Rumors for AA/TWU Mechanic and Related

[RV4]

Here are the two latest rumors I have heard:

MCI will be closed or dwindle to near nothing by the end of 2003. (Heard coming David Campbell at an AFW Orientation)

TWU is going to gain your one week vacation back in exchange for an open ended job security system protection date.No more $12,500 special allowance. (Heard coming from system line TWU Officials)

Remember, these are unconfirmed rumors but are coming from reliable sources.

 

[James T. Kirk]

Dave go take some more med''s and get a life.

 

[NewHampshire Black Bears]

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On 5/24/2003 9:59:59 PM James T. Kirk wrote:

Dave go take some more med''s and get a life.

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"James",
FYI.
RV4,(AMFA Dave) is known on this board, to have a pretty high Batting(rumor) average !!!!!!!!!

Thought you "might" want to know.

NH/BB''s

 

[b777conehead]

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On 5/24/2003 3:29:09 PM RV4 wrote:


Here are the two latest rumors I have heard:

MCI will be closed or dwindle to near nothing by the end of 2003. (Heard coming David Campbell at an AFW Orientation)

TWU is going to gain your one week vacation back in exchange for an open ended job security system protection date.No more $12,500 special allowance. (Heard coming from system line TWU Officials)

Remember, these are unconfirmed rumors but are coming from reliable sources.

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i for one do not want the twu and jim little doing any more negotiations for us they sold us down the river already

 

[Bob Owens]

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On 5/25/2003 12:12:55 AM b777conehead wrote:

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On 5/24/2003 3:29:09 PM RV4 wrote:



Here are the two latest rumors I have heard:

MCI will be closed or dwindle to near nothing by the end of 2003. (Heard coming David Campbell at an AFW Orientation)

TWU is going to gain your one week vacation back in exchange for an open ended job security system protection date.No more $12,500 special allowance. (Heard coming from system line TWU Officials)

Remember, these are unconfirmed rumors but are coming from reliable sources.

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i for one do not want the twu and jim little doing any more negotiations for us they sold us down the river already

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I have to agree with you on that. Why would the company want to get rid of the $12500? So they can bounce us around the system. Leave it the way it is. Both the sick time and the vacation are going to bite the company in the ass. I've heard several people say that now they will get their Summer vacation anyway, but they will only get 4 days pay for it. So they have to put in a few more hours at the second job or find something to create OT at AA. They are so far in the hole now that they may as well have a life.

The members have ways of getting back the time for vacation and making the sick time deal work out unfavorably for the company. Leave the $12500 in place. Its the only thing preventing the company from playing a major reshuffle to even more members lives.

One thing you know for sure if Little is bringing it back it comes from the company. Its his job to put a membership spin on it. He learned from the best, Koziatek. Remember how Koziatek put out the survey during the layoffs when the industry was in its other Industry devastating Recession in the early 90s? He used that to push the 6 year 6% deal while the company was making record profits. Once again, Tulsa bought it.

Koziatek probably still believes that he did a good job. I guess it just depends on what you consider good. Under him membership did swell, however real earning of the members shrank. So from a union members point of view, he did a bad job. From the business point of view, since the income of the union increased, he did a good job. You have to remember that from where Little & Yingst are sitting the income of the Union is more important than the income of the members. The income of the Union pays their six figure salaries, supplimental pensions and other perks. When they go for their pay increases they would likely tout the number of members paying dues, not the fact that they negotiated away everything that was gained over the last 50 years.

There are very few good things left in this contract. Giving away the $12500 to get back a week of Vacation is not a good deal.



As for the MCI rumor, I heard it too. It would not suprise me if it were true. When we went down to talk to those guys at Kansas City the E-Board was in complete panic. They refused to even hear what we had to say and they did not want us talking to their members. One of the things they said was that they were told that if they voted this down the base would be closed. I asked "Did they say that if you voted it in that they would keep it open?" What is not said is just as important as what is said. I told them that under the old contract they had better protection than under the new one. That the contract says you can not lay off out of seniority (with a few side notes attached) and that the March 1 2001 system protection in effect protects them too because of the seniority clause. They didnt want to hear it. So now if they do close the base it will be because they voted yes like their E-board told them to. If 355 more of them had voted no,more than likely they could tell the company that the station voted yes.

