Originally Posted by
Ferd149
Agree...........like saying a non-vote is a vote for the ____________ party (fill in the blank yourself) because ____________ (again fill in your own reason). See, I'm not getting this thread closed
On a truly union political note (I think I said this before) if the AFA loses, look for another card drive with an inhouse FA union wanting to organize. I talked to a couple of FAs who agreed with me that probably what REALLY swung the election was PFAA (the old in house union at NWA) types wanting to stick it to the AFA for getting them kicked off the property during bankruptcy.
Sort of like another thread we have going on APC
Ferd <-----------feels strongly both ways about a FA union. If she's cute, I agree completely with what she is saying
I see no benefit to us in having the F/A's represented, but it could work if they reach some sort of working consensus, and the result was a strong and capable union. You can work with a group like that. For this reason, I felt it was pretty dumb to try to force AFA down the "South" F/A's throats.
I think what swung this is that many South F/A's didn't see the AFA as a credible option, and that they were pushed by AFA into the company's arms. I think some of them felt it was arrogant to try to work with the NMB, but not so much with them. Therefore, some of this simply his about the bigger group asserting its' independence. When I speak to South F/A's there is only a part of them that is staunchly anti-union, and another that is essentially anti-AFA. Ultimately, I think there could be a consensus reached once they all work together, around a third way. I don't even know that it would have to be in-house, but it would have to be competent. A lot of F/A's seem to mention Teamsters with some degree of respect, FWIW.
I think it's a mistake to assume South F/A's can't get their brain-washed minds around the notion of a union. I haven't gotten from the PanAm people that they were strongly against this vote because of PFAA, but many of them are speakers, and the speaker issue was important to the South side. At any rate, many of them have been members, and they know the deal. North people might think they're incapable of getting the concept, but the truth is that they are simply shopping options, weighing what they can get now, vs. a strong union, vs. size-28 dresses... They just need to be convinced, and be
part of the decision. The system they've had had worked for them rather well, but I'm sure they'd go for a better option, if they felt like it was also their idea. I've said it before: AFA made a big blunder when it held back integration, and tried to fight the company, and force a vote, all the while ignoring the South F/A's. RA is not their constituent, and you can't ignore your constituents. And they're still at it: everything they do is geared to protect AFA, and none of it is set up to make the South people feel like anything but pawns.