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LOOK AT THIS, BUT DO NOT GET ILL!!!!
March 4, 1989
American urges OK of contract
By DON STEWART
Section: NEWS
Edition: FINAL HOME
Page: 2A
Estimated Printed Pages: 3
Article Text:
Saying the company wished to avoid the union-management
problems that have grounded Eastern Airlines, American Airlines officials urged the 5,300 Tulsa members of the Transport
Workers Union to accept a proposed contract that would pay them $610 million in wages and benefits over four years.
Speaking at a press conference Friday at American's Maintenance and Engineering Center at Tulsa International Airport, Dave Kruse, American's vice president of maintenance and engineering, said the union leadership apparently had not informed the union rank and file of the details of the contract.
"We recently had our all-employee meeting, what we call our President's Conference (at which American President
Robert Crandall spoke to an estimated 9,000 Tulsa employees of American at the Mabee Center Thursday), and the overwhelming interest of the membership was discussion of the contract.
"We found large misunderstanding of what's on the table and what was meant," Kruse said.
"The talks have been going on for several months, and the most recent proposal, which the company expected would be accepted, broke down Tuesday."
Although he said a strike was not imminent, Kruse said he hoped the two sides could resume negotiations soon or that the union leadership would submit the company's offer to
the membership for a vote.
"Strikes are very detrimental and destructive - the Eastern Airlines situation is an indication of what can happen,"
he said.
The contract between the company and the union expired on Wednesday. Under the federal Railway Labor Act, union members will continue to work under the old contract until a new
one is signed.
If further talks fail to resolve the difference between the two sides, a federal mediator may be called in to resume the negotiations.
Union leaders, who could not be reached for comment, rejected the company's latest offer Tuesday. The executive committee of Local 514 of the TWU will meet Sunday with its members to discuss the details of the company offer.
Local 514 President Ed Wilson and union negotiators are asking $900 million in wages and benefits over the life
of the contract.
American's offer would increase the starting pay of a mechanic with an Airframe and Powerplant license from $11.50 per
hour to $15.71 per hour, or from $23,900 to $32,677 annually.
At the top of the proposed wage scale, American has offered mechanics with 12 years of experience an increase from the current contract's $19.68 per hour to $21.68 per hour, or from $40,900 to $45,095 annually.
"We think it is quite a competitive offer," Kruse said.
"It's above what United (Airlines) is paying (their mechanics and ground crews) and it's below USAir. At the low end of the agreement (starting mechanics), we think it's higher
or as high as any in the industry."
Kruse said he hoped by publicizing the company's offer that the union rank and file would not permit their leadership to use the contract negotiations as an issue in the union elections scheduled in May.
The TWU represents about 11,000 of American's 60,000 employees.
In a related matter, Kruse said American had narrowed its search for a second major maintenance and engineering base to Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. A decision on the site
will be made within two months, he said.
The new facility will not affect employment locally, Kruse said.
"We have plans to continue our ($200 million) base expansion - and in fact we will submit a plan to our board of directors at the next meeting to additionally expand the base by $30 million to $50 million," he said.
Company officials said the second base is necessary to service an additional 300 aircraft the company expects to purchase between now and the year 2000. American currently flies
470 aircraft and major maintenance is handled only at Tulsa's M&E Center.
A second M&E Center would employ 4,500 workers, slightly smaller than Tulsa's base, and would service the company's Airbus Industrie A300s and Boeing 757s and 767s.
The Tulsa M&E Center would continue to work on McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and MD-80s and the MD-11s once they come
on line, said Rich Haddock, American's manager of long-range planning. The Tulsa base also would maintain Boeing 727s
and 737s, he said.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL12323
March 4, 1989
AA to Expand Maintenance
By From Staff, Wire Reports
Section: BUSINESS/OIL
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: b6
Estimated Printed Pages: 1
Article Text:
American Airlines will expand its maintenance and
engineering capabilities to accommodate a fleet size expected to top 800 in the 1990s, the company said Friday.
But Tulsa will not be on the receiving end of that expansion. American employs over 6,000 workers at its Tulsa M&E Center. A separate $200 million expansion is under way at that facility.
But Rich Haddock, American's manager of long-range planning, said American will need even more maintenance and engineering capabilities than the Tulsa expansion will allow.
American considered several sites for a M&E satellite for the Tulsa base. The list has been narrowed to Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City and an industrial airport
called Alliance in Fort Worth.
No jobs would be lost at Tulsa, said Dave Kruse, American's vice president of maintenance and engineering.
However, some American employees now in Tulsa could be transferred to the new facility. They would be replaced here by new
workers.
Haddock said American decided it did not want to concentrate all of its M&E operations in one location.
American predicts the satellite could produce as many as 4,500 new jobs over the next five years.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL12158
March 6, 1989
Union Workers Urged to Oppose American Contract
By Frank Main Section: news
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: a2
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Index Terms:
airlines
unions
Article Text:
American Airlines mechanics and ground workers in Tulsa
were told Sunday to follow the leaders of their union and vote down a proposed $610 million management contract, officials said.
Leaders of the Transport Workers Union of America rejected the offer on Tuesday, opting to hold out for a requested
$900 million package, said David Kruse, American's vice
president of maintenance and engineering.
Ed Wilson, president of Local 514, which represents about 4,300 Tulsa workers and 2,200 in other cities, announced
Sunday the union would mail ballots to members March 13.
"We'll count the ballots on April Fool's Day," Wilson
said to the cheers of workers after one of two closed-door sessions Sunday at the Brady Theater, 105 W. Brady St.
The airline's offer would raise the annual salary of starting mechanics from $23,900 to $32,677, officials say.
"I don't understand how they could say our offer is not competitive," Kruse said Sunday in a telephone interview.
The contract between the Transport Workers Union of America and American Airlines expired Wednesday. The union represents about 11,000 of the airline's 60,000 workers.
Wilson said the sticking points of the offer include health benefits, a progressive pay scale and starting pay. He said the pay proposed by the company is lower than industry levels.
Wilson said the union would negotiate on the pay scale and starting salary, but not on the proposal to shift payments on health insurance payments from the company to workers.
