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The Law is Clear: TWU and AMFA are Lying to Us
A new letter from Teamster staff attorney Nicolas Manicone shuts down two recurring lies that the TWU and AMFA keep pushing on us. Maybe they think we would forget that the Teamsters have already proven beyond a doubt that we CAN reopen the TWU contract when we become Teamsters and we WILL keep our 4.8 percent equity stake as Teamsters.
While both the TWU and AMFA continue to claim the Teamsters cannot reopen the contract when they win representation at AA, the law says otherwise. “TWU claims there is no right to do so, and AMFA has also foreclosed the possibility,” Manicone writes. “The IBT takes the position that the law does permit this.” In Association of Flight Attendants v. USAir , 24 F.3d 1432 (D.C. Cir. 1994), the court found that “USAir cannot refuse to bargain over new terms based on a claim that bargaining has been settled under the pre-existing contract. Instead, we hold that a newly certified union in situations such as this one has full bargaining rights with respect to covered employees without regard to whether the employees previously have been covered by a collective bargaining agreement.”
A 2008 letter from RLA attorney to the IBT further makes this point, as does this document from earlier in our campaign.
The letter also puts to rest once and for all the TWU’s outrageous claim that it somehow can deny the 4.8 percent equity stake that belongs to mechanics and related when we vote in the Teamsters. Citing Rakestraw v. United Airlines, 981 F.2d 1524, 1535 (7th Cir. 1992), Brother Manicone writes that “As even AMFA notes in their counsel’s letter, if the TWU were to withhold any money or distribute it unfairly because Mechanics and Related employees sought different representation, TWU would be essentially stealing your money.”
Read the full letter from Teamsters Atty. Nick Manicone and share it with your coworkers. SIGN A TEAMSTER CARD and keep talking to your coworkers and get them to sign one, too!
With the TEAMSTERS We Can WIN!
For more information, visit the AA Mechanics for Teamsters campaign website or call the campaign hotline at 877-589-4951.