An American Airlines plane is serviced at the Tulsa Maintenance Facility. (File photo by Rip Stell)
SOURCE
TULSA – After nearly a yearlong effort of knocking on doors and garnering support, mechanics and related workers at American Airlines on Tuesday filed for an election with the National Mediation Board to become Teamsters.
The petition for an NMB election follows a similar move by mechanics at US Airways. Those workers filed for an election to gain Teamster representation this month.
Next, the NMB has to review the cards, then schedule a date for an election, said Galen Munroe, Teamsters spokesman.
Workers at the Tulsa Maintenance and Engineering Base have been represented by the Transport Workers Union for six decades. But the TWU has suffered since the Fort Worth, Texas- based American Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 29, 2011. A New York bankruptcy judge has approved AA’s merger deal with US Airways, which will create the world’s largest airline.
It is no accomplishment to persuade people who have been swept up in a major bankruptcy to sign authorization cards for an election, said John Hewitt, chairman of maintenance for TWU Local 514.
The TWU will carry out a grass-roots campaign to bring out the truth about the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Hewitt told The Journal Record.
“We will do what is necessary to show the IBT has failed to keep any maintenance facility operating at the volume that the TWU has accomplished with the Tulsa Maintenance Base,” Hewitt said. “We were successful in maintaining more jobs at American Airlines during bankruptcy than the IBT has at United Airlines out of bankruptcy.”
Workers around the country have been under attack for years and American Airlines mechanics are no exception, said Bill Wheeler in a statement from the Teamsters. The 26-year mechanic spoke during a Washington, D.C., press conference the Teamsters held to announce the filing.
“After enduring 20 years of concessions, outsourced jobs, bankruptcy, frozen pensions and an overall lack of respect, we are coming together to bring in the bargaining power of the Teamsters Union, which has the strongest record representing mechanics in our industry,” Wheeler said in a statement.
The TWU made a move to focus on the future, officials said, when on May 17, the unions at American Airlines and US Airways said they would form an alliance with the International Association of Machinists at US Airways.
The decision will mean the two groups would share bargaining power for nearly 30,000 ground workers once the two airlines merge, officials said. The TWU and the IAM at US Airways called the agreement a milestone as workers would have additional bargaining leverage and representation resources at the new American Airlines.
“The joint representation that was agreed to by the TWU and the IAM allows us to concentrate on representing members during the merger instead of expending resources fighting over who will represent them,” Hewitt said.
The Teamsters started sending paid staffers to do a sales job at American Airlines nearly one year ago, Hewitt said.
“It is up to the NMB to determine if they have enough of a showing to force an election,” Hewitt said. “If there is an election we are confident our members will see the IBT for what they are and decide the IBT is not for me.”
The TWU will educate its members about the misleading propaganda of other unions and use the opportunity to engage its brothers and sisters so that TWU emerges stronger and better than before, Hewitt said in a statement.
“No other union in the country has accomplished what we have for our members in the face of a dismal economy, questionable management decisions and, ultimately, bankruptcy,” Hewitt said. “The pending merger is another challenge that requires the right leadership and experience to navigate. Teamsters are the only organization in the U.S. that is under federal oversight because of their history of corrupt practices. I am confident American Airlines mechanics will decide IBT is not for them.”
The Teamsters are drawing a line in the sand, said Jim Witt, a 24-year AA mechanic from Los Angeles, in a statement.
“We’ve had enough and today the Teamsters have the experience and power to stand up to management and restore the dignity of our profession,” Witt said.
More than 11,000 mechanics and related workers nationwide have teamed up with the Teamsters Airline Division and the Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition to win majority support for the union, the Teamsters said.
The election filing is a milestone for American Airlines mechanics who have built a powerful mechanics-led campaign for Teamster representation, said Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa in a statement.