AMFA Goes on Strike

[Kev3188]

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/the_red_tail

 

[lineguy43]

I'm happy to hear it.



Each successive offer from the company was worse. They may have been meeting the legal threshold(s) for bargaining in good faith, but for all intents and purposes, they were not. My feeling is that the last couple of offers were so bad that they felt they had no choice, and given that it called for so many cuts, many-if not most- felt they had nothing to lose.



Looking back, all the signs were there, though if you'd asked most at the time, the majority probaly would've bet on a NW/CO tie-up.



Yes. I don't speak for everyone, but to most people, there's really no statute of limitations...



...Thus the ongoing debate on whether or not people in other workgroups should be lumped in w/the replacement AMT's...






Yep... Football charter for a bowl game. They used to have AMT's go along on some of the flights.

Separately, depending on the bowl, some cities will bring in tdy's simply due to the volume of charter work.



Yes, absolutely yes, and each respective employee's union.

Note: During the pilot's strike, ALPA encouraged all of us to keep reporting for work as a means to put pressure on the company to settle. Eventually, most all of ACS was furloughed due to lack of work. BTW, during that time, the AMT's managed to clear every MEL in the fleet. No small feat, IMO...

P.S. FWIW, the instructor's union was ATSA...

Thanks Kev for setting the record straight on that mess. A lot of people really don't know what went down during that time. Glad I faired well. Although I had more fun on the passenger side the freight side is where its at for money and stability (if aviation can even offer anything stable). Hope everything is going good for you at DL..

 

[Kev3188]

Thanks for the kind words. I'm glad you are faring well!

Life at the Widget is definitely interesting...

 

[737823]

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/the_red_tail

Wow don't quite have 90 mins to watch right now but will watch on my next flight.

Josh

 

[Kev3188]

It's worth it. Let us know what you think.

 

[2ndGENAMT]

Just spent my 1&1/2 hours watching the documentary and it was well worth it!

Thanks for the link!!

 

[737823]

http://www.snagfilms...le/the_red_tail

It's worth it. Let us know what you think.

Just watched the film in its entirety. A few thoughts:
1) They did a very good job setting the scene and delivering the message. It was nice to see the Dad and his daughter work on a project together and go to such lengths to educate others on the strike and overseas aircraft maintenance.

2) I still don't understand why if the AMFA didn't have support from the other unions on the property or even other labor groups why they kept striking. Organized labor is big on solidarity, "we've got to get together" and for whatever inter union politics the AMFA apparently was not well liked by the leadership of other unions on the property. It was clear NWA kept chugging along through their contingency plans and the help of others it was clear the strike was ineffective at getting the company to change their offer. It's like the Congress Hotel strike in Chicago that has been going on since 2003. Clearly the hotel has been hanging in there just fine for nine plus years how does the strike give the workers power?

3) Roy mentions how the aircraft maintenance overhaul was moved from Minnesota to Hong Kong to mainland China all to cut costs. In a global economy this trend will only continue. I know a company that has moved production from Massachusetts to Texas to China and now back to Mexico all in the interests of keeping costs in line. That's how business works.

4) NW was in a dire situation at the time of the strike, fuel was hitting what was then an all time high, they had a rapidly deteriorating balance sheet. I guess this goes back to the argument of supporting in house overhaul vs better pay for line mechanics but NW needed to cut costs.

Kev, you mentioned before that you "absolutely" think NWA should have shut down as a result of this strike. Had that occurred what would be different in the outcome? Like I said above, clearly NWA had their ducks lined up months and years in advance to prepare for this so I'm not sure what would be different.

Overall a well done and enlightening film.

Josh

 

[Kev3188]

I think shutting down would've made NW at least rethink their position.

It was not a very smooth cutover; somewhere buried on this board is a thread predicitng the next emergency landing; everyone had plenty of chances to play...

P.S. I liked the idea of a father/daughter project as well.

 

[lineguy43]

Just watched the film in its entirety. A few thoughts:
1) They did a very good job setting the scene and delivering the message. It was nice to see the Dad and his daughter work on a project together and go to such lengths to educate others on the strike and overseas aircraft maintenance.

2) I still don't understand why if the AMFA didn't have support from the other unions on the property or even other labor groups why they kept striking. Organized labor is big on solidarity, "we've got to get together" and for whatever inter union politics the AMFA apparently was not well liked by the leadership of other unions on the property. It was clear NWA kept chugging along through their contingency plans and the help of others it was clear the strike was ineffective at getting the company to change their offer. It's like the Congress Hotel strike in Chicago that has been going on since 2003. Clearly the hotel has been hanging in there just fine for nine plus years how does the strike give the workers power?

3) Roy mentions how the aircraft maintenance overhaul was moved from Minnesota to Hong Kong to mainland China all to cut costs. In a global economy this trend will only continue. I know a company that has moved production from Massachusetts to Texas to China and now back to Mexico all in the interests of keeping costs in line. That's how business works.

4) NW was in a dire situation at the time of the strike, fuel was hitting what was then an all time high, they had a rapidly deteriorating balance sheet. I guess this goes back to the argument of supporting in house overhaul vs better pay for line mechanics but NW needed to cut costs.

Kev, you mentioned before that you "absolutely" think NWA should have shut down as a result of this strike. Had that occurred what would be different in the outcome? Like I said above, clearly NWA had their ducks lined up months and years in advance to prepare for this so I'm not sure what would be different.

Overall a well done and enlightening film.