Under the proposal, workers would share in monthly insurance payments, starting in 1991, Kruse said.
Wilson said the union would refuse to submit to arbitration if an agreement cannot be reached.
About 3,100 workers attended the two meetings Sunday, Wilson said. More meetings will be held throughout the week at
the union hall to inform the rest of the other workers,
he said.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL12666
March 8, 1989
American Asks Judge to Bar Sympathy Strike
By W.K. Stratton
Section: BUSINESS/OIL
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: B1
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Article Text:
American Airlines has asked a federal court in Texas
to bar the union representing its mechanics and ground workers from walking out in sympathy with the International Association of Machinists strike against Eastern Airlines.
A hearing on a temporary restraining order is scheduled
for 10 a.m. Thursday before U.S. District Judge David O.
Belew Jr. in Fort Worth.
The airline is requesting the Transport Workers Union of America be prohibited from striking or picketing to show
solidarity with the 8,500 members of the Machinists union, which struck against Eastern on Saturday.
TWU represents nearly 6,000 American Airlines employees in Tulsa.
Eastern was unsuccessful in an attempt Tuesday to prohibit its pilots' union from striking in support of the IAM workers.
The strike has forced Eastern to idle 9,500 workers in the last two days.
Meanwhile, the strike could bring the nation's passenger rail lines to a close as the Machinists threaten to picket Amtrak and Metro-North.
American said in the suit filed in Fort Worth Tuesday that International TWU Vice President Edward R. Koziatek had
informed the airline last week the union might strike in
sympathy with the Eastern machinists unless ordered by the court not to do so.
But American spokesman Jim Brown said Tuesday the company did not file the suit in anticipation of a TWU sympathy
strike.
"We view it as basically an administrative thing to protect our interest," said Brown.
American and TWU are at a contract impasse. Mediation broke down Jan. 31. A 30-day cooling off period expired at midnight on Saturday without an agreement being reached.
Tulsa-based TWU Local 514 was named as a co-defendant in the suit. President Ed Wilson said the Local decided to
honor IAM picket lines. However, he said a court ruling
enjoining IAM pickets at American sites made the issue moot.
Jim Frasier, attorney for Local 514, said he would take no legal actions concerning American's suit without direction from TWU's Washington, D.C.-based lawyers.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL13188
March 12, 1989
Transport Workers Work On
By W.K. Stratton
Section: business
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: G1
Estimated Printed Pages: 4
Article Text:
In 1986 American Airlines presented Local 514 of the Transport Workers Union of America a plaque recognizing 40 years of cooperation in Tulsa.
Two clasped hands are depicted. On one side is American's emblem. TWU's is on the other.
Local 514 displays the plaque at the union hall at 11929 E. Pine St.
But Local President Ed Wilson thinks clasped hands do not represent the current state of affairs between the union
and the airline. Their contract expired March 1.
"We made concessions in 1983 in order to make American the dominant carrier," he said last week. "Now it is the
dominant carrier. All we want is what we gave up. But American turned greedy on us."
Wilson studied the plaque.
"For a long time the union and the company were just like this," he said, jabbing his fists together. "Then we entered into a period of cooperation. The company apparently mistook that spirit as a sign of weakness on the part of the union."
American, he said, is learning it made a wrong assumption. Wilson points to meetings about the impasse held for TWU
members Sunday at Tulsa's Brady Theater. Over 3,000 members attended the discussions, braving a winter storm that dumped over nine inches of snow on the city. Many of those attending came from out of town.
"There was not any dissension," Wilson said.
The dispute between the airline and the union involves a number of different issues, some of them complicated. The two sides seem to be far apart. The Local's newsletter,
the Union Reporter, said in its Jan. 9 issue "...long,
serious negotiations will have to take place before a tentative agreement can be reached."
No strike action is imminent, both sides agree. But neither is a quick settlement.
Contract negotiations are in the conference and consultation period occurring within 30 days of a notice of intent to
change agreement.
Union negotiators turned down a contract offer for American mechanics and ground workers. TWU has referred the proposal to its rank-and-file for a decision.
At a press conference in Tulsa March 3, American's Dave Kruise, vice president of maintenance and engineering, said the American offer includes immediate base pay increases, accelerated progression through higher pay scales, increased license premiums and performance-based incentive pay increases.
The offer also includes lifetime job security for 5,317 TWU members, tuition refunds for newly acquired skills and licenses, increased life insurance coverage and insurance coverage for newly hired employees after six months.
The package, American said, is worth $610 million.
In a letter to employees of the airline, American President Robert Crandall blasted TWU's leadership, saying it had
"told us it is unwilling to endorse any proposal other
than its own without a protracted period of confrontation."
Crandall also alleged, and Kruise reiterated the charge at his press conference, "union politics are more important than the financial welfare of AA employees" to the TWU
leadership.
In particular, Kruise said the upcoming Local 514 elections may have prompted union negotiators to reject the proposal.
"The members of this local would have voted me, or any other president, out of office if this offer had been accepted," Wilson said.
Wilson said the offer has many facets that are objectionable to the union, starting with the base pay proposal.
A chart prepared by TWU shows the pay rate of $15.31 for starting mechanics proposed by American would leave them
78 cents below the starting wage paid to USAIR mechanics.
But worse yet for the mechanics - and other workers represented by TWU - is the rate of pay progressions, Wilson said.
The chart shows USAIR mechanics reaching the maximum wage rate of $21.10 after 10 six-month progression steps. American mechanics would reach the maximum of $21.28 after 24 six-month progression steps.
And, the chart shows USAIR mechanics getting a base pay increase to $16.48 in November.
The USAIR mechanic making the new maximum wage of $21.55 per hour would outdraw his American counterpart by over
$9,700 per year, according to the TWU chart.
American's Maintenance & Engineering base in Tulsa stands to lose 1,500 experienced mechanics because of the pay discrepancies, union officials claim.
"There is a nationwide shortage of mechanics," Wilson
said.
The union is asking for greater base pay and quicker progression to the upper levels of the pay scale.
"All we want is what our competitors are paying," Wilson said.
