Let me give you a perspective from Tulsa you have probably never heard before.
I came to work for AA in 1983 and it was immediately clear that going into management at the Tulsa base was an undesirable move for Union Workers. The only skilled and experienced Union Workers going to management were within 5 years of retirement, had very little to lose and something to gain, they wanted to boost their pension pay average by the increase in pay since it was based on previous years average wage. Sure some of them had that “kiss my ass I can retire” attitude, but they were both experienced and qualified for the management jobs they moved into and were very effective compared to what we see today.
Sometime in the late 1980’s, AA changed the nepotism rules governing employment. We began to see relatives hired at that time, but most if not were still skilled and experienced. And we yet we still had that idea that going to management was an undesirable thing to do.
Then the TWU and AA came up with the great idea of creating the Shop Repair Person classification to reduce cost and “save jobs”. At this point unskilled, unqualified relatives, security guards, staff assistants, credit union clerks, ect. Were hired into the Tulsa workforce…25% to be exact. A crazy thing happened. These individual were only making $9.00 per hour and all of the sudden going into management was suddenly a desirable thing to do for the big pay increase. But remember, these were mostly unskilled and very inexperienced employees.. They flooded the management ranks at the Tulsa Base. And now for over 15 years they have advanced and have complete control of the failing Tulsa Base.
I hate to see anyone lose their jobs, but even with the cuts taking place, we are still going to be left with a complete lack of management leadership as a result of this story I just told you.
Anyone who wants to know why the Tulsa Base has turned into a zoo. Look no further than the TWU Shop Repair Person plan to save jobs with a concession.
