KC TV station says MCIE closing by next summer

[AANOTOK]

"it should be "US" against maanagement."

Or maybe things would work better if someday it was "US" working with maanagement" or vice versa.

Until that happens, ain't nothing gonna change.

 

[frontline]

Wow. I agree with those who saw this coming a mile away, but that of course does not diminish the impact it will have on families in KC and elsewhere. First and foremost my thoughts and prayers are with them to find new work.

I have to say, this is a direct result of the kind of outsourcing that AA has avoided, i.e. shipping MRO work abroad. While United sends its planes off to support Korean jobs, US workers are suffering. I am proud to work for the only big US airline that has made the effort to keep jobs in this country. If more acted like AA in this sense we would have plenty of work to keep MCI open.

 

[Hopeful]

"it should be "US" against maanagement."

Or maybe things would work better if someday it was "US" working with maanagement" or vice versa.

Until that happens, ain't nothing gonna change.

What do you call the 2003 concessions? Taking cuts to help the company....what was that?
Sharing the pain? Rememeber that, frontline? Did you get any pay/benefit restored in the last 6 years like "some" in this company did?
I have a novel idea for you frontline.....Why don't we all work for minimum wage so there can be 100% employment.
The closing of MCIE, MCI, DTW, MSP, and SJC are the realities of the company's situation.
But wht about the billions employees gave back to the company in 2003? There were a slew of layoffs on all departments since then, base closures and it will continue "REGARDLESS" of what you and others like you think.
You are willing to take more and more cuts while the priviliged few continue to exempt themselves from sharing any more pain. And there will be more MCIE, MCI, DTW, MSP, and SJC closings anyway.

 

[Vortilon]

This is an excerpt from a Q & A on a TWU e-mail:

How was it determined which line maintenance locations would close or be downgraded?
Our M&E reductions better match our maintenance footprint to the number of aircraft and amount of flying we now have. These locations were chosen because the company no longer needs as many stations to serve the MD-80 fleet as it gets smaller, especially if the work being done was redundant to what could be accomplished at other locations.

STL: Schedule reductions and MD80 retirements will decrease the workload at STL.
SFO: The airline’s flying schedule going forward does not support the access needed to perform 767 B-checks in SFO, hence the check line will move. SFO will continue to do overnight maintenance, engine washes, and specialty work.
DTW, MSP, SJC: Schedule reductions have left DTW, MSP and SJC with smaller footprints and redundant fleet access


Redundant fleet access? Really... The same argument could be made for any class II in the system. MSP; for example, currently does checks on 5 overnighters and has for years - this number is not changing next september.

They go on to say: "the newer planes will require less maintenance." Anybody that has worked on the 37s, knows that their FMR runs are almost always longer than the S-80s.

The point is, there is no real reason needed to close any class II, or trim a class I. The TWU leadership seems really accepting of this whole deal. In fact, after reading letters from both Connelly and Videtich regarding these reductions, it was evident. Had I not known who these people were, I could swear I was reading more company propaganda.

 

[Ed Norton]

"it should be "US" against maanagement."

Or maybe things would work better if someday it was "US" working with maanagement" or vice versa.

Until that happens, ain't nothing gonna change.

No, Bob is right. It is US vs. THEM. People have been conditioned to believe the working class and the capitalist can coexist peacefully.
The prophet Isaiah wrote: "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them."
He should have added '..and the capitalist will not exploit the working class!'
The capitalists control the education system through their foundations and endowments. They also control media which feeds misinformation and half truths. If they cannot control the minds and the people rebel against them, they have the police and military to bash their heads in and the judges in their pockets to lock them up.
All the people have is our numbers, our brains and our brawn and the will to resist. Sadly the last three have been missing for a very long time. :down:

 

[The Goose]

... snip


Had I not known who these people were, I could swear I was reading more company propaganda.

There you go again, making the fatal assumption that because those twits are employed by the International, they work for us - nothing could be farther from the truth.

AA and the TWU function as one in the same - they are indivisable.

 

[The Goose]

Wow. I agree with those who saw this coming a mile away, but that of course does not diminish the impact it will have on families in KC and elsewhere. First and foremost my thoughts and prayers are with them to find new work.

I have to say, this is a direct result of the kind of outsourcing that AA has avoided, i.e. shipping MRO work abroad. While United sends its planes off to support Korean jobs, US workers are suffering. I am proud to work for the only big US airline that has made the effort to keep jobs in this country. If more acted like AA in this sense we would have plenty of work to keep MCI open.

Some will never learn - you seem to be one of those.

 

[Vortilon]

There you go again, making the fatal assumption that because those twits are employed by the International, they work for us - nothing could be farther from the truth.

AA and the TWU function as one in the same - they are indivisable.

My point exactly..................

 

[TWU informer]

Last Week - Not enough capacity to submit a bid to work Allegiant Air MD-80 third party work

October 21, 2009
Allegiant Airlines-AA M&E Update

The current maintenance agreement that American Airlines has with Allegiant Airlines will be fulfilled in mid November, 2009. Allegiant recently entered into a competitive bidding process, open to all Maintenance and Repair Organizations (MROs), including AA.

Allegiant’s fleet of 30 MD80 aircraft requires maintenance checks that have varying Bills of Work (BOW). The man-hours in these different checks range from ‘light’ (2,000 – 3,000 man/hours) to ‘heavy’ (about 10,000 man/hours). Tulsa M&E capacity planners have the challenge of integrating Allegiant maintenance checks into a dock plan for the legacy fleet. Based on a seamless integration into the dock plan, AA submitted a bid to the Las Vegas-based carrier to perform maintenance on 11 heavy check aircraft, to be included in the Pulse Line, and five light check aircraft, to be included into our Light C Check lines. Subsequent to submitting the bid, AA determined that it would continue to fly eight MD80 aircraft that were originally scheduled to be retired in 2010. Of these eight, six would require heavy checks. Tulsa capacity planners determined two options. First, keep the Allegiant proposal as is and outsource one MD80 check. Second, modify the Allegiant proposal and perform all of the MD80 heavy checks on the Pulse Line. The decision was made to modify the Allegiant proposal.

