Membership Outreach- Follow-up - Wednesday, July 07, 2004 at 17:22
MEMORANDUM
TO: AA Local Presidents and Executive Boards
FROM: James C. Little
RE: Member Outreach Plan – Upcoming Survey and Focus Groups
DATE: July 2, 2004
On June 23, I sent you a memorandum entitled “Changes to Strengthen the TWU Air Transport Division.†It stated my commitment to reach out to the AA local leaders and members to get ideas on how to change and strengthen the union. This follow-up memorandum provides details on our outreach plan. I ask each of the Local Presidents to assist with the implementation of this plan so that we can obtain greater input from our members and successfully chart a course for our future.
I have asked the AFL-CIO and Abernathy Associates to assist the ATD with developing our Membership Outreach Program. They bring outside expertise and objectivity to this process. Simply put, their job is to help us identify direction and changes for the ATD by listening and drawing out ideas from our members.
The following is a preliminary description of the Membership Outreach Plan that the AFL-CIO and Abernathy Associates have prepared for the ATD. Our goal is to implement this plan and report back results to the Presidents Council Meeting in mid-August. Our plan focuses on four areas that we have been talking about for the past year:
· Communications
· Bargaining procedures
· Structure
· Administrative practices
Membership Outreach Plan
Membership outreach will be conducted using two approaches: A survey that will be distributed to every member; and focus group meetings that will be held with members at eight AA Locals. Each of these approaches is described below.
Membership Survey
The survey will be designed to solicit member opinions and attitudes as they relate to the four key areas described above. The survey will be mailed to every member’s home with a postage paid return envelope. Surveys will also be distributed on the shop floor and will be available on the ATD web site. All surveys will be coded to guard against any attempts by individuals to skew the results.
The advantage of the survey is that it provides us with a quantitative measure of members’ opinions on broad issues. If we can encourage a significant portion of members to complete the survey, we will be able to obtain an accurate sense of what they are thinking on key issues. The disadvantage of the survey is it is a one-way process – it does not allow for give and take discussion and it is not the best instrument for exploring issues in-depth.
When the survey is prepared, I will send you an advanced copy.
Focus Group Discussions
By conducting focus groups, we will attempt to obtain the more qualitative information that is impossible to learn from a survey. We plan to meet with small groups of members at four line stations, three bases, and one Title II Local. At each location, we plan to have three meetings with 10 workers. Participants will be randomly selected.
The AFL-CIO and Abernathy Associates will facilitate the focus groups. They will not release the names of the individuals participating in the focus groups and will not attribute any information gathered in the focus groups to any individual.
The focus groups will all have the same format. A facilitator will open up each meeting with an icebreaker exercise to get people talking. Individuals in each group will then be asked to give their opinions on how the TWU can improve communications; bargaining procedures; change its structure to better serve members; and improve administrative practices.
A wealth of information will be obtained through these discussions. In order to keep track of all of the suggestions and ideas that members raise, the facilitators will make an audio recording of each session. At the outset of the meeting, participants will be informed that the session is being recorded and will be able to opt-out of participating. While the information gathered during the sessions will be used to produce a report to the ATD, the actual tapes will be kept confidential and no statements made during the sessions will be attributed to any individual.
I. Base Meetings
We have organizing focus groups sessions at the upcoming membership meetings at all three bases. The proposed schedule for these meetings is:
Tulsa – 7/12
MCI – 7/14
AFW – 7/21
At the meeting, we would divide into groups of 10-20 members, and we would have facilitators guide discussion through a strategic planning exercise. The objective of these meetings will be to have the initiative completed by our August 19, 2004 joint meeting.
