I just read the Danny Martinez letter on a so called Line Maintenance Partnership agreement.
As usual it promises nothing other than thinly veiled threats. It is basically a recognition of a letter of agreement that states there will be no layoffs as a direct result of efficiencies gained from "working together".
The key phrase is "involuntary loss of jobs". Jobs will be lost, through attrition,the company will not replace those who retire, resign or are terminated. So for less senior mechanics this means they will be working harder to stay on the bottom.
Nowhere in this "partnership" agreement does it say or imply that those of us who are being told to work harder will share in the gains produced. Not much of a partnership going on here.Sounds more like a plain old "speedup"* to me.
What is interesting to note is that the actual LOA has two management and one appointed union reps signature on it. In other words no union line mechanic, not even an elected representative of any line mechanic, has agreed to this so called partnership.In fact two Line maintenance Presidents Miami and LAX have already posted letters declaring that they are not participating in the program that produced this LOA. There were meetings conducted on company time, on company property yesterday by the President of another local in NY trying to gain support to stay in the program but even he admitted that the membership would probably get nothing from it.
Several months ago myself and Chuck Schalk went to our union meeting and motioned that we not take part in any JLT/PLI scam. I urged our President not to even go unless the company threw something on the table first.
One of the issues I brought up was how could we take part in any cooperative program with the company while they were actively taking punative measures against the membership. I cited the contradictory language in the contract that has members work holidays for half pay. The amount of savings for the company is not much but the impact it has on the members is huge. Correcting this inequity would cost less than what they have laid out for those Goldhoffer tractors they bought to replace the servicable tractors already in place.
The fact is that AA is still in the "threat mode", "give me what I want or else" and despite the fact that AA is spending money like a drunken sailor , preparing to disburse hundreds of millions to the same people who demanded that we take huge paycuts, has over $5 billion in cash and is nowhere near the steps of BK court our so called leaders are acting like they were in 2003.
Bravo to the leaders of MIA and LAX for having the courage to lead, shame on the other Presidents who dont even have the courage to follow.
* Speedup- a condition imposed by an employer in which employees are required to produce more or increase their performance without a compensating increase in pay. (Source; Lexicon of Labor)
As usual it promises nothing other than thinly veiled threats. It is basically a recognition of a letter of agreement that states there will be no layoffs as a direct result of efficiencies gained from "working together".
The key phrase is "involuntary loss of jobs". Jobs will be lost, through attrition,the company will not replace those who retire, resign or are terminated. So for less senior mechanics this means they will be working harder to stay on the bottom.
Nowhere in this "partnership" agreement does it say or imply that those of us who are being told to work harder will share in the gains produced. Not much of a partnership going on here.Sounds more like a plain old "speedup"* to me.
What is interesting to note is that the actual LOA has two management and one appointed union reps signature on it. In other words no union line mechanic, not even an elected representative of any line mechanic, has agreed to this so called partnership.In fact two Line maintenance Presidents Miami and LAX have already posted letters declaring that they are not participating in the program that produced this LOA. There were meetings conducted on company time, on company property yesterday by the President of another local in NY trying to gain support to stay in the program but even he admitted that the membership would probably get nothing from it.
Several months ago myself and Chuck Schalk went to our union meeting and motioned that we not take part in any JLT/PLI scam. I urged our President not to even go unless the company threw something on the table first.
One of the issues I brought up was how could we take part in any cooperative program with the company while they were actively taking punative measures against the membership. I cited the contradictory language in the contract that has members work holidays for half pay. The amount of savings for the company is not much but the impact it has on the members is huge. Correcting this inequity would cost less than what they have laid out for those Goldhoffer tractors they bought to replace the servicable tractors already in place.
The fact is that AA is still in the "threat mode", "give me what I want or else" and despite the fact that AA is spending money like a drunken sailor , preparing to disburse hundreds of millions to the same people who demanded that we take huge paycuts, has over $5 billion in cash and is nowhere near the steps of BK court our so called leaders are acting like they were in 2003.
Bravo to the leaders of MIA and LAX for having the courage to lead, shame on the other Presidents who dont even have the courage to follow.
* Speedup- a condition imposed by an employer in which employees are required to produce more or increase their performance without a compensating increase in pay. (Source; Lexicon of Labor)
Just another work group telling us how to do our job. :down:
