captexpress

Our Negotiating Chairman was fired,
Our process is in jeopardy

Ladies and gentleman may I please have a brief moment of your time to share with you my feelings on the recent firing our Negotiating Chairman? For those of you who don’t know, it seems that there was a surprise agenda item dropped in the laps of our MEC by our MEC Chairman while they were away in Vegas…… and unfortunately, contrary to the old saying of what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas….this did not stay in Vegas.

When I received the union email announcing the resignation of FE, something smelled fishy and rather than speculate as to what happened, I decided to call FE directly, and learn what I could from his perspective. What I was told, was that without warning the MEC Chairman basically asked him to step down and more specifically to do so under the guise of personal reasons. FE, to his credit, refused to be coerced into lying to the MEC and after some deep soul searching, ultimately decided that since he had lost the confidence of the Chairman, with his credibility and effectiveness undermined before the MEC, it would be best to offer his resignation.

After that discussion, I called my MEC representative. He said that the MEC had this issue dropped in their laps without warning and after much consternation; ultimately felt that rather than cause chaos among the pilots by forcing a recall of the Chairman, they would try to make this go as smooth as possible by accepting FE’s resignation. (A serious breach of the responsibility entrusted to them by the electorate in my view). Sadly, despite their protestations, their vote was unanimous to accept the resignation. Go figure?

THE REAL ISSUE

Here is what I find most troubling. Regardless of the validity or the non-validly of the concerns of the Chairman, or his reasoning as to why he would want to oust FE, the real problem here is the apparent lack of respect for our process. We have an established, orderly process outlined in our C&B, one that has been time tested over many years and to abuse that process, seriously undermines our trust and causes damage to our credibility as a group. Ask yourself why Presidents have been impeached, elected officials punished, judges sent to jail? Answer: All to preserve order and reinforce the concept that no one should be above the law. So why should our union be any different? Bottom line is that without respect for the process, we are essentially lost. How will we ever believe in our elected leaders if we allow this incident to stand? The MEC’s actions or better stated, inactions, does not bode well for our future. How can we believe that the MEC will have the fortitude to withstand real pressure from the company, like during negotiations, if they cannot even effectively stand up to pressure from within?

So the MEC wanted to spare us the turmoil, their specious argument being that since the MEC Chairman had previously indicated he will not seek reelection, why cause more of a problem by seeking a recall? Hmmm. How, thoughtful. Question: What would have been the problem with the Chairman calling together his MEC and making his case? Why not allow the MEC to deliberate the pros and cons and take a vote? To do otherwise, suggests something untoward. I have an idea, given the circumstances, perhaps the MEC should have agreed to support FE’s forced resignation …..as long as it was accompanied by the Chairman’s resignation as well? Maybe that might have brought everyone back to their senses?

I hate to break this to the MEC, but you haven’t spared us anything. Make no mistake, we have been paying attention and most of us already know that something bad went down in Vegas. I assure you, we are no that dumb. If your intention was to avoid a further decay of unity, it certainly was not achieved; in fact, I argue that by not protecting the process, you have essentially done something much more serious. Perhaps you were really trying to avoid something else? Responsibility perhaps. May I offer you a little tip? We certainly care what is done, but we care more about how you do it. That goes for this issue, age 60, the LOA, and any other issue. Fight it out …yes, that is what we elected you to do, jealously guard our interests, certainly, it goes without saying, but stop allowing the circumvention of our process.

So then, I asked my Rep a final question (and I am paraphrasing) So what makes you think I will trust the MEC again, like when you ask me to trust a new Negotiating Chairman? Or when you ask me to support some other issue? If the MEC cannot stand up for what is right today, especially concerning such a critical issue as the firing of a negotiating chairman, what makes you think I will trust you in the future? Also, and here is a kicker…..if I cannot trust you to stand up for something so essential as to protect our process, how can I trust you to have the strength do the right thing when the going gets really tough …like in negotiations?

In closing, I suggest that our MEC do what they were elected to do, protect our process and respect those of us who pay dues and vote. Don’t avoid responsibility under the guise of protecting us from what we are smart enough to know on our own. Don’t insult our intelligence, just do your job and protect our interest and you will be surprised at how strong we can be. We are not weakened by the truth.