Air Wisconsin: yet another example of TWU's contempt for regional dispatchers

[Pepwave1]

TWU's Air Wisconsin Contract Announcement

In my opinion, TWU has an ATM machine...they call it regional dispatching.

In my opinion: the contracts are poorly negotiated, poorly written, and are just a way to grab money from regional dispatchers while offering nothing in return.

No flight volume pay...no inflation-based COLA increases...it's the kind of contract that Air Wisconsin basically forced on the union by refusing to negotiate.

BUT YEAH! celebrate the win, right?

Meanwhile...people in Fast Food jobs in Appleton are making the exact same wages.

 

[XA_AMX]

TWU's Air Wisconsin Contract Announcement

In my opinion, TWU has an ATM machine...they call it regional dispatching.

In my opinion: the contracts are poorly negotiated, poorly written, and are just a way to grab money from regional dispatchers while offering nothing in return.

No flight volume pay...no inflation-based COLA increases...it's the kind of contract that Air Wisconsin basically forced on the union by refusing to negotiate.

BUT YEAH! celebrate the win, right?

Meanwhile...people in Fast Food jobs in Appleton are making the exact same wages.

My same opinion. Before coming into Dispatch with PSA, which is also under the TWU umbrella, I was already a TWU Member at another carrier with an Operations job title (fancy way to call a Gate Agent). The Ops guys make more money than a Dispatcher at PSA and I’m surprised how can TWU allow this.

 

[I Like IKE]

I don't understand why people think that simply having a union demand certain things means they will get it. Contracts are agreed upon by both sides. You can't force a contract on a company. And when it comes to regionals, there is no shortage of dispatcher applicants, and most don't hang out long enough to care enough to put much effort into getting a better contract. It's very telling of our culture that when a company refuses to agree to higher pay, the workers blame the union and not the company. And having been a union rep myself, I found that the loudest complainers were also unwilling to step up and do anything.

 

[Pepwave1]

TWU maintains a strike fund. airline won't pay? make them feel it.

I don't understand why people think that simply having a union demand certain things means they will get it. Contracts are agreed upon by both sides. You can't force a contract on a company. And when it comes to regionals, there is no shortage of dispatcher applicants, and most don't hang out long enough to care enough to put much effort into getting a better contract. It's very telling of our culture that when a company refuses to agree to higher pay, the workers blame the union and not the company. And having been a union rep myself, I found that the loudest complainers were also unwilling to step up and do anything.

It's an effort at negotiating.
when you have the union leadership openly antagonizing the company by posting on Social Media and other places that the CEO should be fired...because he wouldn't negotiate, maybe that's a sign to get a new negotiating team and strategy in place.

And yes...the airline often has an antagonist relationship with union members...but...a living wage, good benefits, and worker protections are why we pay the union...if they're not capable of negotiating those, then maybe we need to switch unions at regional shops.

see if PAFCA or the Teamsters...have a better methodology.

because TWU lacks leadership and ability, in my opinion...and is simply content with collecting union dues from regionals while offering nothing in return

 

[who'swho]

I don't understand why people think that simply having a union demand certain things means they will get it. Contracts are agreed upon by both sides. You can't force a contract on a company. And when it comes to regionals, there is no shortage of dispatcher applicants, and most don't hang out long enough to care enough to put much effort into getting a better contract. It's very telling of our culture that when a company refuses to agree to higher pay, the workers blame the union and not the company. And having been a union rep myself, I found that the loudest complainers were also unwilling to step up and do anything.

This. Step up and do something!

 

[who'swho]

TWU maintains a strike fund. airline won't pay? make them feel it.

It's an effort at negotiating.
when you have the union leadership openly antagonizing the company by posting on Social Media and other places that the CEO should be fired...because he wouldn't negotiate, maybe that's a sign to get a new negotiating team and strategy in place.

And yes...the airline often has an antagonist relationship with union members...but...a living wage, good benefits, and worker protections are why we pay the union...if they're not capable of negotiating those, then maybe we need to switch unions at regional shops.

see if PAFCA or the Teamsters...have a better methodology.

because TWU lacks leadership and ability, in my opinion...and is simply content with collecting union dues from regionals while offering nothing in return

If you review the Railway Labor Act, you'll find you can't just strike. It basically takes an act of God to release you from your contract, even if it's expired.

Changing unions doesn't make a difference. It's the same people on the other side of the table and the same challenges. All these new dispatchers who enter the industry have their eye on the majors and they generally ignore the issues happening at the regionals. The senior guys at the regionals are frequently senior for a reason and they really shouldn't be in leadership positions in the union. Changing the union changes none of this, unfortunately. The members need to be vocal and come together as a union.

 

[iono]

TWU maintains a strike fund. airline won't pay? make them feel it.

It's an effort at negotiating.
when you have the union leadership openly antagonizing the company by posting on Social Media and other places that the CEO should be fired...because he wouldn't negotiate, maybe that's a sign to get a new negotiating team and strategy in place.

