Mechanics and Related (ONLY)-- What do you want IN or OUT of the Proposed Contract?

[Jetinsp2]

I think that the 6 Mil. issue needs to be resolved, the Union payoff is being paid out of our pocket, and we already paid that bill! the Pushbacks are a terrible waste of Mechanics, Believe Me! but... we need to make sure we have language to keep them on the property doing other jobs that we stop farming out, or bring back from Farmout, Lord knows there are plenty of those! The loss of sickdays/Vacation/Lumpsum/ etc are not Biggies to me, but We have NEVER gotten Retro of any signifigance, and for this Company to require Getting without ever Giving it, appears to be the ultimate act of Arrogance.[:knockout:].Buckle your Belts, I believe we've got a bumpy ride ahead. []

 

[sp300]

Respond only if you are in the Mechanic or Related Category, please use self control (nothing personal, but I would like to know what other mechanics want, in the off-chance that Dave reads these posts). Again, I would like to see:
1. Drop the pushbacks and give us back $2.00.
2. In lieu of giving 1.5% to the IAM, give it to us.
---Now--- What do other mechs want?

 

[AOG-N-IT]

(1) Drop the $1.25M payment to the IAM for negotaiting (2) Insure that the $6M payment to management is dropped (3) Give up pushbacks..because it make no financial sense. (4) Allow flexible work schedules..abolish the 8 hour day in favor or 10 or 12 hour days. This will make the benefit of working for an airline more appealing again. (5) Drop the "Retro" language in the rejected proposal. (6) Adopt langauge that will limit "Outsourcing" of work. (7) Eliminate "Double-Time"...Time and a half above 40 hours scheduled , is more than fair. (8) Drop the langauge regarding people that are entitled to less than 2 weeks of vacation , being reduced to one week. Regardless of years served..3 weeks of annual vacation is more than enough. (9) Do not reduce "Sick-Leave"..with U's average age becoming higher with each passing furlough...Illness does become a serious issue. None of us are getting any younger..if you look around?

 

[cavalier]

Dump retro cuts, 6 mil bonus, and I will also require, a well written letter of recommendation touting all of my astonishing accomplishments and attributes for future employment.

 

[repeet]

Unfortunately the $6 mil. is none of our business. Management asked the judge to give it to management. The management and the judge only have to answer to the creditors for that.

Now what is our business:

1) Give the company that damned pushback language.

2) Forget 401k matching. We can renegotiate that on some future contract.

3) Drop Mid Atlantic Airways pre-representation agreement. Let those future employees, if there ever are any, decide if they want to be unionized, and if so, who they want to represent them.

4) Drop the 1.2 mil. kick-back to the I.A.M.. If we are going to take and hit and tighten our belts then, WE are going to take a hit and tighten OUR belts!

5) Let the above concessions reduce our pay cuts to 2% or less. Then if Chip is right and we HAVE TO make some kind of retro-payments, then let it be on 2% or less.

6) Restore the minimum vacation back to two weeks.

 

[High Iron]

R&D? Always considered it a mindless job that's beneath me, as well as other AMT's. ( sorry how that may come across, but that's my honest opinion ) Will always be a "lightning rod" that will weaken bargaining power on other issues in the future ( and already has heretofore ). It should be noted though that it is also a utility function as well...therefore the effect on mechanic's jobs may not be as profound as many think. Perhaps a way can be found via redeployments, bargaining whatever to mitigate the loss of AMT jobs and rip this sticky band-aid off quickly once and for all. -- Other than that, take the rest ( concessions ), if any, in pay. Money you can get back...vacations ( my sacred cow...3 weeks may be plenty if one has weekends off...Ahem ) and other "perks" will be lost 4-ever. -- Retro concessions? I understand the "official" reason but they nonetheless seem deliberately inflammatory...bordering on punitive. From the "buzz" I hear with my co-workers, it is THE issue. Gotta work on this.

 

[AOG-N-IT]

I agree with most of the above comments...with one exception. Saying that a $6M windfall being directed toward management is none of our business? Well that spells C-R-A-P to me. These are the same people that have "Managed" us down the slippery slope we are on now. Sure the arguement can be made that it's all Wolf and Gangwahl's fault for our present situation. I say the fault lies from both aspects. Management has failed to lead..just as W&G failed to look after anything beyond thier own interests. If any of our "Labor Group Leaders" had one ounce of intestinal fortitude? They would all be approaching the judge with thier own loud protests!!, regarding this subject. Rewarding failure is not the message that needs to be presented...least of all at the average employee's expense. The arguement about retenton of quality has been used for thier defense of this reward. I say that "Loyalty to the company..would go a long way to prove some of this so-called quality. If a bonus , in these turbulent times ,is the only thing keeping "Management Member X" on the job..and loyal to the cause? I say , that Mr.X's credibility and grasp of the situation is lacking to begin with. We are the ones that have listened to the words about sacrifice from Dave. I think our Leadership should step up and say no to any bonus money ...as a sign of loyalty and good faith. This would show a great degree of dedication to the greater good. I think anything regarding money , "Is all of our business"...especially when we are being asked to feather that fund with our concessions. Where the money is coming from is not as important..as much as how it's being utilized is. END of Rant!! []

 

[757fixer]

Give'm the pushbacks,were the only airline in the country where mechanics do them at every mtc station.Don't mess with my vacation.I'm getting ready to start my 21st consecutive year on midnights and I've earned every bit of my vaction time.As has every other mechanic.Oh yeah,and screw the IAM.