There are disagreements beyond wages, among them are:
Insurance. At present, new employees are not covered by the American insurance plan until they have worked for the company for a year. Employees can pay for coverage at a
monthly cost of over $90 for individuals and over $170 for families, the union said.
"This makes it hard on the guys at the lowest end of the salary scale," Wilson said. "They are the least paid,
and they have to spend a big chunk of what they make on
insurance."
American is offering to take new workers into the insurance system after six months of employment. TWU wants coverage immediately upon hiring.
Also, TWU objects to an American proposal to have workers pay for part of the cost of coverage.
"American is self-insured," said Wilson. "They want to pass cost increases on to the workers when their own people should be working to keep costs down."
Training Reimbursement. American is offering to reimburse workers for fees and tuition used to acquire greater skills.
TWU agrees the company should make the reimbursements, but Wilson said American wants to make one lump payment to an employee after he has completed his training. The union
wants American to reimburse after each semester of instruction.
Security Investigations. Wilson said that since TWU mechanics own their own tools and toolboxes with values in the thousands of dollars, the union supports shop security.
However, he said American security officers frequently detain workers for interrogation. TWU wants a union representative to be present for such questioning.
Part-time Workers. TWU says American wants to raise limits on the number of part-time workers. The union wants the
limit to stay at 15 percent of the work force. It also wants overtime hours to go to full-time workers before being given to part-timers.
In his office, decorated with Native American paintings and sculpture (Wilson is of Delaware Indian descent), the union leader produced a series of charts showing the majority of TWU workers have joined American since 1983.
"This offer really hurts our workers with the least seniority," Wilson said.
He said American's Tulsa facility has the highest productivity of any M&E base in the world.
"Now that the recession is over," Wilson said, "we want things back."
Caption:
Ed Wilson, president of Local 514 of the Transport Workers Union of
COLOR PHOTO
Tom Gilbert
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL14122
March 14, 1989
Transport union expects to reject AA pact
By DON STEWART
Section: BUSINESS
Edition: FINAL HOME
Page: 5B
Estimated Printed Pages: 3
Article Text:
American Airlines has gone from marginally profitable to
the dominant airline in the country during the past four
years - largely because of wage concessions of its unionized workers, said Ed Wilson, president of Local 514 of the Transport Workers Union.
Wilson said union mechanics and fleet service workers will reject American's latest proposed four-year contract offer because it asks them to accept less than industry standard pay for comparable jobs.
More than 4,300 local members of the union, among more than 11,000 nationwide, will begin receiving mailed ballots this week from the union's executive council asking whether to approve or reject American's proposed four-year contract
that calls for $610 million in wages and benefits.
At a news conference Monday at Local 514 headquarters, 11929 E. Pine St., Wilson said that under the federal Railway
Labor Act the two sides are a long way from a strike.
"But if American Airlines continues to intimidate transport workers, they are going to be in for a long fight, because the transport workers will not negotiate with a loaded gun to their heads," Wilson said.
Union officials said American's management during recent weeks has been holding meetings with union workers to discuss the proposed contract and sending letters to workers' homes threatening "loss of job security" if the contract is
not accepted, Wilson said.
The TWU's application for a temporary restraining order to halt the company's activities was thrown out of U.S.
District Court Monday by Judge H. Dale Cook.
Lowell Duncan, American's vice president of corporate
communications, said, "The material they (the union) felt was objectionable is fully within the limits of what the company can do to communicate and talk to employees."
Charles Pasciuto, American's vice president of employee relations, said American told its employees in 1983, at
the start of the expired contract, that the industry was
at a crossroads.
"We told them that if we could control labor costs over a long period of time - if we continued to give senior people raises and newer employees lower wage rates with longer
progression scales - that in return we would make a commitment to go out and invest in the future, buy more airplanes which would mean more jobs."
Pasciuto said the other approach to labor costs, slashing wages and benefits, has been taken by a number of airlines that are either in trouble or no longer in business.
At a news conference held by the company 10 days ago, Dave Kruse, American's vice president of maintenance and engineering at the Tulsa Maintenance ' Engineering Center, said the
union leadership apparently had not informed the union rank and file of the details of the proposed contract.
"We found large misunderstanding of what's on the table and what was meant," Kruse said.
No further talks have been scheduled between the two sides. The old contract expired two weeks ago.
Comparing the 12-step wage scales of Northwest Airlines and USAir mechanics to the proposed scale offered by American, Wilson said American workers would accept markedly lower
wages at nearly every step.
A beginning mechanic, for instance, currently makes $11.50 per hour at American compared with $15.36 per hour at Northwest Airlines.
Under the proposed contract, an American mechanic would be paid $15.31 per hour, 5 cents per hour and $52 per six months less than a Northwest mechanic.
Under American's proposal, a mechanic with 10 years experience now earning $14.34 per hour ($18.55 at Northwest) would
earn $16.57 per hour, but would lose $2,059 over six months compared with a Northwest mechanic with the same experience.
Wilson said union members sacrificed during the past four years while American compiled record profits of $2.7 billion.
"If they pay wages like the rest of the aviation community, the company will continue to expand," Wilson said.
"The reason this thing (proposed contract) is going to go down (to defeat) is that we cannot continue to subsidize American Airlines while they continue to make record profits.
"We want American Airlines to become the most dominant airline in the world, but from this point on, all we are
asking for is to be even with everybody else."
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL14594
April 4, 1989
Union Rejects Offer, Negotiators to Meet
By W.K. Stratton
Section: BUSINESS/OIL
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: b5
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Index Terms:
AIRLINES
UNIONS
Article Text:
Representatives from American Airlines Inc. and the Transport Workers Union of America will meet in Fort Worth Wednesday after union members rejected what the company called its
final contract offer.
"All I can say is, we're terribly disappointed by the decision not to ratify," a spokesman for the Fort Worth-based carrier said Monday.
The union represents about 22,000 American Airlines employees, about a third of the company total.
American's contract with TWU expired March 1.
Earlier, union negotiators rejected the $610 million salary and benefit-increase package offered by the airline. But
they agreed to refer the offer to TWU members. After the
votes were counted on Saturday, the tally showed the rank-and-file did not approve the offer.
