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News :: Labor |
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11K Flight Attendants Leave Teamsters |
Current rating: 0 |
by Peter Miller
(No verified email address) |
23 Jun 2003
Modified: 11:21:52 AM |
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Northwest Airlines' flight attendants voted to leave the Teamsters' union for an independent organization, and the insurgent group Teamsters for a Democratic Union issued the following release/statement. Champaign is a hub for NW airlink. |
If anybody knows whether the NW Airlink flight attendants are included in the bargaining unit mentioned below, please add the information as a comment. Please also add any comments from Teamsters Local 26.
The link at the bottom of the page is for an article from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, the home town newspaper of airline's corporate headquarters. More info about the newspaper's corporate parent is here:
http://www.mcclatchy.com/about/
-pm
For Immediate Release: June 19, 2003
11,000 Flight Attendants Vote to Leave Teamsters
Hoffa Strong-Arm Tactics Alienated Members
Huge Setback Could Have Been Avoided
Northwest Airlines Flight Attendants bolted the Teamsters Union today for an upstart independent union, the Professional Flight Attendants Association, in one of the largest decertification votes in the history of the Teamsters.
The responsibility for this setback falls squarely on the shoulders of James Hoffa and the Teamster leadership who alienated the Flight Attendants with weak contract negotiations and strong-arm tactics.
* Weak bargaining: The Hoffa administration opened a breach with the Flight Attendants in the last round of contract bargaining at Northwest in 1999. Hoffa sent each Flight Attendant six mailings and a video hyping a weak contract, which the Flight Attendants overwhelmingly rejected. Hoffa retaliated by dismantling the Flight Attendants grassroots contract mobilization network called the Contract Action Team.
* Sexist and anti-gay slurs: At the 2001 Teamster Convention, Hoffa delegates repeatedly jeered and interrupted Local 2000 speakers with sexist and anti-gay comments. A court-appointed Election Administrator interrupted the Convention proceedings when Hoffa delegates whistled and cat-called at Local 2000 Secretary-Treasurer Bob Krabbe. The Hoffa forces were orchestrated by walkie-talkie wielding "floor whips" throughout the attacks on the Flight Attendant leaders.
* Elected officials removed: When the independent union (PFAA) started their decertification drive in the summer of 2002, the Hoffa administration's first reaction was to remove the elected officers of the Flight Attendant's Local 2000--reformers who defeated Hoffa-backed candidates in the local union election. Hoffa took this step despite warnings from TDU and even some Hoffa administration insiders that this would further alienate Flight Attendants.
* Discredited officials appointed: Hoffa then appointed discredited officials to run the union because they were politically loyal to the Hoffa administration, despite the fact that Flight Attendants have voted against Hoffa by at least 90 percent in the last three Teamster elections for International officers.
* Alternative courses ignored: The Hoffa administration refused to reverse any of these policies even after it became clear that his strong-arm tactics were only fueling the decertification drive. TDU leaders tried repeatedly to consult with and help the Teamster leadership, calling for expanding the Teamster leadership team, promising a clear end-date to the trusteeship with a pledge that the unpopular Hoffa-appointees would not seek office, and a pledge to involve the PFAA and Teamster supporters equally, a new day for Teamster Flight Attendants.
But some in the Hoffa administration wanted to have the Flight Attendants leave the union, to be rid a group -- mostly women -- who did not support Hoffa politically in internal Teamster elections, and who actively opposed his dues hike last year.
Hoffa's strong-arm tactics pushed many Flight Attendant activists and the entire elected executive board into supporting the breakaway union--effectively ending any chance at keeping the Flight Attendants in the Teamsters.
TDU tried to convince Flight Attendants that sticking with the Teamsters and working within it for reform was a better course of action than creating a small new union from scratch. A number of Flight Attendants did vote for the course advocated by TDU, but not enough to offset the thousands alienated by the Hoffa administration.
"Hoffa essentially drove 11,000 Teamsters out of the union, 75 percent of them women, by refusing to deal with their issues or their elected leaders," said TDU National Organizer Ken Paff.
"This is no way to send a signal that the Teamsters are open to new voices, to women, to the diverse workers that we need to build a strong union in the 21st century. This sends a signal that the Teamsters Union is run by an old-boys club that refuses to open up and listen to dissenting voices. Apparently those in power want to make sure it stays that way, even at the expense of driving members out of the union." Paff said.
Hoffa's General Executive Board has 24 voting members. Twenty-three of those 24 are men and 23 are white.
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See also:
http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/3946821.html
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Re: 11K Flight Attendants Leave Teamsters |
by r.
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
23 Jun 2003
Modified: 04:48:22 PM |
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NW Airlink is operated by Mesaba, I believe; and given this article, it looks as if the flight attendants there are represented by AFA & wouldn't have been involved in this vote. |
