You are right, it was not directed at you; but since you chose to answer, I'll play.
I believe a Union is only justified in their existence when they improve the wages, benefits and working conditions of their members.
I agree.
The TWU has failed on all three accounts.
Again, I agree.
The fact is that due to the miserable representation from the International to the membership: there really is not much difference between the company that desires to screw us and our union that actually does it.
Once again, I agree, We have a problem that SWA and Local 100 doesnt have, the people who negotiate their contracts are accountable and their Locals own the agreement, we have appointed people who negotiate our contract that are not accountable to us, they dont have to live under the terms they tell us are the best we should expect. SWA and Local 100 are in the TWU like us but under a competely different structure.
Several months ago I requested that Jim Little take over our negotiations after I saw where we were headed, why keep up the charade of the "negotiations committee". The only negotaiting that the committee does is internal, we arent allowed to speak in front of the company, only the International can speak. I think I requested that Thom McDaniels be assigned to head our negotiations, he did a pretty good job over at SWA and he doesnt have the ties with AA management that the AA/ATD guys have.
Too many of our leaders have a very negative attitude towards the members they claim to serve. I heard one President say that if they went on strike they would have footprints across the backs of their shirts, another recently told his members to "shut their pie holes". We always hear about how the labor movement is failing because of the members, I say that the movement is failing because of the leaders, the leaders assume that the members will fail them so they beat them to the punch, while often collecting their six figure salaries and benifits they feel the members dont deserve.
Scope is non-existant, retiree benefits are at risk, pensions are underfunded, wages are at the bottom of our peer group, working conditions continue to decline: the only thing the TWU can say is that they kept overhaul. Being the lone air carrier to retain overhaul does nothing in and of itself for the membership since both the union and the company are willing to come to any agreement that results in the rank and file subsidizing its' existence through repeated concessions.
The fact is we dont really know if thats the case. We have never been given any solid numbers. Our union has never investigated it. The Economist they hired is more sympathetic to the company, when I insisted that we refer to this as a five year deal he said "Well its really only a two and a half year deal when you factor in the early opener". We cant really compare what MROs pay their workers to what AA pays their OH mechanics because if AA sent their work there they would be paying what the MRO
charges per hour not what they pay their workers per hour. This means that there's a lot of room for our guys to be paid considerably more than what MROs pay their guys, add in the cost and quality control advantages of keeping it in house and our guys are worth even more. Granted the line at which its no longer cost effective is probably below the $46.99 that UPS offered its mechanics but its certainly higher than what this TA has to offer. Unfortunately they have a lot of people believing that they have to compete with the wages MROs pay instead of the rate MROs charge. The biggest mistake our OH workers could make is to start to consider themselves MRO workers instead of Airline workers. Chasing 3P work for anything more than fill in work can only lead to lower living standards. Yes for now OH will shrink, but that doesnt mean layoffs, attrition will likely outpace the need to cut heads and reduced capacity. When the economy recovers the airlines will likely face a shortage. Mergers may be the only way to aquire enough workers.
The TWU International owns the contract that directly affects the membership, but, is not elected by the membership and the membership is forced to pay union dues to the Union as a condition of employment. Heads they win, tails we lose.
Again, thats because of our fractured structure, what the International did to the membership from a organizational perspective this TA will do from a contractual, fracture it. Good for the International as far as the balance of power, good for the company, bad for the members.
I say: let every last one of the b@$t@rd$ that wants to go into management, go; what we must stop is the same type going into the International, because I don't see a nickels worth of difference between the two and at least if they go into management, they lose their seniority after the 180 days.
When people run they often make promises they cant deliver, thats their first mistake and their first step towards the dark side. The only promise I ever make is that I will do my best, I say what my intentions are and what changes I'd like to make but I dont make promises. I see guys take these positions who seem to start out with the best of intentions, get overwhelmed by the challenges of the job and then feel forced to turn to the International for help. Thats their second step towards the dark side. Sure I turn to them for help as well, but I look at it as thats why we pay them 30% of the dues. Often the guys cant take any criticsm from their members, they end up looking at their entire membership as hostile and they talk about their membership negatively. Thats the third step towards the dark side. This makes them easy prey for the AA-ATD which is dominated by former officers who were voted out of office. They join with the ATD in talking bad about the membership, forgetting that this is the same membership that they solicited votes from. This is the fourth step towards the dark side, their transformation is nearly complete, all they need now is to wait for the next Convention, however if they get voted out before then they usually end up in management..