In any collective bargaining agreement there are three basic tenets that must be achieved for the members. We need scope to define our work, seniority to award positions, and just cause to protect us from the whims of management. Of course there are many more things to be negotiated such as wages, benefits, and work rules but without those first three, everything that follows becomes worthless. Experienced unionists understand that these three things are the true "meat and potatoes" of any agreement. With that said I would like to take a moment to discuss only one of these, and that is seniority.
I recently received a couple of email trees that included what looks like an original post, followed by a comment by GT Davis, and then further commented on by Horse Tayles. In these messages is a claim that the IBT was allowing supervisors that didn't make the cut to return with "full seniority" and the original poster even added one of the contract provisions to decry the violation. The provision he missed, intentionally or otherwise, was the Consent Decree found on the last two pages of the agreement. In the Decree (which the IAM signed in the 1970's) item 1. d. it talks about promoted employees having their seniority adjusted pursuant to the seniority provisions of the agreement. So for us to believe the ludicrous claims found in the email which follows this paragraph, the IBT would have to change the seniority provisions in article ten, and then have to have the provision reapplied to all members that have had their seniority adjusted after Nov 1st of 1969 or be in violation of Federal Decree. Of course this makes no sense at all, but there is no sense letting the facts get in the way of a good story. Brothers and Sisters seniority is sacred and needs to be treated as such. I challenge anyone involved in this following asinine email tree to either provide proof what is claimed has happened, or admit you lie for your own political gain. I won't hold my breath for either. Email tree follows;
--- On Tue, 1/11/11, Horse Tayles <horsetayles@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Horse Tayles <horsetayles@yahoo.com>
Subject: Fw: Bye bye seniority
To: horsetayles@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 3:22 AM
Looks like the cheapsters are at it again. Giving away our seniority and violating our contract with another secret deal. This means when layoffs come a supervisor stays and a dedicated AMT or AET hits the street...And those on layoff suffer another organizing lie by the ibt.
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: GT Davis <gtd53@comcast.net>
To: GT Davis <gtd53@comcast.net>
Sent: Fri, January 7, 2011 9:13:12 PM
Subject: FW:
Perhaps a closed door deal. What did we give up for this agreement? The ibt at work, and don't forget, don't make the company angry. Perhaps the ibt battle cry now should be, "kiss the company's ass."
To: gt davis
Subject:
Received confirmation the other day by our chief steward and business agent that UAL supervision WILL retain FULL seniority if not selected after their target selection process. They will be offered a position on the floor with FULL seniority. UAL-AMFA contract Article X chapter M paragraph 2 strictly states a mechanic getting a supervisory position will stop accruing after 6 months. Are the ibt letting UAL break the contract again???? It's happening here also.
