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updated 05/08/2008 4:59 PM

District 143 Supports AFA-CWA Organizing Efforts
May 5, 2008

On Thursday, May 15, 2008 from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., members from District 143 will be in attendance in ATL to show our support for the AFA-CWA in their efforts to organize the Delta flight attendants. 13,500 flight attendants would gain collective bargaining rights upon their certification. Delta flight attendants are voting from April 23 through May 28. Their efforts and ours go hand in hand in our organizing efforts to grow the labor movement and bring Union representation at Delta in all work groups.

Delta Organizing: This Drive Is Internal As Well As External
May 5, 2008

You will hear this phrase many times throughout this drive so get use to it because that's exactly what it is. Up to the point when all of us will cast our vote for Union representation, everyone must truly understand that this drive is a drive for our existence as a Union-represented group by the IAM.

Since April 16, 2008, when District 143 was assigned the task of the Delta organizing drive our members at some locations have stepped up their efforts on their own within their local lodges and organizing committees to ensure this drive is a successful one. From the west coast in LAX to the east coast in LGA, JFK, and EWR, our brothers and sisters have gotten active in communicating with the Delta employees in all work groups by passing out cards and informational flyers on key issues that will affect them as a working group for this so called global airline that those executive teams say they will bring to our communities with many promises and scenarios of good times.

This organizing drive is two-part: internal and external. As we continue our efforts organizing those work groups at Delta, we must also look within our own groups and make sure that every brother and sister understands what is at stake and really understands what is at hand. We must make sure that those members who may have a different opinon must fully understand that every vote will count, and one should be completly clear that the blanket of Union protection cannot be sacrificed in these times within our industry. All of us have sacrificed too much throughout these times, and those sacrifices have not been made without a fight to keep what we have spent years negotiating for.

Every brother and sister, ESE, CSA, Res, Clerical, needs to be talking. If you know someone at Delta, you need to make a call or send an e-mail. Talk about the issues facing us and ask yourself if you could possibly put your fate and future in the hands of executives that have no clue what us working people are feeling in these times.

The bottom line here today at NWA is that every one of us within the IAM has now become an organizer. We must all become active within our local lodges with this drive and be communicating with those Delta employees that may be at our locations in all groups. I say that if the NWA/DAL merger brings a "global airline," then why not bring to them a "global union" that will give each of our work groups a voice as one that will protect our jobs and benefits that all of us have worked so hard for. Everyone is now an organizer.

Connect the Dots ... IAM Opposes merger; Job Loss on the Horizon

Somewhere along the way in all this ‘happy talk’ about merging with another airline, Delta and the other carriers forgot to ask any of us, besides the pilots, how we felt about the entire process. Things are moving way too fast and the tough questions that should have been discussed prior to the Pan-Am fiasco are not being carefully scrutinized during this process.

Who can forget the hemorrhaging of cash that took place during our bold but poorly thought out venture into Europe? The billions spent and squandered were the beginnings of Delta's financial unraveling during the early nineties and lead to the eventual dismantling of a once proud and profitable airline. Remember how great our benefits were and how much money we made back then? One bad move and it was over, we suffered a decade of demise and financial ruin. Poor decision making was followed by more poor leadership and bankruptcy was delivered to our doorstep.

All those people are gone; some stopped by the bank on their way out the door and deposited their guaranteed millions. Others just faded into oblivion only to have their names uttered with disdain and disgust. Doesn’t it feel like we are heading down that same path again? New leaders; same old rush to make their mark.

A year ago Delta didn’t have two pennies to rub together and now all of a sudden it has become a King Maker. The marvels of the bankruptcy laws have turned Delta into a power broker and it could set off a wave of consolidation that would most probably cause years long havoc within the entire industry. Mergers are messy, sloppy and generally expensive affairs that give the few short term gains and long lasting financial headaches for the rest.

The pilots have (if you believe the media reports) been offered billions of dollars of equity in the new merged company and guaranteed raises as much as 30% for some. This capital has to be generated from somewhere; it can’t be manufactured out of whole cloth. It has to be taken from somebody.

Could it be that the reason the Companies are not talking to the IAM and are not talking to us is that we are the ‘revenue stream’ that these monies will be flowing from? Why not? They have certainly done it in the past. During bankruptcy our pay was slashed and our benefits made to almost disappear. We have not recovered even a fraction of any of it...but now the company has billions to give to our Pilots.

The time has come to recognize our vulnerability to our Company’s rash decisions. We cannot survive another journey into the financial wilderness that this merger might deliver us without the protection of a legally binding contract. They covered their mistakes in the past by contracting out over 100 of our cities. We don’t have much more to give them and should not trust that this management team has any more quality answers than those teams of the past. Our memory is long and fooling us again should not be in the cards.

The IAM is opposing this merger because the Companies aren’t talking to anyone but the pilots; that fact alone should tell all of us what kind of future we will have without representation. Let’s act together and unionize or watch as we are individually ‘cut from the herd’ to help pay for the pilots new burgeoning portfolio. Union now!

Welcome To The IAM

You have taken the first step towards a better life for you and your family by seeing what the IAM can do for you.

The IAM represents workers across North America, ensuring their right to power in the workplace. That power is demonstrated in guaranteed paychecks and pay increases, defined work rules and solid representation.

For more than 100 years, the IAM has fought for workers' rights and the benefits so often taken for granted — benefits like sick pay, leaves of absence, bereavement leave, holidays, vacations, retirement security and health care.

Organizing a Union in your workplace also strengthens the movement for social justice. In these difficult times workers and their families benefit from solidarity and the powerful voice it can raise when programs like Social Security are threatened.