McCaskill-BOND federal law

Chuck Schalk

Veteran
Nov 17, 2006
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The McCaskill-Bond Amendment
What is it? How did it come about? How does it affect us?
 
What is it?
Passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, the McCaskill-Bond
Amendment provides a process for achieving a “fair and equitable” seniority integration of
employee groups affected by the combination of two or more airlines.
 
The seniority integration procedures provided for in the Amendment are those found in Sections 3
and 13 of the Allegheny-Mohawk Labor Protective Provisions (LPPs). Imposed upon
Allegheny Airlines and Mohawk Airlines by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) in 1971, the
LPPs governed the seniority integration of the employee groups when those two airlines merged in
1972 and were subsequently imposed on other mergers until the passage of the Airline
Deregulation Act of 1978. After that, the LPPs were no longer imposed by the federal
government. Nevertheless, unions generally negotiated for similar procedural safeguards
relating to merger-related seniority integration to be incorporated in their collective bargaining
agreements. As a shorthand, these contractual safeguards are frequently referred to as
Allegheny-Mohawk LPP’s Sections 3 and 13.
 
Section 3 of the LPPs provides that, where applicable, the carrier and the representatives of
the affected employee groups shall attempt to achieve through collective bargaining a “fair
and equitable” seniority integration. If the parties are not able to reach an agreement on a “fair
and equitable” seniority integration through negotiations, the dispute will be submitted to a
neutral arbitrator for a final and binding resolution.
 
Section 13 of the LPPs governs the arbitration process. An arbitrator will be selected by the
unions and the case is to be heard expeditiously. Each party will present its case to the arbitrator
and may call witnesses, including employees, industry experts, and financial analysts. After
completion of the case, the arbitrator will make the award – the new integrated seniority list. Per
the LPPs, the cost of the arbitration will be split between the parties.
How did it come about?
 
In 2001, American Airlines purchased TWA after this carrier had filed for bankruptcy. As part
of the bankruptcy process, TWA successfully demanded that the unions representing TWA
employees – including ALPA and the IAM – waive their contractual rights to seniority
integration in accordance with Allegheny-Mohawk LPP’s Sections 3 and 13. As a result, the
TWA pilots and flight attendants lost their right to demand the arbitration of an integrated
seniority list. Instead, the seniority lists that were imposed on these TWA employee groups were
largely the product of negotiations between American Airlines and its own unions.
In response to the perception that the seniority integration lists imposed on the TWA pilots and
flight attendants were unjust, Senator Claire McCaskill, the Democratic Senator from Missouri,
sponsored the current federal law that requires that the procedures of the Allegheny-Mohawk
LPPs Sections 3 and 13 be followed – except where the respective employee groups are
represented by the same union.
 
Exactly what does “seniority list integration” mean?
Quite simply it means the method by which the two seniority lists are combined into one. Prior to
negotiating over the integration of the seniority lists, each party must decide how they wish to see it
accomplished. There is no set way of doing it. Each group determines what is best for their group.
 
commonly used methods of list integration:
Date-of-Hire – Many people believe straight date-of-hire is the only fair way to merge the lists. It
is the only method that gives each employee credit for her/his entire career at an airline.
Under this method, one year at Airline X is no more or no less valuable than one year at
Airline Y.
 
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Chuck--
 
Good stuff that everyone in aviation should be well versed in. Not for nothing, you might want to add the rest of the commonly used methods of integration back in. There's several of 'em...
 
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Ramp Rogue said:
Date Of Hire is the only Fair way to go!
Hypothetical:

An airline started 20 years ago. You are the top dog on the list as the first pilot hired and hold left seat wide body. The airline becomes wildly successful. Your airline merges with a legacy who has 2500 pilots with over 20 years seniority. Of those, 500 are wide body Captains. You now just became number 2501 on the list. Your number now lines up with a Captain on the 737 or a left seat wide body.

What is fair? I don't know.

This is what the US Airways pilots have been arguing for years now?
 
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All hypotheticals QUAG, let us try hard facts, 1 The age you have actual qualifications to get the job. 2, The age you have to retire! 3 Market factors and your management, Those aint ratios!
 