And yes...the airline often has an antagonist relationship with union members...but...a living wage, good benefits, and worker protections are why we pay the union...if they're not capable of negotiating those, then maybe we need to switch unions at regional shops.

see if PAFCA or the Teamsters...have a better methodology.

because TWU lacks leadership and ability, in my opinion...and is simply content with collecting union dues from regionals while offering nothing in return

if the union leadership isn’t negotiating a fair contract, the answer is to vote in people who will, not change unions. spirit is under pafca and have an abomination of a contract, and many unresolved grievances. they could’ve gotten an updated contract or at least a LOA addressing the starting pay a while ago, but the clown at the top is.. well, a clown

 

[I Like IKE]

TWU maintains a strike fund. airline won't pay? make them feel it.

It's an effort at negotiating.
when you have the union leadership openly antagonizing the company by posting on Social Media and other places that the CEO should be fired...because he wouldn't negotiate, maybe that's a sign to get a new negotiating team and strategy in place.

And yes...the airline often has an antagonist relationship with union members...but...a living wage, good benefits, and worker protections are why we pay the union...if they're not capable of negotiating those, then maybe we need to switch unions at regional shops.

see if PAFCA or the Teamsters...have a better methodology.

because TWU lacks leadership and ability, in my opinion...and is simply content with collecting union dues from regionals while offering nothing in return

I've said this before. If you don't like what your union is doing, that's on you. The union isn't some outside entity. The union is YOU. Quit complaining and do something about it. If you don't like what union leadership is doing, recall them. But you also have to have a realistic expectation and understanding of all the forces at play.
I was a union rep in the same TWU local that most of the regionals are in. And I heard an awful lot of complaining, but none of the complainers would step up and do something. And none of the complainers had any real clue of what went on, or all the work the union officers put in.
As others have said, the real issue at the regionals is a combination of two factors; the fact that regardless of what the pay is, they will continue to have no trouble finding dispatchers because everyone knows that regionals are your step to the majors, and those who are at the regionals don't want to step up and do anything or make waves for fear of hurting their chances of moving up.

 

[Slandfall]

Friend of mine pointed this thread out and I just felt I needed to put my own two cents in.

Without going into too much detail, the deal we got put a lot of smiles on faces in the SOC. Our Union Rep wouldn't accept a contract if he didn't feel that it met the needs of his colleagues and I believe my colleagues share my feelings when I say we are incredibly thankful for his hard work over the years.

 

[BruinsFan]

A few points as someone who spent some time in ATOWN.

1. I had the exact same criticisms of the TWU when I worked there. And more to the point, at the time I was there, the Local that represented us also represented the dispatchers at the Mainline carrier we fed, which to me was a conflict of interest. I had an issue with that. With the big 3 all being represented by PAFCA these days and not the TWU, the conflict of interest isn't really there.
2. I would say that the top half of the seniority list is actually AWAC lifers who have all been there for over 15-20 years. The stepping stone argument doesn't always jive because some people like those folks have no interest in moving up to the Majors for whatever reason.
3. Part of the issue with negotiating a regional contract is that regionals are still competing for flying and if a contract costs more money, it could cost flying opportunities later, and also some of the main regionals left, such as SkyWest, are non-union.
4. WIthout knowing the details of this contract, Double Time for OT is a significant win and is something we never had during my time there.
5. The workgroup covered by this is only about 20-30 people. It is impossible for such a small group to really represent their own interests without pooling their resources with other groups, which as much as it sucks is why you need a few different companies in each local. The way PAFCA is structured would make it almost impossible for a PAFCA chapter to work at such a regional. Aside from that, really the Teamsters is the only other union that would work as a result, and they have their own issues there.

I get the frustrations that the OP makes and I share them, but given the nature of the industry I don't really know what the alternative is.

 

[OttoPilot13]

Friend of mine pointed this thread out and I just felt I needed to put my own two cents in.

Without going into too much detail, the deal we got put a lot of smiles on faces in the SOC. Our Union Rep wouldn't accept a contract if he didn't feel that it met the needs of his colleagues and I believe my colleagues share my feelings when I say we are incredibly thankful for his hard work over the years.

Being former ZW, I applaud the contract you were able to get! It may of been several years overdue and during crunch time, but nonetheless got it done. While COLA increases would have been nice, some of the publicly known pros definetly seem to outweigh what was currently established. Some of these figures and increases were far more than what we got in earlier contracts. For those carriers who will be negotiating in the near future, I'm sure this got their attention as well.

Ignore the noise, I understand it could always have been "more" but there comes a point in which you pick your battles and take what you can get and not ultimately hold out for even less in arbitration. This is still seems to be an overall positive win for you all and feel confident it will get voted in. Continue to build off this and keep fighting for when the next time you come to the table.