Skywest may finally have a reasonable chance of voting a union in...

[JoeMerchant]

How many Comair pilots are currently having their job threatened by ALPA over this bogus merger assesment fee? Let me get this straight, over half the pilots choose NOT to pay into an assesment fee (over which they had no say in in its implementation) and the Union is threatening their jobs?! One would think that over half the pilots rejecting this fee would send a pretty loud message to the MEC. For all this "WE ARE ALPA" bull********************, the MEC sure has a tough time lstening to the pilots.

ALPA sent letters to over 300 ASA pilots threatening to have them fired over the ASA assessment....It resulted in ALPA becoming even more unpopular at ASA.

Wonder why ALPA has such a hard time at Skywest.....?

 

[Nevets]

ALPA Supports NMB’s Changes to Union Election Rules

ALPA president Capt. John Prater testified at a National Mediation Board (NMB) public hearing this week in support of the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that the Board published on November 3, 2009, regarding airline representation elections. Under this proposal, the NMB would no longer count all nonparticipants as “no” votes in union elections, allowing the elections to be decided by the majority of those actually voting, as are most other elections.

“ALPA believes that the Board’s proposal is a long overdue step to level the playing field in union elections,” Prater said. “It’s a realistic but important update that ensures basic fairness and recognizes that conditions for voting have changed since the 1930s,” when the original balloting rules were adopted.

ALPA joined with the Transportation Trades Department of the AFL-CIO and several of its member unions in unanimously supporting this proposed rule change. Edward Wytkind, president of the TTD, stated that today’s method of discerning voter intent is inherently flawed and unreliable.

“By automatically assigning non-participating voters a ‘no’ vote, these procedures are declaring intent when none is expressed,” Wytkind said during his testimony. “There are a host of reasons why individuals do not vote . . . we’ve seen in 9 out of 10 union elections in recent history workers face an employer-run campaign to block unionization.”

The public hearing also featured several individual airline employees who testified in support of the change on their own behalf, including David Boehm, a member of the ALPA Organizing Committee during the 2007 SkyWest organizing drive. “I’m here to tell you a story about SkyWest,” Boehm said before the Board. “In 2007, SkyWest was rapidly expanding. Over 40 percent of SkyWest pilots had been there for less than two years, most fresh out of college. Today, we remain the largest group of unrepresented pilots in the industry.”

Boehm went on to describe the challenges of getting 2,600 pilots to participate in voting under the current NMB election rules presuming that nonvoters vote against representation, especially with so many pilots still on probation with the company. “There was a certain sense of intimidation by management,” he said. “These pilots were trying to learn not only how to fly new equipment in training, but who the NMB was, what their rights are under the Railway Labor Act, and the benefits of having union representation.”

A total of 31 interested parties testified at the hearing, presenting both labor and management viewpoints on the proposed rule and its effects on the transportation industry. The NMB will receive additional public comments until Jan. 4, 2010. For more information, including the list of hearing speakers, submitted written testimonies, and various public comments on the rule, visit Proposed NMB Representation Rulemaking.

 

[JoeMerchant]

balloting rules were adopted.
Boehm went on to describe the challenges of getting 2,600 pilots to participate in voting under the current NMB election rules presuming that nonvoters vote against representation, especially with so many pilots still on probation with the company. “There was a certain sense of intimidation by management,” he said. “These pilots were trying to learn not only how to fly new equipment in training, but who the NMB was, what their rights are under the Railway Labor Act, and the benefits of having union representation.”

I've seen intimidation from BOTH management AND ALPA....Some of the strongest intimidation comes from the die hard union thugs who consider anyone who even questions the union the enemy....

Most "NO" votes are caused by apathy, not intimidation...The apathy level is even worse at the regional level because those pilots are just there for a few years until they can get to the "real jobs" at United, Delta, and American...

 

[Nevets]

I've seen intimidation from BOTH management AND ALPA....Some of the strongest intimidation comes from the die hard union thugs who consider anyone who even questions the union the enemy....

Most "NO" votes are caused by apathy, not intimidation...The apathy level is even worse at the regional level because those pilots are just there for a few years until they can get to the "real jobs" at United, Delta, and American...

I'm not sure about that when it comes to voting in a union at an airline. That's the whole point of changing they way voting is done. There is no way to interpret intent on a non-vote.

Also, yes I'm sure that intimidation happens on both sides. But don't forget that it was ALPA who got a restraining order from a federal judge against SKW in its last organizing drive to stop SKW tactics.