Ramp Rogue said:
Date Of Hire is the only Fair way to go!
DOH in classification or with company? 
So its 1980, two guys graduate from HS, one guy has an "in' and gets a job as a Fleet Service clerk for AA and starts making pretty good money right out of school, the other guy takes out loans and goes to A&P school, upon getting his licenses he either Joins the Military or works with fly by night carriers or Regionals to get the 5 years experience that the majors require for the job. When he gets to work he sees his HS classmate who has been with AA all along and is earning for the moment more than the mechanic because the wage progression is back end loaded, 8 years later the mechanic is earning more than the FSC, by now the FSC has concerns over the way the job is going, so he takes advantage of a company paid program where he can go to school and get his A&P, which he does, he slides over at the next highest rate of pay on the mechanics pay progression and retains his right to bid vacation by Company seniority. By now the guy who decided to become a mechanic right out of school has 10 years with the company and the FSC has 17, are you saying that now the FSC should move ahead of the mechanic due to DOH on RIFS, shift bids etc as well? 
 
Due to all the turbulence in this industry what I would rather see is seniority based on when you got your license as the standard across the whole industry. Then nobody would ever agree to any concessions because they would have portable seniority. This way if the company tried to use the treat of liquidation to get concessions the mechanics would say "Go ahead, you don't own any of the planes, terminals, Hangars etc anyway, they wont sit idle, when you go away the people that do own all that stuff will lease it to some other carrier, put up new signs, paint the planes new colors and we will work there." 
 
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Bob Owens said:
DOH in classification or with company? 
So its 1980, two guys graduate from HS, one guy has an "in' and gets a job as a Fleet Service clerk for AA and starts making pretty good money right out of school, the other guy takes out loans and goes to A&P school, upon getting his licenses he either Joins the Military or works with fly by night carriers or Regionals to get the 5 years experience that the majors require for the job. When he gets to work he sees his HS classmate who has been with AA all along and is earning for the moment more than the mechanic because the wage progression is back end loaded, 8 years later the mechanic is earning more than the FSC, by now the FSC has concerns over the way the job is going, so he takes advantage of a company paid program where he can go to school and get his A&P, which he does, he slides over at the next highest rate of pay on the mechanics pay progression and retains his right to bid vacation by Company seniority. By now the guy who decided to become a mechanic right out of school has 10 years with the company and the FSC has 17, are you saying that now the FSC should move ahead of the mechanic due to DOH on RIFS, shift bids etc as well? 
 
Due to all the turbulence in this industry what I would rather see is seniority based on when you got your license as the standard across the whole industry. Then nobody would ever agree to any concessions because they would have portable seniority. This way if the company tried to use the treat of liquidation to get concessions the mechanics would say "Go ahead, you don't own any of the planes, terminals, Hangars etc anyway, they wont sit idle, when you go away the people that do own all that stuff will lease it to some other carrier, put up new signs, paint the planes new colors and we will work there." 
 
Bob 
 
Maybe not the day you got your tickets but the Date you started in the classification or your occupational seniority as we call it here is the only fair way. As many of us have had to start over at many carriers going to the bottom of the list with both pay and time is not fair. Wouldn't it be better if we could change jobs for what ever reason keep the pay  rates since we are bringing knowledge and experience to the new company just like any other person in other careers.
 
When two companies join together for what ever reason,  why should the guy who has been with company A have to be placed at the bottom of company B if he has been in the industry/trade 2X or even 3X longer. Dove tailing by time in class is and should be the way. When you start as a new hire you go to the bottom that I agree on. But to be 40/50 yrs of age and be placed on midnights with T/W off after working for company A for 20 yrs and then merged with company B is a sham we as A&P's have placed on one another and should be done away with for the future guy's who will follow, WE I feel screwed the TWA guys, JMO. 
 
Most of the blue blood AA guys say they were in BK well maybe this time the shoes on the other foot how would they feel if the US guys felt that way. Think about that, it has nothing to do with size of company. We as mechanics need to work together to better our class and craft for all of across the industry. Set standards to insure we all get treated fairly and have the knowledge if we need or have to get another job we won't get screwed doing it.
 
jimntx said:
So, in other words, the way I think it should be done is the only fair and equitable way to do it.
 
Here we go again.  LOL
 
jimntx
 
You must be one of the blue blood AA guys who since you got your A&P you have worked here and the TWU taught you the I GOT MINE way. 
 
