Seize the Opportunity

By: Somsong Abrahamian, UAL mechanic, San Francisco

Working for United Airlines is a family thing. My husband, Lloyd, worked for UAL for 19 years before retiring last January. I have been with UAL since 1984. The entire time I’ve been with UAL, I’ve been watching the change go from good to bad to worse.

When we had elections for our union representatives and the choice was between IAM and AMFA, I did not vote for either. At that point in time I was tired of unions and did not participate in the election. I realize now that it’s a mistake when you do not vote. It does matter if you do not vote, which is why it’s very important that you do go out and vote when the time comes around again.

We need good representation. We need a union that has the power and money to fight a big company like UAL. I believe the Teamsters is the right organization to represent me as an aviation mechanic.

I’ve been seeing the Committee for Change working really hard for a while now. I could tell that the Committee was made up of good, hardworking mechanics who were motivated to make a change. I didn’t know a lot about the Teamsters, so I decided to look into the Teamsters and learn more about the union to educate myself. I’ve come to the full realization that becoming a Teamster is the right thing for me, and I feel, for all of us. Since my husband retired recently from UAL, he knows a lot of people still working for UAL and he is worried about the future for his fellow mechanics, as well as for me. He’s concerned about talk of the spin off of maintenance and the uncertainty we may face.

One of my biggest concerns lies with the safety of our aircraft. I’m concerned about the jobs that are being outsourced overseas. I know that the aircraft serviced by UAL mechanics in the United States are safe because of the certifications and training we go through. Overseas—it’s anyone’s guess. This trend in our industry has to be stopped and we must stand in the way of it as aggressively as we possibly can. The Teamsters Airline Division represents almost 10,000 aviation mechanics and they are big enough to stand up against increased outsourcing at UAL. We need political attention and the Teamsters have the clout to be able to achieve this too. They’ve already gone to work on fighting outsourcing, and we have not even become their members yet.

I believe unions exist to do their best for their members, but with the Teamsters we can do better. I do not want to focus on the negative. I believe we need to focus on the positive. We have the opportunity to make a positive change and we need to seize that opportunity while we have it. The time to do this is right now.