One Single Local for AMT's
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MCI transplant
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<_<------- One major structural difference between the TWU, and the IAM, is that the IAM has a buffer between the local and International know as the district, which would be strictly AA AMTs and related. Does it work any better that when what you have now? ------- Well, that depends on who you talk to!!
Overspeed
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Are you thinking of one for Line and one for Base? Or just one for all?
One local? So how are the members who dont live where the local is based going to attend the meetings and vote on issues?
We had that at Piedmont with the IAM with local lodge 2444 in Winston-Salem, NC, no one was able to go to the meetings.
How is a West coast or North East member suppose to attend?
You want more democracy, that would create a dictatorship.
We had that at Piedmont with the IAM with local lodge 2444 in Winston-Salem, NC, no one was able to go to the meetings.
How is a West coast or North East member suppose to attend?
You want more democracy, that would create a dictatorship.
TWU informer
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We are not weak and fractured because of the number of Locals that we have.
We are weak and fractured because the market for our respective jobs has divided us and we have greedy and selfish union brothers.
We have gone from blaming Bus Drivers, Fleet Service Clerks, Republicans, Tulsa Overhaul, Non-Licensed employees, to now the number of Locals we have.
One day we will see ourselves for what we are and stop blaming others.
We are weak and fractured because the market for our respective jobs has divided us and we have greedy and selfish union brothers.
We have gone from blaming Bus Drivers, Fleet Service Clerks, Republicans, Tulsa Overhaul, Non-Licensed employees, to now the number of Locals we have.
One day we will see ourselves for what we are and stop blaming others.
Set up a secure website and do it online.
Let's face it with 24-7-365 operations there's no way all the members could attend a meeting at the same time anyway. However if you set up your debates online everyone could see what others have on their mind. Threads could be started based on motions, leave the thread open for a week, this way everyone can read or contribute to the debate and then close the thread and vote. This would allow a broader range of perspectives, the guy on nights in the Northeast could read how the guy on the west coast on days sees things. Security would of course be an issue but that's always been the case, there have always been suck ups that run up to management telling them what happens at meetings anyway. This could increase participation as the polls would essentially be open 24 hours and they could vote from home. Another positive point is we all know how some members always try to seize the floor and drone on endlessly about an issue that only concerns them, well members would not have to sit through that anymore, they could scroll on by.
UPS and SWA mechanics are in the same market as us, but they do ok. They also are not split up into 21 locals with no coherent structure. I agree there is no single panacea for what ails our profession, there are many, we need to address what we can.
High Speed Steel
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Wow, What a novel idea. Reminds me of the environment Dell Femine had running AMFA from within a closet of a Real Estate firm...."dictatorship 101"
People who resist change often do so out of fear but also simply because that staus quo just suits them fine.
Change will come, one way or another, for the last twenty years most of it has been bad, except for the 2001 agreement.
What percentage of your peers participate in any meaningful fashion? How many even bother to vote? 30%? Yet you see no reason to try and change things. I guess you like it that way, easier to simply blame the members for not participating instead of trying to facilitate participation.
TWU Local 100, several contracts, one Local-works pretty well. Industry Leading Contracts. Nobody is talking about dumping the TWU over there. Local 556, one contract, one Local, nobody is talking about dumping the TWU over there and they are spread out just like us. Industry Leading Contracts. Local 555, one contract, one local, same thing. Industry Leading contracts. TWU/AA several contracts, even more Locals, several drives to get rid of the TWU and industry leading concessions. Even our Dispatchers and Sim Tech guys, who also are all in one local each,do fairly well when we arent dragging them down.
I do it at work daily. It is called Sametime, Netmeet, Gotomeeting, etc...
With teleconferencing and technology as it is today, this makes more sense to have one local. I know you would not argue with the strength in numbers philosophy.
Wow. I surely hope you are not in some kind of union leadership role.
At AA we have two other unions that have conducted successful strikes over the last twenty years and have better particiaption than we do. Both are centralized.
Their spokemen say "give us the money" our appointed ones say "these are the worst times since the Great Depression" or "We need to put this in our rear view mirror and do whats best for AA". (In the meantime our appointed spokesmen continue to get annual raises on top of their six figure incomes, they are enjoying the best of times while crying poor mouth for the company to the people they are supposed to represent.)
Members are not apathetic because they dont care, they are apathetic because they feel that the people who control the unions dont care. They dont feel their particiaption will make a difference, and you cant say they are wrong. If all of a sudden every Union Meeting was packed what would that change? Are you saying that our leaders will not lead us into battle because they feel the members are not willing to fight?
Both the APA and APFA have diectly accountable officials. If they dont do the right thing the members replace them. At the TWU at AA Local Leaders are subordinate to unelected appointees who enjoy six figure salaries and are unaffected by the concessions or extended negotiations.
So the answer is NO, I dont think getting rid of 21 small weak Locals would add to membership apathy. I think that there still needs to be a presence but not in the form of many small Locals.
What is needed is a central leader who is accountable to the entire membership, we have no central leader. The International puts blame on the Locals and the Locals either push it on the members or back to the International. In reality who has the authority? The answer is the International.
Our ATD, made up of appointed officials controls our contract and all committees at AA. Sure they say the Presidents council has control but when challenged they admit that the council really has no say. They have a say as long as that say is in agreement with what the International wants. Recently and issue came up that highlighted that about our benefits committee. Now for the record I think they do a great job for us and help us out a lot but the issue was about accountability, who do they answer to? So I asked the International rep Bobby Gless, "Who do they work for, us or the International, if this body(the Presidents Committee) voted to dissolve the committee does it have the power to do so? I was told "No , they work for the International and the International may accept recommendations from the committee". So essentially Bobby Gless is the authority over and above the entire Presidents Council. The International also controls negotiations and is Chair of all committees in the AA/ATD. That is not the case with Local 100, where the International only gets involved in Negotaitions at the request of Local 100 and Local 100 decides who chairs their committees. Local 100 meets directly with the MTA about contractual disputes and sits their members on the panel for grievances. With us the International determines who will sit on the board for system disputes.