 

[DCD]

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a couple years on P.B. and USAVIATION. I've been a line mech in PHL for 18 yrs and decided to add my opinion to this post. With the cutbacks to mtc stations of the past and those still to come our a/c see mtc less and less. For this reason and the fact that flight crews are inclined to carry mtc. issues when available there seems to be great benefit from having mechs meet every a/c when arriving in a mtc city. It usually means that a problem is able to be addressed right away instead of waiting for the flight crew to contact the tower, then in turn the tower to the lead mech', then the mech. Also the company's policies manual stipulates that the a/c receive a walk around inspection with in 10 mins. of gate arrival to inspect for damage etc. Who more qualified than an experienced line mech? I know the flight crew does a walk around on each flight and the sometimes find something over looked. All the more reason for two inspections when in a mtc. city. In PHL, at least on day shift one out of three flights require a mtc Daily Check so a mech will have to be there anyway. So why should Usairway or anyone be so ready to elliminate mechanics on R/D in mtc cities? Also, how many problems will occur when an a/c is pushed by an empoyee driving a pushback tractor who is not completely comfortable during nonstandard ops such as cramped ramp areas in the rain or snow with engines running and the possibility of a jack knife or towbar shear pin breaking etc...?[:blackeye:]

 

[insp89]

Drop "Reverse Retro",,,Drop the 6 mil. bonuses,[WHAT A KICK IN THE TEETH !]Drop the "FORCE MAJURE" grievance !!! This is not the time or place to "vote away" grievances ! Require the company to settle this grievance thru proper channels...[THIS IS A VERY SLEAZY MOVE ON THE COMPANIES PART ,] We didn't even get a dollar value for this, They just threw it in hoping it would be voted out...[]

 

[usjacket]

Give them pushbacks,line utility,no board seat for the iam,no $1,000,000+ payment to iam,no guarantee of work at rj airline for iam......minimize hit on vacation,pay and benefits.

 

[cat 111]

I say get rid of the guy who wanted PARITY. "WOLF"If Dave had done that earlier the vote would have passed.There are still a lot of pissed off employees because Wolf is still calling the shots.

 

[High Iron]

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On 9/4/2002 8:55:16 AM

Hi everyone, I've been lurking for a couple years on P.B. and USAVIATION. I've been a line mech in PHL for 18 yrs and decided to add my opinion to this post. With the cutbacks to mtc stations of the past and those still to come our a/c see mtc less and less. For this reason and the fact that flight crews are inclined to carry mtc. issues when available there seems to be great benefit from having mechs meet every a/c when arriving in a mtc city. It usually means that a problem is able to be addressed right away instead of waiting for the flight crew to contact the tower, then in turn the tower to the lead mech', then the mech. Also the company's policies manual stipulates that the a/c receive a walk around inspection with in 10 mins. of gate arrival to inspect for damage etc. Who more qualified than an experienced line mech? I know the flight crew does a walk around on each flight and the sometimes find something over looked. All the more reason for two inspections when in a mtc. city. In PHL, at least on day shift one out of three flights require a mtc Daily Check so a mech will have to be there anyway. So why should Usairway or anyone be so ready to elliminate mechanics on R/D in mtc cities? Also, how many problems will occur when an a/c is pushed by an empoyee driving a pushback tractor who is not completely comfortable during nonstandard ops such as cramped ramp areas in the rain or snow with engines running and the possibility of a jack knife or towbar shear pin breaking etc...?[:blackeye:]
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Oh I agree with you DCD, I should've clarified my views on R&D. -- I do believe we should be at and around the terminal, I just don't believe that R&D should be one of our functions, ie: One mech per gate or so. I'm thinking more like a pool of mechs, perhaps divided into crews assigned to work zones/terminal areas ( much like they are now ) who meet flights and work gate calls and do any through-flight checks. -- Of course there's still, at the larger stations, hardstand type crew(s) working other items too. Could be some mechanics could be redeployed there, as more and more of the work assigned to those crews is of the scheduled variety, in addition to the pit-stop variety. This way, the workload can be more evened out. Just my opinion.

 

[t-man]

Shorten the lenth of the proposal to 3yrs.max.
Everyone knows thats been in the I.A.M. a while that it takes at least 2 yrs. to hash out a new contract under normal conditions.
Also,keep the benfits and work rule the same.
As far as pay I'd be willing to take a 10 to 15% paycut until the company gets out of bankruptsy than snap back to industry standards.
Remember everyone,every benefit we give up we will probably never see it again.[:sun:]

 

[wrenchbender]

In order for me to vote yes the proposal should include

1) give us or 13 percent parity raise in October as per contract
2) Give us our $.75 PH license pay in October as per contract.
3) Give us our 3.5 percent deferred retro lump sum as per contract.
4) Future wage increases to be 3 percent annually for duration of contract to keep pace with inflation.
5) Remove language requiring retroactive wage reductions
6) Remove pork given the IAM, 1.5 mill bonus and representation of MDA without a vote of those employees.
7) Institute 4x10 hour work week to assist displaced employees having to commute
8) No change to 401k program


In return we could accept
1) wage reductions of 10 percent effective October 2002 for five years with preferred stock given back dollar for dollar.
2) give the ramp and utility pushbacks with no farmout of airframe overhaul language to limit job loss.
3) give back one week vacation for one year as management employees. No M&R employee to have less than two weeks earned vacation.

I could vote yes to concessions knowing we mechanics were at least being treated fairly. Anything less is a NO vote from me.

Time for AMFA, the intelligent choice of aviation mechanics.



[raise:]