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It's an online poll. Stands to reason that every FA and their brother probably voted. Not exactly a metric of horrid performance. I'd worry if 29,000 stockbrokers felt that he was/is doing a bad job...Doc said:
Am I really? Seems to me like Mr. McDaniel is more devoted to his "stragegic bargaining campaign" than he is to getting his members a contract. What did Parker demand? Simply this - stop negotiating thru the media. What was Mr. McDaniels response?swagalleyhag said:Wrong.
Parker asked our Union to stop the public campaign, and refuse media interviews from then on. There was not going to be any media attendance at their meeting. The Union NT has never requested media at their negotiating sessions. Parker wanted the Union to completely stop the public campaign entirely. It had nothing to do with that particular meeting.
No, Thom doesn't have paparazzi following him into negotiations sessions, nor would he ever ask for or even want that.
Here's some news for Mr. McDaniel - your customers for the most part don't give a rats ass about your issues. They could care less if you were actually PAYING Southwest to go to work for them. What matters to your customers is this - the price of the ticket. Period. Of the two folks (Parker and McDaniel), Parker strikes this customer as the one who wants to get y'all a contract. Mr. McDaniel seems more intent on seeing his name in the Baltimore Sun, LA Times, Orlando Sentinal, Miami Herald, Forbes just to name a few. Imagine if McDaniel focused more on the issues at the bargaining table than he focuses on his hairstyle for a hoped for 60 minutes segment. From what I've been reading, his "strategic bargaining campaign" (negotiating thru the media) has so far resulted in a withdrawl of some of the things the company has already offered. From reading my history books, most General's, when faced with a losing strategy, cut their losses and drop that strategy and adopt another."We could not agree to his indefensible gag rule demand for a media blackout because our issues are important to our Flight Attendants, our customers, and our culture."
So...two years without a contract - a "proposal" for a contract that is turned down pretty much by a handful of people called a "negotiating committee. The rampers union took a proposal, agreed to a "tentative agreement" and put it to a vote. It was voted down. Negotiations continued. Mr. McDaniels strategy appears to be one that, rather than "vote down" a first tentative agreement, they would use a "stragegic bargaining campaign" and negotiate via the media to "shame" the company into giving their "best and final offer" the first time. What part of that is not correct?swagalleyhag said:The reason Mr. McDaniel didn't put the company's offer to a vote is because it was a PROPOSAL by Management. Using your logic, if it's OK to put PROPOSALs to a vote, without having a Tentative Agreement (meaning that it was agreed to by BOTH parties), why don't the Company and Union do a "multiple choice" vote?
The Railway Labor Act's rules for Negotiations state that Unions are the bargaining agent for the Members. The way it works is this: Management and the Union's Negotiating Committees come to an AGREEMENT, and then present that to the members for a vote. As Union Members, we view your suggestion that the Membership votes on Management's PROPOSAL just as ludicrous as the way you would probably view it if we said, let's let our Members vote only on the UNION proposal to which Management has not agreed.
As to your last completely ridiculous suggestion that Thom McDaniel was involved in previous AA and/or Eastern contract... well (SURPRISE) you're wrong again. I know Thom McDaniel well, and can 100% verify for you that he DID NOT take any part in ANY other Flight Attendant Union's Contract Negotiations. Not AA, Not Eatern, Not anyone except Southwest. Whoever wrote that is absolutely incorrect.
I'll summarize my posts:SWAFA30 said:I have written megabytes of commentary from the flight attendant perspective and yet...here we are again batting the same birdie back and forth across the net...."Thom McDaniel is the Devil"..."No he's not"..."Yes he is"...."No he's not"...."Yes he is"...blah blah blah blah blah
Since all the well thought out polysyllabic words seem to get glossed over I think I'll try a new approach and keep this one short and sweet....Talking Points if you will...this is after all an election year.
1. Thom McDaniel has the willing support of the majority of the membership.
2. The membership has seen the company's proposal.
3. A 4 page brochure was placed in our mailboxes payscales and details included.
4. Each member has been told how much retro the company's offer would pay them....to the penny. That figure is updated every time we are paid.
5. The membership remains underwhelmed by the company's offer.
6. There has has been no groundswell of pressure to put the company's offer to a vote.
7. Member participation at union sponsored events is up, not down.
8. We don't vote on proposals. We vote on tentative agreements. We do not have a tentative agreement.
9. Telling people under what circumstances they should do their jobs is condescending, elitist, and offensive.
10. The flight attendant at Southwest Airlines are angry
11. The flight attendants are angry with Southwest Airlines, not Thom McDaniel.
12. Being forcefed a contract we find subpar will only make us angrier
13. If we accepted the companys offer now we would be in this same position again in another 3 years.
14. The company's proposal does not fully meet the needs of the
membership.
15. Better we should see this through to the end and settle the issue once and for all.
16. I am not a mindless drone following an evil svengali.
17. Neither are most of my 7,300 co-workers
18. I am capable of independent thought.
19. I have looked at all of the issues
20. I have thought about it.
21. Thom McDaniel still has my support.
22. This was kinda fun.
23. I should structure more of my posts this way.
24. Have a good weekend