Excuses for not joining
Loopdeloop,
I respect your position about joining the AOA and I totally agree with previous posts that the AOA is the only way to negotiate with the company.
I would like to see a discussion about some of the issues that clearly exists.
I my opinion the company has set out on a path of divide and conquor, and you don't have to look any further than the way some members argue in this forum to see they are somewhat successful.
Lots of HKG based crew couldn't give a damn about half vs full credit for PX/PT sectors. Lots of NAM crew couldn't give a damn about 3 man ops to Europe. My point is we are very diversified and in my opinion in need of seperate unions. I know this is very controversial and before jumping to the keyboard please read on.
I think seperate unions for each basing area and HKG would get rid of the excuse many people use for not joining and lets face it, every basing area and seat position is not represented (at least not very well) in the AOA.
Seperate unions could still negotiate with the company as one unified group with a set of demands, proposals etc.
While it is each individuals right to join or not to join, the reasoning behind not joining has become one of what comes first, the chicken or the egg.
- The AOA is not doing anything for us, so I won't join.
- The percentage of members is not high enough to ensure leverage in case of industrial action, so therefore join.
I could go on and on about this. Point is, we won't get anywhere until we eliminate the excuses for not joining, that's the first step.
I think the company loves the situation the AOA is in right now. The company maintains it will negotiate with the AOA, but if membership rose to 100% I think it would worry the company more and prevent them from unilateraly imposing new COS.
On the other hand, what if (hypothetically) the AOA said to the company: OK, you impose this without an agreement, we are becoming obsolete, we will shut our organization down and you can rule as you please (in some opinions they already do). I think that would scare the company even more. How would you attract any new joiner if we didn't even have a union.
Right now, we are in between, right where the company would like us to be. Until we change that, we will get nowhere else than arguing in this forum.
While we are at it, let me make a general comment about joining/not joining and consequences. If I think the AOA is not helping my personal agenda, I have the option and right not to join.
I believe two things can improve my COS. Market forces and the AOA, since I cannot actively impact the former I only have the option of joining the latter. But threatening non-joiners not to give them jumpseats as mentioned in other threads or to impose similar consequences for not joining is about as childish as the company would like to see us.
Get a grip. Threatening guys to join the union. Is that seriously the way to go.
Now lets grow up, have a discussion about why each and every non-member out there didn't join, lets fix those problems and then move forward as a stronger and more united group.
Cider30