September 5, 2022:

To the Local 591 Membership:

Happy Labor Day!

Labor Day is a day set aside to honor the contributions and achievements of workers. For many years, it has felt as if the contributions and achievements of all airline workers were often taken for granted by management and even many in the traveling public. Yet it was this membership, and airline workers in general, who showed up for work every day during the pandemic. 

As we are on the other side of the pandemic, at least travel-wise, the contributions and achievements of our membership, and those on the front lines in the airline industry, have become leading news stories with the struggle to replace experienced workers and the delays and cancellations that have occurred as a result. 

Many of our Union Brothers and Sisters left because they were tired of working in an industry where, for example, management rewards such a dedicated workforce by unilaterally imposing a new draconian attendance policy in the middle of that pandemic. Now, while that policy will hopefully be overturned by an arbitrator later this month, it is decisions like these that continually remind us that everything we have in our contract is fought for, and we must not only defend it but also continue to fight to make gains on it.

Defending and making gains in our contract starts with having a unified membership, station by station, region by region, and across our country. 

As has become Local 591’s tradition, and is a great unifying event, we are once again celebrating Labor Day as a membership. Food is being served throughout our stations by your Local 591 representatives. Labor Day is “OUR DAY,” and this year we get to celebrate the day with hundreds of new Local 591 members. 

To those members, hired since last Labor Day, we welcome you to our local’s Labor Day tradition.

It is also important to understand that the language in the contract that secured the jobs you now have was fought for by the members you work with, and is why we use this day to celebrate the accomplishments of our local. The best way for new members to honor the contributions and achievements of their fellow members is to get involved in your local, proudly wear your Union logo, and go to union meetings. 

You are the future of this local. With the next round of contract negotiations just two years away, you will need to defend what this membership has achieved and fight for additional gains. Labor Day each year stands as a reminder that each new generation of workers needs new leaders who are actively engaged in defending the gains already won and preparing for the future needs of the membership.

I wish each of you a safe and Happy Labor Day!

Fraternally,

Gary Schaible

President - TWU Local 591

Download:

 2022 Labor Day Presidents Letter.pdf