Hey folks. I am sharing the My feelings with you regarding the APFA Executive Committee meeting held over the past two days. Do with my comments as you will. I am thoroughly disgusted.
George Price, IDF
I have remained silent over the course of the past two years regarding what has transpired within the APFA. It is not that I did not have an opinion. The fact is, I held an official position within our union that dictated that I remain neutral. It demanded that I put out the facts through the official modes of communication of the APFA only after having it approved by the majority of the national officers in accordance with official APFA policy. Well, I don't hold a position now, and I am not going to have my voice muted out of some insane sense of loyalty to anyone.
What I witnessed today in the special APFA Executive Committee meeting was APFA Politics at its worse. For those of us who have been around a few years, it is reminiscent of the "Stu Adams-Lundy" days when the minority leadership of the APFA overthrew the majority. The Adams-Lundy case, with some of the very same players as we have today, cost this union the respect of its membership, the respect of other organized labor, the respect of the Company, and worst of all hundreds of thousands of unnecessary dollars in legal fees caused by the numerous lawsuits that arose from the minority action.
The facts behind this are that the recent national officer election was one of the closest in our history. No one, and I do mean no one, knew how tight the race would be at the end especially for the position of president. In question is whether the votes of certain Flight Attendants who faxed in membership application cards should be counted. Let's face it folks, these were former TWA Flight Attendants. I know that APFA provided the Company with a New Member Packet including an APFA Membership Application/Dues Checkoff Authorization Card for each former TWA Flight Attendant. I know because I watched the APFA staff prepare literally 4,000 of these packets, and IDF Chair Steve Watson and I delivered them to the mail center for AMR to be mailed to the former TWA Flight Attendants. Like any American Airlines Flight Attendant, they were provided with ample opportunity to sign the card and become dues paying members of the APFA shortly after APFA was deemed the bargaining agent for the TWA-LLC Flight Attendants. For whatever reason, some choose not to complete the cards until we were deeply involved in the election process. While others exercised their Constitutional right to vote and were gladly dues obligated to the APFA, others held out, did not pay their dues when the obligation started, and only stepped up to be counted when they felt the urge hit them.
It is absurd to think that APFA election complaints or internal charges brought by one member against another could be heard by the APFA Executive Committee and any member of that committee could be impartial. For example, charges brought against John Ward are heard by people on the Executive Committee who dislike him personally and frankly hate him politically. How could they possibly be impartial? In the case of the election complaints, it is a 6-3 vote against John Ward on the Executive Committee. Of those six people against John, four ran against his slate in the national officer election and two publicly supported the opposing slate. When the appeal filed by Juan Johnson, Ted Bedwell, and Linda Lanning came before this same group, they dismissed them expeditiously. When the complaint by Tommie Hutto-Blake was brought forward, they delayed proceeding nearly 24-hours, and then attempted to pass a resolution directing the APFA National Ballot Committee to open and count no less than fourteen former TWA Flight Attendant's ballots. Ballots cast by Flight Attendants who did not send in their membership card when given the opportunity nearly three years ago and only became members during the election process. Keep in mind, this is an election decided by five (5) votes. Don't think for one minute that the counting of these votes would not change the outcome of the election for position of president of the APFA. It most certainly would considering the fact that an overwhelming majority (nearly 2,100) of former TWA Flight Attendants voted for Tommie Hutto-Blake. Fortunately, APFA President John Ward had to leave after waiting for the Executive Committee meeting to convene today in order to participate in our Washington, D.C. lobby event on May 12th. Cheryl Walters and Ted Bedwell participated in the debate over the resolution and then left the meeting when the resolution was called to question. This denied the quorum ending the meeting without a vote on the resolution.
As an APFA member in good standing for nearly twenty years now, I thought I had seen it all. I was wrong. I am witnessing history repeating itself- a disgruntled minority who refuses to accept the will of the membership. A minority who believes that they are better than the membership and know more than we do. A minority that seems dead set on putting in who they want in leadership roles and fulfilling some type of pre-set agenda.
In reality, any and all election complaints should be deferred by such a politically charged group as the APFA to an independent agency including the Department of Labor Management Standards. APFA Representatives should never be involved in deciding the outcome of charges or election complaints that they themselves are a party to or have a vested interest in. The APFA system is broken. Before our democratic voices are muted any further, the system must be fixed. Those in power must recognize the shortcomings of our governing documents and policies before we find ourselves draining the entire APFA Treasury to resolve conflicts, once again, in court or through arbitrations.
For now, I encourage all APFA members to make their voices known on this issue. Call or e-mail your base representatives. Their numbers can be found on the APFA Web site and in Skyword. Call or e-mail members of the Executive Committee. They are Mario St. Michel, Lenny Aurigemma, Steve Ellis, Cheryl Walters, Ted Bedwell, Brett Durkin, Cathy Lukensmeyer, Greg Hildreth, and John Ward. Their numbers can also be found on the APFA Web site. Tell them that only the Department of Labor should decide the outcome of the election complaints in this and other cases. If this election is to be overturned, it should only be done by the United States Department of Labor and no one else.
It is way past time for the APFA membership to say enough is enough! Everything we have struggled to become as a union and all of the respect we have been able to obtain through our incredible actions over the past eleven years is at stake. The years of public internal fighting should be left in the past. Most of us have moved past that for the good of our union and our membership. It is time that those who have personal agendas, that refuse to move past the quest for power and personal vendettas, move on.
