American Airlines and Labor Negotiations

[CremaDiLimone]

I'm going to be doing a media blitz about this with many many newspapers. Every time you clowns go in a newspaper, I will be in the same article calling you all out from an American Airline employee perspective.

you need to weigh and measure everything and consider the fact that aa just may want this to conclude quickly, with no 'perceived' animosity. the type of animosity that messes up the reliability, dependability and operational preformance of the world's largest airline.

if that's the case, you're worse off with the company as an enemy, than the union. be careful. i doubt the company will reward you with a personal services contract of 10 yrs, $100k per year base salary, 9 weeks vc, lus/iam insurance and 12 holidays at 2 1/2 pay rate to work h14 for fighting their corner during negotiations and getting us to a mediator.

i don't see fleet being replaced by anyone. a logistical nightmare. come up with a pool of 15,000 workers to pass security and drug checks, training them and having them show up on time, every day for $15/hr?? i have no problem with extending the TOS for new hires, something the company would smile upon.

even delta has control of it's 'fake' agents. aa would want to do the same, not hire a 3rd party, ala envoy. if aa sold off it's intl routes and if aa competed with frontier and spirit...look out.

as far as i know, we don't.

in 1989, the know-it-alls told us that; no contract; simmons (eagle) and AMR workers were ready to move right in and do our work. all bullShit.

 

[WeAAsles]

Members of Local 502,

On September 12 our current contract became amendable and American Airlines proceeded with Section 6 filing. This signals that neither side could reach an agreement before this date and a third party has been introduced into the negotiation process. The National Mediation Board will assign a mediator to the negotiation process for the Association and American Airlines. Although there will be a mediator in the room (again), this individual will not have power over either group and cannot instruct either on what to do or what to agree upon. They simply facilitate and attempt to bring both sides closer to an agreement. Under the Railway Labor Act, once there is the filing, scheduling of dates and times must be set in 10 days and a meeting within 30 days. Basically, under this process, the clock starts ticking and negotiations become expedited.

The company put out through JETNET, their version of the events of the section 6 filing and followed with information from their proposals. LET ME MAKE ONE POINT PERFECTLY CLEAR, American has NOT given us anything. Everything that has been mentioned has been negotiated by the Association, and for the record, the Association does not agree with the dollar amount for the signing bonus or the lump sum buyout because there was no discussion on this matter. Another thing to consider is what strings are attached, for instance; the 65k offered for an early out and what that looks like after taxes and the fact that if you accept this option you are responsible for your own medical which greatly diminishes the actual value, also the fact that it is at the company’s discretion as to who actually gets the buyout. So if we have members that were contemplating leaving the company based on this narrative, then vote yes on the current proposal they could end up receiving far less than they anticipated.

Other negotiated items that were referenced in the company’s communication do not state what was originally offered to the membership. Holidays for Fleet were only 7 until the Association fought to gain 10. Compensation on the holidays was at double time until the Association again fought to gain double time and one half. Sick time was capped at 9 we negotiated to 10. I mention these examples to show that nothing has been given to us in these negotiations without a fight. We were told in the early stages of negotiations that we would have the industry leading contract across the board only to have it reduced to terms today of industry leading wages. This is a big difference in what our members have been lead to believe.

What I’ve learned in life and especially in these negotiations, if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. These negotiations did not need to take so long to reach an agreement. The company has insisted on passing bankruptcy and concessionary language to the Union in a hope to get something for nothing. American could offer a significant buyout today if they wanted, but in March at the 1st Quarter Earnings meeting and when pressured on questions about negotiations, Doug Parker said they wanted to get something for a buyout and have attached it to the contract. He also said at this meeting that they felt section 6 could be a good option for the company. The reality here is we are dealing with individuals who do not keep their word, constantly change the end zone, and look for ways to stuff their pockets and spend more money on things we don’t need (state of the art headquarters facility).

The short is, the section 6 process gives us the opportunity to get to an agreement faster, to show a third party what has actually been done in the negotiations arena thus far and ultimately put some power in the hands of the Association if American continues to play useless games. Based on the surveys taken from the membership of the IAM and TWU, our position is clear and lines will be drawn to get our Association membership a contract they deserve and one that captures all the sacrifices that WE HAVE PAID. American Airlines could not be where they are today without us. Never let them forget or minimize what has been given up. We have a stake in this company and its fair time that we are compensated fully. WE are TWU and WE move America!

In Solidarity,
Andre Sutton
TWU Local 502 President
TWU International Vice President

 

[WeAAsles]

 

[swamt]

To be fair, I think he said he was gonna bunker down and ride Florence out?




