WeAAsles said:
Unions shouldn't have any rules or laws written by POS Politicians that bind our hands. I'd be more than fine if the IAM or us either had a say in the matter without having to see either side put at a disadvantage because some "rule" said they have to get cards.
You only want them to go by those rules because you can't stand them and wish they would just beat it. Not exactly Union brotherly love if you ask me.
And the only reason I'd be fine with the NMB ruling in favor of the association and just certifying the association is because of that rule that puts the NO UNION option on that ballot.
On that one its not Fleet I'm worried about actually, it's your group that I think more than likely could be inclined to cut off their noses to spite their faces. I really do believe they have the propensity to be that dumb, sorry.
Every three years I go though an election, fair enough, would not want it any other way, even pushed to make sure my peers didn't have to wait till an election to remove me if I didn't do the right thing. However the Collective bargaining agent once voted in never has to have an election unless more than half the "eligible" people actively solicit either decertification or another Union.
We may have a chance to fix the AA/ATD, we wont be able to fix the Association. We have no rights to fix it, there will be no Association Convention where you can try and change things. It will be a mess. We would have to convince not only the rest of the TWU it needs to be fixed but we would have to get the rest of the IAM convinced it needs to be fixed. Both Unions represent some very low wage earners so our issues will not rise to the top of the agenda, especially since the Association itself would have us split between two Unions.
In MX basically we would be pretty functional if the International would just settle the Title II issue and turned control over to the elected representatives, once negotiations are done we need to look into further consolidation and if we all merge into one Local be allowed to run our contracts with the same freedom that Locals 555, 556 and Local 100 run theirs. They need to not make the same mistake they made with Fudge and Plowman. We could never get any where near there with the Association.
Title II needs to be allowed to choose "All in locals and contracts with Title I or all out". Let them decide. In New York Title II was told NO by their Title III run Local, I believe the same thing happened in DFW. The reason given is because if they leave those Locals would need to restructure, well that needs to happen anyway. This isn't 1950. Long distance phone calls are one of the few things that cost less today than they did in 1950 and Local 591 has already structured an efficient model of a Local that goes from one coast to the other. Fleet has too many Locals and there is no advantage come contract time to having seven financially stressed Locals sitting at the table. You may want seven representatives but you could have that with fewer actual Locals.
Here is what you must look at, is the present structure working? Is your standard of living getting better or at least are you holding your own without working more hours? The answer is NO. Will the Alliance make things better or make things worse? The answer is WORSE. The status quo of how we went into 2003, 2008 and BK in 2012 is unacceptable. We will only continue to get bad deals. We need change, but the Association is not the change we need. Around 3000 of our 4000 members sent in petitions saying they do not want the Association, we also received hundreds from Tulsa and forwarded them to the NMB as well. The TWU is changing, maybe not fast enough and maybe not enough but at least in Maint it is changing, the IAM is exactly the same IAM that brought their members up to our post BK wages eight years after their employer exited BK,EIGHT YEARS and the best they could do was get our BK wage where they also gave away synergies that are needed as leverage in JCBA talks to a company earning billions.
This whole Association was Jim Littles baby, so was merging with the CWA, which the new team was able to get out of, the deal with the IAM was already sealed. Do you really want to go forward with Jim Littles plan? Read the language of the Association, it strips the Locals of any power whatsoever, and its something that cant be changed at a Convention either. Its a complete mess. Even the determination of what cities end up in what Union makes no sense. At least the IBT/CWA said east is one west is the other, fairly simple, the TWU/IAM Association is more confusing than a Florida Ballott.
The fact is even before the IAM brought back the sellout deal I was against the Alliance, I said one or the other, before they showed their true colors I would have been ok if they stuck us all in the IAM and the TWU took all of fleet, but I cant accept an Association under any terms and I could no longer accept the IAM. So now its stick to the rules, its TWU unless they get a showing of interest.
