AA in the giving spirit

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

So, I'm an American working for American Airlines & I can't get the same deal they offered to workers of Antigua!?!?!? I guess AA stands for Antigua Airlines. Hey, TWU, lets keep giving them productivity ideas.
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AA workers get 13 per cent pay hike
Thursday March 22 2007

by Nikisha Smith
American Airline employees in Antigua have been awarded a 13 per cent increase over the next three years.
This is the outcome of negotiations between their bargaining agent, the Antigua & Barbuda Workers Union (AWU), and management of the airline.
The new contract was signed yesterday between AWU President Chester Hughes who signed on behalf of the employees, Bob Zell, managing director of American Airlines international human resources and Anna Burke Leon from the regional human resources department.
The parties came to an agreement on the new terms Tuesday evening at 7 p.m. and the new collective agreement was sent to the labour commissioner for certification
The employees will get a six per cent increase for the current year, followed by four per cent in 2008 and three per cent in 2009.
The employees also received $33 increase on their laundry allowance, and a $9 per day increase on their transportation allowance moving it from $31 a day to $40.
From January 2008, the employees will be given a further $2 on their existing travel allowance carrying it to $42 a day.
Employees who start their working day before 6 a.m. will now be given special incentive to do so. They will be getting a breakfast allowance of $15 per day and an additional 10 per cent per hour incentive for the first time.
“It’s a start and it’s moving in the right direction,â€￾ said Hughes about the successful negotiation. He added that it is a positive move because the employees received at least 30 or 50 per cent increase on items like travel and uniform allowance.
Hughes said that the union has been working steadfastly towards this goal since they were asked last year to represent the 30 employees of the Antigua branch of the airline. That includes international security agents, ticket centre sales agents and the airport counter agents.
A request was sent by the workers to the labour commissioner last year June 2006 to change bargaining unions, which took effect that August. Hughes said that the Antigua Trades & Labour Union had failed to negotiate a new salary and benefits package since 2002.

 

[jimntx]

All those amounts in dollars are probably Eastern Caribbean dollars. You do not even want to know how little that is in U.S. Dollars.

 

[FA Mikey]

one US dollar = about 2.69 EC Dollars. Good catch Jim.

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

All those amounts in dollars are probably Eastern Caribbean dollars. You do not even want to know how little that is in U.S. Dollars.

13 percent is 13 percent I dont give a rats arse if its euros dollars or yen

:angry:

 

[Bill]

What are you crying about? Negotiations were open. Did you see how the 13% is being "dispursed"??? 6% this yr, 4% the next and 3% the following. Oh and according to this article it was for 30 employees.

 

[ch53D]

What are you crying about? Negotiations were open. Did you see how the 13% is being "dispursed"??? 6% this yr, 4% the next and 3% the following. Oh and according to this article it was for 30 employees.

Bill did you stop reading at 13%?

QUOTE

The employees also received $33 increase on their laundry allowance, and a $9 per day increase on their transportation allowance moving it from $31 a day to $40.
From January 2008, the employees will be given a further $2 on their existing travel allowance carrying it to $42 a day.
Employees who start their working day before 6 a.m. will now be given special incentive to do so. They will be getting a breakfast allowance of $15 per day and an additional 10 per cent per hour incentive for the first time.

 

[jimntx]

But, those things are probably common in Antigua. It's like the Managers Union in Italy (now there's an oxymoron for the record books). When I was at Texaco, anyone at Texaco Italia who had the title of Manager belonged to the national Managers union. All companies covered by the union had to award 7 weeks vacation to every employee with the title of manager, and if the manager didn't use all the vacation in a year, the company had to pay them cash for the balance.


I imagine the travel/uniform/food allowances are common practice in Antigua; so, to get employees you have to award these things. Converted to Eastern Caribbean dollars, it's still not a lot of money. And, the cost of living in the islands is high because a LOT of things have to be imported--such as milk, building materials, etc.

The travel allowance probably covers the cost of the ferry from an adjoining island. In the Caribbean, restricting your employee search just to the island with the airport limits your ability to get the best employees.

 

[FWAAA]

But jimntx, the logic here is unassailable: If AA can afford to increase the pay of 30-some employees in Antigua by 13%, plus give them a few unusual sounding fringe benefits, there's absolutely no reason AA can't afford to increase pay for the other 85,000 or so employees by the same amount.

 

[jimntx]

I'm going to assume a large dose of ironic humor coming from you. 🙄

First off, we don't know where they started. For all we know, they are getting a 13% raise over 3 years from $5.00/hr to $5.65/hr and that's in Eastern Caribbean dollars. At last! Mother can have that operation.