i also believe the union has a bit of leeway here...definitely controversial.
the part-timers at aa are the golden citizens. full benefits and a hefty proportion of shifts; in my station, a 2 year part-timer is able to bid in the same work area/or better work area, work am shifts and have better days off than a 28 year full-timer. throw in a cs here and there and they work 40 hrs a week....basically a 2 year employee has a better union job than a 28 year full-time employee. there is something half-a$$ed backwards about this.
the leeway i mention is the insurance. though it would be tough for anyone to tell an employee that they don't deserve insurance, i'd say that many aa veterans have gotten steam-rolled by part-timers in terms of quality of work life.
the union should be fighting an angle that incentivizes full-time work and full-timers reaping the benefits of a better quality of work life, not part-timers.
someone i know who works for dl (25+ years at nw now 13 at dl) told me that come october, he gets calls to stay ot and dl management calls their ready reserve and tells them to stay home. i believe he told me that the r/r at dl have to work 1,200 hrs for their benefits to kick in. maybe aa should do the same??
i also see that the cs policy will be contractual now and i hope it is even more strict than people say it will be. i don't work cs, though many people who do so are part-timers who have hours to play with and some scammer, but intelligent fscs who game the system.