Big Trouble at IBT 747

Seggy

Seggy

Well-Known Member
Taken from another website...

The Local 747 As Been Taken Over By The International. The Executive Board, Inlcuding The President, Has Been Removed. All Of Our Communications With The Pilots Have Been Suspended Until Further Notice. All Negotiations Have Been Suspended By The International. Your Representation Is In Immediate Peril, Courtesy Of Airline Division Director David Bourne.

Your Executive Council Is Still Intact But Without The Tools To Adequately Represent You. Rest Assured That You, The Pilot Are The Only Concern Of Your Executive Council. We Are Working To Resolve The Sitution Using All Legal Avenues. We Will Update You Here As The Situation Progesses.

Fraternally,

Peter Pranger Exco Chairman
And Your Executive Council
Click to expand...

Anyone with an idea what is going on?
 
We should have picked teamsters. Then I wouldnt be so worried about those pinnacle a-holes wanting to fly my saab out of PQI.
 
We're the 747 and this is the first I've heard...not a clue. We're deep in negotiations, so this is quite shocking. I just flew with Pranger recently, but he didn't mention a thing..
 
how can you take anything seriously where every word in the memo is capitalized?
 
Whenever a local unit is taken over by National, there has either been malfeasance by the local officers, they have blatently violated National policy or National views them as totally out of control.

ALPA has been forced to take over a couple Locals in the past. Obviously, the IBT leadership has identified some kind of problem in Local 747.
 
Wasn't it Local 747 that Great Lakes was represented by? Perhaps it has something to do with them going to a different union.
 
Maurus said:
Wasn't it Local 747 that Great Lakes was represented by? Perhaps it has something to do with them going to a different union.
Click to expand...

Although, I've known Pete Pranger for years. That memo is definitely Pete material.

Or perhaps, this:

tdu_masthead.jpg
Published on Teamsters for a Democratic Union (http://tdu.org)
BNA Daily Labor Report: IBT Airlines Division Takes Over Cape Air Pilots' Local

By TDU
Created 2009-04-02 17:49
April 2, 2009: The Airline Division of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters says it has removed one of its locals from bargaining with a small Massachusetts-based carrier because of “unacceptably substandard representation.”
In an unusual move, the international issued a press release March 27 in which Airline Director David Bourne said that he is replacing Teamsters Local 747 as the bargaining agent for pilots employed by Cape Air, Inc., who are now in mediation. The division will take over representation directly and decide later on assignment to another local, he said.
But officials from Local 747 responded with a flurry of letters contending that the local is not the bargaining representative of the Cape Air pilots, defending their conduct, and urging IBT President James P. Hoffa to retract the press release.
A spokeswoman for Cape Air said that negotiations for a first contract to cover approximately 120 active pilots have been continuing for some time. She declined to comment on the union dispute. Cape Air, based in Hyannis, Mass., says it is the largest independent regional airline in the country, serving Cape Cod, New York state, the mid-Atlantic, the Florida Keys, the Caribbean, and Micronesia. Cape Air pilots voted for IBT representation in 2006.
Bourne, the director of the Airline Division, told BNA April 1 that he removed Local 747 in response to complaints from Cape Air pilots that they were “not getting the representation they needed.” An election to replace IBT with the independent Cape Air Pilots Association is scheduled for later this month, Bourne said, and pilots at other carriers are seeking to leave the union because of poor service from Local 747.
Pilots at Great Lakes Aviation are now voting on whether to replace Local 747, and decertification drives at “three or four” other carriers are under way, Bourne said. Local 747 represents about 5,000 pilots at 12 airlines, according to the local. According to the National Mediation Board Web site, ballots cast by pilots at Great Lakes on representation by IBT or the United Transportation Union will be counted April 8.
Local 747 President and General Counsel E.E. Sowell called the press release “a fabricated attempt to undermine the local.” In a March 29 letter to Hoffa, he said that the local “does not now, nor have we ever, represented the pilots of Cape Air, Inc.”
Sowell explained that the former Airline Division Director Don Treichler had agreed to continue as chief bargainer after his replacement by Bourne last year and that Local 747 had agreed to fund the negotiations until a first contract was settled, at which time the pilots would become part of Local 747.
Local 747 had refused to accept the Cape Air pilots because it could not afford to adhere to a policy of not collecting dues until a first contract was reached, Sowell said.
A spokeswoman for the local, Ashley B. Marsh, said April 1 that pilots at Cape Air were dissatisfied because the IBT Airline Division “dropped the ball” in negotiations. “They were never under our umbrella,” she said.
The decertification petition at Great Lakes stems from a takeover of an airline where pilots were represented by the UTU, which is seeking bargaining rights at the successor carrier, Marsh said. Local 747 is not aware of dissatisfaction at any other airline, and “we have been receiving letters of support” from pilots since the dispute became public, she said.
Several other Local 747 officials also wrote to the international, questioning why the airline division would publicly attack a local and arguing that an airing of the dispute would strengthen union opponents.
But Bourne said “it doesn't help anybody” to keep the controversy secret and that it was important to let pilots and airlines know that the international is working to address complaints.
By Rick Valliere


Source URL:
http://tdu.org/node/2935
 
Like I referenced on the org, IBT representation is HORRIBLE. My class did not get a visit, nor a welcome packet until after we were informed of impending furlough. Then we owed back dues (after having been with the company for 7 months). I'm wondering why all these representatives are getting pulled and why they are ALL substandard. So now we're supposed to believe that things are going to be different? All they had to do was represent us and they couldn't even do that!
 
As happy as I am about people like Gene Sowell getting whats coming to them, I have NO idea how the company will react and flex its muscles. I dont even know if we have representation or protect right now? A few people are talking an In-House union, but I dont think we have the drive for it. ALPA isn't perfect, but I think it would be a better fit than the teamsters were, but who knows where to begin since we dont know whats going on in the first place.
 
I never heard anything positive about Local 747 while we were represented, in fact there were people who were pro-union who would refuse to pay dues.
I was told people were receiving letters telling them to pay hundreds of dollars to the local or lose their job.
 
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