My Negotiating Committee Speaks For Me Rhetoric
 

I would like to address comments that JL and others have made on this on this issue. In my opinion, it is ridiculous to think that if we vote this down, that we are proving said statement as false.

My negotiating committee does speak for me during contract negotiations when they poll the union members, figure out what our cornerstone issues are, and then go to the negotiating table with this knowledge. This circumstance is vastly different. The NC never asked us what we felt was important to be considered in this LOA, and therefore does not speak for us on this issue. If tomorrow, the company and the union pulled the LOA off of the table, and then really negotiated this issue with the knowledge of what the members are striving for, then they again would speak for me.

Voting yes or no on this LOA does not negate the fact that our NC can speak for us. They for some reason, just woke up one morning and decided that they were ventriloquists. I don't think that they will make this same mistake twice in respect to negotiations with the company.

They always speak for us with the company, we just have the final say on the fruits of those discussions. Simple, and far less emotional than we seem to be making it.

"My Negotiating Committee Speaks for me!" has nothing to do with whether the deal the NC gets is in line with the wishes of the crewforce. It has EVERYTHING to do with the fact that this company, now via JL, STILL seems to NEGATE our duly elected reps, and try to deal with us as individuals. These union boys better hurry up and catch up. This bit of the company appealing to us, with minimal rhetoric or factual education from the union is just plain wrong. The fact that they (JL) do this (deal directly) is proof, again, of their DISDAIN for any concept of Collective Bargaining! The fact that JL is ATTEMPTING to influence our vote by dealing with us directly needs to be pointed out publicly by the union leadership as subversive to the process of Collective Bargaining.

In light of this...Yes. My Negotiating Committee STILL speaks for me. They may not be my favorite guys right now, but they're MY guys! You can keep your missives in the outbox. Lewis-grams only serve to heighten your restlessness, and in the end: mean nothing.