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Anyone who has ever watched union shop stewards in action has probably noticed a lot of parallels between the work they do and that of a defense attorney. According to one lawyer, there are good reasons for the comparison.
Father Bob Lindell (left), AJ Lindell (Right)
AJ Lindell, J.D. is a practicing attorney admitted to the Minnesota State Bar Association.
He’s also the President and Grievance Committee Chairman of IAM Local 1833 in Minneapolis-St. Paul. A 24-year employee of United Airlines, Lindell is the primary enforcer of the contractual agreements made between the airline and the 300 Machinists at MSP airport.
If all that weren’t enough, Lindell graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law and passed the Minnesota State Bar exam on his first attempt.
Whether representing members of his hometown rural farming community in a court of law or representing unionized airline workers before managers at United Airlines, Attorney AJ Lindell knows what he’s talking about.
According to Lindell, representing the rights of the accused before a judge and jury is comparable to representing the rights of members before company management.
In fact, his experiences as a union steward directly inspired his decision to enroll in law school.
A family affair: AJ with his wife Tiffany, a Ramp Services Agent in MSP. His father Bob Lindell also worked there for 20 years, retiring in 2016.
“I became a shop steward because I noticed that there was a need for someone with the right skills to stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves,” Lindell said in a recent interview. “I found that I could provide a voice for that.”
“I could use the rhetorical skills I had developed to stand up and speak for people when they couldn’t speak for themselves.”
“It’s just a natural evolution to a courtroom situation. When I was representing people as a shop steward or in hearings as a Grievance Committee member, it just became a natural outgrowth to think, ‘what if I could take this to the next level? What if I could do this in a courtroom setting and be an advocate for those individuals?’”
“After finding success in union grievance hearings and representation, I wanted to find out how well those skills would translate into a courtroom setting,” said Lindell. “And, I found out, they translate pretty well.”
The son of an airline worker, Lindell has a keen interest in labor law, yet he also maintains a close connection to the farming community values he grew up with. He plans to serve as a voice for these two communities over the coming years.
IAM141 AGC Kris Hannah (right), AJ Lindell, J.D. (left) recently used Machinists Union college benefits and IAM-negotiated contractual guarantees to earn a law degree from the Mitchell Hamline School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. The Machinists Union has a range of student aid resources, including scholarships and free college benefits. Find out how you can access these valuable resources at your Local Lodge’s monthly Business Meetings.
“It isn’t just because there’s a JD behind your name,” Lindell explained. “You build credibility through being a shop steward that investigates a particular situation, you build credibility when you’re a committeeperson and you advocate zealously on behalf of the employee.”
“The need for a union is absolute,” Lindell said of the importance of union activism. “When it comes to job protections when it comes to identifying issues for contract negotiations… when you have a union and a membership standing behind you… it’s incomparable. There is simply no other advocacy that is on par with having a group of individuals collectively working towards something and collectively advocating. If that means better healthcare, better wages, better pensions, nothing that exists is better than a group of individuals moving in one direction. And, companies have a very difficult time overcoming that. The more collective we are as a group, the easier we can get to that point that we want to get to.”
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TWU Strategic Action Coordinator Brian Parker talks with TWU Executive Negotiator Gary Peterson and IAM Executive Negotiator Tom Reagan about what American Airlines calls their “Full Company Proposal.”
Brothers and Sisters,
American Airlines has made the determination to try changing the negotiations from the bargaining table to directly bargaining in the breakrooms, on the shop floor and on the ramp. Their direct appeal to TWU and IAM members represented by the Association is an end-around rarely seen by the most anti-union employers during contract negotiations. They want to test your solidarity.
The documents they posted on JetNet do show significant gains the Association achieved so far in negotiations. The Company gave nothing out of their generosity – the improvements you see are the result of the hard work of your negotiators. But, don’t be fooled – IT IS NOT ENOUGH!
Work is not protected. They think they can fool us by making a promise that everyone will have a job in their current location. What they will not tell you is that they will replace work performed by those who leave by using vendors or by sending the work out of the country altogether. Retirement is still inadequate, healthcare is unresolved and the industry worst profit sharing still outweighs any wage gains. If we caved in to American’s demands a year ago, the gains we did achieve would not be there. If we cave in now, the job security, healthcare and retirement you have earned and deserve are guaranteed not be there.
Our message is simple. Tell the Company IT IS NOT ENOUGH! Tell them to get back to the table and finish the job. The Association negotiators are ready and waiting.
Show your solidarity – your future and the best contract in the industry depends on it.
Fraternally,
Your Association Negotiating Committees
[gdlr_stunning_text background_color=”#f3f3f3″ button=”Download PDF” button_link=”https://iam141.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Association-Bulletin-503.pdf” button_background=”#184ab9″ button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_border_color=”#0d2a6b” title=”American Takes the Fight to the Floor” title_color=”#184ab9″ caption_color=”#a0a0a0″]Please Post on Bulletin Boards[/gdlr_stunning_text]
We focus on drug addiction this month. Drug Addiction is defined and explored on page 1. Page 2 addresses whether drug addiction can be cured or prevented.
Much of the information is from the www.drugabuse.gov web site. This is a very good resource and I encourage you to browse the site so you are familiar with all of the information there is.
Thank you for taking good care of your fellow co-workers. It is important work.
Bryan,
Bryan Hutchinson, M.S.
[gdlr_stunning_text background_color=”#f3f3f3″ button=”Download PDF” button_link=”https://iam141.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/HH-May-2019.pdf” button_background=”#184ab9″ button_text_color=”#ffffff” button_border_color=”#0d2a6b” title=”Helping Hands May: Drug Addiction” title_color=”#184ab9″ caption_color=”#a0a0a0″]Please Post on Bulletin Boards[/gdlr_stunning_text]
Changes are focused on benefit subsidies, not retirees.
The IAM National Pension Fund is one of the largest and best-funded retirement plans in the US, with total assets that exceed 18 billion dollars.
This week, beneficiaries received some concerning news as the Plan’s Board of Trustees voluntarily chose to move the IAMNPF into “Red Zone” status. The Fund is projected to remain in that classification for at least one of the next five years, according to a mailing sent out this week.
For the 292 thousand plan participants, the news isn’t exactly as bad as it may sound. For example, the decision will not impact current retirees or any accruals that have already been earned. Instead, most of the changes are related to the way that the Fund collects subsidies from employers.
According to Ryk Tierney, Executive Director at the IAM National Pension Fund, the decision will have limited impact for most participants.
In a video statement released last Friday, Tierney explained that the Board’s decision to downgrade the Fund was voluntary, and was executed as a way to free the program to make reforms that would not have been permitted otherwise.
“Voluntarily declaring Red Zone while the fund remains well-funded at 89% allows the Trustees to implement a plan to strengthen the fund’s financial future,” Tierney said.
According to Tierney, the move “will not affect any accruals that have been earned in the past, nor does it impact the benefit currently being received by retirees or beneficiaries.”
Instead, the major changes expected at the fund are happening at the employer level. The change in status allows the Fund to require employers to commit to subsidies that are slightly larger than in previous years, when the plan was classified in green and yellow zones.
Federal law requires employers to pay a surcharge geared towards improving the Fund’s status following a Red Zone certification.
Beneficiaries are also protected by Federal law that requires the plan to enact a “Rehabilitation Plan.” This will reduce some variable benefits, such as some death benefits, payout time frames and accruals. However, none of these reductions will impact basic benefits collected at normal retirement.
[gdlr_video url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bIsO0J_0vI&feature=youtu.be” ]
More information is available at IAMBFO.org.