NEW WORK RULES

[Bob Owens]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. In house overhaul is on borrowed time and TULE is on borrowed time. We're the last domestic airline doing in house maintenance and supposedly we're losing our a$$ doing it. Come on people, wake up and smell the coffee. This can't last forever and if this merger goes thru with US Airways it'll probably happen sooner then later. Getting us to give up system protection is the first step. It takes time. It can't happen overnight. But on the positive side if we lose TULE we can finelly get rid of their stooge, the TWU once and for all.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
Patience my fellow AMT's, our time will come. In the mean time let's enjoy the show in TULE.

Who ever said that AA was losing its ass doing OH in house? The company never made that claim, the company just said they have the highest labor costs, which does not necessarily mean that at the end of the day it costs them more to produce an ASM than it does their competitors.

We got duped, AA may have had the highest labor costs but they have the lowest cost (per ASM) for outsourced maintenance even though they have an old fleet. A new fleet will likley dramatically decrease overall maintenance costs. We were hoodwinked into addressing a problem that really wasnt, AA walked out with the best of both.

 

[OldGuy@AA]

Who ever said that AA was losing its ass doing OH in house? The company never made that claim, the company just said they have the highest labor costs, which does not necessarily mean that at the end of the day it costs them more to produce an ASM than it does their competitors.

We got duped, AA may have had the highest labor costs but they have the lowest cost (per ASM) for outsourced maintenance even though they have an old fleet. A new fleet will likley dramatically decrease overall maintenance costs. We were hoodwinked into addressing a problem that really wasnt, AA walked out with the best of both.

And this is how it has gone in every negotiation. A win / win for AA courtesy of the TWU.

 

[The Dissident]

Maybe its a good time to remind everyone that overtime is voluntary!!

 

[700UW]

How does that compare to pre 2002 levels before the concessions?

Josh

In 2002 100% of overhaul was done in-house, chapter 11 case one it remained the same in 2002 through 2005.

2005 the CBA abrogation permitted them to outsource what they wanted, after the merger the IAM negotiated limits, which limited the company to 50% of mtc dollars and billable hours to be outsourced maximum.

 

[BigMac]

[quote name='AC Tynker' timestamp='1347041515' post='93531]

I forgot to ask you BigMac, what do you mean by your thread tag "TWU running Scared" ? Just curious.
[/quote]
Tynk, I think the tag is self explanatory. AA is pushing the TWU around like a bully and the TWU is running scared. (Hope this helps)

 

[OldGuy@AA]

Apparently the work rule changes weren't supposed to be passed on to us peons yet. Bob Collins sent an email to all supervisors and managers today telling them how dissappointed he is that someone ran their mouth and let the cat out of the bag. One part of the business plan is to give as little notice as possible before any changes are announced. For example: Three weeks ago today (Friday) I and my co-workers were informed that the following Monday (three days from then) we would be in an entirely different organization with a different supervisor, manager and planner. So the new business plan is just like the old one in that respect. It is comforting that when/if AA ever decides to lock the gates here in Tulsa, we will find out when we try to go to work or we'll see it on the evening news. Mr. Collins seems to have fit right into the AA upper management business ethics. But don't worry for one second. Our wonderful "union" will not stand for any of this and will "Fight like hell" to make sure we are not treated like second class citizens. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Sorry, couldn't keep a straight face. ​

 

[AA89]

You will know you are locked out by the crime scene tape around the place as you drive up.............

 

[Bob Owens]

In 2002 100% of overhaul was done in-house, chapter 11 case one it remained the same in 2002 through 2005.

2005 the CBA abrogation permitted them to outsource what they wanted, after the merger the IAM negotiated limits, which limited the company to 50% of mtc dollars and billable hours to be outsourced maximum.

In other words in 2002 we outsourced a lot more than USAIR. Our oursourcing actually decreased after 2003, prior to that we were the leaders. Overspin leaves that out when he cites how many mechanics jobs were lost at competitors . We've been losing jobs for 30 years that your guys kept, we lost them when we lost Recieve and Dispatch back in the eighties. When did your mechanics lose recieve and dispatch? We lost them when the shops went to low paid SRPs. And we lost them when we allowed other carriers to come on to company property with their own mechanics and work on airplanes. Sure some of these may still be TWU jobs, but they are no longer A&P mechanic jobs.

Is the 50% an absolute number or does it include exclusions that arent counted as part of the spend? For instance with us if the partnership with RR goes away they can outsource the work, and eliminate the jobs, which would bring us pretty close to your 50% by the time AA outsources the widebodies overseas. Other things that are not clearly defined are excluded as well so even though it says 35% of maint spend its not.