American officials said last month most of the opposition to the contract came from Tulsa-based Local 514 of the TWU.
Local 514 President Ed Wilson was in Texas on Monday, a woman at the union hall told The World, and therefore unavailable for comment. Efforts to contact Ed Koziatek, international vice president of TWU, in Fort Worth were not successful.
However, Koziatek told The Dallas Morning News that a significant majority of union members rejected the contract in one of the union's heaviest turnouts ever. He did not have specific details on vote totals.
According to the newspaper, union negotiators planned to meet Tuesday to discuss why members rejected the offer.
In earlier interviews, Wilson cited numerous differences between the company offer and union demands. At the heart of the dispute is a disagreement over wages and the time
span it takes American's new workers to reach parity with older workers.
Wilson has alleged American's offer would leave its mechanics and ground crews drawing less money than comparable workers at other carriers.
Local 514 represents workers at the airline's maintenance and engineering base in Tulsa, as well as American employees in Nashville and other cities.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL19946
April 5, 1989
AA union asks concessions return
By MARK TAYLOR
Section: BUSINESS
Edition: FINAL HOME
Page: 8C
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Article Text:
American Airlines' 21,000 union ground workers, who recently rejected the carrier's $610 million wage proposal and have been without a contract since March 1, are not likely to
strike but will demand parity with other airlines' wage
scales, according to the head of a Tulsa local.
Ed Wilson, president of the 6,500-member Local 514 of the Transport Workers Union, Tulsa, said there was "no immediate danger of a strike" that could cripple the Dallas-based
airline, a subsidiary of AMR Corp. Wilson, speaking from
Dallas before the first contract meeting since members rejected American's last offer, said the union would ask for a return of some of what union officials calculated were $2 billion in wage concessions made over the last six years by union.
The American offer would impose another $1.2 billion in monentary concessions over the next four years, said Wilson, bringing total wage concessions to $3.2 billion for the
10-year period. It was those concessions, Wilson claimed, that allowed American to realize its most profitable year last year and should lead to another record profit this
year.
American spokesman Jim Brown declined to specultate on whether the airline might be willing to increase its previous offer. He characterized today's meeting as an effort "to determine what (American's) next course of action" would be.
Brown also said American has not announced an earnings forecast for the 1989 calendar year, but said "it should be another good year."
The company netted a profit of $476.8 million in 1988.
Company and union representatives were scheduled to resume negotiations today, but Wilson said it was impossible to
estimate how long the talks could last. The parties, however, "are not in an adversarial mode," said Wilson, and have
a history of resolving contract disputes without work stoppage. The Transport Workers, composed primarily of airline mechanics and ground support personnel, have gone on strike against American Airlines twice - in 1950 and in 1969, Wilson said. Similar contract negotiations, involving extended mediation and cooling-off periods, lasted 18 months between Eastern Airlines union workers and management, said Wilson.
"It appears we're (airline and union) far off, but its a matter of perception. There are ways to bridge the gaps," Wilson said.
"We gave it (wage concessions) to them for them to gain an advantage. Now they have to return the favor."
Workers are continuing under the old four-year contract. Negotiation between the two sides began in January, with
workers rejecting the last offer last week. The Tulsa local voted down the offer by almost 86 percent, Wilson said.
Only two locals agreed to the American offer, he said.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL20125
March 4, 1989
American urges OK of contract
By DON STEWART
Section: NEWS
Edition: FINAL HOME
Page: 2A
Estimated Printed Pages: 3
Article Text:
Saying the company wished to avoid the union-management
problems that have grounded Eastern Airlines, American Airlines officials urged the 5,300 Tulsa members of the Transport
Workers Union to accept a proposed contract that would pay them $610 million in wages and benefits over four years.
Speaking at a press conference Friday at American's Maintenance and Engineering Center at Tulsa International Airport, Dave Kruse, American's vice president of maintenance and engineering, said the union leadership apparently had not informed the union rank and file of the details of the contract.
"We recently had our all-employee meeting, what we call our President's Conference (at which American President
Robert Crandall spoke to an estimated 9,000 Tulsa employees of American at the Mabee Center Thursday), and the overwhelming interest of the membership was discussion of the contract.
"We found large misunderstanding of what's on the table and what was meant," Kruse said.
"The talks have been going on for several months, and the most recent proposal, which the company expected would be accepted, broke down Tuesday."
Although he said a strike was not imminent, Kruse said he hoped the two sides could resume negotiations soon or that the union leadership would submit the company's offer to
the membership for a vote.
"Strikes are very detrimental and destructive - the Eastern Airlines situation is an indication of what can happen,"
he said.
The contract between the company and the union expired on Wednesday. Under the federal Railway Labor Act, union members will continue to work under the old contract until a new
one is signed.
If further talks fail to resolve the difference between the two sides, a federal mediator may be called in to resume the negotiations.
Union leaders, who could not be reached for comment, rejected the company's latest offer Tuesday. The executive committee of Local 514 of the TWU will meet Sunday with its members to discuss the details of the company offer.
Local 514 President Ed Wilson and union negotiators are asking $900 million in wages and benefits over the life
of the contract.
American's offer would increase the starting pay of a mechanic with an Airframe and Powerplant license from $11.50 per
hour to $15.71 per hour, or from $23,900 to $32,677 annually.
At the top of the proposed wage scale, American has offered mechanics with 12 years of experience an increase from the current contract's $19.68 per hour to $21.68 per hour, or from $40,900 to $45,095 annually.
"We think it is quite a competitive offer," Kruse said.
"It's above what United (Airlines) is paying (their mechanics and ground crews) and it's below USAir. At the low end of the agreement (starting mechanics), we think it's higher
or as high as any in the industry."
Kruse said he hoped by publicizing the company's offer that the union rank and file would not permit their leadership to use the contract negotiations as an issue in the union elections scheduled in May.
The TWU represents about 11,000 of American's 60,000 employees.
In a related matter, Kruse said American had narrowed its search for a second major maintenance and engineering base to Oklahoma City and Fort Worth. A decision on the site
will be made within two months, he said.
The new facility will not affect employment locally, Kruse said.
