So if all those other costs make up at least 60 to 70% of the operating costs and labor only makes up 30 to 40% how come we gave up nine times more than them? $1.8 billion from us and only $200 million from them. Like I said, they werent affected like we were.
Wrong again.Not if we are talking about lifetime earnings.
You leave out the fact that we have been paying for things like LTD, Pre-funding, and medical benifits for at least 15 years.
Lets not forget the fact that we lose the first year towards our pension.
Then you have to add in that we had the lowest starting rate for years and the longest progressions to top rate. When UAL was hiring at $14 and change with 5 years to top AA was hiring at $11.58 with 12 years to the top.You also leave out the fact that some started as Junior mechanics even though they had two liscences at an even lower rate-$9/hr.
Over time these costs add up to huge numbers. Over a twenty year career at least $60 to $70 k. Then add in the fact that the NWA guys were earning $20k more than us for three years and it comes up to another $60k. So when those guys walked out the door they probably had, over a twenty year period, earned about $120 to $130K more than we did.
I remember when AA came out with the B-scales in the early 1980s. I was at EAL at the time. The difference is that the incumbent employees at AA on payroll took no cuts in terms of rate of pay, while all incumbent employees at EA,PA, and TWA took paycut after paycut. With the B-scale and the large cheap order for MD-80s, AA greatly expanded it's system creating more jobs with more Crew Cheifs (with crew chief pay) and better days off (Sat,Sun) for it's incumbent employees. This also allowed AA to bring it's average labor costs down (with the poor B-scalers literally doing all the pulling). The 2003 concessions was the first time AA employees took a cut in the rate of pay. As far as paying some of the cost of benefits, AA was just ahead of the times. At EAL we paid absolutely nothing. You went to the doctor or hospital then submitted your bill to administraion and EAL paid it. Almost all companies today require some sort of contribution on the employees part. The long time AA employee hired before the early 1980s clearly did much better over time than the AA employees hired after the early 1980s. I guess it just depends on what group of people and time frame you look at. You also state that the average NW AMT was about $120k to $130k ahead of the AA AMT when he walked out at NW. If that is the case then the AA will catch up in two years and will be significantly ahead 5 to 10 years down the road.