 

[Tarzan]

Also, yes I'm sure that intimidation happens on both sides. But don't forget that it was ALPA who got a restraining order from a federal judge against SKW in its last organizing drive to stop SKW tactics.

Hard to get restraining orders against individual union thugs.

 

[sweptback]

Hard to get restraining orders against individual union thugs.

Sure, but there's no need. Since they represent the national union, it's very easy to get an injunction against that entity.

 

[Flyerdan]

A hand full of people talking about the possibility of another union drive on the SAPA forum doesn't amount to much. There was more participation in the disband SAPA drive and it fizzled out in about a day and a half. I seriously doubt there will be another ALPA drive at Skywest for quite some time.

 

[pilotyip]

A hand full of people talking about the possibility of another union drive on the SAPA forum doesn't amount to much. There was more participation in the disband SAPA drive and it fizzled out in about a day and a half. I seriously doubt there will be another ALPA drive at Skywest for quite some time.

Those drives cost money, and there has to be a reasonable expectation of return on investment. I mean after all it is a business.

 

[Nevets]

Hard to get restraining orders against individual union thugs.

If facts support the claim, judges have put restraining orders/injunctions on the ENTIRE union membership. APA is the biggest example of this as well as the recent UAL ALPA injunction as well that was placed on the entire pilot group because of actions of only a handful of people.

A hand full of people talking about the possibility of another union drive on the SAPA forum doesn't amount to much. There was more participation in the disband SAPA drive and it fizzled out in about a day and a half. I seriously doubt there will be another ALPA drive at Skywest for quite some time.

With the NMB poised to change the rules on how airline union drives are conducted, the chances of another union drive, sooner rather than later, at SKW (for all employee groups) just went up astronomically.

 

[PCL_128]

Edit: Nevermind. Arguing with pilotyip is a waste of time.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

I'm not sure about that when it comes to voting in a union at an airline. That's the whole point of changing they way voting is done. There is no way to interpret intent on a non-vote.

Also, yes I'm sure that intimidation happens on both sides. But don't forget that it was ALPA who got a restraining order from a federal judge against SKW in its last organizing drive to stop SKW tactics.

What kind of real, intimidation, does a union have expecially during an organizing drive, versus, the intimidation an employer has......

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

Those drives cost money, and there has to be a reasonable expectation of return on investment. I mean after all it is a business.

What is the profit margin? Where is the stock?

Regionals, because of their size cost money, yet ALPA still pursues them... why is that?

 

[pilotyip]

as opposed to

What kind of real, intimidation, does a union have expecially during an organizing drive, versus, the intimidation an employer has......

as opposed to unions promosing such things a pay raises, more days off, and job security. Sure worked for the Zantop pilots. BTW Mery Christmas, I love exchanging posts with you.

 

[Rez O. Lewshun]

as opposed to unions promosing such things a pay raises, more days off, and job security. Sure worked for the Zantop pilots. BTW Mery Christmas, I love exchanging posts with you.

Doesn't make sense. Promises are not intimidation

 

[pilotyip]

Promises?

Doesn't make sense. Promises are not intimidation

You mean that the browbeating of no pay raises, no days off and no job security if you don't vote union are not intimidation?

 

[PCL_128]

You mean that the browbeating of no pay raises, no days off and no job security if you don't vote union are not intimidation?

No, being threatened with termination is intimidation.

 

[pilotyip]

not allowed

No, being threatened with termination is intimidation.

companies are not allowed to do that. But to say we may go out of business is OK

 

[PCL_128]

companies are not allowed to do that.

You're talking to someone who's lived it. Stop burrying your head in the sand. Intimidation by companies goes on every day.

 

[DoinTime]

You mean that the browbeating of no pay raises, no days off and no job security if you don't vote union are not intimidation?

FYI....its management that uses those very tactics to browbeat their employees not organized labor. Unions only try to secure benefits for their pilot groups and the responsible ones do so without harming the company. The idea is not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg but to just choke it a little bit. Its up to the employees to choose the right Union for their needs.

 

[pilotyip]

strangle the chicken

The idea is not to kill the goose that lays the golden egg but to just choke it a little bit. Its up to the employees to choose the right Union for their needs.

OK Christmas is over, back to trading barbs. The process of chicken strangling has done wonders for the four ex-ALPA guys I have sitting ground school at JUS right now, Airborne Exp., Kitty Hawk, DHL, and Midwest Express. They were probably only going to hold the necks a little tighter, but a funny thing happened on the way, the chicken died.