Obvious setup hah?
You might believe that you should be paid a location wage, but the company prefers you get a market wage.
The company has claimed the opposite for the 20plus years that I've been around. Its the TWU that has blocked "location wages".
What are the market wages these days for line and periodic checks in NY?
Location hah?
I got news for you guys.
The only reason mechanics like you are underpaid (for their location that is,right?) is none other than yourselves.
You and only you.
Stop blaming TWU, Tulsa, Guatemala, the White House, Congress and your dog.
Well if you want to look at it your way,whats the market rate for C checks? Why should a C-check in Tulsa cost more than a C-check in Guatemala? The fact is the only reason you make what you make , and not closer to what they make in Guatamala, is because of the fact that your contract is our contract. Consider that as you talk about market rates.
If the company ever sits and really examines how much they are losing by underpaying 4000 line mechanics so they can overpay(according to your "market rate" approach) 6000 in Tulsa then you are screwed.
Looking at things the way you do then the company should cut wages in Tulsa because they could still get people for half of what they are paying you right? How many jobs pay $15/hr in Tulsa?
The fact is that the company has blown through their recall list in NY. Some of the smaller carriers like North American have had ads in the papers for months looking for A&Ps at JFK. Thats one of the reasons why AA is getting all those contracts, because these other carriers cant find workers. If the FAA ever cracked down on the amount of hours an A&P could work then those other airlines, who hire AA and other airlines workers as part timers, would be screwed.
The line mechanics that keep coming to work for those same low wages are to blame.
So basically you are saying that we shouldnt bother with having a union and allow the market to determine our wages.
I am not suggesting you move or quit. Maybe you have another solution, I don’t.
We need to get a real union.
Regional pay is something that most industries have, including the government. The airline industry didnt need it before because the wages earned in places like Tulsa were primarily based upon what was needed in places like NY. As a result people with a High School diploma at best were earning wages comparable to doctors in places like Tulsa. We always earned slightly below similarly situated people, but the gap has widened intolerably. A TWU mechanic in NY earns about $25,000 a year LESS than Jim Littles secretary.
Not all airlines had their OH in cheap low cost areas, that also mitigated the negative effects of having the majority of our contract group in a low cost area. It also kept wages in Tulsa higher. However that is no longer the case. AA now has the highest paid full service overhaul mechanics in the US MRO industry. However they are experiencing increased delays and cancellations on the line because of poor morale. Poor morale caused by poor pay rates. Most of the people they had on their recall list are not coming back, the majority of those who returned to their positions had never left AA.
So the "market rate" is kicking in, however since the union has nothing to do with it and most on the line cant stand the TWU where do you think the company is going to set their sights this time brother? They can't cut the line because they have already cut below the market rate and the poor morale is affecting their bottom line. While the majority on the line no longer go the extra mile they dont go out of their way to find things that would pull the plane out of service either, any sort of cut would definately trigger a job action on the line, in fact its just an incident away. How much do you think they could cut in Tulsa and still get people?
Are they going to go after those that they are having trouble keeping? Are they going to target the ones who directly affect their schedule? Or are they going after those who still live with Doctors?
If AA did decide to spin off OH where should we on the line stand? Should we say"Let the market determine OH rates of pay", like you are saying about the line? I know, you will threaten that you guys will all bump to the line, well all they have to do is fail you on the trade test to stop that, do you think all these supervisors out here or the company want someone from the blade weld shop(which is highly skilled job-but not needed on the line) doing live gate calls where seconds makes all the difference between an on time departure and a delay?
Cutting wages for line mechanics cost the company more than it saved. Sure they could easily see the lower wages but measuring how much they lost through delays, cancellations, unnecissary parts changes, increased use of consumables, OT, etc is much harder to measure but it adds up. Workers have to make up what the company took, so they work the OT. There is no incentive to work harder especially if its going to take away the OT needed to survive.
When AA gave mechanics a raise in 2001 it cost the company nothing. OT dissapeared and AA had its best reliability ever. Many mechanics made the same in 2000 as they did in 2002, because there no longer was any OT to be had. When a mechanic is making OT it generally means a plane is out of service. When mechanics got their raise the hangars were empty during the day, when the pay was cut they started to be occupied again.
All AA needs to do is give 4000 line mechs back everything (including adjustments for inflation) and they could still let attrition shrink the workforce another 15% and still have the best on time stats in the industry. The cuts in manpower, increased productivity, reduced OT and a more efficient use of parts and materiel through more vigorous troubleshooting would more than cover the increases in wages per mechanic. Its a formula that has worked well for SWA and UPS for many years.
So limit if its "every man for themselves" and "markets rates" you advocate, fine, lets go non-union, or stay with the TWU as it is and see who takes the biggest hit. At this point we dont have much to lose.
