Why AA employees Loathe Management- forbes article

It says the same pension as its members, not $500,000!

2004 AMFA constitution

Quote

E) A retirement plan equal to the highest paying retire-ment plan of any active member in this Association shall be provided to any National officer lacking such a plan from a represented airline. For National officers lacking an AMFA employer retirement plan, the Association may self fund a retirement account, untouchable for any other purpose unless so voted by National Convention delegates, rather than funding with an insurance company.



Are you getting dumber?

Every SWA mechanic I know with Delle's number of years in AMFA, have way more than that in their 401K and profit sharing accounts.
But there only needs to be one.
He was eligible for more.

How much is in Hoffa's or Little's retirement accounts and how are they tied to their members retirement amounts?

Just admit you lied and move on.
 
Chuck, seriously? This guy is no more credentialed than you or me when it comes to writing for a financial magazine. Most of the comments on the article are about how much customers loathe AA employees.

Well Forbes left it up there. They felt is had merit.

You are just nervous that the article may catch someones attention and they may look more closely at the incestuous relationship that the AATD and American Airlines management have had over the years. Concerned how it may come out that the top officials of the TWU AATD was willing to sacrifice their members jobs and careers to keep their AA pension, a pension thats comes from AA but is based upon what the Union reports to the company as far as how much they were paid. Obviously thats a much bigger dollar figure than the A5 passes.
 
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Actually, the guy plays fast and loose with facts and shows inattention to detail. Near the top of his piece:



The concessions were $1.62 billion from the represented workers. The other $180 million came from management, support staff and agents. Thus, the total of $1.8 billion.

The pilots' union is called the "Allied Pilots Association."

The concessions we gave were well in excess of $1.62 billion, but thats what we were given credit for. Headcount reductions alone covered that.
 
Sure, Finger's made some valid points, but I wouldn't call this even half accurate. At the end of the day, it's still an opinion blog by some guy who wants to make a statement. It's no different than one of Bob Owens or WT's tomes, aside from the fact it's being published on a website carrying a name which used to be associated with a much higher degree of credibility and accuracy in reporting than what the print and online media exhibit today.

Its very rare that you read a story or a blog where someone cant challenge a minor detail. Does it really matter whether the concessions the employees gave were said to be $1.6 billion from the Unions or $1.8 billion? Does that really change anything? No, of course not, first of all nobody can exactly pinpoint an exact amount on what was given up as the figures are determined by assumptions and approximations. Nobody here can state that they can determine the exact value of what we gave up so making an argument against the validity of the story based upon that is an act of desperation. If thats the only thing detractors can find it means that the points made were dead on and they had no means to counter what was written.

As far as the Regs and A-5 being secret, yes secret is an accurate definition because the discussions leading to those changes in Regs were never shared with the membership. That makes them secret deals, what was exchanged for that? Well in our case we know. Everything that made us Union.


Arpey and Horton will each walk away with many times what Al Blackman earned over his 70 years. They deserve to be "vilified" by the people they screwed over.
 
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Its very rare that you read a story or a blog where someone cant challenge a minor detail. Does it really matter whether the concessions the employees gave were said to be $1.6 billion from the Unions or $1.8 billion? Does that really change anything? No, of course not, first of all nobody can exactly pinpoint an exact amount on what was given up as the figures are determined by assumptions and approximations. Nobody here can state that they can determine the exact value of what we gave up so making an argument against the validity of the story based upon that is an act of desperation. If thats the only thing detractors can find it means that the points made were dead on and they had no means to counter what was written.

As far as the Regs and A-5 being secret, yes secret is an accurate definition because the discussions leading to those changes in Regs were never shared with the membership. That makes them secret deals, what was exchanged for that? Well in our case we know. Everything that made us Union.


Arpey and Horton will each walk away with many times what Al Blackman earned over his 70 years. They deserve to be "vilified" by the people they screwed over.
Must discredit any negative statements about AMR management. Must discredit any negative statements about AMR management. Must find way to discredit any negative statement about AMR management. Oh, here we are. Writer used comma when should have used semi-colon. Entire article must be a lie. :lol:
 
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A 401k is not a pension.

