OPEIU Local 107 members came together last week for a 1st Responder Roundtable on the Employee Free Choice Act in Lafayette, LA. Ken Bruner, Erica Green, and Ryan Baker are all 1st responder helicopter pilots in the Gulf and wanted to share their experiences as union members and also lend some insight as to how we can get Louisiana’s economy moving again.
Ken Bruner, President of Local 107 and a veteran of the Vietnam War, recruited participants for the roundtable and is a strong supporter of the Employee Free Choice Act because of the benefits he enjoys as a union member.
“When the pilots at Air Logistics decided to form a union, we quickly saw vast improvements in our wages, benefits, and voice in the workplace,” said President Bruner. “We work with our management to solve problems and make our company better now, they respect us and we respect them. As a result of our union, we are able to do our jobs better and safer.”
Bruner went on, “As I said, our wages increased once we had
our collective bargaining agreement, but our productivity did too.”
Erica Green serves as a Trustee for Local 107 and also sits
on the bargaining committee. Sister
Green began her pilot career in the United States Air Force and then went on to
work at Air Logistics and became a member of Local 107. Erica noted that through collective
bargaining members were able to secure improvements in safety standards
also. “Last fall we voiced our concerns
and were able to negotiate a new policy so that all members were provided personal
locator devices in the event of an accident,” she said, “improvements like this
will save lives and prevent unnecessary delays in finding our coworkers when
something goes wrong.”
If you live in the Lafayette area you may have caught the local TV coverage on KATC-ABC and KLFY-CBS news at 5 and 6 o’clock . If not, check out the radio coverage from KPEL 105.1 FM News Radio here.
Kudos to OPEIU Local 107 for all their hard work in Louisiana on the Employee Free Choice Act campaign!
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