Click here to see a larger version of the unsigned half-page ad that ran in the July 27 Tulsa World.
July 30, 2012 | 3:02 pm
The ‘Ghost’ Ad That Made American Airlines’ Tulsa Union Mad
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Joe Wertz
Click here to see a larger version of the unsigned half-page ad that ran in the July 27 Tulsa World.
A half-page advertisement published in Friday’s Tulsa World has angered American Airlines’ union members in Tulsa.
Bold print on the unsigned ad reads, “Vote No Save Our Profession,” and is addressed to maintenance technicians with the Transport Workers Union, which represents more than 5,000 workers at the bankrupt airline’s Tulsa maintenance base.
It’s not clear who is behind the ad, which listed several reasons why the bankrupt air carrier’s final, best labor offer is no good, including lack of job security, frozen pensions and slashed vacation time, reports the Associated Press.
The ad includes a website, www.lbo2.com, which doesn’t include information on who is behind the campaign, and there are no clues to the campaign’s backers in the website’s registry data.
Mechanics and stores workers started voting last week on a final contract offer from American Airlines. The TWU, the largest union group at the Tulsa maintenance base, is encouraging members to ratify the contract.
An AA machinist tells the AP that he didn’t think the ad originated in Oklahoma. The ad’s referenced website includes a YouTube video of Bob Owens — above — president of TWU Local 562 in Jamaica, N.Y., which is encouraging its 800 mechanics and stores workers to vote down the contract offer.
Owens said Friday that although he is featured in a clip on the website and personally agrees with some of its statements, neither he nor his local set it up.
“The campaign in Tulsa, we don’t have anything to do with that,” Owens said. “(But) we are definitely against the second, last best offer.”
