AANOTOK
Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2009
- Messages
- 4,627
- Reaction score
- 2,242
Senior Vice President – Customer Experience
David Seymour
Senior Vice President – Integrated Operations
April 26, 2019
Team,
This week, negotiating teams for the company and the Association met for our last scheduled mediation session. Knowing the significance of this meeting, on the first day of talks, we proposed two very significant improvements to our current offer:
1. Increasing wages to match the new higher pay rates for applicable mechanic pay rates (AMTs, Inspectors, GSE/Facilities, and MCTs) in the Southwest tentative agreement
2. Making the transition to American Airlines medical plans easier for IAM-represented team members by adding a one-time, $3,000 medical transition payment. Also, under our proposal, the PPO 100 plan would sunset at the end of 2019, but participants could remain in the PPO 80 and 90 plans until the end of 2020.
These improvements are in addition to what the company already has on the table:
· An automatic 5% company contribution toward your retirement, with an additional match on team member contributions of up to 4%
· Significant improvements in holidays, vacation and sick time, including:
o 10 paid holidays and pay at 2.5x your rate if worked
o Up to six weeks of vacation
o 10 days of sick time paid at 100% of your pay rate
· A $3,000 signing bonus
· An early out that would pay approximately one year’s salary — $105,000 for full-time mechanics and $65,000 for full-time Fleet Service
· Most importantly, systemwide station and job protection on the date of signing. Every team member would continue to have a job in their classification at their same station. American would continue to do more maintenance work in house than at any other U.S. carrier.
After the company’s enhanced proposal, the mediators developed their own proposal. After reviewing both parties’ responses confidentially, the mediators determined that there was no framework for an agreement at this time and said there was no basis for further talks at this time. We will be waiting to hear from the mediators as to next steps.
The company has had an industry-leading offer on the table since July 2017. That’s nearly two years that team members have gone without higher pay, increased retirement, more days off and the other benefits currently on offer. Literally millions of dollars are being left on the table with each week that goes by. To help you see the full value of what is available, we have created a calculator that shows the increase in pay and overall compensation you would receive under the company’s current proposal. It takes into account your pay step, seniority, vacation, typical overtime hours worked in a year, 401(k) contributions, current and future medical coverage and more. We hope you’ll walk through the details and find out more about what this offer means for you.
We share this now because we feel you have a right to know what is at stake. The company has tried repeatedly to move talks along. When we were stalled in 2016, we implemented a significant pay increase. We later put forth a comprehensive, industry-leading proposal and enhanced it twice, including with higher wages and station protection among other enhancements. Last summer, we asked the Association leadership to let you vote on the company’s proposal, but they refused. When we continued to make no progress, we asked for mediation in September. Last month, we suggested we go to arbitration and let that arbitrated agreement be put to the membership for a vote. The Association leadership once again rejected the idea outright.
The proposal on the table is industry-leading, including the new Southwest tentative agreement, and one that offers very significant economic and lifestyle benefits for our team members. We think you’ll find it compelling, and if you do, you should talk to your union, because we can’t deliver that value to you if they won’t put it out for ratification.
David Seymour
Senior Vice President – Integrated Operations
April 26, 2019
Team,
This week, negotiating teams for the company and the Association met for our last scheduled mediation session. Knowing the significance of this meeting, on the first day of talks, we proposed two very significant improvements to our current offer:
1. Increasing wages to match the new higher pay rates for applicable mechanic pay rates (AMTs, Inspectors, GSE/Facilities, and MCTs) in the Southwest tentative agreement
2. Making the transition to American Airlines medical plans easier for IAM-represented team members by adding a one-time, $3,000 medical transition payment. Also, under our proposal, the PPO 100 plan would sunset at the end of 2019, but participants could remain in the PPO 80 and 90 plans until the end of 2020.
These improvements are in addition to what the company already has on the table:
· An automatic 5% company contribution toward your retirement, with an additional match on team member contributions of up to 4%
· Significant improvements in holidays, vacation and sick time, including:
o 10 paid holidays and pay at 2.5x your rate if worked
o Up to six weeks of vacation
o 10 days of sick time paid at 100% of your pay rate
· A $3,000 signing bonus
· An early out that would pay approximately one year’s salary — $105,000 for full-time mechanics and $65,000 for full-time Fleet Service
· Most importantly, systemwide station and job protection on the date of signing. Every team member would continue to have a job in their classification at their same station. American would continue to do more maintenance work in house than at any other U.S. carrier.
After the company’s enhanced proposal, the mediators developed their own proposal. After reviewing both parties’ responses confidentially, the mediators determined that there was no framework for an agreement at this time and said there was no basis for further talks at this time. We will be waiting to hear from the mediators as to next steps.
The company has had an industry-leading offer on the table since July 2017. That’s nearly two years that team members have gone without higher pay, increased retirement, more days off and the other benefits currently on offer. Literally millions of dollars are being left on the table with each week that goes by. To help you see the full value of what is available, we have created a calculator that shows the increase in pay and overall compensation you would receive under the company’s current proposal. It takes into account your pay step, seniority, vacation, typical overtime hours worked in a year, 401(k) contributions, current and future medical coverage and more. We hope you’ll walk through the details and find out more about what this offer means for you.
We share this now because we feel you have a right to know what is at stake. The company has tried repeatedly to move talks along. When we were stalled in 2016, we implemented a significant pay increase. We later put forth a comprehensive, industry-leading proposal and enhanced it twice, including with higher wages and station protection among other enhancements. Last summer, we asked the Association leadership to let you vote on the company’s proposal, but they refused. When we continued to make no progress, we asked for mediation in September. Last month, we suggested we go to arbitration and let that arbitrated agreement be put to the membership for a vote. The Association leadership once again rejected the idea outright.
The proposal on the table is industry-leading, including the new Southwest tentative agreement, and one that offers very significant economic and lifestyle benefits for our team members. We think you’ll find it compelling, and if you do, you should talk to your union, because we can’t deliver that value to you if they won’t put it out for ratification.
