the mechanics in violation of their scope agreement, IAM was powerless to stop this from happening other than getting on their knees because of weak contract language??? Yes I made IAM aware of the violations as they occured..
Can/ should a union be held accountable for a contract they did NOT negotiate?? Would we be better served by voting for who fills the seats at a national level within the union or do appointments by unelected persons meet our needs??? Is accountability an issue or a selling point?? We hear about how important political lobbying is but why with all our power and political connections has NAFTA, GATT and foreign trade via WTO passed to the detriment of our working men and women of this USA?? The WTO as you are aware is another group of unelected people making decisions that impact us directly, does this sound fair or democractic?? Why can't we get foreign repair stations either shut down completly or hold them to same standards you an I are held to????
How long should you give a union to make progress and show gains?? would gains made during the 60s or 70s mean anything today?? What about sustained losses, where do we draw the line and look for alternatives?? What are our options??
Having this devisive issue concerning representation is killing us and directing our energies away from concentrating and strengthening our base of support, we are as weak as we've ever been and this surely pleases nobody except management..
What will we do in about a year or so when the billions of dollars of debt come due??? Will we take more concessions ?? Where do you draw the line?? Keep your powder dry Steve..
what does all this mean???
Jim Anderson-