Your arguments against Delle receiving the $500K are weak at best. Anybody that knows the history of AMFA, knows what Delle went through - many lean years. So, for him to receive $500K - is nothing when compared to his peers at the Teamsters, TWU, or IAM. Too bad he couldn't get more.
 
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Well, you just proved you're an AA management employee with access to personnel records, or you have someone in AA management feeding you confidential information. No one knows my middle name. I may pursue this.

We all know it now, fool.
 
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Well Forbes left it up there. They felt is had merit.

You are just nervous that the article may catch someones attention and they may look more closely at the incestuous relationship that the AATD and American Airlines management have had over the years. Concerned how it may come out that the top officials of the TWU AATD was willing to sacrifice their members jobs and careers to keep their AA pension, a pension thats comes from AA but is based upon what the Union reports to the company as far as how much they were paid. Obviously thats a much bigger dollar figure than the A5 passes.




I appreciate that someone finally pointed out that this is a blogger not a journalist. What he posts is not subject to editing, fact checking, or the normal journalistic requirement of getting both sides of a story. The fact that Forbes leaves a bloggers opinion up on its website is no more an endorsement that his views have “merit” than the fact that the webmaster on this site posts your views can be taken as his approval of them. Forbes left up all the comments criticizing the article and insulting the quality of service at AA. Does that mean Forbes endorses those opinion too? Obviously not. Don’t take my word for it – Forbes makes this clear in Section 3.1 of its rules covering articles by bloggers: “Responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of such content lies solely with the content providers and is not guaranteed by Forbes. Pursuant to 47 USC Section 230, Forbes is not the publisher of such information and is, therefore, not liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors, or omissions in such content.” Forbes goes on to make clear that it is not liable for slander or defamation based on posts made by non-employee bloggers.

The article is nothing more than spin. The irony of the criticism that the unions were cozy with Horton is that they contrived to remove him and attacked him at every turn. He criticizes the three unions for agreeing to the pension freeze, but no union at a bankrupt carrier has preserved a defined benefit plan and most have had their plans terminated which subjected them to the automatic reductions in pension benefits under PBGC rules. As for his claim that the unions were bought off with perks, well over ninety percent of what he refers to from LM-10 filings (all of which have been publicly available for years) relate to flight benefits, which is scarcely unusual in this industry. For example, in its 2006 LM-10 UAL reported that it provided AMFA’s President (who was not an employee of UAL) $10,340 in positive space flight benefits for union business and in 2005 it reported $57,000 for such passes. There is, of course, a significant disincentive to use these passes for anything besides AA business – to the extent they are used for other purposes (including union business not involving AA) they are treated as taxable income. As for meals, I have looked at the LM-10s, and by my quick and dirty math, AA picked up the check for $102 in business meals to one International officer last year, and paid for about $1500 in business meals over the last eight years. That is next to nothing compared to what comes out in reports involving other companies and unions.
 
A 401k is not a pension.
You ARE getting dumber.
Read this again (as if you read it the first time).
It said retirement plan.


2004 AMFA constitution

Quote

E) A retirement plan equal to the highest paying retire-ment plan of any active member in this Association shall be provided to any National officer lacking such a plan from a represented airline. For National officers lacking an AMFA employer retirement plan, the Association may self fund a retirement account, untouchable for any other purpose unless so voted by National Convention delegates, rather than funding with an insurance company.
 
As far as the Regs and A-5 being secret, yes secret is an accurate definition because the discussions leading to those changes in Regs were never shared with the membership.

Maybe you just never noticed, and since it's a company provided privilege (not contractual), why would it need to be shared with the membership?...

To give you an idea of how long this has been practice.... I wrote the letter of introduction for Ed Koziatek, explaining to agents how his A-5 card was to be accepted for ticketless travel as a retiree. That was back in 1994 or so... we hadn't accounted for A5 retirees, and discovered it by accident when his wife was turned away from a flight.