Spoken Facts

KING George T. DAVIS                       says,   I will drive this membership down at any cost! Some Spoken Facts Followed by Some Subconscious Bigger Facts! An Adaptation by King George Tiberius Davis

“Tis I again, your democratically self-appointed King here to tell you a little bit about elections, so listen up!”

Statement:
Signing an AMFA Card means I am voting to remove the Teamsters.

The King’s spoken fact:
Signing an AMFA Card means you want to have an election to determine what union the majority wants as their representative.

The King’s subconsciously thought bigger fact:
“Do we really need to be rocking the boat here, now, at this time with a Union (AMFA) that hasn’t really produced anything consistent and long lasting in its’ entire history? AMFA was created in 1962. Should I be concerned that there are more IBT Aircraft Mechanics working in MCO and IAH than the total amount of Aircraft Mechanics AMFA represents at all carriers today, even after 53 years of trying. So what if AMFA’s only mainline Collective Bargaining Agreement is 95% identical to the Teamster contract they inherited, C’mon someone had to get those 2-3% year over year raises right! Your King doesn’t want to hear anything about 40+ consecutive quarterly profits at SWA’s. AMFA fought very hard to protect that Teamster contract and procure those 2-3% yearly wage increases since they became the bargaining agent. As for the current state of affairs at the AMFA/SWA negotiations, I’ve chosen to pretend they don’t exist. It’s much easier to bury that thought in the back of my mind then to bring it to the forefront with the anticipation AMFA might finally have produce in the face of adversity”.

Statement:
If we have an election and a majority of the eligible members do not vote we lose all union representation.

The Kings’ spoken fact:

That is no longer true. The law was changed in 2010. It is now the majority of those who vote. The union who receives the most votes wins representation. See this link:  http://www.nmb.gov/documents/representation/representation-manual.pdf    Go to page 19, section, 13.304-1, Valid Votes.  

The King’s subconsciously thought bigger fact:
“If I keep posting things like this perhaps someone will think the Teamsters believe or have stated otherwise, or maybe someone will believe the Teamsters are using it as a threat when in fact I know the Teamsters were highly instrumental in getting that law changed to begin with”:

“Teamsters Eastern Region Vice President John Murphy and three Continental Airlines workers who are forming their union with the Teamsters testified today at the National Mediation Board’s hearing on a rule change that would make rail and airline elections fairer. Murphy and the Continental fleet service workers spoke in favor of a NMB proposal that would base Railway Labor Act (RLA) elections on a majority of those voting “yes” versus a majority of the overall unit voting. The current system means that workers who don’t vote are counted as “no” votes, which is fundamentally undemocratic.

“The reality of the Board’s current rule is that it imposes an undue burden on employees in exercising their right to designate a representative because they must not only overcome those who oppose representation, but even more difficult, of the electorate who will not participate regardless of the organization to engage them, Teamsters Vice President.” Murphy said. “This reality of nonparticipation means that employees must attain a super-majority of voters…carriers need only persuade a minority of engaged voters to not vote and may then rely on nonparticipation to defeat their employees’ organizational aspirations. That turns the purposes of the RLA on their head.”

Statements:
How many signed cards must be collected in order to have an election?

The Kings’ spoken fact:
A majority. At minimum, 50%+1

The King’s subconsciously thought bigger fact:
“A Majority at a minimum…. Wait, what was I talking about again, oh yeah 50% +1.”

How many AMFA Cards are signed and when will you file?

 The Kings’ spoken fact:
Currently we don't have enough signed cards. We will not divulge the number of cards signed until after we file. We will not divulge when we will file due to the history of the IBT's dirty deeds such as at American Airlines when an investigation began due to accusations the IBT forged signatures. Soon after, the IBT decided to pull out of the campaign for American Airlines. Do not believe the IBT rhetoric about our card drive stalling. Fact is the IBT is rattled. Fact is cards are coming in throughout the system. This act alone has pressured the IBT AD to produce.

The King’s subconsciously thought bigger fact:
“I realize I am doing nothing but hurt the membership and its ability to show some solidarity in an effort to achieve a much deserved industry leading contract. I also realize this is taking so long and there is no end in sight because AMFA has no money to put forward a true organizing campaign so they have to rely on donations from our mechanics. That’s why I put that “donate link” on our site. I also realize that having absolutely no money to fund an organizing campaign probably means they have no money for negotiations, arbitrations, lobbying and many other aspects of representation but I will keep those thoughts in the back of my mind with the SWA negotiation thoughts if you know what I mean”.

