goingforgold

It does seem that Katrina is having a bigger impact on the operations of NW than the strike.

In the media thread it was pointed out that the union leaders pretty much let the AMFA members out to dry by authorizing a strike with no funds. Evidently, there was not even a vote on the contract. This whole thing was poorly handled by the leaders of AMFA. If they had accepted the last NW offer, they would have health insurance and severance.

I agree - Advantage NW.

If the next workers unionize under the IAM, maybe they will have a chance to have leaders really looking after the workers' wellbeing. I don't know much about the IAM, but I would think from the perspective of a union worker, it has to be better than AMFA.

Too bad there is the thought that anyone returning to work is a "scab". I bet there are a lot of people thinking they would be better off with a job right now.

VideoPaul

AOG is way down, arrivals within 14 are at acceptable levels, completion is way up, AMFA really shot themselves in the foot. Their web site admits that two workers have crossed lines ( and if that's what they admit to you have to wonder what the real number is), they are begging for money on their web site, NW is flying and they (striking workers) are going to have to make mortgage payments starting today.

As for the "scab" thing, no one has ever adequately explained to me what the union hopes to accomplish by calling someone a "scab". If I'm out of work and the kids need food, call me any damn name you WANT to, I'm working becuase my family comes before your f******g picket line. So some union ape is yelling SCAB SCAB SCAB at me? Ooh, bet he's gonna call me a "pig" or a "fathead" or even maybe a "big meanie". I'm a scab with a paycheck and my kids are eating. By the way, union tough guy, exactly how much money is your precious UNION paying you to walk around in a circle and wave a stick with cardboard stapled to it in the air?

"Our strength is our solidarity!" Has anyone asked exactly what percentage of their normal take home pay the UNION BOSSES are getting? I'll bet it's 100%. Perhaps if the union bosses had to go without paychecks like the workers whose paychecks they live off of are, that these strikes would be a lot more rare. THe union bosses going without money would be a show of solidarity. Instead you have a show of executive greed, and wow, isn't that the same thing AMFA is accusing NWA of? But the union mind tells you that the union boss continuing to pay his bills and feed his family while you yourself are selling personal property and calling creditors with the lame excuses that the AMFA web site suggests is good and right and fair.

Then again, in the union mind, NO JOB is better than 75% of your paycheck.

The tin is moving, the tickets are being sold, passengers are getting from A to B, this ceased to be a major news story outside of the hub cities on day three, no new talks are scheduled and I cannot find one good reason fro NWA not to stay the course on this. Meanwhile, the union mind sounds like a bumper sticker...

"Daddy, I'm hungry."
OUR STRENGTH IS IN OUR SOLIDARITY
"But daddy, I'm hungry."
AMERICA WORKS BEST WHEN WE VOTE UNION YES
"Daddy, why can't we buy groceries?"
I SUPPORT MY UNION BROTHERS AND SISTERS
"Daddy, when can we eat dinner?"
I'M UNION AND I VOTE
"Daddy, are you listening to me?"
UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL
"Daddy?"

--PP

VideoPaul

at www.amfanatl.org:

**************
If NWA is successful in breaking AMFA at NWA they will have effectively rewritten the book on how to bust a union. All other unionized groups in this country will be in danger.
**************
Obviously AMFA knows that the union movement is headed for the flat line. The massive disruptions and complete failure of NWA is just not materializing.

Want more laughs? Listen to the pathetic phonemail message from Steve McFarlane. Paraphrasing:

"Northwest's plan all along required many of our guys to cross our picket lines..."

"Stay strong, unified and committed"

but also

"Morale remains high."

Hey Steve, if morale is high, why do you have to tell people this?
Hey Steve, if things are going so well, why do you have to remind your workers to stay strong and unified?"
Hey Steve, if Northwest's plan REQUIRES a lot of "your guys" to cross the picket line, why is AOG a third of what it was the day you walked off the job? Why is this no longer a major news story?

HEY STEVE, HOW MUCH OF YOUR PAYCHECK ARE YOU GETTING THESE DAYS??? HOW MANY BILLS ARE YOU UNABLE TO PAY??

--PP

goingforgold

Northwest has out-manouvered AMFA, but I don't think it was that hard to do. The union leadership has really done a disservice to their members. I don't think this will be a model on how to break a union as AMFA is essentially breaking themselves. I better-run union making better choices would not be broken.

I have also heard that the workers will be unionized - just under a different union.

I would want to know from my leaders - what happened to the dues? Where is the strike fund?

I do hope that those who really want to continue to work for NW, and take pride in their work, will find the strength within themselves to cross the picket line. The strike was ill-conceived and will not likely result in any benefits to the workers. I really believe the union leadership made some poor choices leading up to this situation.

Everyone will have a hard time now that there is even one more difficulty in front of the airlines - Hurricane Katrina causing chaos, and fuel prices to rise even further.

VideoPaul

The problem that no one in the union movement wants to talk about is that labor and trade unions--once necesssary, good and basically righteous, are no longer about worker protection and safety. They are about two things and two things ONLY: MONEY and POWER.

They are there to make sure that incompetent workers who have been there for years stay employed and are not fired as they should be. They are there to make sure the guy who has been there the longest--not the guy with the best work, the most productivity, the least amount of errors--gets the best shifts. They are there to make sure that it is as difficult as it can be to get rid of a bad apple. They are there to make sure that the employer is seen as the enemy, to make sure that you can do as little as possible for as much money as possible, that you can hurt or even destroy the employer which pays your bills and not lose the job that you hate so much, and recently, to further political causes.

Unions and their shills who say that they are about the worker are either blind or stupid or both. And what of the union dues? They are going to support the work-free lifestyle of union leadership. Again I ask, HEY STEVE MCFARLANE, HOW MUCH OF YOUR PAYCHECK WILL YOU GET THIS WEEK?? HEY O.V. DELLA-FEMININE, HOW MUCH OF YOUR PAYCHECK WILL YOU GET THIS WEEK??

Unions were good, now their time has passed and it's time for them to die out like the virus they have become. There was once a buggy whip in every home, they were good and useful, but like the union, long since past the end of their usefulness. They are a drag on the economy and perhaps most sadly, they take money from the people who earn it and waste it on sinecures and politics.

And why is it that every time I leave a union job for a nonunion job I get better pay, better assignments, better benefits and better working conditions?

And why is it that thes eunions, who claim to be all about the wokring people, resist any attemot for their own office workers to unionize?

AGAIN I say: Show me a worker who hates his job, hates his paycheck, hates his boss, hates his company, hates his assignment, hates his shift, hates what he does, complains constantly, has no problem going out of his way to hurt his company, is convinced that the company, no matter how big, exists entirely to hurt him PERSONALLY, comes in late, leaves early, can rattle off to you how many years, months, days, hours and minutes until he retires no matter if he's 18 or 60 years old, does as little as possible when he gets to work but will FIGHT TO THE DEATH TO KEEP THIS JOB THAT HE HATES SO MUCH...

and I will show you a UNION WORKER.

Funny, when I hate a job THAT much I quit.

--PP

rthib

Not one to defend the Union (I am glad they are going away).

But from what I have read, the membership decided that instead of building up a big strike fund over years with their dues (which is a big waste of money and also has lead to some corruption) that they spent their money on Lawyers, Lobbyist, PR etc...

The belief was since there members are higher paid then some of the other unions and they knew the stike was coming it would be a better use of money to fight NWA and let the members save for the strike instead of building a big strike fund.