Holly Hegeman FA smackdown!

[kirkpatrick]

What is the "Hard 40"? 
 
How is it good for FAs and how does it promote the profession? 

The hard 40 is something included in the TA originally.  It means you cannot trade down below 40 hours, even if you intend to pick something up immediately.  One of the things we FAs like is flexibility.  Many people will take a month off or fly very low time (they only get paid for what they fly, of course) and they were very upset at the prospect of having to do 40 hours every month.  It's really a no cost item to the company, since for every trip dropped someone picks it up.  So instead of two FAs each flying 80 hrs one may fly 30 and the other 130.
 
The union and the company quickly saw that was the main sticking point in the TA so they agreed to get rid of it.  Instead of being elated, many FAs took it as backroom bargaining and a sign the union and company were in bed together.  God knows how they might have reacted if we had been suddenly given profit sharing or another 10% in pay.
 
MK

 

[WorldTraveler]

except having employees do no work but receive benefits is very much a costly item for the company.

AA has long allowed workgroups to swap away far more of their work schedule than what other airlines allow.


Parker knows full well that benefits cost money and are only getting more expensive.

One FA can say they will work a light month only to make up for it the next month but in aggregate there could be hundreds of FAs not working a full load at any given time; it is far cheaper to have fewer employees and let the ones who want to work more do so.

He might have backed down to try to get the deal done - which didn't happen - but he is very much aware of the cost of keeping non-producing employees on the payroll.

 

[kirkpatrick]

$3000 medical stipend, GONE. 401K contribution, GONE. Pay step 14 AND 15, BACK. One week of vacation, GONE. Sick time accrual, LOWERED. Sick bank max, LOWER. Hard 40, STAYING. MORONS, all amongst us! That is just the start to the "rearranging".

(Switched to the laptop where I can edit normally)  IORFA, I've been mulling over just how they'd do it and your formula looks very much like what I was thinking.  LUS's 3000 x 8000 FAs is 24 mil, so I assume LAA's 9.9% 401k might be worth about the same.  Stretching the arrival at top of scale would help and so would knocking off some vacation, but I have no way of figuring just how much.  They could eliminate the final pay increase as well. 
 
We'll still get our raise and most importantly, the vastly superior PBS and open time handling that unfortunately is a couple of years away.  But I'll always remember what was taken away and who's responsible.
 
MK

 

[kirkpatrick]

except having employees do no work but receive benefits is very much a costly item for the company.

AA has long allowed workgroups to swap away far more of their work schedule than what other airlines allow.


Parker knows full well that benefits cost money and are only getting more expensive.

One FA can say they will work a light month only to make up for it the next month but in aggregate there could be hundreds of FAs not working a full load at any given time; it is far cheaper to have fewer employees and let the ones who want to work more do so.

He might have backed down to try to get the deal done - which didn't happen - but he is very much aware of the cost of keeping non-producing employees on the payroll.

WT, you are so completely off base I don't even want to start, except to say there are minimums in place in which sick leave accrual, vacation accrual and even paid benefits don't happen unless certain numbers are reached.  You may be good with your ASMs and such, but you don't have a clue about the details I'm referring to.

 

[john john]

They already used mediation, now it goes to arbitration.

WRONG

APFA has asked the company to provide dates for mediation next week. Those dates will be announced as soon as they are set.

 

[WorldTraveler]

WT, you are so completely off base I don't even want to start, except to say there are minimums in place in which sick leave accrual, vacation accrual and even paid benefits don't happen unless certain numbers are reached.  You may be good with your ASMs and such, but you don't have a clue about the details I'm referring to.

and those all came into place because AA had much more liberal swapping policies than in the past - at least in some depts.

not sure how long you have been in AA FA and if you can say when swapping/dropping rules were tightened but the point is still that non-working or low working employees do cost the money something.

I accept your correction unlimited swapping/dropping is not possible while retaining benefits in AA FA today.

 

[Phoenix]

WRONG

APFA has asked the company to provide dates for mediation next week. Those dates will be announced as soon as they are set.

 
IMHO the company would be stupid to refuse to accept the request for mediation.  I can't imagine that Doug would prefer to force arbitration (and all that entails) rather than just spend a little money on a propaganda campaign to pretend they increased benefits to just 16 FAs to buy a ratified vote.... 

 

[AirLUVer]

It is highly unlikely that the pot gets sweetened any more, unless UA/CO suddenly come up with a new industry leading TA that raises the floor. It will most likely be a reshuffling of the chairs, and the same over all valuation.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

I voted yes despite the "stop your whinning and vote" soft touch from "Scott" and the leadership.
 
Mediation or arbitration? Which is it?
 
That is a very ambiguous email.
 
We will find out by Dec. 3rd.
 
Can LG save her own people? Can she save herself?
 
By the way... who was the genius who decided we would go before the pilots?
 
APFA,AFA,IBT or any other union. If LG doesn't pull a rabbit out of her hat she is going down.
 
I think you may have needed our votes.
 
You may want to treat us better if this comes to another vote.
 
It's pretty obvious you can't rally your own people.

 

[SparrowHawk]

They can't strike they are not in section 6 negotiations

Not Today they aren't

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

LUS... ALWAYS included all J/s in in every flight. A benefit far better than the antiquated case by case method of LAA.
 
Your supposed to be smarter than WT.

My guess is that US's systems were too primitive to figure in the variability in crew staffing, so they just assumed it would be filled.
 

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

For all the prematurally self congatulatory AA people.
 
You may want to re-think your method of talking to people.
 
You turned alot of people off by being so AArrogant.
 
You're not in this by yourselves.
 
AA

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

If LG cannot rectify this then she has failed.
 
She is of no value and should be gone.
 
Going to the wedding seems to be more important than getting 24,000 an industry leading contract.
 
There will be repercussions if this gets to a bad arbitrator outcome.
 
If you really handcuffed us to 111m to let this merger go through, you are going down.
 
And for all the LG cheerleaders and this is from a yes voter... you are AAmateurs.
 
AA

 

[bigjets]

If LG cannot rectify this then she has failed.
 
She is of no value and should be gone.
 
Going to the wedding seems to be more important than getting 24,000 an industry leading contract.
 
There will be repercussions if this gets to a bad arbitrator outcome.
 
If you really handcuffed us to 111m to let this merger go through, you are going down.
 
AA

The FAs voted down the contract knowing it would go to arbitration, that's what LG, DP, and union lawyer said would happen. The FAs got what they wanted, arbitration.

 

[Be Careful What You Wish For.]

The FAs voted down the contract knowing it would go to arbitration, that's what LG, DP, and union lawyer said would happen. The FAs got what they wanted, arbitration.

What a great job the union leadership did.
 
Outstanding. LG can can make another phone call and fix it.
 
Right?