Bob Owens said:
Bob, Thank you for your reply, I do remember your group coming here, how after your departure, Our E BOARD wrote the membership aletter telling us you were here to try to persuade us to vote no on the concessions, also all E BOARD members signed the letter urging all of us to vote yes.
Also, because of your group coming here, I dont know, if its true or not, but our E BOARD said Butch invited you, and that was used as part of the EBOARDS letter to the membership after they suspended BUTCH, because, as they said in the letter, Butch had knowingly invited an AMFA group from new york to come here to ask us to vote no. That was 1 of the charges brought up agianst Butch.
Butch before your group arrived had urged the membership to vote in favor of the concessions, to save our jobs.
Butch also was in talks with the city to establish a contract for AA to lease the base to save our jobs, thats why the E Board suspended him, because he didnt take them to the meeting.............childish? HELL YES, Guess they felt they were going to miss somehting and not get credit, that they seem to admire
Butch went to a retirement ceremony after calling to order an E BOARD meeting, this is one charge they made against him, that he went to retirement party rather than finish his business at the board meeting. CHILdish....................HELL YES
Another charge, Butch they claim had numerous cell phone personal calls, stating his bill was over the limit, but yet no other E BOARD member had their cell phone usage shown to compare................YEP CHILDISH
What angered me the most about this is, just 3 months before, the memberhsip voted unamioulsy for Butch, he received more votes than all E BOARD members together, THE MEMBERSHIP SPOKE, it took only 8 members of the E BOARD to over ride the memberships vote, to me, if they had a problem with Butch they should have told the memberhsip and let us decide his fate, but because as they say he violated the BYLAWS and constition, yet at his trial (kangaroo court) 1 E BOARD responded when asked by Butch, "Its Long Standing Policy of this local'
What the heck is he talking about? We have only been a local less than a year? and already we have a long standing policy?
YES.........we have alot of problems here, but no matter how bad, I will stay with a union that is AFL-CIO, because I beleive in history, and as they say in sports, you stay with what brought you.
I have been around unions along time, Im familiar with the past TEAMSTERS, of Truckdrivers from the 60's to the 80's, they were powerful, because of the membership, which is lacking in all unions today
Bob said.........The AFL-CIO does have a record of accomplishments as you have said, however over the last twenty years they have a lot more losses than wins and unfortunately the majority of the leaders are old men who will not and have no reason to change their failed ways. There is hope however, the SEIU has a militant leader who is poised to shake up the organization (the SEIU is the largest union in the country). They sent me a copy of an essay entitled "United We Win". It makes excellent reading for any unionist
over the last Tweenty years Bob, the AFL-CIO has lot power, all unions have. I know we will arguments about this, but to me, it started when Reagan fired the air traffic controllers. THat was the end of all membership staying as 1, since then , no membership has been strong. To me, it dont matter what Initials hang over our local, if membership dont beleive or trust, we will never be strong and in solidarity. We need leaders that all members look up to, I feel we lack that here, we do have alot of good and great people, great members, alot with great ideas, and desires, We lack the leader willing to go the extra mile for us.
Bob wrote............Sorry to hear about your President, I met him when I went to MCI with our "Vote No" letter. He was a nice guy, however he was terrified of his board
Bob, I dont beleive he was terrified of his board, its that he didnt fit in the "click". He supported a woman to head the labor board, the E BOARD disagreed and picked another, the woman Butch selected eventually won.
Butch had many great ideas and leadership ability, but because some of the E BOARD memebers didnt think of it first, they fought Butch and objected to him.
Butch had a great repor with all, including management. Members that didnt vote for Butch were eager to sigh the Petition, the membership couldnt beleive what the committee had done, Im not sure of the final count, but beleiveit to be over a thousand, more than enough to send a message
Never, in the weeks following his dismissal did the E BOard tell the membership what they had done, till probably well over a month, maybe more like month and a ahlf, they fianlly broke their silence and sent out letters, slamming Butch, with accusations not related to his dismissal
It was after his dismissal the E board, with out asking or telling membership at the monthly meetings, that they had bought new lap top computers
I will say, that after our membership heard about your group coming here and urging us to vote no and our committee was urging us to vote yes, most members were upset and did vote no
I agree that a person with higher degree of education should be compensated, A&P should receive more, than an AMT
I also beleive tha all workers deserve the right to a good payscale and benefits, If a fleet service worker is happy cleaning airplanes, than its not my place to be little them for staying,the same as a parts person, we must do what makes each happy, ourselves, and because they stay, does not mean they are less than us, but that does not mean they hsould make what a mechanic makes, but it does mean they deserve the right to represented the best of alls ability
I hope all members will take a more active role in their local, and help change by laws where the members havbe more power, not the E BOARD, after all they are supposed to work for us...............not against us
again,
Thank You Bob