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Vicious Truths – Delta F/A e-mail Newsletter #14 August 23, 2001 VICIOUS TRUTHS FLASHBACKS #2 January 18, 1996 Unions attribute their
decline to lack of a “level playing field” and anti-union management.
Their idea of a level playing field is one on which, instead of just
being severely handicapped, companies would be totally unable to defend their
employees or themselves. If
unions really did have a level playing field, and they had to compete on the
same privilege-free basis as other businesses, it would be a disaster for them! Members who didn’t think unions were worth the dues they
had to pay, the restrictions they had to endure, or the hostile environment
unions created, would quit… Insofar
as management being anti-union is concerned, it’s not hard to understand why
management would resist forces that would make them uncompetitive and imperil
their future. April 9, 1996 The AFA… is telling us
how Delta pilots are losing tremendous amounts of flying hours and contending
that we need its protection or our hours will also be cut.
I know the AFA will try anything, do anything, or say anything to get
Delta F/As in its clutches, but that’s so absurd it’s funny.
ALPA can’t protect pilots’ hours, but AFA can protect ours?
What are they smoking? ALPA
has very serious problems and shortcomings like any union, but being weaker than
the AFA is definitely not one of them. In
fact, ALPA plays the AFA like a violin. Since
breaking away from ALPA, AFA has always supported ALPA strikes, but do you know how many times ALPA has supported AFA strikes?
None!
They never will, either - especially when the AFA contends (presumably
with a straight face) that it is the more effective union of the two.
If pilots kept flying, how long do you think it would take Delta to
sort through thousands of qualified applicants and hire
permanent replacements for striking F/As? April 17, 1996 …unions obtain strike
authorizations in advance when nobody knows what issues may arise.
Members can’t hope to obtain much from negotiations if they refuse to
authorize unions to strike beforehand so they routinely and blindly give such
authorization. If, as often
happens, a union ends up calling a strike over issues members do not support,
it’s the members’ tough luck. If
they protest or refuse to strike, they can be “fined,
suspended, expelled or otherwise disciplined.” Unions
could, of course, wait until a strike issue developed and then conduct a strike
vote, but they usually don’t. [When
defrocked Teamster “reform” president Ron Carey wanted a strike at UPS in
1997 for political purposes, he refused to let members vote on the company’s
offer and called the strike based upon the pre-negotiation strike vote]. September
30, 1996 [One
of] the afa’s most outlandish claims [is] that “60% of the dues paid provide
attorneys who will help negotiate
the contracts… assist in all legal matters and assist flight attendants when
there is a dispute between the company and a flight attendant.”
The
long delayed LM-2 report provided proof of how farcical and deliberately
deceiving the afa’s statements about attorneys were. The
afa took in $13,776,000 in dues in 1995. Sixty
percent of that is $8,265,600. The
report showed that the afa had only eight attorneys on the payroll in 1995 and
that they were paid a total of $491,181 - 3.6% of dues income, not 60%. [note:
the afa still has not filed its LM-2 report for 2000.
Guess why.] August
25, 1998 The game plan is
obvious. The twu and afa
are trying to scare us out of our wits so we leap into their clutches and pay
them for protection. In other
quarters, this is called a “protection
racket.” Currently, they are
trying, 1) to convince us that we will soon suffer extremely serious
consequences if we don’t have union representation when Delta purchases,
merges with, or is bought by another airline and, 2) to frighten us into
believing Delta is going to take away our retirement benefits and leave us
destitute. There is no truth to
either charge, of course, but in the absence of truth the
unions twist, turn, distort, and fabricate - whatever it takes - to make us feel
threatened and defenseless. September
1, 1998 ·
Would we
be able to decide for ourselves whether to go out on strike?
No!
The afa constitution says, “The
Board of Directors shall have the authority to: …l. Control
the union ….
2 Establish policies to be followed by the Union and its members
[like whether to support a strike]. And, “Any
member (in any class of membership) may be fined,
suspended, expelled, or otherwise disciplined [whatever that means] for
any of the following acts: …c. Disobeying
or failing to comply with a decision of the Board of Directors, the Executive
Board, that member’s Master Executive Council or Local Council…” ·
Would we
have a right to refuse to strike in support of another union?
No!
All the afa would be required to do before forcing us out on strike is
hold discussions. “No
flight attendant group is asked to support a strike without a full and open
discussion of the issues.” ·
Would we
be free to speak out if the afa did something really stupid or awful?
No! There’s
no freedom of speech, honest or accurate as it may be, if it is critical of the
afa. [sound familiar?] “Any
member (in any class of membership) may be fined, suspended, expelled, or
otherwise disciplined for
any of the following acts: …j. Doing
anything contrary to the best interests of the Union or its members…l.
Acting in any manner disloyal to the Union.” ·
Would we
have an effective avenue of appeal if the afa took action against us?
No!
We could appeal, but only to a board appointed by the afa national
president and secretary-treasurer. Further, even though the board’s decision
is final, binding, and enforceable in court, we could not have legal
representation. The afa is not about to
let F/As have effective representation or let an impartial arbitrator decide
members’ grievances against it! ·
Would we
be free to resign from the afa? The
Supreme Court says we can, but guess what we’d be in for if we tried:
“Any member learning of a
contemplated resignation from the union is requested to promptly notify the
officers of that Local Council and the National Secretary-Treasurer of the Union
that such resignation is imminent and that whenever a resignation from the Union
is received, the member’s Local Executive Council will be notified and an
investigation will immediately be conducted by said Local Executive Council,
including an informal hearing with the individual concerned.”
Not only would the afa try to intimidate individuals exercising their
legal right to resign, they reserve the right to discipline any other F/A who
refuses go along with this “big brother” scheme and report them! ·
Could we
decide for ourselves whether or not to accept
a company offer in bargaining? No! The
afa could veto an agreement even if every
one of us wanted to approve it. There would be control
with a union all right, - suffocating control - over us. Keep
these unions out of our lives, our company, and our paychecks. September
23, 1998 Is there a “logjam”
causing “flight attendant stagnation,” because senior F/As won’t retire
under Delta’s current retirement plan? No! In the five years prior to 1993, the percentage of F/As
retiring each year did not change appreciably.
Since 1993, the percentage of F/As
retiring each year has increased every
year and the average age of retiring
F/As has dropped from 57 to 54. In
other words [contrary to the afa’s contention] THERE IS NO LOGJAM! RIP UP THOSE BALLOTS! |
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