It's time we as A&P's look out for one another industry wide don't you think.
 
Companies come and go, TWA/Eastern/PanAM/Airflorida/Peidmont/NWA/Northeast and all the others that have been bought or just went out of business.
 
Uh, unless Jim just recently went back to school, no, he's not an A&P.

But he asks a real good question. I was management for 17 years. Let's say I decided to go get my A&P, get hired on by AA, and after two years (which is when past seniority is recredited), jump to be a 19 year employee based on DOH.

Now, based on DOH, I just displaced someone else in a RIF. Fair?

Based on the way McB is written, if DOH is the key, you betcha. My "entire career" was a factor. Never mind what I was doing...

That's what happens when Congress meddles in crap they can't understand, and when unions have to turn to outsiders for help where they've failed their members...
 
eolesen said:
Uh, unless Jim just recently went back to school, no, he's not an A&P.

But he asks a real good question. I was management for 17 years. Let's say I decided to go get my A&P, get hired on by AA, and after two years (which is when past seniority is recredited), jump to be a 19 year employee based on DOH.

Now, based on DOH, I just displaced someone else in a RIF. Fair?

Based on the way McB is written, if DOH is the key, you betcha. My "entire career" was a factor. Never mind what I was doing...

That's what happens when Congress meddles in crap they can't understand, and when unions have to turn to outsiders for help where they've failed their members...
 
 
eolesen
 
getting your A&P then getting hired as a mechanic you would be considered a new hire.
if after two yrs there was a rif you would have 2yrs in classification/occupational time.
If you were in AA mgmt and had company time that would be used toward your vacation time. But for the rif you would have 2yrs. Why would you do that anyway. Pay cut and would have to go to midnights or to a station which may at the time be, not to your liking.
 
Why? For the same reason Jim left energy management to go push drink carts and piss & moan about being a flight attendant... management jobs have their own fun and rewards, but there's something to be said for having regular hours, even if they're on the wrong side of the clock for the real world. The money is better in the real world, but you actually have to work for it. Traveling 120 days a year gets old as you get older.

Not that I'd actually go get my A&P... if I ever intended to return to AA, I'd probably just go apply for a level 3 management job as an airport a supervisor in one of the hubs. There's enough turnover in that position where I'd probably have no difficulty, and I'd enjoy the immediate restoration of my seniority and vacation time. And, having watched you guys for so long, I could go in knowing that it's possible to do just enough not to get fired, and old enough that I'd get a buyout vs. being a potential lawsuit for age and race discrimination.

But back to the topic... The point I was making with all that sarcasm is politicians are often ignorant of the details. That's how we wound up with Obamacare, and McB isn't too far removed from that debacle.

Pushing things like straight DOH can and will have consequences like letting the "high company time/low classification time" person get a leg up.

As Bob already wrote, classification and occupational seniority are the right way to go. Not DOH.

Be clear in what you ask for. Otherwise, you just might get what you ask for.
 
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eolesen said:
Pushing things like straight DOH can and will have consequences like letting the "high company time/low classification time" person get a leg up.
Bingo.

Classification seniority for shift bidding, transfers, and RIFS. DOH for everything else.
 
Be clear in what you ask for. Otherwise, you just might get what you ask for.
Also bingo.

With McB, there are a lot of possible integration methods that meet the covenant of "fair & equitable" but depending on which side of the merger one's on, may be anything but...
 
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Chuck Schalk said:
 
The McCaskill-Bond Amendment
What is it? How did it come about? How does it affect us?
 
What is it?
Passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008, the McCaskill-Bond
Amendment provides a process for achieving a “fair and equitable” seniority integration of
employee groups affected by the combination of two or more airlines.
 
The seniority integration procedures provided for in the Amendment are those found in Sections 3
and 13 of the Allegheny-Mohawk Labor Protective Provisions (LPPs). Imposed upon
Allegheny Airlines and Mohawk Airlines by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) in 1971, the
LPPs governed the seniority integration of the employee groups when those two airlines merged in
1972 and were subsequently imposed on other mergers until the passage of the Airline
Deregulation Act of 1978. After that, the LPPs were no longer imposed by the federal
government. Nevertheless, unions generally negotiated for similar procedural safeguards
relating to merger-related seniority integration to be incorporated in their collective bargaining
agreements. As a shorthand, these contractual safeguards are frequently referred to as
Allegheny-Mohawk LPP’s Sections 3 and 13.
 
