Actually Bobby Gless and Gary Yingst claimed that they took pay cuts. However the LM-2s do not reflect any such cuts.
I recieved an E-mail from a worker in Tulsa who claimed that Yingst claimed that his cut was only around 7%. Bobby Gless made a similar claim to a worker from JFK.The LM-2s did not reflect any paycuts for either of these union officials. In fact from 2003 to 2004 Gless recieved a 100% increase from the TWU. Perhaps it was a bonus for his work in getting the concessions put in place at AA. "Good job Bobby at screwing your former coworkers, heres your bonus!"
So what apparently happened was that Gless and Yingst may have been telling the truth, but in order for that to be so they must have been collecting a paycheck from the company, Check-off statements from American Airlines prove that Gless was still collecting a check from AA during his first year and a half as an International rep, as does sworn testimony from Gless himself, which is illegal. You see if only the AA portion of Gary's paycheck was cut, and not his International check, the total loss of income would have been only around 7%. So their statements indicate that they were accepting illegal kickbacks from the company, no doubt for their support in getting the concessions put in place.
I checked with the DOL however and no one in the TWU reported that they recieved any income from the American Airlines, after all such payments are illegal. I also checked with the DOL to see if AA had reporeted these payments, since according to the LMRDA ANY payments made to union officials should be reported to the DOL. In fact the company claimed during the 2003 Concessions fiasco that they paid the TWU $3.1 million a year! None of it reported to the DOL as has been the law since 1959.
After I made a fuss about these payments and the lack of reporting by both the company and the TWU in several letters to the DOL the DOL put out a notice that unions had to start reporting their payments from the company, they pretty much admitted that they had not been enforcing the laws they were supposed to, laws that were put in place specifically to protect union workers from union corruption, and they granted union officials a grace period in which to file, however they did not act upon forcing the company to report their payments to unions as required by the LMRDA.To date, as far as I know American Airlines still does not report what they pay to the TWU, for union business, to the DOL.
After the DOL put out the notice I checked to see what officials of the TWU reported. The only thing they reported was A-10 travel passes, they did not report any of the income they must have recieved to make their claims that they also took paycuts true. In fact nowhere in any of the reports filed with the DOL could any one find any of the $3.1 million that the company admitted, or claimed, that they paid to the TWU. It could not be the A passes because the union officials claimed these passes are the same as they would be entitled to as emplotyees, therefore they had no identifiable value. So where is the $3.1 million?????
When I filed the complaint with the DOL all I expected was an answer. They told me that I would get one, but I havent and its been three years. A coworker went to his local Congressman Peter King and asked for assistance. We even went to Washington DC with the documentation. We were told that we would recieve an answer, we didnt. I also went to my Local Congressman, Tim Bishop, again with the documentation, again told I would recieve an answer, I didnt. When I went to Opensecrets.org I found that both Peter King and Tim Bishop had recieved thousands of dollars from the TWU!!!
So here I am, I have met with Congressmen, had DOL officials in my home where instead of getting me an answer they apparently investigated me(they requested my Social Security number), written scores of letters and made my acusations public yet still I have recieved no explanation as to the fact that American Airlines is illegally paying TWU officials millions of dollars a year and why the government does not enforce the laws that have been put in place to protect us.
If these accustions were false, that American Airlines is making illegal payments, in other words bribes to TWU officials, then why hasnt the company or the TWU confronted me? I know that they monitor what I write because I was forwarded a file they had that was given to a litigant several years ago and the union removed me from office solely based on things they pulled off the internet. Surely if I was lying then the company or the union would have come after me, but then I would without hesitation sue and then a little thing called disclosure comes into effect.
One thing that has happened since I started trying to expose all of this is that several of the key players have left. Sue Oliver, head of AA HR left the company. HR would have been aware of any payment scheme between the company and the TWU. Greg Hall, head of line maintenance left-he too would have been aware of the payment scheme. Anne McNamarra, head of AAs legal department left, she would have been the one to inform everyone everyone else of the illegaility of these payments and managements duty to comply with the LMRDA. Art Luby-legal counsel to the TWU left, he would have been the one to inform union officials about complying with the LMRDA.
The fact is that because we have the TWU and American Airlines, two powerful organizations with a lot of money to throw around involved in this apparent criminal activity, a regular working person does not have much of a chance in getting answers or justice, certainly not swiftly.
Here are some of the facts.
American Airlines claimed that they paid out $3.1 million a year for "company paid" union business however they failed to report these payments as per the LMRDA.
American Airlines paid the salaries of Local Presidents without reimbursement. This is illegal, it violates both the RLA and the LMRDA.
American Airlines continues to make these payments and they continue to conceal them.
The TWU accepted and continues to accept these payments and gave American Airlines the largest concessionary package outside of BK in history.
