American Airlines like woah
06-24-2004, 10:27 AM
#1
un-Touch'd krew
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American Airlines like woah
AMFA Local 33
No First Amendment At Northwest Airlines!
startribune.com
Last update: June 23, 2004 at 9:32 PM
NWA warns union about picketing
Liz Fedor
Star Tribune
Published June 24, 2004
Northwest Airlines' union employees could be fired if they conduct planned picketing that questions the safety and security of Northwest flights, the airline warned in a letter to the mechanics union.
"It seems like pure intimidation," Jim Atkinson, president of Local 33 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), said Wednesday. The mechanics union and the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA) have been organizing a picket for July 2 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
On the AMFA Local 33 Web site, the union said the daylong picketing "will highlight the safety and security threats posed by Northwest Airlines' practice of outsourcing maintenance to foreign repair stations."
In response to that Web posting, Eagan-based Northwest notified the union that "disparagement of the safety, security or quality of Northwest's operations" violates Northwest's rules of conduct for employees.
The company also said, "AMFA risks violation of the Railway Labor Act by the use of public economic coercion to secure your 'goal to diminish Northwest's reliance on outsourcing maintenance' while such outsourcing is expressly permitted by the [AMFA] contract."
AMFA's contract does not come open until May 2005, and the two parties have not begun talks. Under the current AMFA contract, Northwest agreed not to exceed a 38 percent limit on hiring outside contractors.
"As of today, we are still going forward as if we are going to have the picketing," AMFA's Atkinson said. But he said AMFA's legal counsel is studying the issue.
Northwest's letter was posted on AMFA's Web site on Wednesday morning and stirred an immediate response. After talking to rank-and-file members, Atkinson said, "The reaction is, 'Why is Northwest wanting to go and threaten our jobs just for providing information to the flying public?' There are constitutional rights involved."
AMFA represented 9,795 mechanics, cleaners and custodians at Northwest when the current contract was reached in May 2001. The union's workforce was cut to 6,400 by last summer.
The union consistently has criticized the airline for not returning work to in-house mechanics. It repeatedly has questioned the company's decision to contract with ST Aviation Services Co. in Singapore, but Northwest has emphasized that the Singapore facility is subject to federal regulations and has been used by the U.S. Navy and other U.S. airlines.
"Any suggestion that safety or security has been compromised at Northwest is both false and highly damaging to Northwest's business," Julie Hagen Showers, Northwest vice president of labor relations, wrote in a letter to AMFA. "The introduction of unfounded safety and/or security concerns to the public domain can have only one purpose and effect -- to deter passenger travel on Northwest."
Guy Meek, president of the flight attendants union, said he has not received a similar letter, but he has read the AMFA letter that cites PFAA's cooperation in the planned picket.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) picketed at Northwest headquarters and throughout the country on June 8. Those protests focused on planned job cuts for customer service agents.
Two days after that picketing, Northwest sent the IAM a letter about the potential disciplinary actions against protesting employees. The IAM, in a response letter dated June 16, said, "In America what you are threatening is not lawful."
No First Amendment At Northwest Airlines!
startribune.com
Last update: June 23, 2004 at 9:32 PM
NWA warns union about picketing
Liz Fedor
Star Tribune
Published June 24, 2004
Northwest Airlines' union employees could be fired if they conduct planned picketing that questions the safety and security of Northwest flights, the airline warned in a letter to the mechanics union.
"It seems like pure intimidation," Jim Atkinson, president of Local 33 of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), said Wednesday. The mechanics union and the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA) have been organizing a picket for July 2 at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
On the AMFA Local 33 Web site, the union said the daylong picketing "will highlight the safety and security threats posed by Northwest Airlines' practice of outsourcing maintenance to foreign repair stations."
In response to that Web posting, Eagan-based Northwest notified the union that "disparagement of the safety, security or quality of Northwest's operations" violates Northwest's rules of conduct for employees.
The company also said, "AMFA risks violation of the Railway Labor Act by the use of public economic coercion to secure your 'goal to diminish Northwest's reliance on outsourcing maintenance' while such outsourcing is expressly permitted by the [AMFA] contract."
AMFA's contract does not come open until May 2005, and the two parties have not begun talks. Under the current AMFA contract, Northwest agreed not to exceed a 38 percent limit on hiring outside contractors.
"As of today, we are still going forward as if we are going to have the picketing," AMFA's Atkinson said. But he said AMFA's legal counsel is studying the issue.
Northwest's letter was posted on AMFA's Web site on Wednesday morning and stirred an immediate response. After talking to rank-and-file members, Atkinson said, "The reaction is, 'Why is Northwest wanting to go and threaten our jobs just for providing information to the flying public?' There are constitutional rights involved."
AMFA represented 9,795 mechanics, cleaners and custodians at Northwest when the current contract was reached in May 2001. The union's workforce was cut to 6,400 by last summer.
The union consistently has criticized the airline for not returning work to in-house mechanics. It repeatedly has questioned the company's decision to contract with ST Aviation Services Co. in Singapore, but Northwest has emphasized that the Singapore facility is subject to federal regulations and has been used by the U.S. Navy and other U.S. airlines.
"Any suggestion that safety or security has been compromised at Northwest is both false and highly damaging to Northwest's business," Julie Hagen Showers, Northwest vice president of labor relations, wrote in a letter to AMFA. "The introduction of unfounded safety and/or security concerns to the public domain can have only one purpose and effect -- to deter passenger travel on Northwest."
Guy Meek, president of the flight attendants union, said he has not received a similar letter, but he has read the AMFA letter that cites PFAA's cooperation in the planned picket.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) picketed at Northwest headquarters and throughout the country on June 8. Those protests focused on planned job cuts for customer service agents.
Two days after that picketing, Northwest sent the IAM a letter about the potential disciplinary actions against protesting employees. The IAM, in a response letter dated June 16, said, "In America what you are threatening is not lawful."
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"I'll keep my money, guns and freedom. You can keep the "Change."
06-24-2004, 12:22 PM
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JDM rox ur world
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picketing
Picket \Pick"et\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Picketing.]
5. To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake. [Obs.]
Picket \Pick"et\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Picketed; p. pr. & vb. n. Picketing.]
5. To torture by compelling to stand with one foot on a pointed stake. [Obs.]
