Grave-yard Shift Mechanics Come Together In Solidarity At Alaska Airlines

When it comes to our organizing campaign, solidarity is key. We must stick together if we are to have a bright future at ASA. Only when we have one, collective voice, will our voice be heard.

That is exactly what happened at Alaska Airlines. Like us, mechanics and related at Alaska Airlines are trying to form a union with the Teamsters. Like ASA, Alaska Airlines is a regional airline and management has tried to interfere with the rights of Alaska Airline’s employees to form a union. Below is a story written by Alaska Airlines Mechanics Guy Blue and John Knight about what it means to come together as one. If they can do it, we can to!

By John Knight and Guy Blue

On May 1, mechanics and related at Alaska Airlines stood together in an act of solidarity that all of us can be proud of. The director of maintenance demanded that all time during a work shift be accounted for. To do so, management told us that we would be required to fill out reports specifically explaining how much time each night was spent on aircraft work, non-productive time and other time. When questions arose about how the information on these sheets was to be used—would it be used against us as “reasons” for outsourcing our work?—no one from management could answer our questions. Upon hearing this news, many mechanics began to confer with each other.

We all refused to fill out the self-account time sheets the first night we were told to do so. Our supervisor was later threatened that he would be fired. The next night, our supervisor once again briefed us that the forms were not optional and that we had to fill them out. When asked what happens if we don’t fill out the forms, we were told that we had one of two options: fill out the forms or clock out. With that, one by one, all of us got up from the meeting and began clocking out.

Immediately, the supervisor petitioned us to stop. He arranged for higher management to speak with us. When the next in command arrived, he addressed the situation with a “just do it” attitude. He could not keep his story straight as to how the information from our time sheets was to be used. Finally, the Director of Maintenance was called in and was surprised to find that mechanics were being asked to fill out the sheets. The Director of Maintenance explained to us that the information collected from the sheets would be passed across his desk only and would be used to defend numbers and work accomplished. In other words, the information would be used to save job. Furthermore, he explained that it is not the responsibility of mechanics to fill out these time sheets—it is the responsibility of management to fill them out! With that understood, the meeting ended. Mechanics and related went back to work and were no longer required to fill out the time management forms.

We experienced true feelings of solidarity that night. All members of the grave shift team stood together for a valid cause. The walk-out showed that we can come together despite our differences. No matter which union we support, we must remember that collectively, we have more power than we do on our own. We need to stop the division among our work group. No union can help us until we unite and are willing to listen to each other, as we did the night of May 1.