The company threatened to terminate these payments if the TWU did not meet the concessions target. In this case Union officials like Gless, Yinsgst and others would no longer have recieved any pay from the company for doing union business. So these officials were faced with either seeing their AA paycheck cut by 17% or by 100%. In other words they would see their AA paycheck go from $75k to $60k by getting the company all the concessions they wanted or see it go to $0 if they didnt.
After reporting these payments to the DOL and repeated queries as to why there were no Lm-10 or LM-30s on file from either AA or the TWU the DOL issues a letter informing unions that they must file their reports, however the letter openly states that they are not enforcing the companys requirement to file, but may do so in the future.
The government has chosen not to enforce the LMRDA. They openly admitted to not enforcing union reporting requirements in the past and indicated that they may or may not enforce company reporting requirements in the future.
We have a pro-business administration in power.
The LMRDA has been the law of the land for nearly 50 years.
It was put in place to protect union members from corrupt unions.
Several years ago when I filed with the NY office nothing happened. When I contacted the Washington DC office they said that no claims were filed, NY had apparently "misplaced" the documents I gave them. (Rumor has it that the head of the NY DOL office was friends with Sonny Hall.)
I have no doubt that the Bush administration is willing to turn a blind eye at a little company/union collaboration despite its illegality, (if only there was some way they could spin this towards fighting terrorism) if the result of that illegality is the weakening of the labor movement and the lowering of airline workers wages. The administration has made it clear that lowering our wages was part of their plan. This administration is no doubt very pleased with the performance of Jim Littles TWU where huge concessions are granted by labor without any loss to shareholders or disruption to consumers.
So under these conditions where unions are rolling over backwards for employers, falling over each other to give the most in concessions, pro-business interests, including those running the government, have no incentive to punish corrupt union officials who give companies everything they want while preventing disruptions caused by the workers who are getting screwed.
For these pro-business interests the actions of organizations like the TWU are a win win. In the present they divert huge sums of money, billions of dollars a year, away from the workers and towards owners, and all they have to do is turn a blind eye from a comparatively paltry $3.1 million lining the pockets of union officials. Then in a few years they can reveal these payments, claim what an outrage it is and announce that they are cracking down on union corruption. These announcements will further discredit the labor movement as a whole. Union drives will be thwarted as companies show their workers how corrupt unions are, how unionized workers in the airline industry faired worse than non-union workers and how union officials got rich selling out their own members.
1withintegrity I can understand your fustration but it is one that driven by ignorance. You fail to see that the attack upon AMFA was part of a much broader struggle.
Unless you understand what the broader objectives of the industry as a whole are you will fail to see what really happend to you.
NWA was willing to engage in an "at all costs" struggle with AMFA and they had support from every direction, government, capital and other organized labor.
AMFA was the only union that was not complying with the demands of the industry. That embarrased other unions, if AMFA succeeded it would have meant that those unions screwed their members. Those unions had to see AMFA fail, otherwise their own members would have revolted.
Capital and the government have a plan for this industry. Cheap transportation and big profits. We stand in the way of those objectives.
In the Spring of 2001 I attended an IRRA Conference in Washinton DC where the real theme was "The unrealistic expectations of airline workers". Speaker after speaker went on and on about how the industry needs to provide cheap transportation and profits for its owners and how workers wages were standing in the way of those objectives.
A few short months after the events of Sept 11 provided them the opportunity of a lifetime, and they didnt hesitate to capitalize on the tragedy.
Union after union simply rolled over, only one union said "NO". AMFA. Time will prove that AMFA was right. Just because they lost the battle at NWA it does not mean that they were wrong. AMFA had to be crushed because they were bucking a 20 year trend. For the last twenty years unions have been granting the airlines concession after concession. AMFA was causing problems for the other unions that were simply collecting dues and giving the companies everything they wanted. So, the combined interests of Capital, government and other unions all wanted to see AMFA fail at NWA. The failure of AMFA at NWA is the fault of all of us. You paid the dearest price but in reality we are all paying for it.
Resisting the erosion of our pay should be considered a Patriotic Act. The cheap transportation that our cheap wages enable doesnt just hurt us. It hurts all American workers. Its not so much the cheap seats that do the damage but its the stuff thats under seats in the cargo holds. By providing cheap transportation or products we are enabling rapid uncontroolled globalization and the export of yet more US jobs. If someone can get their product from China nearly as quickly, and cheaper, from China than from within the US then where do you think they are going to go?
The fact is there was a lot riding on the struggle between NWA and AMFA. Labor had to be dealt a decisive blow. Labor could have won if we had stood together, but our leaders chose to stand down, and they did so for the most vile reasons.Hopefully workers will one day hold them accountable for their treason.
