No one believes in Wildcat Strikes more than me, but, this is an inappropriate use of that union power.
Let me just tell you why I believe in Wildcat Strikes. My father was a union secretary in Golo Shoe Factory in Pennsylvania (click here and 11th paragraph). The year was 1959 and the working conditions were terrible. The union officers decided to pull a Wildcat Strike to improve the workers health and well being. My father voted for the strike in an executive meeting. The factory workers, all union members, were called to assembly and given the information the executive committee had before them regarding working conditions and human health. There was a vote of the members and the factory went on strike.
That strike lasted for 90 days. Back then there was word of mouth information that spread through the surrounding towns. "Golo Shoe Factory is on strike for better working conditions." This area was depressed already due to coal mines shutting down. There was no more anthrocite coal to be mined. The bosses had completely depleted the mountains of it. So, the concept of workers' health was not foreign to any of the laborers at Golo or their communities.
The shop keepers in the area decided they could extend credit to the families of the striking workers. In that was community based support and the Wildcat Strike could go forward until the factory owners committed to the union's terms. Eventually, they did. But, the cost would mean all the six officers of the union had to resign. Among those people was my father, an Air Force veteran from Korea and now with a family of two young children. He went on to find work in New Jersey where his sister said there was good work for good men. To tell you the commitment my family has to unions is to understand my father worked in New Jersey three months before he was asked to be a Shop Steward for the union there.
So, when it comes to Wildcat Strikes, they are invaluable and work extremely well to bring about change for the better in any labor issue. I find the pilot union at Southwest to be heroes and nothing short of it, given their dedication to labor law. But, there are exceptions when a national health emergency exists. I think the courts and the NLRB will say that as well.
Pilots of all people and their attendants on board are exposed to this lousy bug more than most other people. There is a change in air mass components every time there is a landing and passengers depart and board. So, the chance of pilots and other airline workers, including baggage handlers, is higher and would expose them to the contagion is far higher rates. It is important all those without EFFECTIVE immunity get the vaccine. Labor law be damned this is a national emergency and a pandemic. What if pilots got sick and some died, what would that do to the USA economy and families left without one or more of their wage earners gone. We have orphans in this country due to the virus. There are military veterans among these folks. This is no joke.
This wildcat strike with Southwest Airlines is due to what the pilots see as an assault on labor law. I doubt that can be incurred because of a national health emergency. I am sure they are thinking Biden is another Reagan. The labor union leaders should be meeting with the President. All airline labor union leaders, not just those with Southwest. Heck, where is the AFL-CIO on this thing?
The Railway Labor Act (RLA) (click here) has governed collective
bargaining between rail carriers and labor unions since 1926.
This is a national health emergency and there are far different parameters regarding labor practices. If there are businesses with unions salivating at the idea this mandate by President Biden is going to destroy unions, they have another thing coming. Unions can go on strike if their employers are draconian and insistent in breaking the union. Unions are important. They are the backbone of the Middle Class and while there is always concern about the health of labor law, there is a panel of the NLRB that can issue statements as well.
Again, I state, will your ideology save you from the grave?
October 9, 2021
By Mary Schlangenstein
By Mary Schlangenstein
Southwest Airlines Co. pilots (click here) asked a court to temporarily block the company from carrying out federally mandated coronavirus vaccinations until an existing lawsuit over alleged U.S. labor law violations is resolved.
The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association’s filing Friday also asked for an immediate hearing on the request before a federal court in Dallas, claiming the carrier has continued to take unilateral actions that violate terms of the Railway Labor Act, which governs airline-union relations. Those steps include the Covid-19 vaccination requirement.
“The new vaccine mandate unlawfully imposes new conditions of employment and the new policy threatens termination of any pilot not fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021,” the legal filing said. “Southwest Airlines’ additional new and unilateral modification of the parties’ collective bargaining agreement is in clear violation of the RLA.”...
You need another reason, then how about the issue of masks for pilots that obstruct their best operating ability? Vaccines would mitigate all that.
By Linda Werfelman
Radio transmissions (click here) by pilots wearing cloth facemasks may be more difficult to understand than those by pilots wearing surgical masks, or no masks at all, according to a report by the French Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses (BEA)....
