Doug Parker has no intentions to Meet with AFA to develop a new proposal

[luvn737s]

One thing is for sure, any strike on the property won't be coming from the pilot group, we are so fractured right now we would not be able to agree on a catering order for a company picnic much less anything like that!

That's some union you got there. Not only do they fail to serve their own members, they drag the rest of the industry down as a direct result of their selfish stupidity.

US has a history of that Doug can count on.

 

[johnny kat]

700 I did not know your history. You are correct the majority spoke. And with that, where do we go from here? I suspect demeaning each others opinions on this board is going to be of little help to anyone. We must return to the table and deal. Maybe it will be better next time around. Good luck to us all.

 

[700UW]

Did you not see Doug has refused to return to the table?

Show me any other airline merger in history where it has been seven+ years since the merger and its not complete yet.

How dare does a CEO strike deals with unions that arent even on US property nor employed by US when his own workers dont have settled CBAs?

 

[robbedagain]

youre soo right 700 if he has the ability to offer aa employees things then why cant he settle our contracts

 

[johnny kat]

Yes I have noticed! And we are making history with the 7 years. We are making the next chapter in airline history (the rotten side of it). Parker could make this all better tomorrow if he wanted to. But he isn't. So IMHO it is more important than ever for our unions to try and get BK laws changed and also to revamp the RLA. This is why we must vote on Nov. 6th to ensure we have the correct party at the helm. Until these things change there isn't much hope short of the Ghost of Christmas Past giving Douggie a little late night ride through Tiny Tim's house.

But the last thing we need is for AFA leadership to be asleep at the helm. If there was a Frank Lorenzo Award, Parker would surely win.

 

[PITbull]

PITbull,

It would be nice if we still had you to help us out. The sad truth is there simply just isn't that quality of leadership left at the helm of AFA.

I know in the past I have been more critical of the F/As at US who seem so adamant about making a statement about how they were treated through the 2 BKs. I could be so much more critical of Parker and mgmnt. if I did not understand that they are doing exactly what they are paid to do. And that is keep all of our wages as low as possible.

So, here we are. As a group we now have to take the 100% strike vote and hope we can strike. If not we will have to wait the recess out and then go back to the table and try again. The latter seems the most likely.

My beef with all of this is we could have taken the modest increase in wages, kept the job protections and duty rigs in place, and got on with the business of being F/As. So now we must go on with the distraction and hope for the best...It gets old after a while. Sigh

No doubt it must still be a hellish experience on this roller coaster ride of a career. I feel reallly bad for the U f/as, for taking another career path, and now seeing that nothing has changed in a decade. Often times I wish I were there just to give Corporate the GD shitttt they so richly deserve. I would go to the table for the union if they asked for absolutely nothing.
Parker doesn't give a ratts asss about sharing in piece of a profitable pie and never has. He is unapproachable and disengaged from his own labor force. It is so evident from everything he puts out there in public view. We all know that getting that part of the pie for the group always had to be forced even up to extreme measures. I hear from f/as all over the system and I feel for them as they are nearing the end of the work lives and just hoped for much better after 10 years of concessions..

What I see for the group is the worst case scernario and that is a merger with an airline with an 80,000 work force that is in BK for their first dance. If a merger would occur, you guys would be sitting with pieces of another BK contract. How many decades does this go on...no one can answer that.

IMO, the management inplace is just not talented to lead a huge carrier like AA. Parker has been charged with getting the airline on the cheap while in BK...that is where his focus is.

If there is a merger, you will have major downsizing as the industry's goal is to decrease capacity, furloughs, baseclosures, more internal unrest with 3 pilot labor unions 2 f/a labor unions and West operation still not merged yet. In my crystal ball, I see years of litigation and wages/workrules/benefit stymied as a result.

At this point either way...doesn't look good, so, take it to a strike!

Its time the industry saw a long coming strike. I bet the industry workforce will applaud labor at US Airways, finally...
the U management with a decade of long-standing bad labor relationswho created all this bK havoc and race to the bottom of the heap in wages, can eat shitttt and....die

Here is what I have been doing the last 5 months. My way of doing whatever I could do from the sidelines... to help the U f/a group negotiate a fair contract with NO outside influence of mergers and distractions...
Remember, media is your friend..use it to your advantage..the company hates that.

http://teddyonaviation.com/

 

[FWAAA]

Twice in the same year, Parker got out his checkbook and offered the FAs about $40 million in additional compensation and twice the union leadership supported the TAs. First one by Flores (who was removed) and the second time, says Ted Reed, by all the leaders who didn't support the first TA:

http://www.thestreet.com/story/11720208/1/what-american-pilots-can-learn-from-us-airways-flight-attendants.html

I have no respect for Doug Parker, but I can't blame him for hesitating to meet with the negotiators again until they are absolutely certain what the membership wants. With two TAs in the same year, there is no impasse that would cause a release, so Parker isn't under the gun to get back to the table.

