AMR FILES MOTION 1133 TODAY Mar 27, 2012
From the filing: The work can be done more timely and more cost-efficiently by
FAA-approved maintenance vendors ...
Did that concept work with Timco?
Can Aeroman in S America take the work?
What other vendors will do it?
I recon those arguments are meaningless now, because the Judge will say yes or no to the whole filing. A big YES is likely.
Looks like the Co. gears will continue to turn in that courtroom, getting all that they want, with the unions being impotent. No amout of Viagra will help them. Big changes are a comming.
Did you read the part about OSM's in the hangar? The Co. is complaining about AMT- only policy in the hangar. OSM to the rescue? That is the company's answer to the mechanic shortage.
Will OSM's get the overtime in lieu of AMT's????? OSM's to lay carpet and clean? The last 450 layed off AMT's will be those OSM's in the hangar? How will it all pan out? CC to become Sgt. at Arms? Time to relive bootcamp? Sweatshops ???? Are we all caught up in a whirlpool of doom and gloom, with the end product being outsourcing and layoffs? What will the hangar look like when the crap hits the fan? How will OSM's deal with a new problem, THE FEDS and BIRD-DOGS at the same time? Buck can you help with this one?
Back in 2009 I asked Arpey if it was more expensive in totality to do OH in house than to outsource and his response was "The jury is still out on that" Well if anything, hourly maintenence costs for labor at AA have gone down compared to competitors, not up, since then. Vendors who do the work have also increased wages in order to try and retain skilled workers. We have not recieved any increases in pay while all our peers have, yet now the company is claiming that the Jury is in and the verdict is 'its More'.
The company could not send all the work out right away. There isnt enough capacity out there to take on the work done by the nearly 6000 workers in Tulsa. The system is already strained with workers putting in longer hours and the FAA pretty much abandoned its anti fatigue campaign, once again putting profits before safety, Colgan Air, AA, Jet Blue times 2, where and how will the stress manifest itself next time? Will it take another Egypt Air before they act? If the courts effectivly release the company to self help by ripping up our contracts we have to defend ourselves even though the courts will say its illegal. If the courts are going to tie our hands behind our backs while the company rapes us then we should not obey the courts, its clear they are nothing less than an accomplice.
I believe the companys plan is for OSMs to be a new permanent B-scale. Most are A&Ps and the company wants to use them as such but not pay them as A&Ps. They have been trying to line up a constant flow of OSMs through A&P schools across the country telling the schools that they will have jobs for their students when they graduate. They probably realize that they will not be able to retain them, Tulsa would be the new training ground for the industry, some would stay at AMT rates but the guys who put the seats in, open the panels and do repetative routine work would be OSMs at OSM rates.With the ability to choose who gets trained they could pick and choose which ones eventually move up to AMT rates.
While the company claims they need what they are asking for they are asking for things that nobody has, For years they claimed that they had a $600 million dollar cost disadvantage, then all of a sudden they claimed it was $800 million , now they claim they need $1.25 billion. They may be claiming they need this to be competative but if they got what they are asking for they would not be competative, they would be, in theory, the most profitable airline ever!! Problem with their plan is if they got what they want, and we accepted it, the other carriers would simply have to file BK again to compete.
Back in 2002 I had warned the AFL-CIO unions that they needed to take a stand. They didnt. They all stood by and let the courts rape their members one group at a time. When we, the weakest union of them all, granted AA 25% cuts outside of BK it set the stage for the rest to fall. Now we are set to do it again. I have to wonder was it just incompetence or did the Uniions cut a deal that was less risky for them no matter how bad it was for their members? Under the RLA if the courts abrogate airline contracts then the only difference between abrogation and being released is that the Unions can not legally resort to self help, the Railroads can not abrogate contracts in BK and workers under the NLRA can resort to self help. Our position is uniquely disadvantageous to us, how come it was never really challenged? If the contracts are abrogated then Union Security is gone as well, how can a company unilaterlly force workers under the RLA to pay dues under terms they did not ratify? Maybe thats why all these Unions tell their members that its better to accept a bad contract (that leaves Union Security in place) than fight it, after all, they dont have to live under it. The fact is if we do not fight this and accept anything close to what the company is demanding we would be better off without a union, Delta and Jet Blue are already better compensated than we are, and the fact that they dont have unions or contracts forces the company to pay wages just high enough to keep the unions out.(I imagine it will be easier if we fold again) Our Union contract would be worse than having no contract. AA would have the advantage of having a Union contract in place until 2018 with the lowest wages and worst benefits in the industry, AA would have the best of both worlds, they would not have to pay to keep a union out and they would have a union contract in place to keep it that way.
In the end it will be up to us. Do we give up any chance of restoring our careers to preserve Union security, or fight?
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