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TWU Fails Again: A Response to Drummond
TWU’s Air Transport Division director Garry Drummond recently sent out an email that arrogantly dismisses the TWU’s failures and attempts to diminish our campaign for Teamster representation. One of our coworkers at JFK has a brilliant response to Drummond that everyone should read. Scroll down to see the letter from brother G. Santos.
It’s pretty bold for the TWU to agree to a gag order barring it from criticizing Horton’s $20 million severance package and then blame the IBT for being a “no-show” in bankruptcy court. The Teamsters are not a party to the bankruptcy proceedings and cannot play a role in court. That’s the TWU’s job – and it’s a job that they are clearly no good at. The TWU has managed to lose our future pension payments and thousands of jobs while gutting job protection and other contract language, permitting the creation of a new class of low-paid mechanics. All of this has happened during the bankruptcy proceedings. And the one good thing that we thought they did – the equity stake – is turning out to be a big lie.
But our coworker says it best. Read his letter below:
Dear Brother Drummond,
I just read your message from the June 14 TWU email blast. It’s reassuring to know that you can breathe fire because you practically had no vital signs when management bargained in bad faith for four years.
The petition you callously referred to as “electioneering from the Teamsters” was a grassroots effort started at JFK. We were seething at Horton’s $20 million severance while the TWU displayed its usually Gandhi-type pacifism. My first attempt to get the TWU leadership fired up over the severance came on March 28 when I e-mailed President Little asking him to support US Trustee Tracy Hope Davis. He replied: “We are working and have been via our BK options, and we have been successful. The Federal Appointed trustee has been the point person on this. We have been commenting.” Typical TWU gibberish – just as the TWU heroically took credit for saving the pension. The AMR creditors who feared the PBGC becoming the largest creditor saved the pension.
Since then, Forbes reported that the three unions on the AA property were “gagged” from speaking out on executive compensation. This is nothing new for the TWU which cherishes photo ops with management. Just ask Bob Gless, who falls into the arms of executives at every opportunity.
A coworker at JFK actually contacted Tracy Hope Davis and discovered that she never heard from the TWU. At this point, we decided to launch an online petition to voice our displeasure with Horton’s severance package. However, after two weeks we only had 209 signatures. I asked a Teamster organizer for help promoting the petition. The Teamsters acted swiftly and without reservation. In a mere four days the petition collected 2,524 signatures. Just for some prospective, the TWU petition to stop the Teamster raid has garnered 1,207 names since April 11.
You also mentioned in the same June 14 email blast: “we worked with the other unions at American to oust him as CEO. We understood there was a critical need to fix more than a decade of mismanagement and unfair sacrifice by our members.” Really? If you Google the news you’ll discover only the APFA issued public statements about removing Tom Horton. In fact, your only tirade in the media came when describing the Teamsters as “parasites.” Don’t forget in the “decade of mismanagement” the TWU repeatedly waved the white flag, specifically when John Conley at an aviation symposium said, “This could very well be a seismic-shift year …the environment could be an opportunity to consider not being as intractable as folks have been in the past.” Bold words coming from a guy retired from AA and collecting a 6-digit salary from the TWU.
Your last point in the e-mail was the “high salaries” of Teamster officials. You’re kidding, right? I suppose you believe your $188,000 salary is minimum wage? Oh, I forgot – you told Local 501 officers that you were underpaid. Six-figure salaries for union officers is a sore subject with me, but at least I can vote out a Teamster. Who ever voted for Gless, Videtich, Gillespie, McCoy, etc.?
G. Santos
Member-in-Good Standing
TWU Local 591
With the TEAMSTERS We Will WIN!
For more information, visit the AA Mechanics for Teamsters website or call the hotline at 877-589-4951.