"We have plans to continue our ($200 million) base expansion - and in fact we will submit a plan to our board of directors at the next meeting to additionally expand the base by $30 million to $50 million," he said.
Company officials said the second base is necessary to service an additional 300 aircraft the company expects to purchase between now and the year 2000. American currently flies
470 aircraft and major maintenance is handled only at Tulsa's M&E Center.
A second M&E Center would employ 4,500 workers, slightly smaller than Tulsa's base, and would service the company's Airbus Industrie A300s and Boeing 757s and 767s.
The Tulsa M&E Center would continue to work on McDonnell Douglas DC-10s and MD-80s and the MD-11s once they come
on line, said Rich Haddock, American's manager of long-range planning. The Tulsa base also would maintain Boeing 727s
and 737s, he said.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL12323
March 4, 1989
AA to Expand Maintenance
By From Staff, Wire Reports
Section: BUSINESS/OIL
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: b6
Estimated Printed Pages: 1
Article Text:
American Airlines will expand its maintenance and
engineering capabilities to accommodate a fleet size expected to top 800 in the 1990s, the company said Friday.
But Tulsa will not be on the receiving end of that expansion. American employs over 6,000 workers at its Tulsa M&E Center. A separate $200 million expansion is under way at that facility.
But Rich Haddock, American's manager of long-range planning, said American will need even more maintenance and engineering capabilities than the Tulsa expansion will allow.
American considered several sites for a M&E satellite for the Tulsa base. The list has been narrowed to Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City and an industrial airport
called Alliance in Fort Worth.
No jobs would be lost at Tulsa, said Dave Kruse, American's vice president of maintenance and engineering.
However, some American employees now in Tulsa could be transferred to the new facility. They would be replaced here by new
workers.
Haddock said American decided it did not want to concentrate all of its M&E operations in one location.
American predicts the satellite could produce as many as 4,500 new jobs over the next five years.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL12158
March 6, 1989
Union Workers Urged to Oppose American Contract
By Frank Main Section: news
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: a2
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Index Terms:
airlines
unions
Article Text:
American Airlines mechanics and ground workers in Tulsa
were told Sunday to follow the leaders of their union and vote down a proposed $610 million management contract, officials said.
Leaders of the Transport Workers Union of America rejected the offer on Tuesday, opting to hold out for a requested
$900 million package, said David Kruse, American's vice
president of maintenance and engineering.
Ed Wilson, president of Local 514, which represents about 4,300 Tulsa workers and 2,200 in other cities, announced
Sunday the union would mail ballots to members March 13.
"We'll count the ballots on April Fool's Day," Wilson
said to the cheers of workers after one of two closed-door sessions Sunday at the Brady Theater, 105 W. Brady St.
The airline's offer would raise the annual salary of starting mechanics from $23,900 to $32,677, officials say.
"I don't understand how they could say our offer is not competitive," Kruse said Sunday in a telephone interview.
The contract between the Transport Workers Union of America and American Airlines expired Wednesday. The union represents about 11,000 of the airline's 60,000 workers.
Wilson said the sticking points of the offer include health benefits, a progressive pay scale and starting pay. He said the pay proposed by the company is lower than industry levels.
Wilson said the union would negotiate on the pay scale and starting salary, but not on the proposal to shift payments on health insurance payments from the company to workers.
Under the proposal, workers would share in monthly insurance payments, starting in 1991, Kruse said.
Wilson said the union would refuse to submit to arbitration if an agreement cannot be reached.
About 3,100 workers attended the two meetings Sunday, Wilson said. More meetings will be held throughout the week at
the union hall to inform the rest of the other workers,
he said.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL12666
March 8, 1989
American Asks Judge to Bar Sympathy Strike
By W.K. Stratton
Section: BUSINESS/OIL
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: B1
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Article Text:
American Airlines has asked a federal court in Texas
to bar the union representing its mechanics and ground workers from walking out in sympathy with the International Association of Machinists strike against Eastern Airlines.
A hearing on a temporary restraining order is scheduled
for 10 a.m. Thursday before U.S. District Judge David O.
Belew Jr. in Fort Worth.
The airline is requesting the Transport Workers Union of America be prohibited from striking or picketing to show
solidarity with the 8,500 members of the Machinists union, which struck against Eastern on Saturday.
TWU represents nearly 6,000 American Airlines employees in Tulsa.
Eastern was unsuccessful in an attempt Tuesday to prohibit its pilots' union from striking in support of the IAM workers.
The strike has forced Eastern to idle 9,500 workers in the last two days.
Meanwhile, the strike could bring the nation's passenger rail lines to a close as the Machinists threaten to picket Amtrak and Metro-North.
American said in the suit filed in Fort Worth Tuesday that International TWU Vice President Edward R. Koziatek had
informed the airline last week the union might strike in
sympathy with the Eastern machinists unless ordered by the court not to do so.
But American spokesman Jim Brown said Tuesday the company did not file the suit in anticipation of a TWU sympathy
strike.
"We view it as basically an administrative thing to protect our interest," said Brown.
American and TWU are at a contract impasse. Mediation broke down Jan. 31. A 30-day cooling off period expired at midnight on Saturday without an agreement being reached.
Tulsa-based TWU Local 514 was named as a co-defendant in the suit. President Ed Wilson said the Local decided to
honor IAM picket lines. However, he said a court ruling
enjoining IAM pickets at American sites made the issue moot.
Jim Frasier, attorney for Local 514, said he would take no legal actions concerning American's suit without direction from TWU's Washington, D.C.-based lawyers.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL13188
March 12, 1989
Transport Workers Work On
By W.K. Stratton
Section: business
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: G1
Estimated Printed Pages: 4
Article Text:
In 1986 American Airlines presented Local 514 of the Transport Workers Union of America a plaque recognizing 40 years of cooperation in Tulsa.
Two clasped hands are depicted. On one side is American's emblem. TWU's is on the other.
Local 514 displays the plaque at the union hall at 11929 E. Pine St.
But Local President Ed Wilson thinks clasped hands do not represent the current state of affairs between the union
and the airline. Their contract expired March 1.
"We made concessions in 1983 in order to make American the dominant carrier," he said last week. "Now it is the
dominant carrier. All we want is what we gave up. But American turned greedy on us."
