Tulsa AMT movement.

[1AA]

Third party unlicensed workers is what we will have. That's the next trend.

 

[Vortilon]

Third party unlicensed workers is what we will have. That's the next trend.

 
It's a company strategy; employing non licensed workers for overhaul work, a strategy that the TWU is on board with - because it maintains dues payers headcount.  Never mind about the pay and benefits. 

 

[Deleted member 14439]

Here we go. VOTE YES to save jobs.

Yeah, I can feel the "fear" machine spooling up!

 

[Buck]

To think that AA can't find some place to do the heavy checks is either ignorance or some sort of misplaced hope. Timco, AAR, or whoever, will make space get more mechs and do whatever is necessary to meet the demands. Before someone freaks out and says they don't have the A&Ps, well they'll get the A&Ps. Isn't there a huge A&P school in Tulsa? Was that school there before AA moved there? Just like in the 90s AA needed mechs AA opened a school in Chicago. In NY there are aviation high schools. Miami there's a school right across from the airport.

Whats holding us back from getting a pay raise is not AA, as they have proven they're willing to pay, but our own union members. 2008 we were going to get a pay raise sick holiday x2 pay 8 holidays, for a two year extension that turned into a 7 year extension for free to AA, 2010 voted down TA because we would lose retiree medical for people under 50, how many union people actually retire before 65? We lost pension retiree medical for Free to AA. As soon as we stop acting like spoiled children we should do very well for ourselves. Like now, this is the perfect opportunity to get a great contract, hopefully WE don't drag out negotiations until 2018 or wait for the next recession to get a contract.

There are two A&P schools in Tulsa, Spartan and Tulsa Technology.
 
What is holding back the pay raise? Probably a position taken by the International's ( whatever IAM's is called ) and I believe the AFL-CIO was part of the reason for the Association in the first place. ( I wonder what Jim Little is doing these days? ) Waiting until 2018 for our contract would make Delta + 7% huge....

 

[Buck]

Be careful using Delta as a benchmark. They are using NON licensed people to work interior items at both their base and line stations.

and Non-union....

 

[Buck]

What do you think will happen if all airlines gave up heavy check maintenance?  These shite-bag 3rd party maintenance vendors are gonna hike their rates knowing that they are the only providers.  Like I have posted before, these vendors are scraping the bottom of the barrel for workers.  No budding AMT is gonna drop 2 years of school, and $30K plus at Spartan or Embry-Riddle to make a career at TIMCO or something like it.  Even AA is finding that new hire AMTs are leaving for greener pastures - not hard to find.  They get hired, and find out what the pay and benefits are, the working conditions, the bad days off, working nite shift, and it's bye bye.  There is a shrortage of AMTs right now, and its only gonna get worse as guys in our age range reach retirement age over the next 10 years. 
 
Bottom line, no matter what some "so called" industry experts say on the quality of work out of these 3rd party maintenance providers - being just as good as the airlines "in house" maintenance isn't being honest. 

In 737 maintenance here in Tulsa, we often repair items that the MRO has had the first shot at......

 

[Buck]

Third party unlicensed workers is what we will have. That's the next trend.

We here at AA have Licensed Mechanics who do not receive their License Premium by the contract.

 

[Rogallo]

and Non-union....

 
Yep. I often wonder what the hell I'm paying dues for!!

 

[Buck]

 
Yep. I often wonder what the hell I'm paying dues for!!

Since Mr. Parker is the one wanting give us a raise, perhaps I should send him my dues.....

 

[Buck]

TULE just received some new trucks and not one is slated in the letter for aircraft maintenance..

 

[topDawg]

What do you think will happen if all airlines gave up heavy check maintenance?  These shite-bag 3rd party maintenance vendors are gonna hike their rates knowing that they are the only providers.  Like I have posted before, these vendors are scraping the bottom of the barrel for workers.  No budding AMT is gonna drop 2 years of school, and $30K plus at Spartan or Embry-Riddle to make a career at TIMCO or something like it.  Even AA is finding that new hire AMTs are leaving for greener pastures - not hard to find.  They get hired, and find out what the pay and benefits are, the working conditions, the bad days off, working nite shift, and it's bye bye.  There is a shrortage of AMTs right now, and its only gonna get worse as guys in our age range reach retirement age over the next 10 years.

 people have been saying the same thing about the regional industry for years.......

Bottom line, no matter what some "so called" industry experts say on the quality of work out of these 3rd party maintenance providers - being just as good as the airlines "in house" maintenance isn't being honest.

truer words have never been spoken.

 

[1AA]

We here at AA have Licensed Mechanics who do not receive their License Premium by the contract.

All in the name of voting YES to save jobs.

 

[1AA]

Yep. I often wonder what the hell I'm paying dues for!!

Your paying union dues to be represented by a union. It does not have to be a union that is concerned about what is best for the membership. The dues guarantees the company in getting what they want. Think of it as a middle man handling all the concessions the company can get away with.

 

[Vortilon]

In 737 maintenance here in Tulsa, we often repair items that the MRO has had the first shot at......

 
I used to hear the same stories from my brother who worked at NWA.  The NWA 747 heavy checks were outsourced to China, I think Haico was the outfit.  These foreign maintenance vendors were painting over corrosion without any attempt to clean up the area.  If a bolt didn't quite line up in the hole, they would just get a bigger drill bit - till it lined up.  Those were just a couple examples of what the NWA AMTs had to deal with after every heavy check.  It took about two weeks in the NWA hangar to unfuk what these third party maintenance hacks did.  That was 20 years ago, and even then, the airline realized the lack of quality put out by these type of outfits necessitated  an inhouse maintenance capability.

 

[BigMac]

TULE just received some new trucks and not one is slated in the letter for aircraft maintenance..

14 new F250s and 4 new tug tractors for the folx here in TULE who got the 8% raise.