 

[signals]

You know what is the beauty of dividing labor? You are still covered if there is a strike.

 

[dash8roa]

There is nothing to stop the f/as right to strike the airline. The NMB wil not schedule any more time; so....he's fired. He has NO right to tie you up and hold the uniion hostage.

This is not a BK arena. You are in sec. 6, t/a failed twice...cool off period, stike vote.......then CHAOS arond the system!

I would be arguing with AFA to approach the board in a formal letter (just as the pilots did in April 2004) and FIRE DOUG PARKER!!!!! He has spent too much time trying to force AA into a merger. You guys should go public and force Parker to pay attention to his own house, or get him OFF the US Airways payroll.

Just as the BOD followed the advice the pilots and fiared Dave Seigel, as the pilots said they WOULD NEVER go back to th table for aother round of concessions with Dave Siegel at the helm. So, Dave was fired; and the interim, in-experienced Bruce Lakefield, took the temporary position to lead the second BK with the pilots at the table withe Siegel gone!

You have the power through unityt o direct your leadership to act and get rid of the current managment culture. There maybe a ratification of a T/A if Doug Parker packs up and leaves! The guy has proven over the last 7 years that he just can't run a major legacy carrier, without looking for another airline to gobble up...he can't compete, so he tries to take over the competition as the only strategy to have market share.. He has no business acumen to go head to head with the competition and TAKE the market by offering the best service and being THE BEST IN CLASS. Your CEO has spent his energies and company resources, the entire year, pursuing another airline and another labor force.

Kind of sad that when Dave Seigel left,he left with 4.5 million in hand.Good pay for a job NOT well done.He left right after the in house video on ethics we were all required to watch.

 

[Phoenix]

Better to die standing up then to beg on your knees.

US has been making profits and the FAs deserve to be rewarded, the two TAs still set you backwards, the increase in pay was lost due to increases in medical.

Majority rules and the majority felt the TA wasnt enough. Live with it and unite and take the company on, as you are showing division, the company is not going to give you anything.

It is simply amazing... The company locks employees in a cage for years, refuses to feed them, sticks them with a hot poker, the employees blame each other, and before you know it management can throw a few clubs and baseball bats into the cage and they get used a plenty.

 

[jimntx]

There is nothing to stop the f/as right to strike the airline. The NMB wil not schedule any more time; so....he's fired. He has NO right to tie you up and hold the uniion hostage.

If APFA history over the past 5 years means anything, there is most certainly something stopping the f/as at LCC from striking. It's called the NMB and the RLA. THREE (or 4) times the APFA formally petitioned the NMB to be released into self-help on the basis that the company was not bargaining in good faith. This included one time where the company negotiators did not bother to even show up to an NMB-mandated mediation session. Didn't show up. Didn't send their regrets. Offered no explanation.

Every time the NMB refused the APFA's request for release from mediation. AFAIK, there is no provision in the RLA which allows the union or the company to seek legal redress if the NMB does not grant the release request.

 

[700UW]

You can always work by the book.

In the IAM negotiations that started in 89 and ended in 92 with a strike, during the 30 day cooling off period we worked exactly by the company policies word by word and did the same in 99 when were were negotiating for over 4 1/2 years.

The problem is we as workers dont hold Congress accountable and the RLA needs to be changed, it is a law that is meant to protect interstate commerce and not the workers.

 

[A320 Driver]

I spoke to 3 F/As on the layover last night. None of them were interested in a contract that did not restore everything they've lost since 9-11, including retroactive pay. All said they would vote to strike.

This could drag out for a long time.

Driver...

 

[johnny kat]

Driver,

It now appears likely it will drag on for a long time. But if the Dallas Morning news article is true, then APFA will be doing the bargaining. AA has aprox. 16,800 f/as and US has aprox 6500. Whose interests are going to be on the front burner at merger?

 

[johnny kat]

http://www.dallasnews.com/business/airline-industry/20121102-american-us-airways-merger-proposal-expected-to-come-soon.ece