UTU merger back on track?

A message from United Transportation Union International President Mike Futhey, dated Nov. 10 and posted on UTU’s website, suggests the UTU is once more exploring a merger with the Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SWMIA) .

An arbitrator ruled last month that a merger UTU and SWMIA be implemented and that the presidents of the two unions—or their designees—meet to decide how the implementation is to proceed.

Arbitrator Michael H. Gottesman said the merger agreement to create the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation (SMART) Workers Union is an enforceable agreement. Gottesman was named by AFL-CIO President Rich Trumka to decide the question of enforceability after binding arbitration was ordered by Federal District Court Judge John Bates.

Futhey, in his statement, says the UTU can now “move forward following the October 10 merger arbitration award. That arbitration ruling makes the merger look very similar to the merger we were initially promised—the merger the UTU membership and I voted for in 2007.”

He continued, “The arbitrator recognized that maintaining the historical governance of the UTU was important by ruling that the UTU’s cherished craft autonomy, along with general committee autonomy, be preserved post-merger; and that changes to the UTU Constitution not be unilaterally made by the SMWIA executive council.”

Futhey says a meeting recently with new SMWIA General President Joe Nigro “was productive and positive,” while another meeting earlier this month involving UTU international officers reviewed events of the past four years and agreed “it is now time to move forward—discussing with the SMWIA the rights and traditions of both organizations, and to collaborate constructively in finding the most efficient and equitable means of resolving any further outstanding differences, including pending litigation.”