Jim Little
from Tulsa Wolrd Article below - ""I am formally notifying you that the TWU will support the debate that Local 514 has scheduled in Tulsa for Jan. 15 . . . and we will not be participating in the alternative event that you have called for on Jan. 17. . . . "
MR. LITTLE, if the TWU supports the TWU Local 514 Debate, then why won't you show your face and answer questions regarding the James Klopp letter posted above? You are nothing more than a coward, and real proven coward. Of course you support this debate, as long as if covers your ass from being questioned by the TWU membership, you not only favor it, you are damn thankful they are covering for your ass.
FACT - TEAM TWU has been video taped questioning AMFA Leadership.
FACT - TWU Leadership does NOT provide the TWU Membership the same access
GO - AMFA
GO - DEMOCRACY
GO - ACCOUNTABILITY
Mechanic unions set debates
By D.R. STEWART World Staff Writer
1/8/2004
Supporters of American Airlines' incumbent TWU and the rival AMFA will square off next week.
An insurgent aircraft mechanics union and the incumbent Transport Workers Union at American Airlines will hold debates next week in Tulsa, union executives said.
TWU mechanics from Local 514 in Tulsa will debate supporters of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association at noon and 4 p.m. on Jan. 15 at the Renaissance Tulsa Hotel and Convention Center, 6808 S. 107th East Ave.
Two days later, on Jan. 17, AMFA National Director O.V. Delle-Femine said he will debate TWU National President Sonny Hall or another TWU officer at 11 a.m. at the Brady Theater, 105 W. Brady St.
AMFA ran a quarter-page advertisement in Monday's editions of the Tulsa World to publicize its debate at the Brady Theater.
"I have no confirmation from Sonny Hall," Delle-Femine said in a telephone interview from AMFA's headquarters in Laconia, N.H. "I'm writing to the TWU now."
If Hall or a TWU officer are no-shows for the Brady Theater debate, Delle-Femine said he will host a question-and-answer session for union members. The AMFA officer said he has no interest in participating in the TWU-sponsored debate at the Renaissance Hotel.
"I have nothing to do with the (TWU) local (514). I'm involved with the national," Delle-Femine said. "I'm not involved with that debate because I'm already involved in another debate."
TWU executives have the same response to the AMFA-sponsored debate.
This (Local 514 debate) approach maximizes membership participation and allows the people whose careers will be directly impacted by the outcome of the pending representation dispute to take the matter into their own hands. The debate is open . . . to anyone in the industry and will focus on national as well as local issues."
TWU officials said they suggested a debate between TWU mechanics and AMFA supporters after Delle-Femine did not respond to inquiries about the time, date and location for a debate that Delle-Femine originally proposed Oct. 31. Delle-Femine proposed the debate in a flyer distributed at American maintenance facilities.
"On Dec. 22, we hadn't heard from them and we sent out an invitation to debate at the Renaissance Hotel on Jan. 15," said Rick Mullings, TWU executive board member. "We said the debate should take place between working men and women -- the rank and file members debating AMFA rank and file members. They've never contacted us."
Delle-Femine said more than 52 percent of about 17,000 TWU members have signed cards certifying their interest in AMFA. The insurgent union needs 50 percent plus one of TWU's membership to sign cards to call an election by the National Mediation Board. An election would determine union representation.
Delle-Femine said AMFA will not call for an election until it has cards signed by 60 percent of TWU's membership.
"That's so we have a cushion," he said.
Executives of the TWU, which has represented American mechanics since 1946, said they doubt AMFA has as many cards signed as it alleges. Many of those cards were signed last spring and will expire within months, they said.
"The interest in them is waning," Mullings said.
Delle-Femine and AMFA supporters said the union is gaining support because of widespread disillusionment among mechanics, who agreed to 17 percent pay and benefit cuts last year to keep American out of bankruptcy.
"Mechanics are supporting us because our union is a democracy -- we don't believe in concessions and members vote on everything we do," Delle-Femine said. "The TWU is a dictatorship."
The TWU represents about 7,000 mechanics and ground workers at American's Maintenance & Engineering Center in Tulsa. In April, the TWU agreed to a five-year contract calling for $620 million in wage and benefit concessions. Those concessions were among $1.8 billion in pay and benefit cuts and layoffs of 7,000 people agreed to by American's workers.
In an e-mail sent Wednesday to Delle-Femine, James C. Little, director of the TWU's Air Transport Division, wrote: "I am formally notifying you that the TWU will support the debate that Local 514 has scheduled in Tulsa for Jan. 15 . . . and we will not be participating in the alternative event that you have called for on Jan. 17. . . .
While those concessions rankle many union members today, TWU executives said the cuts likely would have been wider and deeper if they had been made by a bankruptcy judge.
Although Delle-Femine asserts that AMFA will not agree to wage concessions, it has agreed to substantial layoffs at airlines at which it has won representation. AMFA represents mechanics at United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, ATA, Atlantic Coast Airlines, Horizon Air, Mesaba Airlines and Northwest Airlines.
Mullings said AMFA agreed to layoffs of half of its mechanics at Northwest Airlines and outsourcing of up to 38 percent of its aircraft maintenance.
The TWU agreed to pay cuts at American but preserved jobs and in-house aircraft maintenance, he said.
