Maybe it's time to resurrect the idea of an apprentice or junior mechanic?
I have no problem with it as long as its a true appenticship program, not simply another two tier wage scam like it became in the 90s where we had Junior Mechs being assigned without an AMT and even had JR Mechs RII buying back AMT work. They cant be included as a full AMT in the headcount since in theory they will be working with and learning by observing an AMT. Back then 10 years at Eagle didnt count for anything so many were experienced mechanics they just didnt work big airplanes.
The company got rid of it in 2001 because they didnt want to fix what they were doing wrong. My feeling is that they did that in preparation for this and FAR 66. In 2003 only one counterproposal was brought forth, that was to eliminate Part Time language from our agreement. Why do you think they did that? There was no dollar value to it and the one part time T-II could have been grandfathered in.
You say that limiting them to Tulsa or AFW is too limiting, well right now they are pretty much limited to New York, and the company feels that since most have years with the company they will accept living here on the entry wage of $14/hr plus premiums. My guess is most will not make a full year here. Six months, three spent in training and to a man/woman they will have their papers in to get out. In their spitefullness the company is going to make this whole experience as unpleasent as they possibly can for these people. As far as I can remember as long as we have had flex Starting rates we always hired above the first step. I have to wonder how many will simply pass because they dont want to get stuck trying to live off $20/hr in an area where they need $45/hr to live like they are living now.
Years ago AA could get experienced mechanics because we would go to the LCCs to get experience. Back then, as now, they had fewer mechanics per airplane, outsourced their heavy work and had much lower operating costs, however they werent very reliable, a lot of that had to do with the fact that they had inexperienced mechanics learning their trade there. Once they became proficient they left and went to the majors. Now the LCCs still outsource most of their OH, still have fewer mechanics per airplane and lower operating costs but often pay more than the majors, Jet Blue, pays $38 in high cost areas, Air Tran pays $36, and SWA pays $43 vs AAs $33. We are becoming the training grounds for those carriers for the very few who bother getting their A&Ps. Its not like the pay went up at the LCCs, all they did was keep pace with inflation, the pay at the majors plummeted. Most of the young have permanently left the industry and the FAA only issues around 6000 new maintenance certs a year, an A&P is two certs, so thats possibly around 3000 new A&Ps a year, thats not enough for the airlines, let alone the rest of the Aviation system. There is only one reason for this-Pay. You arent going to get a lot of People to invest in getting an A&P if there' isnt a payoff of a good job in the end. Jet Blue, even at $38 is constantly losing people. Their workforce is younger with only a few years invested, therefore more inclined to throw in the towel sooner than their older counterparts at the majors. 30 years ago when I was hired on by Capitol Air my intentions were to get the experience needed to get into the majors. If back then the majors were paying less than Capitol, I would probably do what some of the younger guys who now quit Jet Blue are doing, quit ad leave the industry, because for the pay offered and the demands they expect us to meet it simply would not be worth it.
Recently the FAA announced that they will be trying to determine the true number of active license holders out their. I see this as another step in their plan to reintroduce FAR 66. Years ago they used to just list the number of licences issued from the agency to people who were between 18 and 65, then they made it 70. Why, to inflate the numbers and lower our percieved bargaining power. The first time I looked at the figure from the FAA in the 90s it said their were 330,000 license holders (65 and under), the more recent number is 300,000 (70 and under). Obviously raising the age considered active inflated the number but it still dropped by 30,000. If we went back to 65 my guess is the number would probably be in the low 200,000 range. Now they are initiating a program to determine those who are actually active, why? To expose the reality that there arent enough people pursuing a career as an aircaft mechanic so they can use that as an excuse to lower the standards and continue to supress our wages. That if Airline Mechanics had to withdraw their labor from General Aviation due to duty time limits that system would probably collapse. That if Airline mechanics faced similar duty time limits as pilots that the commercial airline system would also be in a crisis because many work for more than one employer, which isnt even tracked by the FAA. Repetive 16 to 20 hour days is not uncommon for airline aircraft mechanics in their desperate attempt to make up for the 40% cut in real earning we have experienced.
