Aircraft maint issues

I am going to take a guess, I believe that the company is playing work groups against each other.
 
I am going to take a guess, I believe that the company is playing work groups against each other.

That’s not the Company who does that. We do it to ourselves. But no the Maintenance and Fleet groups are in 100% Solidarity with each other.
 
I would agree with many that this should be a 'No Concession" contract with the money AA is making. Looking at what the other work groups settled for, it makes it less likely that the US Healthcare will survive any work group. If this is what causes a section 6, then I would be willing to bet it would be gone. As for it going away now, maybe the Association or AA did offer something in return, but we will never know as most Association updates are worthless and not very transparent.
My friend you are wise and a good man. But in my opinion we cannot say we will accept no concessions but be willing to give the IAM medical away for them. That makes us hypocrites. This airline has no problem denying us things they gave to others but they will never allow us (AMTs no matter if it's IAM or TWU) to get something everyone else does not. So in my humble opinion we have to establish what the value of the medical is over the long term and demand that value in return. But only if the IAM membership agrees. Yeah we're stuck in the middle but I think if we are willing to allow AA to take away the IAM medical then we are no better than the pirates at HDQ. I also understand these same pirates are probably going to use this one issue to continue to screw our ears off. So it's kind of a catch 22, no win situation for us. Just my two cents. I honestly don't know what the solution could be. If I were the IAM I certainly would not be willing to give up the medical so unless AA is willing to give the TWU the same medical and nobody else in the company then we are at a stalemate. Of course at this point I would have no problem getting that medical knowing no other work groups get it. Lord knows they had no problem with us having nothing for the last fifteen years.
 
I would agree with many that this should be a 'No Concession" contract with the money AA is making. Looking at what the other work groups settled for, it makes it less likely that the US Healthcare will survive any work group. If this is what causes a section 6, then I would be willing to bet it would be gone. As for it going away now, maybe the Association or AA did offer something in return, but we will never know as most Association updates are worthless and not very transparent.
The healthcare issue is one thing, but what really concerns me is what the Association released in their letter about seeking s DB pension. If you recall the Association document explicitly stated that's it's objective is to jam us all into the IAMNPF. Since the Association has determined that we don't need to know exactly what we are fighting for I fear the worst. Gary Peterson can claim all he wants about never agreeing to take that back to the membetship, the fact is he has no statuatory authority to stop the Association from doing whatever they want. Let's face it the Association has done nothing to earn our trust, they promised a vote, then slipped in without a vote. They promised that we would benefit from the combined strength of both unions, but while the TWU set up demonstrations the IAM did nothing, we even saw IAM members praising Doug Parker, claiming he kept all his promises to USAIR workers , sure they went from being employees of a large conglomeration of Regional carriers to becoming employees of the largest carrier in the world, and on top of that their all in pay is around $10000 a year better than their TWU coworkers. So now we get a letter saying we should be outraged at the company for bringing in some guy who sabotaged negotiations because they won't agree to the medical and DB pension that they are asking for. To tell the truth I'm more outraged at the Association because they won't even tell us what we are fighting for as far as the pension. LET ME MAKE THIS CLEAR I WANT NO PART OF THE IAMNPF. We already know the company offered a 9% match, make it a contribution and add a few percentage points (Pilots get 17%) and as far as I'm concerned put this item to bed. If they want to allow IAM members to divert theirs into the IAMNPF fine, but I want no part of it.
 
My friend you are wise and a good man. But in my opinion we cannot say we will accept no concessions but be willing to give the IAM medical away for them. That makes us hypocrites. This airline has no problem denying us things they gave to others but they will never allow us (AMTs no matter if it's IAM or TWU) to get something everyone else does not. So in my humble opinion we have to establish what the value of the medical is over the long term and demand that value in return. But only if the IAM membership agrees. Yeah we're stuck in the middle but I think if we are willing to allow AA to take away the IAM medical then we are no better than the pirates at HDQ. I also understand these same pirates are probably going to use this one issue to continue to screw our ears off. So it's kind of a catch 22, no win situation for us. Just my two cents. I honestly don't know what the solution could be. If I were the IAM I certainly would not be willing to give up the medical so unless AA is willing to give the TWU the same medical and nobody else in the company then we are at a stalemate. Of course at this point I would have no problem getting that medical knowing no other work groups get it. Lord knows they had no problem with us having nothing for the last fifteen years.
I agree about fighting for the medical, bUT let's not forget that for several years our IAM coworkers have been enjoying an all in contract that's around 10% more than what we get. We are at the bottom but they ate not, and every day that goes by without a contract this injustice continues, and the IAM obviously has no problem with that, in fact they sat out the TWU demonstrations, had members crash town hall netting praising Doug Parker and only now when their IAMNPF and far superior medical is on the line do they express any willingness to fight. Besides, didn't the original Association agreement say that every two years the chair would switch to the other union? Isn't that two years up? We need for either the TWU to step up, or its time for us to step out of this Association , enough is enough.
 