Wilson studied the plaque.
"For a long time the union and the company were just like this," he said, jabbing his fists together. "Then we entered into a period of cooperation. The company apparently mistook that spirit as a sign of weakness on the part of the union."
American, he said, is learning it made a wrong assumption. Wilson points to meetings about the impasse held for TWU
members Sunday at Tulsa's Brady Theater. Over 3,000 members attended the discussions, braving a winter storm that dumped over nine inches of snow on the city. Many of those attending came from out of town.
"There was not any dissension," Wilson said.
The dispute between the airline and the union involves a number of different issues, some of them complicated. The two sides seem to be far apart. The Local's newsletter,
the Union Reporter, said in its Jan. 9 issue "...long,
serious negotiations will have to take place before a tentative agreement can be reached."
No strike action is imminent, both sides agree. But neither is a quick settlement.
Contract negotiations are in the conference and consultation period occurring within 30 days of a notice of intent to
change agreement.
Union negotiators turned down a contract offer for American mechanics and ground workers. TWU has referred the proposal to its rank-and-file for a decision.
At a press conference in Tulsa March 3, American's Dave Kruise, vice president of maintenance and engineering, said the American offer includes immediate base pay increases, accelerated progression through higher pay scales, increased license premiums and performance-based incentive pay increases.
The offer also includes lifetime job security for 5,317 TWU members, tuition refunds for newly acquired skills and licenses, increased life insurance coverage and insurance coverage for newly hired employees after six months.
The package, American said, is worth $610 million.
In a letter to employees of the airline, American President Robert Crandall blasted TWU's leadership, saying it had
"told us it is unwilling to endorse any proposal other
than its own without a protracted period of confrontation."
Crandall also alleged, and Kruise reiterated the charge at his press conference, "union politics are more important than the financial welfare of AA employees" to the TWU
leadership.
In particular, Kruise said the upcoming Local 514 elections may have prompted union negotiators to reject the proposal.
"The members of this local would have voted me, or any other president, out of office if this offer had been accepted," Wilson said.
Wilson said the offer has many facets that are objectionable to the union, starting with the base pay proposal.
A chart prepared by TWU shows the pay rate of $15.31 for starting mechanics proposed by American would leave them
78 cents below the starting wage paid to USAIR mechanics.
But worse yet for the mechanics - and other workers represented by TWU - is the rate of pay progressions, Wilson said.
The chart shows USAIR mechanics reaching the maximum wage rate of $21.10 after 10 six-month progression steps. American mechanics would reach the maximum of $21.28 after 24 six-month progression steps.
And, the chart shows USAIR mechanics getting a base pay increase to $16.48 in November.
The USAIR mechanic making the new maximum wage of $21.55 per hour would outdraw his American counterpart by over
$9,700 per year, according to the TWU chart.
American's Maintenance & Engineering base in Tulsa stands to lose 1,500 experienced mechanics because of the pay discrepancies, union officials claim.
"There is a nationwide shortage of mechanics," Wilson
said.
The union is asking for greater base pay and quicker progression to the upper levels of the pay scale.
"All we want is what our competitors are paying," Wilson said.
There are disagreements beyond wages, among them are:
Insurance. At present, new employees are not covered by the American insurance plan until they have worked for the company for a year. Employees can pay for coverage at a
monthly cost of over $90 for individuals and over $170 for families, the union said.
"This makes it hard on the guys at the lowest end of the salary scale," Wilson said. "They are the least paid,
and they have to spend a big chunk of what they make on
insurance."
American is offering to take new workers into the insurance system after six months of employment. TWU wants coverage immediately upon hiring.
Also, TWU objects to an American proposal to have workers pay for part of the cost of coverage.
"American is self-insured," said Wilson. "They want to pass cost increases on to the workers when their own people should be working to keep costs down."
Training Reimbursement. American is offering to reimburse workers for fees and tuition used to acquire greater skills.
TWU agrees the company should make the reimbursements, but Wilson said American wants to make one lump payment to an employee after he has completed his training. The union
wants American to reimburse after each semester of instruction.
Security Investigations. Wilson said that since TWU mechanics own their own tools and toolboxes with values in the thousands of dollars, the union supports shop security.
However, he said American security officers frequently detain workers for interrogation. TWU wants a union representative to be present for such questioning.
Part-time Workers. TWU says American wants to raise limits on the number of part-time workers. The union wants the
limit to stay at 15 percent of the work force. It also wants overtime hours to go to full-time workers before being given to part-timers.
In his office, decorated with Native American paintings and sculpture (Wilson is of Delaware Indian descent), the union leader produced a series of charts showing the majority of TWU workers have joined American since 1983.
"This offer really hurts our workers with the least seniority," Wilson said.
He said American's Tulsa facility has the highest productivity of any M&E base in the world.
"Now that the recession is over," Wilson said, "we want things back."
Caption:
Ed Wilson, president of Local 514 of the Transport Workers Union of
COLOR PHOTO
Tom Gilbert
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL14122
March 14, 1989
Transport union expects to reject AA pact
By DON STEWART
Section: BUSINESS
Edition: FINAL HOME
Page: 5B
Estimated Printed Pages: 3
Article Text:
American Airlines has gone from marginally profitable to
the dominant airline in the country during the past four
years - largely because of wage concessions of its unionized workers, said Ed Wilson, president of Local 514 of the Transport Workers Union.
Wilson said union mechanics and fleet service workers will reject American's latest proposed four-year contract offer because it asks them to accept less than industry standard pay for comparable jobs.
More than 4,300 local members of the union, among more than 11,000 nationwide, will begin receiving mailed ballots this week from the union's executive council asking whether to approve or reject American's proposed four-year contract
that calls for $610 million in wages and benefits.
At a news conference Monday at Local 514 headquarters, 11929 E. Pine St., Wilson said that under the federal Railway
Labor Act the two sides are a long way from a strike.
"But if American Airlines continues to intimidate transport workers, they are going to be in for a long fight, because the transport workers will not negotiate with a loaded gun to their heads," Wilson said.