Now they only have a couple of places where they can bump. Dont worry, even though you are bumping out our freinds and coworkers we will be more hospitable than your E-board was to us.

By the way, rent for a one bedroom apartment, probably around $1300/month plus utilities, deposit, etc. Dont forget NYS Income tax, higher insurance premuims etc. All that on the lower pay that your E-board helped you to accept.

Maybe thats why the company wants to get rid of the $12,500. So when they close MCI, all those that are now protected and get bumped out of the 25% stations dont get the $12500.

 

[RV4]

The lucrative philosophy behind concessions and how they improve the salary of International TWU Officers:

When reviewing the details of the TWU Constitution, one discovers how the TWU Officer will actually benefit financially in exchange for concessionary agreements that are negotiated. A review of the provisions and formula for salary increases leaves open the possibility of financial gain from negotiating concessions and then a bounce back over time from the concession.

The concession cost the TWU Officer nothing, yet the return from the concession nets a financial gain. Thus, the give-back-gain, give-back-gain cycle creates huge windfall for the TWU Officer while the member struggles to maintain his standard of living under this cycle of destruction.

Let’s review the TWU Constitution for insight into the lucrative philosophy of concessionary contracts and how they build increased salary for those who dictate our agreements without ratification.


Screen capture of the TWU Constitution Article V


How does one become Air-Transport Division Director? And who sets his salary?

James C. Little was placed into position and his salary is set per the above Constitutional provision. Sonny Hall “has the authority to appoint, direct, suspend or remove†representatives as he deems necessary, and “fix their compensationâ€. There is NO provision for the member to directly vote Mr. Little into or out-of office, nor does the member vote on his salary, and there is NO provision for the member to be able to recall the man for failure to perform.

James C. Little is a puppet to Sonny Hall for both employment and compensation.

How is the salary of the International President determined? And doesn’t this influence the pay of the ATD Director?

Screen capture of the TWU Constitution Article V Section 10


Notice the date of 1983 in the provision for salary adjustments for the TWU President, the same year the B-Scale was negotiated at American Airlines and the beginning of the last 20 years of concessionary agreements of the TWU. There is NO penalty for negotiating a concession, but there is great gain in a giveback-regain cycle of negotiations. Remember the salary adjustment for January 2003 was based on the weighted average increase for bargaining units of 500 or more in the year 2002. Think about the gains made in TWU Officer Salary during the B-Scale reduction to $10 per hour from $13.05 and the lumps, jumps, bumps in pay scales after the fact. The cycle of giveback-regain, giveback-regain is advancing the TWU Officers salaries while the member struggles to hold his standard of living.

How much has your TWU International Officer gained from giveback-regain cycles of negotiations?

Note that the TWU President made $72,500.00 annually before the “I’ve got mine Brother†salary increases began. Lets review the gains made from 20 years of concessionary giveback-regain negotiations:


Screen capture of the TWU LM-2 Schedule 9 on file with the Department of Labor



As you can see, the TWU International Presidents salary has increased from $72,500.00 in 1983 to an incredible $200,998.00 in the above reporting period. Who knows what his salary currently is based on our 2002 pay increase which has now been negotiated away for another round of give-back-gain TWU ignorance.

That equals a 277% Increase in salary for the TWU International President.


HOW MUCH HAS YOUR PAY GONE UP IN THE SAME PERIOD?

James C. Little reportedly made $141,125.00.
Did he earn it in your view?

 

[RV4]

It is also interesting to note that the 2002 TWU LM-2 reveals that Sonny Hall's relative and Frank McCann's son appear as now receiving compensation from the TWU International.


Screen capture of the TWU LM-2 Schedule 10 on file with the Department of Labor






All together now....

IT's A FAMILY AFFAIR, IT's A FAMILY AFFAIR!

 

[flaptrack]

Close MCI? Is that why AA never bothered to paint its logo on the hangar where the TWA used to be? Seems to me a few dollars in paint equates to a lot of free advertising; since thousands of people a day drive by on I-29. Just curious.

Any thoughts?

