The following statement is made from a casual's point of view.
Gerry thank you for telling us to follow blindly into the great chasm that PMA is setting up for our/your union.
They tempt the weak with money (side deals and a pitiful wage increase) and tell our retiree's that they are not worth as much as other union retiree's ($95 per good year? please). And then they try to take from you the cornerstone of the union: dispatch.They also offer empty promises of more work for us (drayage which we should already be working).
All of these things add up to one conclusion from my point of view. If you say we haven't lost anything I must retort then what true advances have we made and what has the PMA lost?
This union was based on a militant and radical thoughts and feelings. Members saw a need for change and were going to get it because the change was RIGHT not easy and handed to them. I think it is a time for a return to that type of thinking and action.
The rank and file should remember that with out them the companies and the PMA make no money, have no income and lose money. We are their biggest money makers and we should use that power to fight for change in our working conditions, pay, benefits, retirement, and treatment of current and retired members.
This union has the ability to be the most powerful union on the planet, don't squander the opportunity.
Jonathan Lamborn
p4069
casual la/lb port