Union officials said American's management during recent weeks has been holding meetings with union workers to discuss the proposed contract and sending letters to workers' homes threatening "loss of job security" if the contract is
not accepted, Wilson said.
The TWU's application for a temporary restraining order to halt the company's activities was thrown out of U.S.
District Court Monday by Judge H. Dale Cook.
Lowell Duncan, American's vice president of corporate
communications, said, "The material they (the union) felt was objectionable is fully within the limits of what the company can do to communicate and talk to employees."
Charles Pasciuto, American's vice president of employee relations, said American told its employees in 1983, at
the start of the expired contract, that the industry was
at a crossroads.
"We told them that if we could control labor costs over a long period of time - if we continued to give senior people raises and newer employees lower wage rates with longer
progression scales - that in return we would make a commitment to go out and invest in the future, buy more airplanes which would mean more jobs."
Pasciuto said the other approach to labor costs, slashing wages and benefits, has been taken by a number of airlines that are either in trouble or no longer in business.
At a news conference held by the company 10 days ago, Dave Kruse, American's vice president of maintenance and engineering at the Tulsa Maintenance ' Engineering Center, said the
union leadership apparently had not informed the union rank and file of the details of the proposed contract.
"We found large misunderstanding of what's on the table and what was meant," Kruse said.
No further talks have been scheduled between the two sides. The old contract expired two weeks ago.
Comparing the 12-step wage scales of Northwest Airlines and USAir mechanics to the proposed scale offered by American, Wilson said American workers would accept markedly lower
wages at nearly every step.
A beginning mechanic, for instance, currently makes $11.50 per hour at American compared with $15.36 per hour at Northwest Airlines.
Under the proposed contract, an American mechanic would be paid $15.31 per hour, 5 cents per hour and $52 per six months less than a Northwest mechanic.
Under American's proposal, a mechanic with 10 years experience now earning $14.34 per hour ($18.55 at Northwest) would
earn $16.57 per hour, but would lose $2,059 over six months compared with a Northwest mechanic with the same experience.
Wilson said union members sacrificed during the past four years while American compiled record profits of $2.7 billion.
"If they pay wages like the rest of the aviation community, the company will continue to expand," Wilson said.
"The reason this thing (proposed contract) is going to go down (to defeat) is that we cannot continue to subsidize American Airlines while they continue to make record profits.
"We want American Airlines to become the most dominant airline in the world, but from this point on, all we are
asking for is to be even with everybody else."
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL14594
April 4, 1989
Union Rejects Offer, Negotiators to Meet
By W.K. Stratton
Section: BUSINESS/OIL
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: b5
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Index Terms:
AIRLINES
UNIONS
Article Text:
Representatives from American Airlines Inc. and the Transport Workers Union of America will meet in Fort Worth Wednesday after union members rejected what the company called its
final contract offer.
"All I can say is, we're terribly disappointed by the decision not to ratify," a spokesman for the Fort Worth-based carrier said Monday.
The union represents about 22,000 American Airlines employees, about a third of the company total.
American's contract with TWU expired March 1.
Earlier, union negotiators rejected the $610 million salary and benefit-increase package offered by the airline. But
they agreed to refer the offer to TWU members. After the
votes were counted on Saturday, the tally showed the rank-and-file did not approve the offer.
American officials said last month most of the opposition to the contract came from Tulsa-based Local 514 of the TWU.
Local 514 President Ed Wilson was in Texas on Monday, a woman at the union hall told The World, and therefore unavailable for comment. Efforts to contact Ed Koziatek, international vice president of TWU, in Fort Worth were not successful.
However, Koziatek told The Dallas Morning News that a significant majority of union members rejected the contract in one of the union's heaviest turnouts ever. He did not have specific details on vote totals.
According to the newspaper, union negotiators planned to meet Tuesday to discuss why members rejected the offer.
In earlier interviews, Wilson cited numerous differences between the company offer and union demands. At the heart of the dispute is a disagreement over wages and the time
span it takes American's new workers to reach parity with older workers.
Wilson has alleged American's offer would leave its mechanics and ground crews drawing less money than comparable workers at other carriers.
Local 514 represents workers at the airline's maintenance and engineering base in Tulsa, as well as American employees in Nashville and other cities.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL19946
April 5, 1989
AA union asks concessions return
By MARK TAYLOR
Section: BUSINESS
Edition: FINAL HOME
Page: 8C
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Article Text:
American Airlines' 21,000 union ground workers, who recently rejected the carrier's $610 million wage proposal and have been without a contract since March 1, are not likely to
strike but will demand parity with other airlines' wage
scales, according to the head of a Tulsa local.
Ed Wilson, president of the 6,500-member Local 514 of the Transport Workers Union, Tulsa, said there was "no immediate danger of a strike" that could cripple the Dallas-based
airline, a subsidiary of AMR Corp. Wilson, speaking from
Dallas before the first contract meeting since members rejected American's last offer, said the union would ask for a return of some of what union officials calculated were $2 billion in wage concessions made over the last six years by union.
The American offer would impose another $1.2 billion in monentary concessions over the next four years, said Wilson, bringing total wage concessions to $3.2 billion for the
10-year period. It was those concessions, Wilson claimed, that allowed American to realize its most profitable year last year and should lead to another record profit this
year.
American spokesman Jim Brown declined to specultate on whether the airline might be willing to increase its previous offer. He characterized today's meeting as an effort "to determine what (American's) next course of action" would be.
Brown also said American has not announced an earnings forecast for the 1989 calendar year, but said "it should be another good year."
The company netted a profit of $476.8 million in 1988.
Company and union representatives were scheduled to resume negotiations today, but Wilson said it was impossible to
estimate how long the talks could last. The parties, however, "are not in an adversarial mode," said Wilson, and have
a history of resolving contract disputes without work stoppage. The Transport Workers, composed primarily of airline mechanics and ground support personnel, have gone on strike against American Airlines twice - in 1950 and in 1969, Wilson said. Similar contract negotiations, involving extended mediation and cooling-off periods, lasted 18 months between Eastern Airlines union workers and management, said Wilson.
"It appears we're (airline and union) far off, but its a matter of perception. There are ways to bridge the gaps," Wilson said.
