Labor Costs

[Bob Owens]

The 5 is crap, but the average is not 20. It is more like 10, the old two-weeks off standard.

Beans compared to what Europeans get.

Paid days off. Most full time workers get 10 holidays and 2 weeks vacation, thats 20 paid days off a year.

 

[x-insider]

What Holidays?? With 20 Plus years I still work most holidays and Weekends!!!! And Midnights to boot!!! All because I choose to live in a 4 season Climate not Tule or DFW!! Once again the Media gives a broad sweep of Income from a Few and claims Good pay! Break out the Company officers and compare that to the Workers!!!

 

[The Goose]

What Holidays?? With 20 Plus years I still work most holidays and Weekends!!!! And Midnights to boot!!! All because I choose to live in a 4 season Climate not Tule or DFW!! Once again the Media gives a broad sweep of Income from a Few and claims Good pay! Break out the Company officers and compare that to the Workers!!!

You sound as though you expected to read an article that was truthful and unbiased from the media.

 

[Boomer]

I would still like the employees to be able to see the TVS compensation statements by labor group.

P/T employees that draw benefits cost more per ASM than 40 Hr/WK employees simply because the benefits are not prorated over scheduled hours.

Higher benefits negotiated into labor contracts that do not equalize hours spent on the job result in higher costs per ASM per labor hour delivered.

Anything outside of the direct and indirect cost per hour of an employee are the result of a management structure entirely outside any Union CBA: let management take upon themselves those costs per labor hour and translate those into their collective TVS.

Get BCG, or ECLAT or the JLT or the AEIOU Group to perform the calculations...let us know what you find.

 

[eolesen]

Seem to me that benefits should be prorated to hours worked the way VC time is credited.

We have different employer contributions for 20, 30, and 40+ hour workweeks. Drop your hours? Pay a higher prorate the following month. Creates a little more work for admin and payroll, but gets rid of the whole benefits for not working system that happens with some workgroups at AA.... And the employees who pick up hours are grateful for the offset.

 

[TWU informer]

I am still awaiting the honest break down of cost per ASM broken down by:

Management
Pilot Group
F/A Group
TWU Group

Until I have factual data, I will not be buying into the management squeal about cost per ASM.

 

[Wretched Wrench]

Seem to me that benefits should be prorated to hours worked the way VC time is credited.

We have different employer contributions for 20, 30, and 40+ hour workweeks. Drop your hours? Pay a higher prorate the following month. Creates a little more work for admin and payroll, but gets rid of the whole benefits for not working system that happens with some workgroups at AA.... And the employees who pick up hours are grateful for the offset.

That certainly seems reasonable and fair, but what would be the actual dollar effect applied over the entire employee base? AA would gain if short week workers paid more, but would lose if 40+ hour workers paid less.

Also, would the 40+ hours per week group have their benefits prorated per extra hour worked? If so, that would make overtime a little more attractive. Or even picking up extra days. After all, paying a dollar less for benefits is worth more than earning an extra dollar, after taxation is factored in.

Let's extend the pro rata calculation to retirement. More hours, higher retirement. Right now, it caps at 2080 hours per year for an hourly employee, with no credit given for overtime or extra hours.

 

[Bob Owens]

That certainly seems reasonable and fair, but what would be the actual dollar effect applied over the entire employee base? AA would gain if short week workers paid more, but would lose if 40+ hour workers paid less.

Also, would the 40+ hours per week group have their benefits prorated per extra hour worked? If so, that would make overtime a little more attractive. Or even picking up extra days. After all, paying a dollar less for benefits is worth more than earning an extra dollar, after taxation is factored in.

What we should do is not let the company pass their costs on to us. They decide to hire part timers because it saves them money in wages, if they had to absorb the added medical expenses that adding all those extra people on the plan then maybe they would decide not to hire so many of them. The last figure I saw was 10,000 part timers, so figure that adds 45,000 people to the plan. They dont care because they simply pass the costs on to us. When they bought TWA (just trying to be factual here, nothing against you guys) they took on an older workforce where the rates of serious illness and medical costs would also be higher. So between part timers and the influx of older workers thats probably why our costs went up so much compared to the pilots and FAs where those two things are not big factors.

Let's extend the pro rata calculation to retirement. More hours, higher retirement. Right now, it caps at 2080 hours per year for an hourly employee, with no credit given for overtime or extra hours.

Now you're talking! But thats not likely to happen because too many mechanics would transfer into Fleet Service!!