American Offers Pay for Performance

[FWAAA]

When are you going to face the fact that AMR is making money off its overhaul . If you want to believe its not making money then you can bet your arse its cheaper to do it in house
If that wasnt the case it would have been gone years ago
FACT

I have never posted a belief that AA loses money on its maintenance operations. Perhaps you have me confused with someone else.
Anyway, you're probably right. If it wasn't at least a break even proposition, the overhaul bases would have been shut down years ago. Now that everyone makes several dollars less per hour than in 2002, it simply HAS to be break even or better.

But that doesn't mean that management wouldn't have closed the bases in bankruptcy. Management does nothing but stupid things, right? Isn't that the gospel around here? Well, stupid management might close the bases and outsource all heavy airframe overhaul just to spite its face, right? We'll never know for sure, since the concessions were deemed accepted by the three major unions.

 

[The Goose]

<_< ------ We've seen how the Company keeps it's word! "Shared Sacrifice!" "Work together, Win together!" It seems they've got a problem telling the truth! :angry: Friend," actions speak louder than words!" And we've seen them in action!!!! :down: We've stepped up to the plate, and saved the Company from "bankruptcy" only to see the executives of this same Company enrich themselves at our expense! Now they're saying "Trust Me" again!!! ? :huh: :down:

I continue to harp on the business aspect of this problem because it's the only thing these devils understand. Rather than piddle around with unions or associations, what's necessary is to threaten the executives' security directly, as would happen if the represented employees owned a large enough bloc of voting shares that could be sold to an outfit like FL, enhancing their position.

It's rather evident FL's intent is to continue adding to their stock position in hopes of rearranging the board, thereby getting a few people sympathetic to their positon and making some of the changes they outlined in their letter to the BOD. It's evident they're just pissed about the almost 50% decline in their investment and are looking for a short term, however damaging to AMR, fix to their reputation.

Granted, the outcome probably wouldn't be very pleasant for the mechanics and other groups, but being the workgroup most easily replaced (and don't think preps haven't been made - I'm sure they have), a simple labor strike (as if) wouldn't be enough to do the trick, but would, no doubt, be a benefit to the execs. Threaten executive security and the tune will change. Keep things within the scope of what any union or association can do (assuming they're not bought off as I believe is common pratice) and the ba$tards will laugh it off.

With 10-15% of the outstanding voting shares and the proper politicking, an entity can control a company. Granted, the institutional holders have a great deal of clout, but the vote numbers re: proposals at the last annual meeting were rather close and could be swayed as I said.

How would one go about getting mechs to invest in their company to produce this manner of threat/strategy when we, as a group, probably couldn't agree on a $1.00/hour raise?

 

[MCI transplant]

I continue to harp on the business aspect of this problem because it's the only thing these devils understand. Rather than piddle around with unions or associations, what's necessary is to threaten the executives' security directly, as would happen if the represented employees owned a large enough bloc of voting shares that could be sold to an outfit like FL, enhancing their position.

It's rather evident FL's intent is to continue adding to their stock position in hopes of rearranging the board, thereby getting a few people sympathetic to their positon and making some of the changes they outlined in their letter to the BOD. It's evident they're just pissed about the almost 50% decline in their investment and are looking for a short term, however damaging to AMR, fix to their reputation.

Granted, the outcome probably wouldn't be very pleasant for the mechanics and other groups, but being the workgroup most easily replaced (and don't think preps haven't been made - I'm sure they have), a simple labor strike (as if) wouldn't be enough to do the trick, but would, no doubt, be a benefit to the execs. Threaten executive security and the tune will change. Keep things within the scope of what any union or association can do (assuming they're not bought off as I believe is common pratice) and the ba$tards will laugh it off.

With 10-15% of the outstanding voting shares and the proper politicking, an entity can control a company. Granted, the institutional holders have a great deal of clout, but the vote numbers re: proposals at the last annual meeting were rather close and could be swayed as I said.

How would one go about getting mechs to invest in their company to produce this manner of threat/strategy when we, as a group, probably couldn't agree on a $1.00/hour raise?

<_< -------- So! How many shares do'es the FL group have? I read 9.4%! Something to watch?

 

[Bob Owens]

I agree with much of what you say. AA's overall costs may very well be lower because of its overhaul operations. But that doesn't mean that management wouldn't have followed that herd and closed TUL and MCI. Laid off thousands of employees at those bases.

On the subject of filing for Ch 11 - why do you think the company lied? US, UA, NW and DL all filed for Ch 11. Had the concessions not been deemed accepted (I realize many don't think they were approved by vote), do you really think AA would not have filed? If so, why not?

