So, I had a friend of mine who works with AA text me some highlights of the agreement that US (xcuseme AWA) management made with APFA, and I just can't help but wonder: American Airlines F/A's are already some of the highest paid F/A's in the industry, and Douggie goes there and offers them a pay-raise? What a f... slap in the face to all America West flight attendants.
It is just so outrageous that he would do this when time and time again, he has adamantly refused to give pay parity to the west flight attendants.
I remember being at the crew news sessions where a flight attendant cried while explaining that he was not able to make his mortgage payment, and the executives just shrugging it off with no sympathy.
It is now absolutely clear AWA execs don't give a damn about AWA employees as they can be kicked and beaten to the curb.
First off, the bolded part of your quote gave me a good laugh. That was very funny, thanks.
Secondly, why
would Doug Parker...or any other CEO for that matter...give pay parity to AWA flight attendants? There was never a Joint Contract Agreement reached and ratified between East and West. Trust me when I say this, I am no fan boy of Mr. Parker, however the expectation that former AWA F/A's should've been given pay parity is an unrealistic expectation on your part. Mr. Parker's fault may lie in the fact that negotiations were allowed to have dragged on for so many years, but not in the fact that former AWA flight attendants were never given pay parity. Pay parity is
achieved by the conclusion and subsequent ratification of a Joint Contract Agreement. That never happened. Now I do realize that the West did get hosed when you folks weren't allowed to conclude your own Section 6 Negotiations after the HP-US merger was announced. (And BTW, I am in complete support of your reasons for rejecting your recent TA and I am also in awe of the solidarity shown on behalf of your union membership in that regard).
For the record, I am a F/A for UA. Unlike you West folks, we
were allowed to conclude our own Section 6 Negotiations prior to the start of Joint Contract talks. Although, we have mostly concluded our merger with CO., pre-merger CO F/A's still earn more hourly than pm-UA F/A's (of course they have no work rules, but I digress). The point being, pay parity is usually achieved through the conclusion of and ratification of a JCA. In other words, we won't...nor do we expect...to achieve pay parity with our pm-CO counterparts until we have concluded the Joint Contract process.
Historically, the lone exception to how this process usually plays out, was when Edwin I. Colodny, USAir's former CEO during the respective mergers of PSA and Piedmont, gave instant pay parity to PSA and Piedmont's labor groups. We all know how that worked out: The former PSA network was completely shuttered w/in 3 years of the merger and with the exception of CLT, most of PI's former route network was jettisoned as well.
As it relates to the folks at AMR, Mr. Parker mostly likely crunched the numbers that established the increased revenue-generating capabilities created by the synergies of a US-AA tie-up, and offered raises to the AA employees based upon those figures. The good news for you and your cohorts on both the East and West side, is that should the master magician himself, pull this off, your raises will follow as well. With that said, the revenue-generating capabilities created by industry consolidation will be eventually be a win for you as well.
I will tell you this much: Had it not been for the merger with CO, pm-UA F/A's would've never seen a 10% raise at date of signing; a $5,000 signing bonus, nor a $60,000 early-out package in our recent TA.
So there it is, ContUNITEus...