Q. Is it possible to negotiate the elimination of base shutdown? Jay Varvera, Hangar 1.
A. The simple answer is yes. But, taking into account that we are in mediation negotiations and we have already had a tentative agreement voted down by the membership and to my knowledge, the no vote was not driven by Base Closure being included in the TA. Also considering that base closure originally appeared on our contract because a majority of our members were in favor of it, I doubt that it would be high on the priority list to take out of our contract.
John Hewitt, Chairman of Maintenance
Transport Workers Union
Q. Why does the Informer bash other unions and not inform the membership of pertinent information regarding our local International Union? Matt Makela, Hangar 1
A. The Informer was developed pre2001 negotiations out of a demand from shop stewards and members to be informed about 2001 negotiations. It became a great tool for many issues. When rumors on the floor were causing problems within the membership it was used to let the members know the facts about the subject that was causing concern. Sam Cirri has renewed the effort to use the Informer as a tool to educate and inform the membership about negotiations or anything that can affect our members positively or adversely. When the Informer addresses the AMFA/AMP drive to take over representation it is because it is well known and documented that when these groups have been successful at winning representation it has been at the cost of union members careers at heavy maintenance bases. We would rather use our resources for more positive things for our members but they deserve to know all the facts about the risks involved.
Rick Mullings
TWU, Organizer/Communications