Josh

You really have to understand the mindset of a mechanic who lived it. I hired on at NW in 1988 we were under the IAM at that time. Al Checci and company came on an LBO trying to be like a white knight in 1989 telling everyone how great it was going to be well in 1993 after that group sold off all the paid for aircraft and leased them back and lined their pockets with millions then preached to us how we were going to have to file bankruptcy if we didn't give into major concessions. We took a vote it failed so the IAM kept taking a re-vote until it passed. That day the execs gave themselves huge bonuses to celebrate shoving that POS down our throat. So we in the IAM were given preferred stock the pilot group chose common stock..So as preferred stock we were promised a "put" price of I think it was around 45 dollars a share and had a 10 year maturation period that was supposed to be the "safe" bet in that they would have to pay us our put price no matter what. Well 10 years later comes payback time NW is incorporated in Delaware (bet you didn't know that) which is a corporate friendly state a judge says "nah you don't have to honor your agreement" so if you were a guy who was smart enough to roll it over to an IRA when the stock was 60 you were lucky if you stupid like me and kept the stock you lost. But during this 10 year period we had some record profits the IAM went to the company to try to get some return on the concessions NW said " sorry you are under a contract" So when the IAM could not bring us (mechanics) a decent contract in the best of times we threw them out and voted in AMFA. We at that time just months before 9/11 we were in good shape we did most all work in house and we had NW over a barrel which is why our first contract set the bar in the industry. Then 9/11 happened so the company did what they do best come to everyone asking for concessions. This time AMFA said "we have a contract see you in 2005" That is when NWA set out on a mission to bust AMFA and I personally think they knew this merger with DL was a possibility and AMFA was in no way to be a part of it. We kept striking because we didn't really have a choice and it was by design NW made the terms so unbearable that we had to strike..Funny thing is that before we actually hit the street AMFA agreed to all the terms and NW went into a panic they had all these scabs in the wings and they for all purposes wanted AMFA gone so they made new terms at the last minute that forced AMFA to walk..A lot of people have no idea what really went on. My buddy was on the negotiating team and filled me in on what they did.

 

[Kev3188]

Well 10 years later comes payback time NW is incorporated in Delaware...

Tax laws aside, I've always found it ironic that NW was incorporated in the one state we didn't fly to...

Also, it's still interesting to me that while AMFA cites the stock issue as one of the drivers for leaving, IAM members cite the union taking NW to court and forcing them to pay as one of the benefits of having a union.

 

[WorldTraveler]

I think shutting down would've made NW at least rethink their position.

During the regulated days of the US airline industry, there was a mutual aid agreement that allowed airlines to avoid the impact of strikes - part of the reason why labor relations in the airline industry were so bad for so long... and part of why the architects of deregulation wanted to force economic principles on each company rather than shifting problems from one airline to another.

Thus, BK laws have become the tool of mgmt to assert control.

You really have to understand the mindset of a mechanic who lived it. I hired on at NW in 1988 we were under the IAM at that time. Al Checci and company came on an LBO trying to be like a white knight in 1989 telling everyone how great it was going to be well in 1993 after that group sold off all the paid for aircraft and leased them back and lined their pockets with millions then preached to us how we were going to have to file bankruptcy if we didn't give into major concessions. We took a vote it failed so the IAM kept taking a re-vote until it passed. That day the execs gave themselves huge bonuses to celebrate shoving that POS down our throat. So we in the IAM were given preferred stock the pilot group chose common stock..So as preferred stock we were promised a "put" price of I think it was around 45 dollars a share and had a 10 year maturation period that was supposed to be the "safe" bet in that they would have to pay us our put price no matter what. Well 10 years later comes payback time NW is incorporated in Delaware (bet you didn't know that) which is a corporate friendly state a judge says "nah you don't have to honor your agreement" so if you were a guy who was smart enough to roll it over to an IRA when the stock was 60 you were lucky if you stupid like me and kept the stock you lost. But during this 10 year period we had some record profits the IAM went to the company to try to get some return on the concessions NW said " sorry you are under a contract" So when the IAM could not bring us (mechanics) a decent contract in the best of times we threw them out and voted in AMFA. We at that time just months before 9/11 we were in good shape we did most all work in house and we had NW over a barrel which is why our first contract set the bar in the industry. Then 9/11 happened so the company did what they do best come to everyone asking for concessions. This time AMFA said "we have a contract see you in 2005" That is when NWA set out on a mission to bust AMFA and I personally think they knew this merger with DL was a possibility and AMFA was in no way to be a part of it. We kept striking because we didn't really have a choice and it was by design NW made the terms so unbearable that we had to strike..Funny thing is that before we actually hit the street AMFA agreed to all the terms and NW went into a panic they had all these scabs in the wings and they for all purposes wanted AMFA gone so they made new terms at the last minute that forced AMFA to walk..A lot of people have no idea what really went on. My buddy was on the negotiating team and filled me in on what they did.

excellent summary and proof of why excessive debt doesn't work.... NW's LBO was a pivotal moment for NW and, as you note, it never fully recovered.
Your assessment that NW was looking for a pivotal moment to break labor is equally as valid.
Had 9/11 not occurred, NW probably had developed enough steam to have overcome the effects of the LBO, but mgmt wasn't willing to sound an all clear, and thus they kept the pressure on labor. There are alot of "what ifs" regarding whether 9/11 had happened or not - and much regarding the airline industry.

Tax laws aside, I've always found it ironic that NW was incorporated in the one state we didn't fly to...

Wikipedia has a decent enough article on why DE is chosen by more than half of US corporations. here is a good summary:
"Because of the extensive experience of the Delaware courts, Delaware has a more well-developed body of case law than other states, which serves to give corporations and their counsel greater guidance on matters of corporate governance and transaction liability issues"

 

[Kev3188]

I'm well aware of both mutual aid and why DE is a state of choice for incorporation.

Thanks for participating.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

Thanks for participating.

Resistance is futile. ;-)