eaglefly

.........and will produce nothing.

jungle

And look where the change is......all three tenths of one whole percent. Kool-Aid is powerful stuff.

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Published: January 28, 2009
Union membership in the United States rose last year by the largest amount in a quarter-century, a gain of 428,000 members, the Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Wednesday.
: Organized LaborThe bureau said that most of the new members were government employees and that the percentage of workers in unions rose to 12.4 percent of the overall work force last year, up from 12.1 percent in 2007.

The increase is bound to fuel an already feverish political debate over whether to enact a labor-backed bill that would make it easier for workers to unionize. Business groups that oppose the bill can point to the new report to argue that such legislation is unnecessary because unions are already growing under current law.

But union leaders said Wednesday that it remained far too difficult to unionize workers in the private sector.

Most Democrats support the bill, the Employee Free Choice Act, saying that making it easier for unions to grow will help strengthen the nation’s middle class during tough economic times. But Republicans denounce the bill because it would give workers the right to gain union recognition as soon as a majority signed cards saying they wanted a union, rather than through secret-ballot elections.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 36.8 percent of government employees belong to unions, compared with just 7.6 percent of workers in the private sector. Typically, state and city officials do not fight unionization efforts, while private-sector employers, fearing higher labor costs, often vigorously resist organizing drives.

The bureau noted that the percentage of workers in unions has dropped from 20.1 percent in 1983, with the decline especially noteworthy among private-sector workers because of a sharp drop in manufacturing jobs as a result of plant closings and pressures from imports. The bureau said 11.4 percent of manufacturing workers, once the heart of organized labor, were in unions.

The bureau said 16.1 million workers belonged to unions at the end of 2008. The number of unionized government workers grew by 275,000 last year and the number of unionized private sector workers grew by slightly more than 150,000.

Some economists discounted as a statistical fluke the bureau’s report last year that the number of unionized workers had jumped by 311,000 in 2007. Unions have made significant gains in organizing by persuading various governors and state legislatures to allow the unionization of tens of thousands of teachers, home-health aides and home-based child care providers.

nicholasblonde

It's not technically changed yet--the CIH policy is the only thing that has technically changed...the "change" of which you speak was a memo that scared lots of people into submission (sick calls went back down)...

I'm ashamed of our group--seriously--a MEMO comes out and the Northern Mississippi/Alabama flying club freaks out and stops calling in sick...typical, typical, typical...

Kellwolf

It has had a positive effect. Notice I wasn't parked at the table in the crew room this week? Yeah, apparently the sick scare and the 200% open time netted me THREE reserve days at home where my phone never rang. I called scheduling after my last contactable period ended just to make sure I was still employed.....

I'd trade those home reserve days for a better contract, though.

dosbo

It's been my experience that doing your job within the confines of the FOM and JCBA without going above and beyond your job requirements will slow the operation down and begin creating ripple effects as schedules are compromised. It may not cripple the company but it may cause enough headaches in other parts of the company, scheduling, maintenance control, dispatch, and most importantly management to get their attention. Of course the pilot group as a whole needs to fly the contract not just one or two crews, this is where unity is important.

It's a shame there is so little unity in this business.

Kellwolf

This is pretty much true, especially here. Without the pilots (both CAs and FOs) coordinating things and constantly pushing the other departments (or flat out correcting their mistakes), I don't think we'd have more than 10% on-time performance. Late boarding? Don't mention it to the gate agent. No cargo slip yet? Don't close the door. See a scheduling issue where you're going to time out? Don't call until you time out.

Now, obviously things like alternates that are required but dispatch failed to read the TAF properly (or the one dispatcher is so swamped with flights, he or she did the release 4-5 hours before hand) and MX screw ups (like forgetting to sign something off) need to be addressed because we're legally on the hook as well.

weaseljet

Then the all democrats including Obama should be voted out at the next election. After all, if memory serves me, ALPA supported him/democrats because they were supposed to be more "labor friendly". Doesn't look that way.

jsled

then your not paying attention. Ob has appointed former union chiefs to head the FAA and to the NMB. Just b/c Eaglefly says the NMB is a farce does not make it so. They just changed RLA union voting rules which withstood a court challenge from the ATA and they released Spirit Airlines from mediation which resulted in a stirke. A FAR cry from the previous admin. That bogus union vote rule was in effect for decades!! Now, thanks to this NMB, a simple majority wins. Delta's employee groups and Skywest's pilot group will be unionized on the next go around. Bank on it. This is huge.

Airsupport

Then why after negotiating for over 5 years did they put us on ICE. The LEAST they could have done was tell us to meet back with them in a couple of weeks.

higney85

I am curious if the NMB knew what was coming at Corp.

It's interesting that healthcare came out of left field when it was previously a non-issue.... XJ has a pretty good BK deal with the exception of their BK-gutted medical benes.

Also interesting dual-qual. We stood on "No" because they wouldn't tell us why they needed it and with 16 airframes there was no movement to make an arrangement that kept it safe and financially worth while with the additional risks and responsibilities (a different airplane to remain "current" and "proficient" on).

The NMB isn't a group to explain their reasons, if they did it would helpful to all of us. There are plenty of conspiracy theories, even I have my thoughts, but it doesn't change what has unfolded in the last couple weeks. A month ago ICE and PNCL buying XJ would have not even been starbucks rumors- it would have been a saucer discussion over beers for being "out there". Now we don't have a contract and yet another airline being put into the mix. Simply the Best at buying airlines.