Why you don't see me?

Many of you in district 4 may have been wondering where I’ve been. While I am constantly on the phone with many of you, you probably haven’t seen me for some time. As a district rep, I am supposed to make periodic visits to each of the stations in district 4, and I’ve made every effort to get out to those stations on a regular basis; however, the battle between my good intentions and the reality of my elected position has created quite a large rift between the two. And reality has been winning. As a district rep, I am elected to represent my constituency in matters involving our collective bargaining agreement. When members of district 4 have a legitimate dispute with the company over interpretations of that collective bargaining agreement, it is my duty to step in when efforts on the station level have been unsuccessful. When I get a break from dealing with said disputes, it is my job to travel around the system and visit with the members. I haven’t gotten that break yet. While some of you might think that I prefer to spend half my life in Dallas (which is not my home) preparing for system boards and arbitrations, fighting system boards and arbitrations, negotiating with SWA management prior to and after system boards and arbitrations...I can assure you that I’d rather be visiting with each of you. Believe me, I don’t get any thrills from racking up frequent flyer miles between BNA and DAL, having to reinvent the wheel each week with SWA leadership while they smugly kick back in their hometown, on their own turf, playing games with the members. But, I continue to do so, because that is what I was elected to do. It is what the members expect of me. It is what the members deserve. The only caveat is that doing so is going to limit my time on the road, visiting face-to-face with the larger membership. No excuses, just reality. I hope y’all understand. For a better idea of what I’m up against, allow me to give you some numbers. For the year 2011, the following grievances came out of station, and I dealt with each one personally. (These numbers do not include covered work grievances.) The following numbers reflect those grievances from district 4 that went forward on to system board and/or arbitration hearings. I also personally dealt with each of these hearings. (These numbers do not reflect system boards and arbitrations over grievances from other districts in which I participated.) Phone Tag Frustration Another topic I want to cover is the issue of phone tag. Because I represent a membership scattered over the South and Midwest, naturally I depend on my phone to keep in contact with the station reps and their members. Of course, because I’m so often on the phone with one member or another, or perhaps I’m in the middle of a system board or arbitration hearing, you may be directed right to my voicemail when trying to get ahold of me. There are several people whose messages sound something like this: “Hey Mark, it’s [insert name]. Call me back.” When I get a spare moment, I call that person back. That person may be working a flight or be otherwise tied up, so my call goes to his/her voicemail. At this point, all I can say is, “Hey [insert name], it’s Mark returning your call.” I don’t have any information to give you. I don’t have any answers to offer. And if I’m not near my phone when you return my returned call, we’re no further than we were when you made the first call. What happens if we can’t actually find a common time to talk for several days? What happens if the question for which you need an answer is time-sensitive? If we’re playing phone tag over the course of several days, you’ll probably end up getting frustrated. There’s an easy way to remedy this...tell me why you are calling when leaving the first voicemail. You’ll notice that the voicemail allows you several minutes of recording time to talk. If you give me a detailed message, when I have a chance to listen to your message I now have an opportunity to research the answer. And when I call you back, if I’m directed to your voicemail, I might be able to leave an answer to your initial inquiry, saving everyone the headache of having to play phone tag. My Motto Has Changed Those who have known me for awhile have heard it before. “It is what it is.” An old mantra that applied to much of what I had to deal with: sometimes, there’s just no fighting it. It always has been, most likely always will be, and for now there’s no good reason to fuss about trying to change it, because you’ll probably be unsuccessful. Well, my motto has changed. “Watch out for the liars and thieves.” There’s good reason for me changing my motto. And that motto has kept me, and so many others, out of trouble. In fact, I changed it on my website page, too. Come check it out at www.twu555.org. Well, that’s my two cents for this quarter. I hope each of you are staying healthy and looking out for each other. And, if I ever can find my way out of DAL, I will do my best to visit the members in district 4. Oh, and if you want to find out who “the liars andthieves” are, just give me call.