“Whenever I think of AMFA and money I can’t help but think of how AMFA’s law firm took a large sum of money ($12,300), from a handful of vulnerable Sub Continental mechanics, for limited services rendered in an attempt to remove the United Airlines Seniority Consent Decree. Once AMFA’s attorneys did not complete that mission one of my faithful servant followers began to seek the balance of those donated funds to help with AMFA’s organizing campaign”.

“Here are excerpts from an email sent by one of my trusty followers. It was subsequently forwarded via mass email to many other mechanic and related. It was, however, originally sent to those donating in the “Eliminate the Consent Decree” debacle and it read as follows”:

“As you all know, our efforts to litigate the United Airlines Seniority Consent Decree has reached a lull or a level that would require individual large contributions to obtain the balance of the funds”.



“While all us that contributed agree with attorney Seham that the Seniority Consent Decree should be removed and is not applicable to Sub Continental, the majority of our coworkers have not made this a priority”

“In light of recent developments with the United for AMFA drive, I am proposing, with your approval, to transfer the balance of the funds, which remain in an Escrow account, over to the AMFA drive effort”.

“I am confident that once we are successful in voting AMFA into United Tech Ops, we can make the abolishing of the Consent Decree a priority with little to no resistance from our Union leadership”.

“Hello, your King is back again. Wait a minute; make abolishing the Consent Decree a priority? Even after we realized, as stated in the email, “the majority of our coworkers have not made this a priority?” Even after Mr. Seham took $12,300 from our own members we ask them to contribute more? Continue this potentially long drawn out fight even after majority of the Sub Continental membership realized the risk, money and time it would take to accomplish far outweighed any substantive gains that could be realized? Wait, what about my fellow Sub United membership that argued to keep the Consent Decree in place? Oh no, do you think they have seen their King tied to such rhetoric? Quick, let’s move on!”

Statement:
Do the furloughed workers get to vote?

The Kings’ spoken fact:

Yes, the furloughed M&Rs do have the right to vote for representation.

The King’s subconsciously thought bigger fact:
“I am so glad our furloughed mechanic and related have the right to vote considering the majority of them were furloughed under AMFA’s watch. Oh no there is that word “related again”. Yes, the Ground Service Equipment Technicians, Building Maintenance Technicians and Utility Specialists have the right to vote as well as the furloughed mechanic and related and we will need cards from all of them. I urge my fellow servant followers to give me some ideas as to how to get these “related” groups to sign a card.  After all, AMFA has stated on several occasions and even made attempts to have them separated from the craft and class of Aircraft Technician. It’s no secret AMFA alleged a representation dispute in NMB Case No.’s R-3712, R-3713 and R-3714. Maybe if I just keep ignoring and bury this fact it will go away. Damn I’m running out of room back there!”

Statement:

If AMFA becomes our new union before reaching a new agreement with the company, does that mean we have to start all over in negotiations?

FACT:  This will be the decision of the membership. If negotiations continue to stall and drag into the voting stage of representation then it's possible the company would not want to negotiate with a possible "lame duck" committee. Saying that, if AMFA does take over negotiations members will be allowed to sit in on negotiations and be proactive in the process. The membership will know every detail of the negotiations.

The King’s subconsciously thought bigger fact:
“Who am I kidding, “This will be the decision of the membership”, we all know very well the carrier is going to run deeper into the rabbit hole if they get wind that this AMFA campaign has any real legs. If you thought these last two years were long and drawn out, wait until me and my minions get enough traction to truly reveal to UAL just how badly divided this membership is.  Look on the bright side my fellow servant followers, you all get to sit in on negotiations for the next 4 years. Yes, you can truly be part of the process. You can bring every proposal back to the shop floor. Local management can see it, relay back to the company negotiators that it will never work and the company will change their proposal at the next negotiating session, simply genius isn’t it. I mean look how well it’s working over at SWA’s”.

Wait, stop, your King has titled his papers “The Truth”. I will not, continue such circulation if I am going to have the truth tainted by any facts. “This I Promise!”