So the AMT's will "shut the place down" over a change in CS policy but stalled negotiations and concessions from hell...nothing.
Yeah right
You Fockers need to get your priorities straight. AA is running an airline that needs employees at work on scheduled times. Work their required hours and demand a decent contract and stop selling yourself short for flexible work hours.
I agree, but the guys have long since convinced themselves that there are few things that they control when it comes to the contract, decades of voting NO on contracts only to have the majority in Tulsa vote in concession after concession would reinforce that belief. (In all fairness there were enough No votes out of Tulsa in 2003 where if we didnt have MCI it would have failed.) Now they see that their representation is removed from the process that they didnt have much faith in in the first place, sure the sub-committee brings it back to the full committee but thats really no different than the fact that the committee brings it back to the membership. How much say does the membership really have in whats finally put before them? They can say either Yes or No. So, now I get to vote NO twice, No to bringing it back and No to ratification.
A few years back we pretty much shut the place down over sleeping, sort of. We were under a six year concessionary agreement at that time as well, one that was once again overwhelmingly rejected by New York, but passed by the majority in areas where it costs much less to live. There was nothing else they could do to stop that contract so they grudgingly accepted it and went on. What sparked that incident was a Hard Copy video showing a bunch of mechanics sleeping in first class and the company decided to severely discipline them, they didnt do anything wrong, the reason why they were all on the same plane was so management and everyone else would know where to find them if something came up. The union imposed a crappy deal so local management and the guys worked out deals between themselves, done and down. You get your planes, we get the ability to work a second job. Local management would always say "Dont blame us for your lousy contract, blame your union". Then they would work with the guys. Management was embarrassed by the video so they renegged on the deal, ok thats the way it goes, but when they decided the discipline the guys in the video that set the place off. We may have been powerless as far as the contract but we didnt have to stand for that. Many were suprised at how effective they were. At first managemnent threatened, then they flew the B-check to Tulsa, then they flew in every Supervisor they could spare from throughout the system. Every pair of mechanics was followed throughout the shift by a Supervisor who would try and break our resolve. "You know you guys aint gona win. they'll close the station first, they already took away the B-check". To which we would say, "H'mm that looks like Skydroll doesnt it, where do you think its coming from?Let me make an item then we'll check it out."
It seems completely ludicruos that we would battle over something thats not even in the contract but the sad reality is that most feel that the CS policy, which allows them to survive is something that they actually have some control over, but the contract isnt. We cant fight for a raise because Tulsa will simply vote yes to more concessions but if we fight local management over the CS policy we may actually get what we need, the flexibility to get the money we need through other arrangements.
We had a lot of hope with Steve Luis. He came to New York and told the guys that we, base and line, would stand together and get back what we lost. He and the other committee members came twice and got our guys hopes up that things would be different this time, that our needs would be considered and addressed, then in June the same guys who came to New York, LAX, BOS, SFO and DCA turned around and gave the company an offer that did neither. They gave the company pretty much the same offer that they gave in August of 2008. The Union offer turned out to be worse than what Continental offered their mechanics, an offer that set off Continental mechanics who just yesterday held nationwide pickets criticizing the companys greed. In the meantime, after over two years of no-gotiations the most we have done is protest executive bonuses and foreign maint where we were basically saying that AA is doing things the right way. After two years of no-gotiations we sign a letter of agreement that allows the company to get out of a political pickle by offering seperation bonuses to workers in Missouri while other workers who also face a RIF get nothing simply because they live in a different state. What ever happened to "An injury to one is an injury to all" . If an ex-TWA worker in California or New York ends up getting Riffed due to a bump and roll out of MCI isnt his injury the same as the guy from MCI who was Riffed? If the guy in MCI gets the bonus shouldnt the other guys get it as well? Why would a union, even in the best of times, stray so far from basic union principles to accomodate a company? It boggles the mind, so, you ask why would guys fight for CS policy but not a contract?
