The Silent (and Tight-fisted) Majority...

Alleged SPEEA “spin:”
SPEEA claims it has the support of a majority of WTPU represented employees.

The decerters’ “spin” that SPEEA is distorting the truth:
“SPEEA enjoys the dues of only 11% of the WTPU employees.   The other 89% are held hostage”

My “spin:”
While the WTPU’s dues-paying membership has always been a minority of represented employees, it is not, nor has ever been close to “only 11% of the WTPU employees” the decerters claim. Of course, “close” -- like “limited” and “ceiling” -- may not mean the same thing to the decerters as it does to me.

I’d also question their definition of “hostage,” as SPEEA makes no “give us money or else” demands of anyone in WTPU who chooses to not pay dues: the union is required to enforce our contract equally, for dues-payers and non-payers alike. Sure, the union offers benefits over and above “contract enforcement” -- like giving us salary charts to use when we want to ask The Boss for a raise -- but that’s an enticement to pay “insurance premium” dues, not a threat to withhold representation for contract violations.

In any event, regardless of how many WTPU-represented folks pay the thirty bucks a month “premium,” my Spirit coworkers certainly support having the option of union protection, whether they’re willing to pay for it or not.

How else could you explain our 58-42 win last time someone wasted our time with a decertification campaign here at Spirit, save that, yes, SPEEA has the support of a majority of WTPU-represented employees, regardless of how many folks pay dues?



Okay, then... how ‘bout “SPEEA’s support is so low they are bribing recruiters with your hard-earned dues.”?

“Bribing” may be one way to “spin” the recruitment bonuses. Another would be calling it “rewarding” the folks who work to sell our union.

Ya see, unlike where I grew up on the Right Coast, the folks here in the SPEEA’s Midwest Region aren’t as culturally predisposed to support unions. Therefore, getting folks to help pay the cost of maintaining our union “insurance” coverage is a bit more difficult here than elsewhere in SPEEA World. It requires repeated contact with the potential duespayer and alot of research work to address each individual’s issues and concerns.

The union understands this is hard work for our member-recruiters; selling a union here in the Midwest takes time and effort and it doesn’t pay well. So the union offers a reward for their efforts.

Save for the random recruitment contest -- like the $1000 payoff during the 2002 Boeing Engineering negotiations that, for some unfathomable reason, the decerters are trying to sell as current at Spirit -- that reward is a SPEEA “thank you” check for ten bucks. Which, best I can tell, works out to ‘bout $0.0476 an hour for the work they do.

Sure, it’s not the $25 gift card I got for twenty-five years of service to the Company, nor the $25 gift card and t-shirt you get for fifteen minutes of your time at some health fair in the cafeteria, but it’s at least some recognition of the hard work our folks do to make us stronger.


-- Bill, who bets SPEEA still has faaaaar more duespaying WTPU members than the decerters have valid signatures on their petitions...