George Price, IDF
George Price, IDF
I have remained silent over the course of the past two years regarding what has transpired within the APFA. It is not that I did not have an opinion. The fact is, I held an official position within our union that dictated that I remain neutral. It demanded that I put out the facts through the official modes of communication of the APFA only after having it approved by the majority of the national officers in accordance with official APFA policy. Well, I don't hold a position now, and I am not going to have my voice muted out of some insane sense of loyalty to anyone.
What I witnessed today in the special APFA Executive Committee meeting was APFA Politics at its worse. For those of us who have been around a few years, it is reminiscent of the "Stu Adams-Lundy" days when the minority leadership of the APFA overthrew the majority. The Adams-Lundy case, with some of the very same players as we have today, cost this union the respect of its membership, the respect of other organized labor, the respect of the Company, and worst of all hundreds of thousands of unnecessary dollars in legal fees caused by the numerous lawsuits that arose from the minority action.
The facts behind this are that the recent national officer election was one of the closest in our history. No one, and I do mean no one, knew how tight the race would be at the end especially for the position of president. In question is whether the votes of certain Flight Attendants who faxed in membership application cards should be counted. Let's face it folks, these were former TWA Flight Attendants. I know that APFA provided the Company with a New Member Packet including an APFA Membership Application/Dues Checkoff Authorization Card for each former TWA Flight Attendant. I know because I watched the APFA staff prepare literally 4,000 of these packets, and IDF Chair Steve Watson and I delivered them to the mail center for AMR to be mailed to the former TWA Flight Attendants. Like any American Airlines Flight Attendant, they were provided with ample opportunity to sign the card and become dues paying members of the APFA shortly after APFA was deemed the bargaining agent for the TWA-LLC Flight Attendants. For whatever reason, some choose not to complete the cards until we were deeply involved in the election process. While others exercised their Constitutional right to vote and were gladly dues obligated to the APFA, others held out, did not pay their dues when the obligation started, and only stepped up to be counted when they felt the urge hit them.
It is absurd to think that APFA election complaints or internal charges brought by one member against another could be heard by the APFA Executive Committee and any member of that committee could be impartial. For example, charges brought against John Ward are heard by people on the Executive Committee who dislike him personally and frankly hate him politically. How could they possibly be impartial? In the case of the election complaints, it is a 6-3 vote against John Ward on the Executive Committee. Of those six people against John, four ran against his slate in the national officer election and two publicly supported the opposing slate. When the appeal filed by Juan Johnson, Ted Bedwell, and Linda Lanning came before this same group, they dismissed them expeditiously. When the complaint by Tommie Hutto-Blake was brought forward, they delayed proceeding nearly 24-hours, and then attempted to pass a resolution directing the APFA National Ballot Committee to open and count no less than fourteen former TWA Flight Attendant's ballots. Ballots cast by Flight Attendants who did not send in their membership card when given the opportunity nearly three years ago and only became members during the election process. Keep in mind, this is an election decided by five (5) votes. Don't think for one minute that the counting of these votes would not change the outcome of the election for position of president of the APFA. It most certainly would considering the fact that an overwhelming majority (nearly 2,100) of former TWA Flight Attendants voted for Tommie Hutto-Blake. Fortunately, APFA President John Ward had to leave after waiting for the Executive Committee meeting to convene today in order to participate in our Washington, D.C. lobby event on May 12th. Cheryl Walters and Ted Bedwell participated in the debate over the resolution and then left the meeting when the resolution was called to question. This denied the quorum ending the meeting without a vote on the resolution.
As an APFA member in good standing for nearly twenty years now, I thought I had seen it all. I was wrong. I am witnessing history repeating itself- a disgruntled minority who refuses to accept the will of the membership. A minority who believes that they are better than the membership and know more than we do. A minority that seems dead set on putting in who they want in leadership roles and fulfilling some type of pre-set agenda.
In reality, any and all election complaints should be deferred by such a politically charged group as the APFA to an independent agency including the Department of Labor Management Standards. APFA Representatives should never be involved in deciding the outcome of charges or election complaints that they themselves are a party to or have a vested interest in. The APFA system is broken. Before our democratic voices are muted any further, the system must be fixed. Those in power must recognize the shortcomings of our governing documents and policies before we find ourselves draining the entire APFA Treasury to resolve conflicts, once again, in court or through arbitrations.
For now, I encourage all APFA members to make their voices known on this issue. Call or e-mail your base representatives. Their numbers can be found on the APFA Web site and in Skyword. Call or e-mail members of the Executive Committee. They are Mario St. Michel, Lenny Aurigemma, Steve Ellis, Cheryl Walters, Ted Bedwell, Brett Durkin, Cathy Lukensmeyer, Greg Hildreth, and John Ward. Their numbers can also be found on the APFA Web site. Tell them that only the Department of Labor should decide the outcome of the election complaints in this and other cases. If this election is to be overturned, it should only be done by the United States Department of Labor and no one else.
It is way past time for the APFA membership to say enough is enough! Everything we have struggled to become as a union and all of the respect we have been able to obtain through our incredible actions over the past eleven years is at stake. The years of public internal fighting should be left in the past. Most of us have moved past that for the good of our union and our membership. It is time that those who have personal agendas, that refuse to move past the quest for power and personal vendettas, move on.
George Price, IDF
