THE INFAMOUS LAWYERS
Amfa boasts about it''s use of a law firm during it''s raids on legitimate unions. They would like you to believe that the firm they use, currently called Seham, Seham, Meltz and Peterson is going to look out for your interests. But history tells a different story.
The Sehams, father and son Martin and Lee Seham, are only moonlighting as amfa''s general counsel. They spend the rest of their time representing airline management against workers. amfa does not see a conflict of interest in this, but any intelligent person would be able to. Do you want your union representative to work three days a week as your supervisor and discipline and fire people, and then spend two days a week as a steward representing you against his own colleagues?
Allied Pilots Association
This kind of conflict breeds the type of ineffectiveness that the Seham''s displayed as the general counsel of the Allied Pilots Association (APA), the independent union representing American Airlines Pilots. When they were replaced as general counsel, amfa national director O.V. Delle Femine sent a letter to APA criticizing their action. APA answered Delle''s letter by detailing just some of the Seham''s failure while employed by APA. That letter is available
here. It is obvious who benefited from the Seham''s being APA''s general counsel, and it was American Airline, not the pilots union.
Now that the Seham''s have been replace at APA, they apparently have decided that they didn''t do enough damage to the pilots union. So they have joined forces with the
American Independent Cockpit Alliance, a splinter group of American Airlines Pilots that are trying to undermine APA by promoting that pilots withdraw from that union. Check out their
legal counsel and administrator, the same as amfa''s. This website has allot of the same information that you find on the website of the
National Right To Work Foundation.
Fire At Will
An attorney from the Seham''s law firm helped to write a book called "Fire At Will- Terminating Your Employees Legally". An excerpt that shows how an employer should deal with union organizers is shown
here. There is no way any true union would be associated with a law firm that participated in a publication such as this. Yet amfa still claims that this law firm will look out for your interests. But how could you ever trust anyone who plays for both teams at the same time?
Seham - For the Company
Don''t get the idea that the Seham''s only work behind the scenes to help management. They have represented management directly in negotiations as well as arbitration cases against union members.
Here is a copy of an arbitration case where the Seham''s were used by Varig Airlines against a worker. Then there is a case where a company was charged by a union for unfair labor practices, and the
Seham''s were there to defend them again.
We also recently received a copy of a page from the
IAM/Varig agreement, where it clearly shows that the Seham''s negotiated the contract for the company. Take a minute and think...what have the Seham''s ever done for any union. They have never accomplished anything for amfa except high legal bills (which it can not pay), and their tenure at the Allied Pilots Association referenced above ended in the Seham''s being dismissed because of their pro-company negotiating stand.
Alaska Airlines
Amfa is currently receiving allot of flack from it''s members because of it''s
failure to have lawyers at it''s current negotiations with Alaska Airlines as promised during it''s raid on that carrier. It looks like the Alaska mechanics and related are only the latest in a 30 years string of disappointed members who have been taken in by amfa''s lies only to be shaken by the reality that a real estate salesman is negotiating for them
Cleared for Takeoff
Cleared For Takeoff, Airline Labor Relations Since Deregulation, is a book published in 1988 that discusses many aspects of labor relations in our industry. Amfa attorney Martin Seham contributed to the book, and actually discusses his involvement in a union busting campaign at El Al Airlines where union members were encouraged to cross picket lines. El Al, with Mr. Seham as it''s chief negotiator, imposed work rules that eliminated union jobs.
Read Mr. Seham''s own words.