II. Line Station Meetings
Focus group/strategic planning session would be organized in Miami, Chicago, New York and DFW. During the week of July 5, we would contact you on the logistics. As part of this effort, we would also offer you (our Local Presidents) the opportunity to submit suggestions on questions that we could incorporate in our focus group/strategic planning sessions. Tentative dates for conducting these meetings would be:
Miami 7/19-20
New York 7/26-27
DFW 8/3-4
Chicago 8/12-13
MEMORANDUM
TO: AA Local Presidents and Executive Boards
FROM: James C. Little
RE: Member Outreach Plan – Upcoming Survey and Focus Groups
DATE: July 2, 2004
On June 23, I sent you a memorandum entitled “Changes to Strengthen the TWU Air Transport Division.†It stated my commitment to reach out to the AA local leaders and members to get ideas on how to change and strengthen the union. This follow-up memorandum provides details on our outreach plan. I ask each of the Local Presidents to assist with the implementation of this plan so that we can obtain greater input from our members and successfully chart a course for our future.
I have asked the AFL-CIO and Abernathy Associates to assist the ATD with developing our Membership Outreach Program. They bring outside expertise and objectivity to this process. Simply put, their job is to help us identify direction and changes for the ATD by listening and drawing out ideas from our members.
The following is a preliminary description of the Membership Outreach Plan that the AFL-CIO and Abernathy Associates have prepared for the ATD. Our goal is to implement this plan and report back results to the Presidents Council Meeting in mid-August. Our plan focuses on four areas that we have been talking about for the past year:
· Communications
· Bargaining procedures
· Structure
· Administrative practices
Membership Outreach Plan
Membership outreach will be conducted using two approaches: A survey that will be distributed to every member; and focus group meetings that will be held with members at eight AA Locals. Each of these approaches is described below.
Membership Survey
The survey will be designed to solicit member opinions and attitudes as they relate to the four key areas described above. The survey will be mailed to every member’s home with a postage paid return envelope. Surveys will also be distributed on the shop floor and will be available on the ATD web site. All surveys will be coded to guard against any attempts by individuals to skew the results.
The advantage of the survey is that it provides us with a quantitative measure of members’ opinions on broad issues. If we can encourage a significant portion of members to complete the survey, we will be able to obtain an accurate sense of what they are thinking on key issues. The disadvantage of the survey is it is a one-way process – it does not allow for give and take discussion and it is not the best instrument for exploring issues in-depth.
When the survey is prepared, I will send you an advanced copy.
Focus Group Discussions
By conducting focus groups, we will attempt to obtain the more qualitative information that is impossible to learn from a survey. We plan to meet with small groups of members at four line stations, three bases, and one Title II Local. At each location, we plan to have three meetings with 10 workers. Participants will be randomly selected.
The AFL-CIO and Abernathy Associates will facilitate the focus groups. They will not release the names of the individuals participating in the focus groups and will not attribute any information gathered in the focus groups to any individual.
The focus groups will all have the same format. A facilitator will open up each meeting with an icebreaker exercise to get people talking. Individuals in each group will then be asked to give their opinions on how the TWU can improve communications; bargaining procedures; change its structure to better serve members; and improve administrative practices.
A wealth of information will be obtained through these discussions. In order to keep track of all of the suggestions and ideas that members raise, the facilitators will make an audio recording of each session. At the outset of the meeting, participants will be informed that the session is being recorded and will be able to opt-out of participating. While the information gathered during the sessions will be used to produce a report to the ATD, the actual tapes will be kept confidential and no statements made during the sessions will be attributed to any individual.
I. Base Meetings
We have organizing focus groups sessions at the upcoming membership meetings at all three bases. The proposed schedule for these meetings is:
Tulsa – 7/12
MCI – 7/14
AFW – 7/21
At the meeting, we would divide into groups of 10-20 members, and we would have facilitators guide discussion through a strategic planning exercise. The objective of these meetings will be to have the initiative completed by our August 19, 2004 joint meeting.
II. Line Station Meetings
Focus group/strategic planning session would be organized in Miami, Chicago, New York and DFW. During the week of July 5, we would contact you on the logistics. As part of this effort, we would also offer you (our Local Presidents) the opportunity to submit suggestions on questions that we could incorporate in our focus group/strategic planning sessions. Tentative dates for conducting these meetings would be:
Miami 7/19-20
New York 7/26-27
DFW 8/3-4
Chicago 8/12-13