Section 3 of the LPPs provides that, where applicable, the carrier and the representatives of
the affected employee groups shall attempt to achieve through collective bargaining a “fair
and equitable” seniority integration. If the parties are not able to reach an agreement on a “fair
and equitable” seniority integration through negotiations, the dispute will be submitted to a
neutral arbitrator for a final and binding resolution.
 
Section 13 of the LPPs governs the arbitration process. An arbitrator will be selected by the
unions and the case is to be heard expeditiously. Each party will present its case to the arbitrator
and may call witnesses, including employees, industry experts, and financial analysts. After
completion of the case, the arbitrator will make the award – the new integrated seniority list. Per
the LPPs, the cost of the arbitration will be split between the parties.
How did it come about?
 
In 2001, American Airlines purchased TWA after this carrier had filed for bankruptcy. As part
of the bankruptcy process, TWA successfully demanded that the unions representing TWA
employees – including ALPA and the IAM – waive their contractual rights to seniority
integration in accordance with Allegheny-Mohawk LPP’s Sections 3 and 13. As a result, the
TWA pilots and flight attendants lost their right to demand the arbitration of an integrated
seniority list. Instead, the seniority lists that were imposed on these TWA employee groups were
largely the product of negotiations between American Airlines and its own unions.
In response to the perception that the seniority integration lists imposed on the TWA pilots and
flight attendants were unjust, Senator Claire McCaskill, the Democratic Senator from Missouri,
sponsored the current federal law that requires that the procedures of the Allegheny-Mohawk
LPPs Sections 3 and 13 be followed – except where the respective employee groups are
represented by the same union.
 
Exactly what does “seniority list integration” mean?
Quite simply it means the method by which the two seniority lists are combined into one. Prior to
negotiating over the integration of the seniority lists, each party must decide how they wish to see it
accomplished. There is no set way of doing it. Each group determines what is best for their group.
 
commonly used methods of list integration:
Date-of-Hire – Many people believe straight date-of-hire is the only fair way to merge the lists. It
is the only method that gives each employee credit for her/his entire career at an airline.
Under this method, one year at Airline X is no more or no less valuable than one year at
Airline Y.
 
Sounds good, but in reality, there is more to that story! " TWA successfully demanded that the unions representing TWA
employees – including ALPA and the IAM – waive their contractual rights to seniority
integration in accordance with Allegheny-Mohawk LPP’s Sections 3 and 13"  -------We were told that if we didn't agree to wave our contrcatual rights, that AA threatened to walk away from the merger/ buyout! ------- At that point that would mean the end of TWA, and all our jobs! So what would you have done?
 
MCI transplant said:
Sounds good, but in reality, there is more to that story! " TWA successfully demanded that the unions representing TWA
employees – including ALPA and the IAM – waive their contractual rights to seniority
integration in accordance with Allegheny-Mohawk LPP’s Sections 3 and 13"  -------We were told that if we didn't agree to wave our contrcatual rights, that AA threatened to walk away from the merger/ buyout! ------- At that point that would mean the end of TWA, and all our jobs! So what would you have done?
 
MCI transplant
 
I have a question, do you actually think AA would of walked away from that deal? That is how they got rid of your master Carl Ichan. Wasn't he screwing you for yrs.
Didn't the IAM allow that to happen? How long did you work at TWA? How long did Carl take 20% of the ticket sales while you guys got zero?
 
Lots of guys here at AA thought you should be at the bottom. I am one that did not feel that it was done correct. They (aa) screwed the reno guys as well.
merging the list with one for one with the seniority of occupational as we call it here or classification as they call it at US is fair to both.
 
If I am not mistaken that is how they did the Aircal guys when AA took them.
 
when you guys did sign your rights away that is on you. the same happened at SWA when both the SWA and AT guys both agreed to the 4 to 1 ratio. but it was voted on.
I don't like that either but they thought it was a good deal so thats the way it went. SWA was amfa and AT was IBT.
 
How it gets done here will have to be worked out and that is why we are trying to get the USAirways guys to switch to AMFA as well so we can all move forward as one group and have a say rather than have the IAM/TWU assoc. force what ever down our throats.
 
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