 

[Strake]

Apparently the work rule changes weren't supposed to be passed on to us peons yet. Bob Collins sent an email to all supervisors and managers today telling them how dissappointed he is that someone ran their mouth and let the cat out of the bag. One part of the business plan is to give as little notice as possible before any changes are announced. For example: Three weeks ago today (Friday) I and my co-workers were informed that the following Monday (three days from then) we would be in an entirely different organization with a different supervisor, manager and planner. So the new business plan is just like the old one in that respect. It is comforting that when/if AA ever decides to lock the gates here in Tulsa, we will find out when we try to go to work or we'll see it on the evening news. Mr. Collins seems to have fit right into the AA upper management business ethics. But don't worry for one second. Our wonderful "union" will not stand for any of this and will "Fight like hell" to make sure we are not treated like second class citizens. hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha. Sorry, couldn't keep a straight face. ​

It doesn't matter who "they" put in charge, what "work rules" are put in place. The airline hasn't been ran well for years. It's pretty obvious they are grasping at straws even now. They refuse to take responsibility for their own short comings by presenting us with a few more hoops to jump through. So jump through them, doesn't mean you have to jump through your ass for them. I'm not. Consider the caliber of people they have retained to lead us out of this mess. Are you impressed? I'm not. So once again they try to pass the blame on the ones doing the work.... Oh my God! No more chairs, cell phones, tobacco, or any other trivial BS. Is that all they have to worry about? Really? Show up everyday, do your job, pretend like you care, and get out as soon as you can. The only power they have is the power you give them. At this point why would you give any more of yourself to people like these? They don't know what skill is, they really don't need any to do the work they do. Hell, put me in a top management position, I can ass kiss my way to the top, run the company into the ground and pass the blame all while being overpaid to do it.. How hard can it be?

No, on second thought, I couldn't do it. I'm not that kind of guy.

 

[TWU informer]

It doesn't matter who "they" put in charge, what "work rules" are put in place. The airline hasn't been ran well for years. It's pretty obvious the are grasping at straws even now. They refuse to take responsability for their own short comings by presenting us with a few more hoops to jump through. So jump through them, doesn't mean you have to jump through your ass for them. I'm not. Consider the caliber of people they have retained to lead us out of this mess. Are you impressed? I'm not. So once again they try to pass the blame on the ones doing the work.... Oh my God! No more chairs, cell phones, tobacco, or any other trivial BS. Is that all they have to worry about? Really? Show up everyday, do your job, pretend like you care, and get out as soon as you can. The only power they have is the power you give them. At this point why would you give any more of yourself to people like this? They don't know what skill is, they really don't need any to do the work they do. Hell, put me in a top management position, I can ass kiss my way to the top, run the company into the ground and pass the blame all while being overpaid to do it.. How hard can it be?

THIS

 

[strikeforce]

It doesn't matter who "they" put in charge, what "work rules" are put in place. The airline hasn't been ran well for years. It's pretty obvious they are grasping at straws even now. They refuse to take responsibility for their own short comings by presenting us with a few more hoops to jump through. So jump through them, doesn't mean you have to jump through your ass for them. I'm not. Consider the caliber of people they have retained to lead us out of this mess. Are you impressed? I'm not. So once again they try to pass the blame on the ones doing the work.... Oh my God! No more chairs, cell phones, tobacco, or any other trivial BS. Is that all they have to worry about? Really? Show up everyday, do your job, pretend like you care, and get out as soon as you can. The only power they have is the power you give them. At this point why would you give any more of yourself to people like these? They don't know what skill is, they really don't need any to do the work they do. Hell, put me in a top management position, I can ass kiss my way to the top, run the company into the ground and pass the blame all while being overpaid to do it.. How hard can it be?

No, on second thought, I couldn't do it. I'm not that kind of guy.

the problem is.....the clueless one's have decided to outsource your job. And, as long as they see a bunch of slackers sitting around and playing domino's......sitting at the internet cafe or "doing nothing".....good amt jobs will be lost to MRO's.

 

[Hopeful]

the problem is.....the clueless one's have decided to outsource your job. And, as long as they see a bunch of slackers sitting around and playing domino's......sitting at the internet cafe or "doing nothing".....good amt jobs will be lost to MRO's.

Be careful, strikeforce! The truth hurts! You will soon be chastised here for saying such a thing!

 

[700UW]

In other words in 2002 we outsourced a lot more than USAIR. Our oursourcing actually decreased after 2003, prior to that we were the leaders. Overspin leaves that out when he cites how many mechanics jobs were lost at competitors . We've been losing jobs for 30 years that your guys kept, we lost them when we lost Recieve and Dispatch back in the eighties. When did your mechanics lose recieve and dispatch? We lost them when the shops went to low paid SRPs. And we lost them when we allowed other carriers to come on to company property with their own mechanics and work on airplanes. Sure some of these may still be TWU jobs, but they are no longer A&P mechanic jobs.

