Originally Posted by
maxjet
Read the letter from the Union. Regarding ALPA, they are not allowed per agreement, as the Teamsters know, to tell us anything nor assist us in any way. For our union to try and twist that fact to their advantage speaks as to just how inept and desperate they are. Rather than debate the minutia in the letter I would ask all interested parties to just read or re-read the post Above He has been on the other side of this issue as a teamster rep for a while now. I give what he writes more weight than the letter from the union.
It is obvious the letter that was sent is a Hale Mary play by the teamsters. I do not believe for one minute that our Exco wrote this piece of garbage.
Lets talk facts, not deception. The Teamsters knows it is not possible for ALPA to give us a written guarantee that they will represent us. This is because ALPA cannot “raid a shop”, it is illegal for another union to do this because we already have representation. Were we not currently represented, ALPA could take an active role in seeking our membership. So, the statement that “where is the written guarantee that ALPA will represent us? There is none” is simply a way for the Teamsters to mislead us. Teamsters knows the law and so does our Exco, so what does that tell us. It tells us this letter was not written by our Exco, it was written by Teamsters.
Kalitta is not a legacy carrier, and the Teamsters would have you believe that because of this our pilot group is smaller than most of the regionals, yet this letter states “Teamsters still provide us with strong representation, including access to staff lawyers and outside counsel and support staff twenty-fours a day, seven days a week…..”. This is another misleading statement because when we change to ALPA we will have access to a stronger organization including access to staff lawyers, and support staff twenty-fours a day, seven days a week.
I love the next statement, “Management will view any change in representation as an opportunity to run roughshod over a contract they never wanted in the first place. If the company sets up an alter ego company and tries to shift our flying to another carrier to avoid the new pay rates we secured as Teamsters, we can’t rely on Doug’s unenforceable campaign promises to save our job and protect our work.” This is nothing more than a scare tactic that is laughable. Teamsters knows the contract belongs to the pilots, not the Teamsters. Remember that the company wanted to complete our negotiations and it was DW and the Teamsters that decided they knew what was best for us and held up our contract. So let me ask, who was running roughshod over who?
The Teamsters would have you believe that If you find yourself in a disciplinary investigation or a grievance meeting, only the teamsters could defend you. If you believe this I have some land I would like to sell you.
Finally, “The decertification committee is also saying that Management supports the effort to get rid of the Teamsters. Incredible! That tells us everything we need to know about what’s really going on here.” Let me ask you a question and let’s be honest. If you owned a company and as the owner of said company you came to terms with your employees on a contract only to find out some outside party says no you cannot have that deal, how would you feel? Now remember the employees and the company want to make the deal and a competitor of yours is unwilling to let you make the deal. Do you think that moving forward as the owner of the company you would rather deal with your employees and not let a competitor dictate terms to your company?
The Teamsters is Atlas and Atlas is a competitor, they do not have our best interest in mind. Teamsters claims that ALPA will not represent us, and I submit that the Teamsters has not done a good job representing us. ALPA represents “pilots”, in fact ALPA represents over 59,000 pilots from 33-different carriers. I know what organization I want to represent me.