And extra credit for claiming to be “shocked” that the IAMNPF made a unilateral change in benefits last week.

And I would agree. But, he has made numerous post since he stated that so I figured he was ok. But maybe he took a later hit. I will give him time. I do give the man kudos for answering members questions.
At least the storm was reduced to cat 1 I believe at the beaches then tropical storm on land. Lots and lots of rain though. Good luck to all who have to endure...

 

[swamt]

absolutely discontent from the beginning! when the promised vote on the association never occurred that was the first misstep in unity, and quite frankly one of many screw what the membership wants. to say now it was the nmb that formed the association is just another spin by the association. the iam and twu applied for the association using dues check off cards as a sign of interest there was a 30 day period to show other interest, the iam and the twu KNEW chances were slim to none anything can be done in 30 days. for you guys it was a lock! and you knew it.

so when the opportunity came to actually show unity in protest, when the iam leadership could have taken advantage of a photo op at the protest. YOU STAYED HOME. why? your leadership decided it wasn't the time to protest. when YOUR meat and potatoes get taken away the catering,medical pension THEN its time to get behind the negotiating team. not when it affects us. no racer that was an error in judgement, a dumb error in judgement that presented an opportunity to the company. one YOU gave them on a silver platter. Gary had the support of the membership, unfortunately YOU pissed it away. if YOU would have been there from day one and proved it, we would have been there from day one. you were not,why should we? please dont talk about unity, unity does not occur at your convenience. it occurs when the opportunity presents itself it did and you passed. was it really because you didnt believe it was the time? or was it why should we? we are ok. was it too much effort to assemble the committee at each protest? so when one of the association members disagrees we just decide to take our toys home, and not play? no sir unity is about sacrifice and opportunity, not convenience.

discontent,yes. from the beginning? yes. why? guess you are correct we the membership are the dumb ones.

Bingo! Well said...

 

[Tim Nelson]

you need to weigh and measure everything and consider the fact that aa just may want this to conclude quickly, with no 'perceived' animosity. the type of animosity that messes up the reliability, dependability and operational preformance of the world's largest airline.

if that's the case, you're worse off with the company as an enemy, than the union. be careful. i doubt the company will reward you with a personal services contract of 10 yrs, $100k per year base salary, 9 weeks vc, lus/iam insurance and 12 holidays at 2 1/2 pay rate to work h14 for fighting their corner during negotiations and getting us to a mediator.

i don't see fleet being replaced by anyone. a logistical nightmare. come up with a pool of 15,000 workers to pass security and drug checks, training them and having them show up on time, every day for $15/hr?? i have no problem with extending the TOS for new hires, something the company would smile upon.

even delta has control of it's 'fake' agents. aa would want to do the same, not hire a 3rd party, ala envoy. if aa sold off it's intl routes and if aa competed with frontier and spirit...look out.

as far as i know, we don't.

in 1989, the know-it-alls told us that; no contract; simmons (eagle) and AMR workers were ready to move right in and do our work. all bullShit.

My perspective will not be a matter of personal opinion, but one that advocates for disclosures and a democratic vote on such disclosure. And to get the United Airline Board of Director to recuse himself from our talks. He has no business in there with us. And of course, I won't tolerate the union lies that I read in the newspaper. I'll correct those lies from a labor activist point of view in the press.

 

[Tim Nelson]

Members of Local 502,

On September 12 our current contract became amendable and American Airlines proceeded with Section 6 filing. This signals that neither side could reach an agreement before this date and a third party has been introduced into the negotiation process. The National Mediation Board will assign a mediator to the negotiation process for the Association and American Airlines. Although there will be a mediator in the room (again), this individual will not have power over either group and cannot instruct either on what to do or what to agree upon. They simply facilitate and attempt to bring both sides closer to an agreement. Under the Railway Labor Act, once there is the filing, scheduling of dates and times must be set in 10 days and a meeting within 30 days. Basically, under this process, the clock starts ticking and negotiations become expedited.

The company put out through JETNET, their version of the events of the section 6 filing and followed with information from their proposals. LET ME MAKE ONE POINT PERFECTLY CLEAR, American has NOT given us anything. Everything that has been mentioned has been negotiated by the Association, and for the record, the Association does not agree with the dollar amount for the signing bonus or the lump sum buyout because there was no discussion on this matter. Another thing to consider is what strings are attached, for instance; the 65k offered for an early out and what that looks like after taxes and the fact that if you accept this option you are responsible for your own medical which greatly diminishes the actual value, also the fact that it is at the company’s discretion as to who actually gets the buyout. So if we have members that were contemplating leaving the company based on this narrative, then vote yes on the current proposal they could end up receiving far less than they anticipated.

