Allied Pilots Association ... alleges that the airline is negotiating in bad faith

Hatu

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Aug 20, 2002
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FORT WORTH, Texas (Dow Jones)--The Allied Pilots Association, the collective bargaining agent for the 13,500 pilots of AMR Corp.''s American Airlines, alleges that the airline is negotiating in bad faith by adding a furlough of 1, 000 pilots to any deal.
We are perplexed by this last-minute change in attitude, and so are the mediators involved in our negotiations, the union said in a statement
In a press release Wednesday, the union said that the airline''s management now wants to furlough nearly 1,000 additional pilots without assigning any dollar value to those furloughs, essentially asking for $660 million in cost cuts plus additional pilot furloughs

http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/030326/1353001138_1.html
 
After praising each other for their good faith efforts towards each other, the parties appear to have just thrown in issues that can only bring in more difficulty. Why introduce this now?
 
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On 3/26/2003 3:58:55 PM MiAAmi wrote:

If they furlough 1000 pilots, I would guess that we would be shutting down STL.

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Furloughing 1000 pilots means fewer pilots on reserve, not necessarily less flying. Our pilot productivity has been in the tank since 9/11.
 
The baseline for the $4 billion in savings included some assumptions regarding the outcome of pilot contract negotiations which began BEFORE the calculation of the $4 billion. The 1000 pilots are holdovers from previous capacity reductions that could not be removed due to workrule restrictions. I don''t think the company is, or should, give the pilots credit for heads that should have come out during previous capacity reductions (as happenned in other workgroups).

The company is interested in new savings, not the promise of savings that we should have gotten before we identified the $4 billion. The company has not changed its tune about the 1000 pilots recently. This is something that has been discussed for months. The pilots have finally been frustrated to the point that they feel like their only recourse is to take their battle to the media.

I wouldn''t get too hung up on how a 1000 pilot reduction would translate to other workgroups. Other workgroups do not have the same restrictions that disallowed a right-sizing of our pilot staffing with our capacity.

I think you''re now getting a sense for why the pilots were so happy to come to the table when they found out that their bill was only $660 million. They thought that they could get half of that from the 1000 pilots that they refused to give up previously. Now they have another $330 million to find, and that might make their cuts feel like more of a sacrifice.
 
Reports indicate the same posture in the M&R Negotiations.

NO FINANCIAL CREDIT for upcoming furloughs.

Company appears to want the concession in cash in addition to the furloughs.
 
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On 3/26/2003 3:58:55 PM MiAAmi wrote:

1000 pilots equal ??? flight attendants. If they furlough 1000 pilots, I would guess that we would be shutting down STL.

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AA says they have been carrying this pilot overage since Jan 2003. I assume some of the 750 furloughs of flight attendants in the upcoming months are related to that, although I am sure more will follow.
 
How many AA employees have been put on emergency leave since the war started?

None.

How many NWA and UAL employees have been furloughed (or told they''re being furloughed) in the past week?

Somewhere around 7,500, not including the 4,900 that CAL is laying off.

If AA were negotiating in bad faith, they''d have invoked
force majeure by now, and dealt with the grievances later like UAL and NWA appear to be doing.
 
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On 3/26/2003 3:41:53 PM RV4 wrote:


NO FINANCIAL CREDIT for upcoming furloughs.


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The furloughing of 1000 is being done within the terms of the existing contracts, therefore the dollar value associated with that was included in the $2B already identified by the company before coming to the unions.

You can''t expect credit for something that was within the company''s right to do all along...

I''d love to get credit for the virtual pay cut I took from not getting raises over the past two years, but it ain''t gonna work out that way.
 
Managment has stated that the reason their portion of the pie, 200 million is smaller is because they have already reduced the headcounts and taken the pay freezes. That's all well and good, then why can't the pilots count their furloughs, or why can't the flight attendants count the 750 they have getting the axe over the next two months?

Last I read, CAL is laying off 1,200 and mostly through attrition and voluntary leaves.....haven't seen 4,900

And there is a difference between the "virtual" pay cut, meaning freeze you have and seeing the amount of your paycheck reduced, which seems to be the fate of all represented employees.
 
Eolson,

The 1,000 furloughs can't be executed within the terms of the existing contract, they would be the result of negotiated changes. Pilots hired prior to 4/10/01 received furlough protections as a protection against potential downside arising from the TWA acquisition. We're not talking chump change here either...1,000 pilots is worth just under $200M. The pilots that get the axe don't make nearly that much, but when you add in the cumulitive effect of downward displacements from higher paying positions to lower, it adds up.

There are a lot of things that management wanted in January...should they be no cost concessions becuase they are negotiated now? Even if management declares force majeure to get around contractual provisions: a) that can't be implimented indefinately and B) they've got a bunch of airplanes on a different operating certificate which really complicates the staffing situation.
 
Connected1, eolsen, There is a presentation on the private side of the AApilots.com web site breaking down the 2.1 billion I.D.''d by management. The powerpoint shows a "fleet" savings of 208 mil Y.E. 2005. All other savings are identified. Y.E. 2005 savings are 2.1 billion. No inclusion of furloughs. Can you elaborate? Not trying to be a smart-ass, just trying to educate myself. Thanks.