About UAL - I agee that it probably isn't saving as much as everyone had hoped by outsourcing all heavy airframe overhaul. Same with its new Defined Contribution retirement plans - AA's DB plans may still be cheaper for AA.

About the A300s and MD-80s? Grounded and replaced with nothing. AA would likely have shrunk even more than it did. In retrospect, given $2.00/gal+ jet fuel for the last two years, dumping them might have been a good idea. Of course, had the lessors agreed, maybe AA would have kept them for much smaller lease payments.

Whether or not they would have filed is irrevelent since the end result from our position as mechanics is the same. We suffereed the same fate as mechanics at other carriers where they went BK.
As far as job losses we lost a lot of OH jobs over the years as A&Ps were replaced with SRPs and work was farmed out to Fleet service. What we need to compare is how many A&Ps we have compared to an airline that has similar operations. BK and getting rid of OH was the only option carriers like USAIR and UAL had in order to try and match costs that AA had since the nineties. For AA getting rid of OH would not have provided any advantage since they would then be in the same boat as UAl and other carriers. Instead they took their low cost advantage, made it even lower and then lower costs even more by selling surplus capacity to other carriers.

The threat of getting rid of OH was a lie from day one. AA had a good thing going and they were not about to get rid of that advantage. MCI may have been slightly at risk because they never had the SRP-OSM program thus had higher costs than TUL and AFW.

 

[TWU informer]

Do you think the TWU will let us see what was proposed at these discussions? Check out how well that "Working Together" while kissing the companies ass is getting us in attempts to be compensated.


Upate from Local 514

Description :
No Extension Letter
Full Text :
On September 17, 2007 American Airlines and the Transport
Workers Union began informal, facilitated discussions that may
have led to a possible contract extension. Today, Wednesday,
October 03, 2007 those informal talks have ended and no
agreements have been reached. The TWU has continued
preparing for formal talks that will begin in November and is
looking forward to advancing the will of their membership

Fraternally,

John M. Conley
Acting Director ATD

Dennis Burchette
AA System Coordinato

 

[Ken MacTiernan]

Do you think the TWU will let us see what was proposed at these discussions? Check out how well that "Working Together" while kissing the companies ass is getting us in attempts to be compensated.
Upate from Local 514

burchette's signature is meaningless on anything he attaches it to.

I want to know how he signs his name while his hands are in carmine's pockets.

 

[Boomer]

Two backpackers start across an open meadow, some halfway across, they look back to see a bear emerging from their trail in a full charge and into the open meadow.

The first backpacker drops his pack, tightens his boot laces while the second backpacker yells to him that there is no way he can outrun a bear. The first backpacker replies to the second, "I don't have to outrun the bear, I only have to outrun you."

AMR only has to beat the aircarft maintenance costs, the bear, of the OSV's to maintain that work inhouse: we outrun the bear and keep our jobs. The maintenance has to be done by someone: if the bear eats the difference between OSV and M&E; we lose.

The fact that we have hit all of the targets, with the furloughs and attrition & while maintaining more of the work, leads me to believe that our costs are lower than if it went to an OSV. I think FL believes there is more to the M&E operation than a revenue neutral operation by putting us with the Frequent Flier, AE basket of assets that would enrich shareholders through a sale.

M&E Employees need to capture the benefit spread between maintaining the work inhouse versus the OSV with an additional mechanism for capturing the goodwill to the franchise created by the insourced opportunities: we earned it.

If the other departments want to create more value from their operations, let them put some skin in the game: we're too busy outrunning the bear.

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

Pull together win together

Shared sacrifice

I guess the twu was exspecting a lttle more of the shared sacrifice then the company was willing to give.

We keep pulling but we sure as hell arent wining

The company obviously wants to give us as little a piece of the pie that they can


Now that the pay for performance BS is over lets hope the twu is no longer entertaining the idea of an exstension of this POS contract we are working under

 

[Ken MacTiernan]

Pull together win together

Shared sacrifice

I guess the twu was exspecting a lttle more of the shared sacrifice then the company was willing to give.

We keep pulling but we sure as hell arent wining

The company obviously wants to give us as little a piece of the pie that they can


Now that the pay for performance BS is over lets hope the twu is no longer entertaining the idea of an exstension of this POS contract we are working under

Perhaps with the earlier post of the letter from the 514 web site this is the result of the union reading this BB and listening to the "tone" on the floor.

The twu better not bring back a pig with different colored lipstick.

FULL SNAP BACK PLUS COST OF INFLATION.