I don’t know how accurate, but I found this on Facebook:

Company answers back ...

cid:[email protected]
Contract negotiations between American and the TWU-IAM Association continue. The company’s July 2017 comprehensive proposal has been enhanced over the last two bargaining sessions and now includes:
Highest pay rates and premiums in the industry
Beyond the increases from August 2016 (varied between 15 – 55%, averaged 24%), increase base pay to higher than the current industry leader at signing with additional 2% increases in each following year of the contract’s duration. All members would receive a sign-on bonus of $3,000.

Members with 15 years of service who no longer want to work at American could take an early out to include approximately one year base salary severance.
Significantly increased paid time off package
10 paid holidays; any holiday worked paid at 2.5 times the current rate; 6 weeks of vacation at top of scale; 10 annual sick days paid at 100% on the first day of sick leave; 20 on-the-job injury days, if necessary.
Industry leading 401(k) plan
All TWU-IAM-represented team members would transition to an enhanced 401(k) plan. Company contributions would be an automatic 5% of your annual salary (no matching funds required by members), which is a higher contribution toward retirement than the current IAM pension plan or the current TWU 401(k). In addition, the company would match employee contributions up to 4% of the team member’s salary, for a total company contribution of up to 9%. IAM pension plan participants would retain any benefits already vested in their pension plan.
Competitive medical plans consistent with the industry
Association members would participate in the American medical plans as all other team members do. These are highly competitive plans that provide cost sharing that is in line with or better than other large companies. Average annual out-of-pocket costs (what you pay at the doctor + what’s deducted from your paycheck each pay period) for legacy US team members would increase by $1,600/year. All plans have yearly out-of-pocket maximums that cap what team members pay in the event of a catastrophic illness. Moving from the legacy US plans to the American plans, as all other team members have done, provides more contemporary coverage for things like free preventative care/screenings, infertility treatment, behavioral therapy treatment for autistic children (ABA therapy), family/marriage counseling and hearing aids.
Keeps more Maintenance and Fleet Service jobs
in-house than any other airline
American employs more fleet service team members and mechanics than Delta or United (about 7,000 more). Offer maintains the most restrictive Scope clause among our competitors and American will continue to employ more fleet agents and mechanics than either competitor. American also employs more full-time fleet service team members (relying less on part-time workers) than Delta or United.

Delta and United do much of the same work with lower paid third-party contract workers. Although we plan to retain the vast majority of our currently insourced work, over time, certain functions could be moved to third parties based on competitive need. This work is listed below. However, any transition would occur over time and through attrition over many years, and we will provide system wide job protection to all members. Team members performing this work today will complete their careers with American.

Outsourced work down the road could include:
Deicing; no one today is employed solely to deice aircraft so there is no job loss.
Catering at 5 stations; vendors today manage this function at all but 5 stations. Current catering workers move to other fleet service positions at their current station. No job loss.
Keep GSE and Facilities/Plant Maintenance in stations where we have it today; possibly transition some of this work to vendors as those team members retire from or leave American. Carve-outs include GSE work at our 12 largest stations. No job loss.
At some of the 40 stations where one legacy carrier performs fleet service work in-house, the other legacy carrier uses a vendor to perform that same work. In those 40 stations, we would remove the vendor and move the work in-house to American employees.
Cargo will remain as it is today at all of our hubs. No job loss.
Tulsa engine overhaul work remains as it is today. No job loss.
Component work continues as is; as team members retire, this work could transition to a vendor. No job loss.
Aligns outsourcing percentages to today’s TWU Line and IAM Base outsource criteria, and establishes a Base Maintenance minimum headcount requirement to ensure we maintain a world-class Base Maintenance operation. No job loss.
 
I don’t know how accurate, but I found this on Facebook:

Company answers back ...

cid:[email protected]
Contract negotiations between American and the TWU-IAM Association continue. The company’s July 2017 comprehensive proposal has been enhanced over the last two bargaining sessions and now includes:
Highest pay rates and premiums in the industry
Beyond the increases from August 2016 (varied between 15 – 55%, averaged 24%), increase base pay to higher than the current industry leader at signing with additional 2% increases in each following year of the contract’s duration. All members would receive a sign-on bonus of $3,000.