Following a frank, but cordial discussion with Allegiant, American modified its bid to include only the five light check aircraft. AA’s bid for maintenance on five Allegiant light checks remains active, and the negotiating team is awaiting a response to this latest offer. Additionally, American and Allegiant discussed the capacity available to American beginning in 2011. American indicated its interest in handling additional heavy checks at that time.



American offers Allegiant Airlines industry-leading advantages including, quicker turntimes than industry average, accommodations in dock scheduling to complement Allegiant’s flight schedule, and AA offers outstanding support for engineering, parts, back shop, and line maintenance through ‘field trip’ coverage of line operations. A source within the American Airlines team close to the negotiations said, “We believe the bid AA submitted to Allegiant is competitive based on the scope and quality of work we have demonstrated to the customer over the past several years.â€

This Week - Too Much Capacity Shut Down MCI

Does anyone know why the employees of MCI couldn't have accomplished the heavy checks on the eight (8) MD-80s and then Tulsa could have continued with the Allegiant Heavy Bid?

I smell lies and misinformation all over this turd.

The Local Leaders at MCI should take this information to the media and expose AA management for their lies and double standards in communicating to emplyoees.

Not that it would change the outcome, but at least go down fighting.

This Working Together sure is paying off for us union folk! Way to Go TWU!

 

[WingNaPrayer]

Local Civic Leaders wouldn't like hearing this, in fact they would more than likely raise some hell with AMR over it.

 

[TWU informer]

Why wouldn't the union representation be "raising hell"? SOLD OUT

 

[eolesen]

Local Civic Leaders wouldn't like hearing this, in fact they would more than likely raise some hell with AMR over it.

Maybe all this is just payback for what Bond and McCaskill meddling with the ex-TWA flight attendants or letting Missouri be added to the Wright amendment...

TX and OK have worked hard not to piss on AMR too much because they know what those jobs mean to their respective economies. MO, on the other hand, hasn't passed up an opportunity to paint AMR as Satan's Hometown Airline, so I don't think AMR really cares what the civics think right now.

You guys can claim the third party work is profitable, but my guess is that the Allegiant work has been at best a break-even deal. If the only reason to keep MCI open is to continue to do third party work that barely covers the cost of performing the work, well, that's a pretty weak reason. Management's job is to figure out what lines of business they want to be in, and which ones operate at a loss and can't be sustained anymore.

And yes, this whole argument also ties into the discussion on market rates... Even if you take pay out of the equation, the other overhead costs related to operating a maintenance facility in the US (OSHA, EPA, etc) winds up being considerably higher than the guys operating in Costa Rica, Colombia, or Asia... Allegiant was willing to pay a revenue premium for AA's expertise, but what other customers were lined up? You don't keep a facility open for just one relatively small customer...

 

[TWU informer]

Even if everything you say is true eolesen that doesn't change the fact that AA management is obviously telling lies in their employee communications. And if the whole arguement is about competing with Costa Rica, Columbia, and Asia then AA management is also telling lies to State, Local, and Federal Elected Officials along with the media. All we have heard for the past seven (7) years is how AA is going against the industry trend to outsource overhaul maintenance. Nothing being said about in the end they really intend to ship these jobs overseas due to cost structures of doing the work here.

Maybe because the TWU is so docile they have been duped into a belief that jobs is the only thing that matters and the pay and benefits for those jobs is really not important. And maybe in the end with the TWU they will be able to lower wages and benefits to that end.

Where can we go to compare the number of overhead management types and their cost at the Costa Rica, Columbia, and Asian facilites? I guarantee you they are not near as top heavy as we are, nor do their management suck the life blood with bonus awards and creating new VP positions to protect their numbers. In the end, the management screws themselves out of work, without us AA will no longer need them.

If the market rate is Costa Rica, Columbia, and Asia, then AA may as well pack it all up and leave because I will never do the work for fish heads and rice on my dinner table. I can eat better than that on Obama's Food Stamps and Wellfare, and I can live better than that in Obama provided Section 8 Housing. In fact I am starting to like the idea of you providing me food, shelter, and medical benefits while I sit on my ass and you and FWAAA fly around on the jets.

 

[Bob Owens]

If the market rate is Costa Rica, Columbia, and Asia, then AA may as well pack it all up and leave because I will never do the work for fish heads and rice on my dinner table. I can eat better than that on Obama's Food Stamps and Wellfare, and I can live better than that in Obama provided Section 8 Housing. In fact I am starting to like the idea of you providing me food, shelter, and medical benefits while I sit on my ass and you and FWAAA fly around on the jets.

And thats precisely why "the right" wants to do away with the safety net, so we will have no choice but to work for "fish heads and rice".

If you noticed he never answered the question as far as if he uses Costa Rican or Mexican rates of pay for determining how he sets his own pay.

Nor did he consider the costs of the shoddy workmanship being put out by these low paid facilities. He never worked on a plane that came out of a low cost overhaul. I have. Typically they would limp back to the line out of those chop shops and we would spend weeks clearing up the items that weren't there when it went into OH. They come out worse than they went in except they have a new paint job(right over the corrosion). At AA we never see that, they come out like new.

 

[tech2101]

Credit the economic stimulus package.

What?