 

[AAmech]

Not that we didn''t know the whole amfa thing is a corrupt get-rich-quick scheme for Delle-Femine, Seham and the McCormick Group. But if you go to the DOL''s web site and look at amfa''s 2001 LM-2 you see that Delle-Femine has awarded himself a nice little salary of $122010.00!! A six figure salary for an organization with only 10294 members!! Also he apparently feels his VP and Regional directors are also doing 6 figure work as they they are making $118300.00 and $103469.00. Meanwhile mechanics are being put out on the street as their work is going over to China and Singapore! How do these guys sleep at night!

 

[AAquila]

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On 5/25/2003 6:52:50 AM Bob Owens wrote:


From the business point of view, since the income of the union increased, he did a good job.
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Didn''t Little also increase the income of the union as a direct result of the TWA purchase?

 

[Bob Owens]

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On 5/25/2003 10:57:46 PM AAquila wrote:

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On 5/25/2003 6:52:50 AM Bob Owens wrote:


From the business point of view, since the income of the union increased, he did a good job.
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Didn''t Little also increase the income of the union as a direct result of the TWA purchase?


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No Don Carty did that.
At Ed Koziateks retirement party Carty said that he did not know what to give Ed, so he finally came up with "7000 new members".

 

[RV4]

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On 5/25/2003 1032 PM AAmech wrote:


Not that we didn't know the whole amfa thing is a corrupt get-rich-quick scheme for Delle-Femine, Seham and the McCormick Group. But if you go to the DOL's web site and look at amfa's 2001 LM-2 you see that Delle-Femine has awarded himself a nice little salary of $122010.00!! A six figure salary for an organization with only 10294 members!! Also he apparently feels his VP and Regional directors are also doing 6 figure work as they they are making $118300.00 and $103469.00. Meanwhile mechanics are being put out on the street as their work is going over to China and Singapore! How do these guys sleep at night!

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AAmech,

There is ONE BIG DIFFERENCE between TWU and AMFA when it comes to the compensation of the National Officers.

Under AMFA, the National Officers would ALL take a paycut with the rest of the membership if a concession were to be negotiated. This is because the pay structure for AMFA National Officers are tied directly to the represented technicians pay including premiums. And these salaries are re-calculated every June 30th, and December 31st. A 17.5% Paycut like the one TWU brought into the industry would directly lower the National Officers pay within a six month time frame. NOW THAT SOUNDS FAIR!

Screen capture AMFA Constitution Article VI


In contrast, Sonny Hall, Jim Little, Gary Yingst and the other sell outs of the TWU are NOT subjected to paycuts when concessions are agreed to in a labor agreement. The salary of the TWU International Officers has a trigger for a salary increase, based on weighted average INCREASES, not average PAY. Thus, when average pay goes down, TWU International skates free. But when PAY goes up, theirs does also. This is why it is lucrative for the TWU International to negotiate concessions and then recover later, they get a pay raise TWICE from the same PAY LEVEL of the member.

Screen capture TWU Constitution Article V Section 10



How much of a pay cut would Sonny Hall, Jim Little, and Gary Yingst have to take on June 30th, if they were subjected to the AMFA Constitution?

MAYBE THIS WHY AMFA IS NOT NEGOTIATING PAYCUTS AT NORTHWEST!

That is a huge difference in pay structure for National level Officers.

Would Jim Little have been so quick to negotiate the massive concessions at AA if he knew on June 30th his salary was going to take a hit directly related to our paycut including premiums? Remember, the average technicians salary would also include those that lost their license and skill premium, and the OSM rate of pay.

I think if calculated correctly, the AMFA Constitution would place Sonny and the boys salary well below what Delle-Femine and the others you pointed out in your posting above!

 

[RV4]

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On 5/24/2003 9:59:59 PM James T. Kirk wrote:

Dave go take some more med''s and get a life.

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Very impressive response! Do you have anymore facts about the TWU and their superior skills at representing Aircraft Maintenance Technicians?

 

[will fix for food]

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On 5/26/2003 7:12:09 AM RV4 wrote:



MAYBE THIS WHY AMFA IS NOT NEGOTIATING PAYCUTS AT NORTHWEST!


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True enough. Greed, along with fear, are the two strongest motivating factors amongst humans. Having the greed factor written into the constitution is a good thing for the rank and file union members.

 

[j7915]

So the AMFA folks are just going to have to pay more out of fewer pockets?