Other negotiated items that were referenced in the company’s communication do not state what was originally offered to the membership. Holidays for Fleet were only 7 until the Association fought to gain 10. Compensation on the holidays was at double time until the Association again fought to gain double time and one half. Sick time was capped at 9 we negotiated to 10. I mention these examples to show that nothing has been given to us in these negotiations without a fight. We were told in the early stages of negotiations that we would have the industry leading contract across the board only to have it reduced to terms today of industry leading wages. This is a big difference in what our members have been lead to believe.

What I’ve learned in life and especially in these negotiations, if you don’t stand for something, you will fall for anything. These negotiations did not need to take so long to reach an agreement. The company has insisted on passing bankruptcy and concessionary language to the Union in a hope to get something for nothing. American could offer a significant buyout today if they wanted, but in March at the 1st Quarter Earnings meeting and when pressured on questions about negotiations, Doug Parker said they wanted to get something for a buyout and have attached it to the contract. He also said at this meeting that they felt section 6 could be a good option for the company. The reality here is we are dealing with individuals who do not keep their word, constantly change the end zone, and look for ways to stuff their pockets and spend more money on things we don’t need (state of the art headquarters facility).

The short is, the section 6 process gives us the opportunity to get to an agreement faster, to show a third party what has actually been done in the negotiations arena thus far and ultimately put some power in the hands of the Association if American continues to play useless games. Based on the surveys taken from the membership of the IAM and TWU, our position is clear and lines will be drawn to get our Association membership a contract they deserve and one that captures all the sacrifices that WE HAVE PAID. American Airlines could not be where they are today without us. Never let them forget or minimize what has been given up. We have a stake in this company and its fair time that we are compensated fully. WE are TWU and WE move America!

In Solidarity,
Andre Sutton
TWU Local 502 President
TWU International Vice President

Just as a matter of clarity. The above letter is in error. The Association has negotiated NOTHING that the letter says. Have any of you received more vacation? Sick days? Etc. Negotiations, like a sports game, can't be measured until the final clock says zero. This process concludes with a TA. What we have now is zero. In fact, if it was a sports game, we would be getting shut out. Sadly, our negotiators are still in fantasy land and claiming they negotiated all of these wonderful things. They haven't. Zippo. The reality is that the extra week of vacation, etc that the company considered was assuming that LUS health care would be gone, the IAM Pension would be gone, and grandfather rights would be installed in all of the small stations.

What they have done is handed cross utilization over to the company for 20 pieces of silver. That's it. Pissed away all leverage.
What they are counting on, and have to count on, is to keep giving us the working class hero updates as above. From the classic, "We are fighting for you", to the fake, "We already negotiated all of these things for you". They haven't. They have done nothing.

So, over the next 2-4 years, maybe longer, they have to hope. They have to pray. They have to gamble.....that somehow this wonderful economy continues another several years, then and only then, they might be able to agree to the exact same things that will be offered in the beginning of section 6. Not good!

 

[P. REZ]

You are an idiot.
You guys just passed up a $120 million per year cost positive contract.
Only concession is my insurance gets bumped up $50. In return I would have got
Double the retirement company contributions
Close to a $2 DOS wage increase
Extra week vacation
shift differ
3 more holidays
2.5 pay for holidays
Double time for all days and not just 7th
4 more sick days
Scope for all the current work with some grandfathering for small stations.

We need to get rid of the United Airline Board director and stop using the IAM Pension as a deal breaker.

I'm going to be doing a media blitz about this with many many newspapers. Every time you clowns go in a newspaper, I will be in the same article calling you all out from an American Airline employee perspective.

Tim,

Regarding your post, just some clarifications for you:

1. 1 more sick day, not 4
2. Almost $1 DOS wage increase, not $2
3. Scope-Company made a comment in negotiations that we wouldn't take snapshot of current work, we said put it in writing, company wouldn't.

The issues I have with the company offer:

1. Scope- company does want work to be gone as employees take buyout, retire, quit, etc. Roughly 2000-3000 jobs, maybe more. They aren't being honest in this regard.
2. Wages- would fall behind UA and DL with company not willing to negotiate a look back.
3. Insurance-It would cost a single ft LUS employee $27-$155 more per month just to have insurance, not use. It would cost a family ft LUS $99-$547 more per month just to have insurance, not use. This is based on our current 80% plan to the LAA core, standard and value plans.
4. The 401k offer would put money back in the company's pocket if employees didn't put in 4%, yet we still get charged as if they did. Statistics show many employees don't contribute the max or at all.

I can't accept this offer!

