AOA politics
Midnight rambler,
I believe we vote( or not vote) for the president we want at the time. I know CX didn't want Nigel - Ted had told us he was resigning as president and then next thing he was suddenly running against Nigel. I don't know why - was it that he decided he could do a better job than Nigel - did the company ask him - who knows - he never told me. But in the end we all decided we wanted to vent 7 years of frustration with CX by voting in Nigel. He was the man for the times - he represented the general level of angst.
After the 49ers/2001 etc I think people were 'industrially weary' so we voted in MAG. With MAG at the helm we tried the 'bend over' approach and after 3-4 years of cooperation we are now reaping the benefits (sarcasm alert!). I don't know MAG very well...and I was never on the GC at the same time as him. But I do think it rather strange that he had a year+ off work on full pay whilst he was AOA president. The rest of us get 126days!
Whether you want conciliation/co-operation or confrontation is up to you...we are simply your representatives. I have been getting a lot of feedback that people want contract compliance at the very least after the last parsimonious pay offer. Speak up and say what you want or the GC will have to guess for you!