Turns Out "Working Together" Has Some Airline Industry History

[TWU informer]

COLLISION COURSE


ABOUT THE FILM


Collision Course traces the dramatic rise and fall of workplace cooperation at Eastern Airlines. In so doing, the film uncovers the deep-seated assumptions which underlie our culture of industrial relations and prevent us from breaking out of our industrial impasse.

Collision Course begins in 1983 with Eastern hurtling towards bankruptcy, beset by years of labor-management hostility, high wage cuts, and a poor service record. An informative history traces this adversarial relationship back to the dawn of the wage system and the rise of scientific management.

When Eastern once again demanded wage cuts, the machinist union responded with a bold counter-proposal reconceiving the traditional "wage bargain" by giving workers both a 25% ownership stake and an unprecedented say in the company. It was the most profound change in labor-management relations in any major American Company.

The results were stunning. Autonomous work teams took over the shopfloor. Wage increases were tied to productivity improvements. Encouraged to use their brains, newly motivated "cost teams" invented ways to save the airline $100 million.

Yet when competitive pressures re-emerged, the innovative agreement was pulled apart by the very people who put it together. In 1986, Eastern was sold to Frank Lorenzo's notoriously anti-union Texas Air and soon thereafter went down in flames. Eastern's rise and fall provides a vital case study of the do's, don'ts, and maybe's of workplace cooperation.

NOTE: In this film, IAM President makes reference to the autonomous work teams taking over the floor in an attempt to "Save the Airline From Bankruptcy" and he calls the process "WORKING TOGETHER".

After watching this film, I am more convinced than ever that each of us should prepare for survival without a good paying airline job. The path of Eastern Airlines, mirrors our current path at AA.

The main basis for success in a "Working Together" union/management relationship is TRUST.

Ask yourself, when the pressure is on in an industry of such extreme competition, can you trust your airline management?

A Management that was caught hiding the SERP Program, a management that gives $100 million in management bonuses when the corporation is losing money, a management that gives the CEO 23% raises plus other perks when fuel prices and competition leaves the airline far from a stable financial environment. A mangement groping with $20 billion in debt.

The Video is available here if you are interested.
Eastern Airlines Collision Course Video

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

The question to ask yourself is

Who's worse AA or the TWU

All this pull together win together has gotten me a 17.5 percent cut in wages and even more in benefit cuts.

Eastern airlines all over again maybe.

And thats only if the twu can grow a pair and say enogh is enough

LETS SHUT EM DOWN

 

[TWU informer]

I have no interest in "shutting down the airline", but I am tired of concessions and company unionism.

In the end, "working together" concepts are more likely to spark a battle than anything due to the nature of being hoodwinked by airline management and a desire for revenge by union leaders, and members alike.

It is not natural for greedy corporate executives and hourly workers to be on the same page with like agendas. Eventually, the trust will be broken and the pending result will be much worse after employees have sacrficed pay, benefits, and managed the airline from floor because middle management is incompetent and unable to manage properly.

Once the spark of betrayal takes place, the fire will be uncontrolled.

The Pilots are already finished with this "working together" idea, and the flight attendants only have pockets of "working together" still intact, but the boot licking TWU is still head over heels still licking with a tireless tongue.

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

I have no interest in "shutting down the airline", but I am tired of concessions and company unionism.

Whats left to do after the concessios and company unionism

In the end, "working together" concepts are more likely to spark a battle than anything due to the nature of being hoodwinked by airline management and a desire for revenge by union leaders, and members alike.

We have been hoodwinked by management and the very union that represents us

Eventually, the trust will be broken and the pending result will be much worse after employees have sacrficed pay, benefits, and managed the airline from floor because middle management is incompetent and unable to manage properly

The trust has all ready been broken you said it yourself in the original post

After employees have sacrificed

When does the after come I think it has come and gone. Unless of course we are waiting for more

The Pilots are already finished with this "working together" idea

So am I let the fires begin

 

[eolesen]

The Pilots are already finished with this "working together" idea

That's only because they're heading into Section 6 openers, and have to posture to make it look like they're negotiating from a position of power.

So, forgive me if I reserve judgement on that until after there's a contract. If the negotiations go quickly and painlessly, then they're obviously not abandoning the process that "working together" started.

APFA is harder to predict. That's a group that acts based on emotions and popular opinion more than logic or business sense....

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

and have to posture to make it look like they're negotiating from a position of power

Make it look like

Thats a laugh. With no pilots = No airline

I have spoken to quite a few pilots/ first officers and I think most have given up on the pull together concept.

 

[TWU informer]

Want to know what your next TWU Contract will look like?

Look no further than the Overland Resource Group webpage.

The Overland Resource Group is the current consulting group that is overseeing the "WORKING TOGETHER" process at AA.

I took this from the website of the Overland Resource Group...

Performance Based Compensation

Once you decide the people you have hired are the best means of accomplishing what’s important and you have shared about the business in ways that assure they know what’s most important, why not pay them for helping accomplish it? Uniquely designed to resolve the difficulties encountered in traditional gainsharing or profit sharing plans, our Goalsharing® performance based pay plan has a 12 year history of success in union/management clients.

Follow the link provided to "Goalsharing®" and you will see your next TWU Contract on the horizon.

 

[Imagolfer]

That's intersting...No Pilots = No airline?

No airline = no jobs for any of you

Is that a solution any of you want?????

Sorry but this bully tactic don't float in my book

 

[TWU informer]

I agree.