P. Rez

 

[Tim Nelson]

they had the support and they blew it. there is no one literally no one that i am aware of that vaguely supports the association. to think otherwise is fooling yourself. and nothing was or is being done to change that. typical twu and iam philosophy why bother listening to the membership? they cant do anything about it. no chief i support the iam about as much as they supported us. zip,zilch,nada. the support the iam leadership offered us a year ago when the chance to show unity presented itself. instead the iam decided to not participate and support us, it was a perfect opportunity for the leadership to show unity to the membership. instead the iam decided to rely on the agreement of the association to lock itself in position on the property, knowing the chances of them going anywhere are slim to none. no racer you guys blew it last summer being fat dumb and happy, how much did you guys pay jim little to sign that agreement?

Members support the association everywhere. Thats the problem. Because of that support, the association does what it pleases.
Ignorance is bliss.

 

[Tim Nelson]

Tim,

Regarding your post, just some clarifications for you:

1. 1 more sick day, not 4
2. Almost $1 DOS wage increase, not $2
3. Scope-Company made a comment in negotiations that we wouldn't take snapshot of current work, we said put it in writing, company wouldn't.

The issues I have with the company offer:

1. Scope- company does want work to be gone as employees take buyout, retire, quit, etc. Roughly 2000-3000 jobs, maybe more. They aren't being honest in this regard.
2. Wages- would fall behind UA and DL with company not willing to negotiate a look back.
3. Insurance-It would cost a single ft LUS employee $27-$155 more per month just to have insurance, not use. It would cost a family ft LUS $99-$547 more per month just to have insurance, not use. This is based on our current 80% plan to the LAA core, standard and value plans.
4. The 401k offer would put money back in the company's pocket if employees didn't put in 4%, yet we still get charged as if they did. Statistics show many employees don't contribute the max or at all.

I can't accept this offer!

P. Rez

i cant dispute any of what you said because nothing was disclosed. If you tell us that the company offer would take away 3,000 jobs then why cant you show us? Something is wrong.
But, for this moment, lets say what you said was true. What leverage do you have to make the company put even more on the table?

And if you guys (not necessarily you) continue putting out videos saying "Attack the company" then who can say that wont piss off Parker and make him cancel our profit sharing?

Doesnt seem that we are in the drivers seat here to start throwing first punches.

 

[WeAAsles]

And if you guys (not necessarily you) continue putting out videos saying "Attack the company" then who can say that wont piss off Parker and make him cancel our profit sharing?

 

[Racer X]

You are an idiot.
You guys just passed up a $120 million per year cost positive contract.
Only concession is my insurance gets bumped up $50. In return I would have got
Double the retirement company contributions
Close to a $2 DOS wage increase
Extra week vacation
shift differ
3 more holidays
2.5 pay for holidays
Double time for all days and not just 7th
4 more sick days
Scope for all the current work with some grandfathering for small stations.

We need to get rid of the United Airline Board director and stop using the IAM Pension as a deal breaker.

I'm going to be doing a media blitz about this with many many newspapers. Every time you clowns go in a newspaper, I will be in the same article calling you all out from an American Airline employee perspective.

Wrong!!

 

[Racer X]

You are an idiot.
You guys just passed up a $120 million per year cost positive contract.
Only concession is my insurance gets bumped up $50. In return I would have got
Double the retirement company contributions
Close to a $2 DOS wage increase
Extra week vacation
shift differ
3 more holidays
2.5 pay for holidays
Double time for all days and not just 7th
4 more sick days
Scope for all the current work with some grandfathering for small stations.

We need to get rid of the United Airline Board director and stop using the IAM Pension as a deal breaker.

I'm going to be doing a media blitz about this with many many newspapers. Every time you clowns go in a newspaper, I will be in the same article calling you all out from an American Airline employee perspective.

So according to your other post....this one doesn’t need a disclaimer??? Toubstated no disvlainer needed when it’s first hand knowledge. Hmmmmmm. Yep, IM THE IDIOT

 

[anotherdelay]

Jesus. Andre and Gary are stuck in tough position, and its not just due to their poor writing. Its just the vagueness of all the stuff they put out. As soon as these guys post something the first question everybody asks, can we see the contract? Can you be more specific? The majority of the membership thinks they're fools and both internationals corrupt.

 

[Tim Nelson]

Jesus. Andre and Gary are stuck in tough position, and its not just due to their poor writing. Its just the vagueness of all the stuff they put out. As soon as these guys post something the first question everybody asks, can we see the contract? Can you be more specific? The majority of the membership thinks they're fools and both internationals corrupt.

why would the membership not think they are idiots?