The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.62/No.44           December 7, 1998 
 
 
Why IAM Members Should Vote `No' On Splitting Lodge 141  

BY RASHAAD ALI AND LARRY LANE
SAN FRANCISCO - At the annual convention of IAM District Lodge 141 held in Pittsburgh October 27-29, IAM officials decided to hold a referendum on whether to establish a separate district among mechanics and "related workers" (a technical term used in voting under the Railway Labor Act) at United Airlines and U.S. Airways.

The ballots are now in the mail and union officials say the referendum vote will be counted on December 11. The ballot questions states, "Do you support the restructuring of District Lodge 141 into two separate district lodges; one consisting of only the members within the mechanic and related agreements?"

The ranks of the IAM should vote "no" in this referendum.

If implemented the restructuring would divide and weaken the IAM. It will play into the hands of the employers. Passage of the proposal would create a separate district solely for mechanics and related workers at the two major carriers in the district plus some smaller airlines. All other IAM District 141 members, including ramp workers, stores, kitchen workers, and customer service workers, will be excluded.

This same proposal to divide the IAM was scheduled to be put into place by IAM union officials at Northwest Airlines on December 1. This arbitrary attempt by the Machinists officials to divide IAM workers at Northwest into separate districts came on the heels of union members' overwhelming rejection of a tentative contract settlement with Northwest Airlines by 81 percent. This tentative settlement, which was so resoundingly rejected, was touted in the IAM Journal by IAM general vice- president William Scheri as an "industry-leading agreement."

IAM `restructuring' helped AMFA win
The November 20 defeat of the IAM by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), at Northwest Airlines in the recently concluded election (see accompanying article) demonstrates clearly that what the officials call an "experiment" with a separate IAM Mechanics and Related District is a failure and in fact bolstered AFMA's claim that mechanics would fare better separate from other workers, contributing to the victory by the pro-company outfit.

If the officials' "restructuring" plan is not rejected by workers in District 141, the potential for the same result as at Northwest-a weakening of the organized-union component of the workers at United Airlines and USAirways - looms not that far down the road. The worst case scenario would result in mechanics and cleaners at United Airlines also being represented AMFA.

The formation of a new "mechanics district" is not in the interest of union members at United or USAirways. Its creation would deepen the divisions the company seeks to foster between mechanics, cleaners, and baggage handlers, making it more difficult to mobilize the potential power of the union to resist the company's day-to-day attacks and the concessionary demands of the airlines bosses at contract time. This entire "restructuring" proposal is an adaptation - to AMFA's pro- company ideas that workers are "thrown together" in industrial unionism and that less skilled workers, "those without crafts," were "being carried" by those with "skills." The IAM's contract with United expires in 2000. The company is already pressing for early negotiations.

Many of the airlines have notched high profits over the past couple years while continuing to undercut work rules and lengthen the work day. The airline bosses propose meager pay hikes at the same time they try to impose more discipline on the workers. For more than a decade airline workers have had contracts imposed upon us that call for deeper and deeper concessions.

The 1994 agreement at United known as ESOP is a perfect example. The ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) led to steep cuts in wages being traded off for stock in the company, supposedly redeemable at retirement or when someone quits or is fired by the airline. Support for ESOP and similar scams, where workers' wages are cut with the promise of company stock at some later date, involves workers in stock speculation and its accompanying instability - part of middle-class life and politics - not workers' solidarity.

Recently, 19,000 customer service representatives voted to join the IAM at United Airlines. This represents a potential significant strengthening of the union. But some promote a reactionary view of this: that the ESOP shares will be distributed to a larger number of workers, so each will get less, as the number of shares is fixed. Under these stock schemes, union growth becomes an obstacle to union solidarity.

AMFA's successful attempt to split mechanics from the union, while it was in a fight with the Northwest bosses, signals the reactionary character of this outfit. AMFA is hell-bent on destroying the industrial form of organization in the airline industry.

This potential strength of the IAM was demonstrated in the 1966 airlines strike, when the union struck five major carriers at once and won a victory by smashing the 3.2 percent ceiling on annual wage increases. It was demonstrated again 1989-91 when fighting members of the IAM defeated union-buster Frank Lorenzo's attempt to run Eastern airlines as a nonunion operation.

The IAM officials' referendum proposal in District 141, which they hope will keep the mechanics under the IAM banner, prevents ramp workers and others from having a say in the outcome of a vote that will have substantial consequences for the union. When motivating the proposal for a new mechanics district, IAM officials refer to Mechanics and "related." The largest category of the "related" are the thousands of airplane cleaners who work for the company. They will be allowed to vote, but the IAM tops treat the cleaners more as a source of dues money and a nuisance than as an important component of the ranks of the IAM.

On the ramp most union members know very little if anything about this very important question. Moreover, no real effort is being made to allow the membership to openly discuss these questions before they are being put to a rapid vote.

All IAM members have a stake in debating this issue and campaigning to reject the IAM officialdom's proposal for a new mechanics and related district.

Rashaad Ali is a ramp worker at United Airlines. Larry Lane is a maintenance machinist at the carrier. Both are members of IAM Local 1781.

 
 
 
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