Moving aircraft in and around AAs maintenance hangars is and always should be maintenance work, delivering and picking up airplanes to/from AAs maintenance hangars is and always should be maintenance work.
If you can get past what he's wearing and how he looks and listen to what they are saying. Just because its never happened to you doesn't mean it has never happened to the other 1000s of us. You cannot say with 100% certainty is has never happened. KIf it happens just once, it is wrong.
Moving airplanes around the hangar has been mechs for matter of convenience. Since the merger and Doug and company adjusting the flight schedule, more planes are in the air for longer and the gates are used more requiring more and more aircraft movement. We are at a point where moving airplanes is now a career, but I personally don't think that is a career that requires an A&P. Hopefully we keep it but it's not something I want to sacrifice pay or strike for. Most mechs hate doing the parking because of how boring (lack of mental stimulation) it is. Taxing has and always will be maintenance function.
Watch the video, who looks more the serious person, the executive wearing sports jacket or the unshaven guy wearing the mickey mouse T shirt? Ever notice how our union guys wear at the very least polo shirts.
Unfortunately we are in contract negotiations and this kind of outreach to the news can be portrayed as labor unrest. Now if this came out after contract signed who knows.
When a manager asks me why I took a delay or why I recommend taking an aircraft OTS, I give him a straight answer, if he's at the aircraft I show him what I'm talking about and if he tells me to keep working it or questions me or even sends a TCC (he might know something I don't) I don't get defensive and start yelling. It's all about conducting yourself as a professional.
This is all without knowing the situation. I am of course going off my own experience and from what I have observed over my 20 plus years at AA, the guys that are well respected and can show exactly why they wrote up something or have not finished a job by the end of shift never have a problem, and yes that means, when a mech does an inspection and never writes anything up and then one night he's upset about something and writes up 90 items and dumps it on the supv at 0600, you expect that mech to have a problem.
1986 mech start a private conversation with me, and I'll tell you what happened at ORD with those mechs. I will not post about this subject any longer as I think this is something for the union to deal with, like it should have been from the get go. Not one guy from one station on TV.
Wasn't it another NY guy who took a video of mechs sleeping and brought it to hard copy? NY home of the mechanic TV stars.