"We gave it (wage concessions) to them for them to gain an advantage. Now they have to return the favor."
Workers are continuing under the old four-year contract. Negotiation between the two sides began in January, with
workers rejecting the last offer last week. The Tulsa local voted down the offer by almost 86 percent, Wilson said.
Only two locals agreed to the American offer, he said.
Copyright 1989 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL20125
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August 14, 1995
American, TWU Tentatively Agree
By Mitch Maurer
Section: NEWS
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: N8
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Article Text:
American Airlines has reached a tentative agreement with its Transport Workers Union which, if approved by union members, would halt pay-scale increases for three years.
American and the TWU have been negotiating since February. TWU members, including about 5,100 Tulsa American mechanics, are expected to vote on the contract next month.
Under the agreement, union members will continue to receive pay increases when they reach new pay scale levels set out in the current contract. That pay scale would increase by 3.5 percent in August 1998 and increase 3 percent in February 2000, under the tentative six-year agreement.
Marion Finley, president of the TWU local 514 representing about 6,000 Tulsa American mechanics, said he cannot talk about the specifics of the contract until he has had a chance to discuss the agreement with the local union members.
"It has some good points," Finley said of the tentative agreement.
Under the proposed contract, American will reclassify some TWU jobs, separating lesser skilled positions from highly skilled positions. The airline would be allowed to pay less for the positions requiring less skill.
The contract, however, guarantees current TWU members the same job and pay scale they now have.
"As it stands, we group a wide range of jobs into one classification with one pay scale," said Al Comeaux, spokesman for American. "This would create lower pay classifications for lower skill tasks."
The contract will also offer an early retirement incentive for TWU members at least 45 years old with at least 15 years of service. The workers meeting those requirements will be able to add five years to their age and service years in order to qualify for higher retirement pay and benefits.
The contract would also allow American to use some part-time TWU workers. The tentative agreement would guarantee full-time status to current TWU workers if they desire to stay full time.
Ed Koziatek, international vice president of the TWU, said the contract will allow American to be more competitive against other airlines while addressing wage, benefits and job security concerns of the TWU members.
The TWU was the last of American's three labor groups with whom it started negotiating. The carrier started negotiating in June 1994 with its pilot's union and has yet to reach an agreement. The airline is also awaiting the outcome of binding arbitration with its flight attendants union after arbitration talks concluded recently.
Tulsa has 5,136 TWU members, second behind the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which has 5,994 TWU workers at American.
Line mechanics at American now start at $13.40 an hour and earn a maximum of $22.25 an hour. That range would increase to about $13.87 to $23.03 an hour in 1998, based on a 3.5 percent increase. That pay range would increase to about $14.29 an hour to $23.72 an hour in 2000, if the contract is approved.
Overhaul mechanics now earn from $13.30 to $22.15 an hour and would earn $13.77 an hour to $22.93 an hour in 1998 and $14.18 to $23.61 an hour in 2000, based on the rate of increase in the proposed contract
Copyright 1995 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL525517
American, TWU Tentatively Agree
By Mitch Maurer
Section: NEWS
Edition: FINAL HOME EDITION
Page: N8
Estimated Printed Pages: 2
Article Text:
American Airlines has reached a tentative agreement with its Transport Workers Union which, if approved by union members, would halt pay-scale increases for three years.
American and the TWU have been negotiating since February. TWU members, including about 5,100 Tulsa American mechanics, are expected to vote on the contract next month.
Under the agreement, union members will continue to receive pay increases when they reach new pay scale levels set out in the current contract. That pay scale would increase by 3.5 percent in August 1998 and increase 3 percent in February 2000, under the tentative six-year agreement.
Marion Finley, president of the TWU local 514 representing about 6,000 Tulsa American mechanics, said he cannot talk about the specifics of the contract until he has had a chance to discuss the agreement with the local union members.
"It has some good points," Finley said of the tentative agreement.
Under the proposed contract, American will reclassify some TWU jobs, separating lesser skilled positions from highly skilled positions. The airline would be allowed to pay less for the positions requiring less skill.
The contract, however, guarantees current TWU members the same job and pay scale they now have.
"As it stands, we group a wide range of jobs into one classification with one pay scale," said Al Comeaux, spokesman for American. "This would create lower pay classifications for lower skill tasks."
The contract will also offer an early retirement incentive for TWU members at least 45 years old with at least 15 years of service. The workers meeting those requirements will be able to add five years to their age and service years in order to qualify for higher retirement pay and benefits.
The contract would also allow American to use some part-time TWU workers. The tentative agreement would guarantee full-time status to current TWU workers if they desire to stay full time.
Ed Koziatek, international vice president of the TWU, said the contract will allow American to be more competitive against other airlines while addressing wage, benefits and job security concerns of the TWU members.
The TWU was the last of American's three labor groups with whom it started negotiating. The carrier started negotiating in June 1994 with its pilot's union and has yet to reach an agreement. The airline is also awaiting the outcome of binding arbitration with its flight attendants union after arbitration talks concluded recently.
Tulsa has 5,136 TWU members, second behind the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which has 5,994 TWU workers at American.
Line mechanics at American now start at $13.40 an hour and earn a maximum of $22.25 an hour. That range would increase to about $13.87 to $23.03 an hour in 1998, based on a 3.5 percent increase. That pay range would increase to about $14.29 an hour to $23.72 an hour in 2000, if the contract is approved.
Overhaul mechanics now earn from $13.30 to $22.15 an hour and would earn $13.77 an hour to $22.93 an hour in 1998 and $14.18 to $23.61 an hour in 2000, based on the rate of increase in the proposed contract
Copyright 1995 Tulsa World. World Publishing Co.
Record Number: TUL525517
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Hopeful said:
I too have heard many rumors of upcoming class 2 station closings.
But not details.
I always liked this quote from the King....He informed the company that the twu might strike unless ordered not to by the court. Nothing like tipping your hand to the company.
No wonder Carty flew back on vacation to go to King Eds retirement party. This kind of sounds like Little and the company will go Chapter 7 liquidation without going chapter 11, if we don't buy off on the concessions. I would expect to see Aprey at Little's retirement party.