Destruction of your employment is not getting respect or a fair shake.

We have other avenues to try before we kill the golden Goose.

 

[flyastrojets]

I'm a newbie to this board. And my almost 11 years at AA pales in comparison to the time that many of you have spent there.

I left almost 3 years ago. Got a good job, and I'm ashamed to say how much more money I make than I did at AA for a lot less work because I'm afraid that 1) you'll think I'm bragging; and 2) I don't want to offend any who have stuck it out at AA after the paycuts.

I left for a list of reasons not the least of which were that I didn't like unions, I didn't like management... and frankly, I didn't like anyone anymore, and when you become convinced that out of almost 100,000 employees that YOU (meaning myself) are the only employee who knows how to fix the airline...well...it was time to go. So I left. AA didn't owe me a d*mn thing but a final paycheck, and I got it right on time.

But I really do have to ask... does anyone on this board really, honestly think that things are ever going to be like they were in the airline business? Will shutting down the airline make things right again? Just what does all the anger accomplish? If your payrates are raised to match Southwest's tomorrow, are you going to work as hard, or better yet as productively as a Southwest employee? Speaking from the perspective of someone who has been both labor and management, I doubt it.

Admittedly, that stupid Spring bonus fiasco and the way management has handled things since then haven't given anyone that continues to work at AA any real reason to be optimistic. One can hope that they figure out what went wrong, but I'm not too optimistic about that either without some real change in the senior management ranks, and not just the CEO. Maybe not even the CEO, whom I frankly think has his heart in the right place, but he has unfortunately allowed the leftover minions around him to cloud his judgement.

I know I'm ranting now, and I do apologize. But I am very very fond of AA, and most of the people I used to work with. And I just hate to see how things have become.

(Rant off)

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

I agree.

Destruction of your employment is not getting respect or a fair shake.

We have other avenues to try before we kill the golden Goose.

Then when do you say enough

I think we are past it all ready

Other Avenues have been tried for the last 3 contracts,
we are still giving. Thats 12 years of concessionary contracts. Tell me your next idea. Another failed card drive.

Heres two

Implement the COLA

Spin off overhaul

It will never happen the twu will loose too much money

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

That's intersting...No Pilots = No airline?

No airline = no jobs for any of you

Is that a solution any of you want?????

Sorry but this bully tactic don't float in my book

What floats in your book????

More concessions for


A Management that was caught hiding the SERP Program, a management that gives $100 million in management bonuses when the corporation is losing money, a management that gives the CEO 23% raises plus other perks when fuel prices and competition leaves the airline far from a stable financial environment. A mangement groping with $20 billion in debt

Thats the Answer

 

[Oneflyer]

I'm a newbie to this board. And my almost 11 years at AA pales in comparison to the time that many of you have spent there.

I left almost 3 years ago. Got a good job, and I'm ashamed to say how much more money I make than I did at AA for a lot less work because I'm afraid that 1) you'll think I'm bragging; and 2) I don't want to offend any who have stuck it out at AA after the paycuts.

I left for a list of reasons not the least of which were that I didn't like unions, I didn't like management... and frankly, I didn't like anyone anymore, and when you become convinced that out of almost 100,000 employees that YOU (meaning myself) are the only employee who knows how to fix the airline...well...it was time to go. So I left. AA didn't owe me a d*mn thing but a final paycheck, and I got it right on time.

But I really do have to ask... does anyone on this board really, honestly think that things are ever going to be like they were in the airline business? Will shutting down the airline make things right again? Just what does all the anger accomplish? If your payrates are raised to match Southwest's tomorrow, are you going to work as hard, or better yet as productively as a Southwest employee? Speaking from the perspective of someone who has been both labor and management, I doubt it.

Admittedly, that stupid Spring bonus fiasco and the way management has handled things since then haven't given anyone that continues to work at AA any real reason to be optimistic. One can hope that they figure out what went wrong, but I'm not too optimistic about that either without some real change in the senior management ranks, and not just the CEO. Maybe not even the CEO, whom I frankly think has his heart in the right place, but he has unfortunately allowed the leftover minions around him to cloud his judgement.

I know I'm ranting now, and I do apologize. But I am very very fond of AA, and most of the people I used to work with. And I just hate to see how things have become.

(Rant off)

Amen.

 

[eolesen]

Admittedly, that stupid Spring bonus fiasco and the way management has handled things since then haven't given anyone that continues to work at AA any real reason to be optimistic. One can hope that they figure out what went wrong, but I'm not too optimistic about that either without some real change in the senior management ranks, and not just the CEO. Maybe not even the CEO, whom I frankly think has his heart in the right place, but he has unfortunately allowed the leftover minions around him to cloud his judgement.

I agree with a lot of what you're saying here, including the guilt for making more money by leaving...

Arpey's place is in the right place, and I believe that there are a small handful of long-timers who are right there with him. Get rid of the rest, and I think AA has more than a fighting chance.

At the same time, it's pretty clear that business as usual within the unions isn't working -- the TWU needs serious reform, and the APFA and APA are at the other extreme by switching leadership every couple years...

As much as the malcontents here might not agree with the notion, if you had union leadership with more stability, perhaps you wouldn't be pissed off as much with the things that sneak up on you, like the fact that the SERP existed for 20 years, and the LTIP plan had paid out last year without so much as a whisper. The advantage is that it would be harder to sneak things past. The disadvantage is that they'd always be portrayed as being too close to management....