Members with 15 years of service who no longer want to work at American could take an early out to include approximately one year base salary severance.
Significantly increased paid time off package
10 paid holidays; any holiday worked paid at 2.5 times the current rate; 6 weeks of vacation at top of scale; 10 annual sick days paid at 100% on the first day of sick leave; 20 on-the-job injury days, if necessary.
Industry leading 401(k) plan
All TWU-IAM-represented team members would transition to an enhanced 401(k) plan. Company contributions would be an automatic 5% of your annual salary (no matching funds required by members), which is a higher contribution toward retirement than the current IAM pension plan or the current TWU 401(k). In addition, the company would match employee contributions up to 4% of the team member’s salary, for a total company contribution of up to 9%. IAM pension plan participants would retain any benefits already vested in their pension plan.
Competitive medical plans consistent with the industry
Association members would participate in the American medical plans as all other team members do. These are highly competitive plans that provide cost sharing that is in line with or better than other large companies. Average annual out-of-pocket costs (what you pay at the doctor + what’s deducted from your paycheck each pay period) for legacy US team members would increase by $1,600/year. All plans have yearly out-of-pocket maximums that cap what team members pay in the event of a catastrophic illness. Moving from the legacy US plans to the American plans, as all other team members have done, provides more contemporary coverage for things like free preventative care/screenings, infertility treatment, behavioral therapy treatment for autistic children (ABA therapy), family/marriage counseling and hearing aids.
Keeps more Maintenance and Fleet Service jobs
in-house than any other airline
American employs more fleet service team members and mechanics than Delta or United (about 7,000 more). Offer maintains the most restrictive Scope clause among our competitors and American will continue to employ more fleet agents and mechanics than either competitor. American also employs more full-time fleet service team members (relying less on part-time workers) than Delta or United.

Delta and United do much of the same work with lower paid third-party contract workers. Although we plan to retain the vast majority of our currently insourced work, over time, certain functions could be moved to third parties based on competitive need. This work is listed below. However, any transition would occur over time and through attrition over many years, and we will provide system wide job protection to all members. Team members performing this work today will complete their careers with American.

Outsourced work down the road could include:
Deicing; no one today is employed solely to deice aircraft so there is no job loss.
Catering at 5 stations; vendors today manage this function at all but 5 stations. Current catering workers move to other fleet service positions at their current station. No job loss.
Keep GSE and Facilities/Plant Maintenance in stations where we have it today; possibly transition some of this work to vendors as those team members retire from or leave American. Carve-outs include GSE work at our 12 largest stations. No job loss.
At some of the 40 stations where one legacy carrier performs fleet service work in-house, the other legacy carrier uses a vendor to perform that same work. In those 40 stations, we would remove the vendor and move the work in-house to American employees.
Cargo will remain as it is today at all of our hubs. No job loss.
Tulsa engine overhaul work remains as it is today. No job loss.
Component work continues as is; as team members retire, this work could transition to a vendor. No job loss.
Aligns outsourcing percentages to today’s TWU Line and IAM Base outsource criteria, and establishes a Base Maintenance minimum headcount requirement to ensure we maintain a world-class Base Maintenance operation. No job loss.


You found this on Facebook? Can I ask you the name of the poster? It wasn’t Tim Nelson again was it?
 
I agree about fighting for the medical, bUT let's not forget that for several years our IAM coworkers have been enjoying an all in contract that's around 10% more than what we get. We are at the bottom but they ate not, and every day that goes by without a contract this injustice continues, and the IAM obviously has no problem with that, in fact they sat out the TWU demonstrations, had members crash town hall netting praising Doug Parker and only now when their IAMNPF and far superior medical is on the line do they express any willingness to fight. Besides, didn't the original Association agreement say that every two years the chair would switch to the other union? Isn't that two years up? We need for either the TWU to step up, or its time for us to step out of this Association , enough is enough.
I think a card drive is the only thing that is going to get maintenance on the same page. If ramp wants to keep the association that's their choice.
 
Seems to me that AA getting forced into the IAMNPF was not true. Looks like AA doesn't even want any part of it.
 
I think a card drive is the only thing that is going to get maintenance on the same page. If ramp wants to keep the association that's their choice.
And what go five and a half years like you?

You don’t do a card drive in negotiations as the company will park them

Maybe you need a card drive at WN.
 
Back
Top