Nice try Bobby! I did not say amfa got the ball rolling. I stated that that was your position but,
Oh I know, I know, it was amfa who started that ball rolling we just jumped on right??
You wrote it not me.
in fact, as most NWA mechanics now make clear, everything that amfa gained in wages in that agreement was paid for by layoffs and outsourcing.
Well, if true, at least they got something, unlike the TWU that has been giving the company huge concessions for over 20 years. Concessions that reduced our real pay and eliminated jobs. The company grew but the rate of A&P jobs did not grow at the same rate. If the TWU had not given away so much A&P work to other TWU members there would have been thousands more A&Ps jobs out there, not only in OH but on the line stations as well. Since much of AAs growth was at the expense of other carriers the net effect of the TWUs actions was a severe decline in the need for A&P mechanics and the systematic elimination of A&P jobs. Stations such as Buffalo, where they even had a hangar were shut down for A&Ps, even though the TWU remained. So dont try and tell an A&P about outsorcing, our jobs have been outsourced within the TWU for decades.
When amfa signed the 2001 agreement with NWA there were close to 10,000 mechanic and related on the property. Over the next four years the Company implemented three rounds of force majeure layoffs impacting over three thousand workers and was the only management that managed to declare the Iraq war a force majeure incident.
What ever happened to our Force Majeure grievance?
Out of these 3100 or so mechanic and related who were laid off, amfa managed to get about 75 their jobs back.In addition to this, there were "voluntary" layoffs from mechanics and cleaners who didn't want to move after NWA decided to pare down, destaff or close their stations or facilities as they did at Atlanta and, for cleaners, at Memphis.
How many layoffs of mechanics have there been at AMFA represented SWA? How many paycuts?
When AMFA filed for a vote at AA the TWU/AA claimed we had over 18000 in the class and craft, yet the Title 1 list sits at around 10,000 today. So we have lost thousands of jobs as well,some through layoffs the rest through attrition, but no matter how you label it thousands of jobs are gone.
All in all by the time the strike rolled around the mechanic and related workforce had been cut from 10,000 to less than 4100 active mechanic and related. At the same time the workforce had been cut by sixty percent the level of outsourcing increased and more than half the heavy checks were already outsourced. This part should not have been a surprise because if you read the transcript of the PEB, amfa's own witnesses made a point of saying that their new language allowed the Company to outsource at levels higher than they had done before and was a source of savings. All this damage was done under the terms of the supposed industry leading contract and before the Company imposed a single concession after the strike. As a NWA mechanic made clear on this Board, the new agreement amfa just presented to its members not only does not guarantee a single job (aside from those held by scabs), or return a single benefit, it does not even allow strikers to bump out scabs holding the few jobs that are left even though the scabs are junior to them.
I agree that the current NWA deal sucks, its pretty much the same deal we have. In fact we pioneered most of those concessions, and we did so with our union sitting side by side with management instead of fighting it. Reduced sick time, elimination of holiday pay, lost vacation, double digit paycuts and thousands of jobs eliminated were all well inn place several years prior to the NWA deal.Now our union is working with management to reward them for what they did to us by trying to increase productiovity without anything in return.
As for the changes proposed by Informer, while I am not an expert on various unions' constitutions, I believe your account of what presently exists is not accurate. The TWU Constitution provides increases for its officers based on the weighted average in TWU negotiated agreements.
I believe you are wrong, the only person whose pay is determined by the secret weighted average formula, which no one actually gets to see, is the President, all others are determined by the IEC or IAC. So any officer other than the Presidenbt can and usually does recieve raises even when the members take pay cuts.
Also the TWU formula only counts raises, not paycuts, whereas AMFAs pay rates takes in both. If AMFA organized Eagle and they accepted a nickel raise in their new contract it would bring the Presidents pay down, however if the TWU organized minimum wage school bus drivers from Arkansas and got them a nickel raise it would bring the Presidents pay up even though the average wage of the membership as a whole declined. The AMFA formula ties the pay directly to the average memberships pay, the TWU foremula guarantees that the President recieves increases even if the average membership pay decreases.
One doesn't seem any more tied to the members than the other.
Thats because you didnt look close enough at the differences, at AMFA the President only gets raises if the membership as a whole sees increases whereas with the TWU they can putv in a 25% paycut with 1.5% increases and since only the increases are counted they still get a raise. At the TWU the President still gets raises even if the membership as a whole is getting paycuts.
But, I don't care. Propose what you want. The delegates at Conventions are members and if they don't accept your proposal it doesn't mean they or the Union are undemocratic.
Sure it does.
As for all of your ideas of destroying the TWU and the AFL-CIO and creating your federation of independent unions that doesn't engage in politics, before you destroy anything send your program (in fact, send this string) to any union that actually represents people, independent or otherwise, and lets see if a single one buys into your program and is willing to work with you.
From the members perspective the TWU and AFL-CIO have already been destroyed. They have proven to be totally ineffective. At present they simply collect dues and do little to nothing for the members. In fact they even try to prevent the members from gaining accountability from their own unions by fighting more detailed reporting requirements. While the Internationals demand detailed reports from the Locals the members are not entitlted to the same amount of disclosure from their Internationals.
While I agree that unions must take part in the political arena they must also realize that its a forum where they are outspent 10-to 1. In other words its a forum where they can not win. In order to win they must work outside the system as well, and that means strikes, sitdowns and other work stoppages, or at least the threat of them. If we cant at least be given a level playing field within the system then we need to create enough disruption outside of it to the point where we are courted back in.
Recent rulings by the courts make it plain as day that despite legislation that says otherwise that we have no rights as workers. The rights of workers have been cast aside in order to give Capital broader rights. Our contracts are worthless and unenforcable from a members point of view and the AFL-CIO has done nothing. Instead they claim that we should stay the course that brought us to where we are, because that course still provides those in power a good living and security. Our dues provide for them what they no longer provide for us.
Post what you sent them and post the response. If there is no response and committment, we can only assume that following you will lead us right to where the NWA mechanics are--isolated, vulnerable, and on the street.
Well most of the mechanics have found re-employment, other workers would likely not fare as well,in fact NWA told their employees to get what they need out of dumpsters. Your TWU and AFL-CIO are doing nothing about the decline of the American worker other than making a few speeches and watching to see how
their investments are doing.