Is the 50% an absolute number or does it include exclusions that arent counted as part of the spend? For instance with us if the partnership with RR goes away they can outsource the work, and eliminate the jobs, which would bring us pretty close to your 50% by the time AA outsources the widebodies overseas. Other things that are not clearly defined are excluded as well so even though it says 35% of maint spend its not.

J) Company base maintenance employees will perform fifty
17 (50%) percent or greater of all aircraft base maintenance work,
18 inclusive of narrow and wide-body aircraft, as follows: On an
19 annualized basis, for every billable hour of work from aircraft base
20 maintenance vendors performing Company base maintenance
21 work; modification work; scheduled drop in maintenance; and any
22 drop-in maintenance relating to fuselage damage or any other
23 damage, there will be an equal or greater number of paid hours to
24 Company base maintenance employees. This includes Company
25 Lead Mechanics, Mechanics, Inspectors, Utility and Lead Utility
26 (combined) assigned to base maintenance.
27
28 Deck work for vendor heavy maintenance overhaul will
29 continue to be built by Base Maintenance Planners.
30
31 All aircraft line maintenance work, including phase
32 checks and lower level checks above a daily check (e.g. A & B
33 checks, overnight checks, weekly checks and unscheduled drop in
34 maintenance), preformed by base maintenance employees will not
35 be included as Company base maintenance hours for the purposes
36 of this provision.
37
38 Livery work may be outsourced and the billable hours do
39 not count as base maintenance work, but other work performed by
40 the vendor during the livery visit may be outsourced and the
41 billable hours for such other work will count towards base
42 maintenance work.
Aircraft lease return maintenance visits may be
45 outsourced and the vendor’s billable hours will count towards base
46 maintenance work.
to the union and/or the union’s advisor, documentation
3 necessary to verify the Company’s compliance with outsourcing
4 provisions including a summary of the previous calendar year’s
5 base maintenance paid hours and vendor airframe base
6 maintenance billed hours. On an ongoing basis the Company will
7 provide to the Union no later than the end of the following month a
8 summary of the previous month’s base maintenance vendor’s
9 billable hours including tail numbers of the aircraft.
10
11 In any year where the vendor billed hours are more than
12 fifty (50%) percent of the total combined vendor billed hours and
13 the Company base maintenance paid hours, such deficit hours will
14 be added to the current calendar year required company base
15 maintenance paid hours.
16
17 The Company will not furlough to the street any Base
18 Mechanic who is active as of the effective date of this agreement
19 provided such employee exercises their seniority to the fullest
20 extent. (Subject to force majeure provisions as described in Article
21 5.F and 20.D.2)
22 The Company shall maintain a minimum headcount of six
23 hundred seventy-five (675) active Base Maintenance Lead
24 Mechanics, Mechanics, Inspectors, Lead Utility and Utility
25 employees combined. (Subject to force majeure provisions as
26 described in Article 5.F and 20.D.2.)
The Company may continue to outsource the East 737
29 scribe work ongoing and such work will count towards the vendor
30 hours for the fifty (50%) percent calculation.

 

[Vortilon]

Funny, I remember Bob Crandall walking through an AMT ready room, seeing the guys sitting around watching TV or whatever - he said something to the effect that - "it was a good thing to see the guys sitting in here - cause if they were all out working - planes were not flying!"

My old supervisor used to say "we are in the airplane flying business - not the airplane fixing business - next time, call tech services and stand on their neck till you get a deferral authorization!" That was for taking a five minute delay for fixing something.

Line maintenance is not a production job. It is what it is, doesn't matter if you're at UPS, or SWA - your job is to keep the planes flying - safely, and legally. Now if these newbies think they are going to reinvent the wheel by imposing these idiotic work rule changes, they too, will find out what a mistake it was. In fact, they usually lose their job, once it backfires.

 

[Frank Szabo]

W. Edwards Deming's "Work Rules"​

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive, stay in business and to provide jobs.
   
2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.
   
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for massive inspection by building quality into the product in the first place.
   
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of a price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move towards a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
   
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.
   
6. Institute training on the job.
   
7. Institute leadership (see Point 12 and Ch. 8 of "Out of the Crisis"). The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.
   
8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company. (See Ch. 3 of "Out of the Crisis")
   
9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, in order to foresee problems of production and usage that may be encountered with the product or service.
   
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.
    
11. a. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Substitute with leadership.
    b. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers and numerical goals. Instead substitute with leadership.
    
12. a. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality.
    b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objectives (See Ch. 3 of "Out of the Crisis").
    
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
    
14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.

Japan managed to implement these rules while American business laughed at Deming. Can I get a "HARUMPFF"?