j7915, your typical divide and conquer company tactics are sickening.
Another typical company position "no longer skilled job". The OSM classification starting wages are $9/hr and it would cost much more to farm out, thus the phrase "inhouse outsourcing" was brought into existance via twu style business unionism. Just because the twu collects dues from them and allowed it to happen, it does not make this some kind of true union position. As a matter of fact this undermines the entire concept of unionism. Congratulations on your union buster idealisms!!!
Dont mind him Rusty. He's confused, he wants to be a real unionist but he is stuck with the TWU. A while back he was bragging how the TWU is structured more like a business than a union. He was quiet there for a while after that one.
I know of OSM's that took substantial wage cuts from other companies to come to AA and work in hopes of better things to come. Most of them are bumped out into the street with no hope of coming back and at the same time the AMT's that bumped into these positions lost their license premiums. Their only hope is that attrition, through retirements finally gets the percentage back to where the company has to put them back in the AMT classification.
Name: Big O' Jet Air Whiner
Email: NWA ACAC FM II Update and Supplemental Award 8-12-04
Employer: NWA
Station: MSP
Date: Saturday August 14, 2004
Time: 09:32:11 PM
Comments
"Horse Manure II" is what this supplemental award should be called, all AMFA got was #### on! The board found that there was no claim for lost wages or benefits! AMFA was counting on that, they were going to keep the back pay like they did with the previous members grievance Back Pay settlement! Click Here AMFA won a similar arbitration case at Mesaba Airlines, when they farmed out the of heavy maintenance from the CWA and CVG bases. Click Here The company was instructed to recall 56 Technicians positions at locations of their choosing based on operational needs. A total of 4 Technicians answered the recall! The original number of 2,000 Technicians furloughed was presented in AMFA's Force Majeure arbitration case. The decision by the Railway Labor Act (RLA) System Board found that approximately 1,850 of the 2,000 furloughs were justified under the collective bargaining agreement. The Board also found no basis for recall for the 1,850 furloughed employees. Jeff Mathews told us in a press release 150 Technicians would be returning with full back pay! "Northwest went too far and laid off people in violation of the contract agreement. For the sake of these employees and their families, we're happy we were able to put the brakes on this excessive behavior and get these jobs restored with full compensation for lost wages and benefits." "We expect most if not all of the affected employees to return to their technician or cleaner positions. Now it's on to the next battle." Click Here Now we find out its 73 Technicians and Cleaners to be recalled! So if this settlement follows along the lines of Mesaba's, it will be something like 8 Cleaners and 2 Technicians to be returned to service, with no back pay!!!
From 2,000 Techs furloughed to 2 Techs returned! Another Major Victory for AMFA!!! Yea!!!!!
j7915, your typical divide and conquer company tactics are sickening.
Another typical company position "no longer skilled job". The OSM classification starting wages are $9/hr and it would cost much more to farm out, thus the phrase "inhouse outsourcing" was brought into existance via twu style business unionism. Just because the twu collects dues from them and allowed it to happen, it does not make this some kind of true union position. As a matter of fact this undermines the entire concept of unionism. Congratulations on your union buster idealisms!!!
I know of OSM's that took substantial wage cuts from other companies to come to AA and work in hopes of better things to come. Most of them are bumped out into the street with no hope of coming back and at the same time the AMT's that bumped into these positions lost their license premiums. Their only hope is that attrition, through retirements finally gets the percentage back to where the company has to put them back in the AMT classification.
If it costs more to farm out how come NWA is farming out wheels and brakes? Now to mention UAL? When are you all going to stop selling yourselfs short? Are you really so insecure and incompetent as to believe that everyone who touches an airplane requires the skills and license of an A&P?
The typical attitude I have seen: "I do the same work as the other guy" is what has gotten us into this dead end. Bring someone off the street and he is up to speed in two days may have work on Henry Ford's model T assembly line, however if you really believe it applies to aircraft maintenance then you also believe that experience means nothing. And management has only heard that "anyone off the street can do your job and should recieve equal pay from day one". After all that is the mantra of management, anyone can manage anything, without knowing the work or the product. As always you get what you wish for.
I don't mean to pick on wheel and brakes, but they do have a very wide range of skill requirements. If Bob Owens feels that he could only break down wheels as a higly paid A&P, then that answers the question as to why that entire line of work is being farmed out by some carriers.
Where are you, Rusty and Bob coming up with the idea that I am trying to split the membership? I have never said it, I don't say that I should be paid as little as someone who is not an inspector, and does not have the final sign off responsibility. I firmly think that I deserve the extra pay, as do crew chiefs. If there is no differential why take the job?
j7915,Aug 15 2004, 05:13 PM]
If it costs more to farm out how come NWA is farming out wheels and brakes? Now to mention UAL? When are you all going to stop selling yourselfs short? Are you really so insecure and incompetent as to believe that everyone who touches an airplane requires the skills and license of an A&P?
I think what he meant is that it would cost AA more to farm out that work because the TWU gave the company low cost labor like OSMs, low wage A&Ps with low cost(to the company) benifits, less vacation, no holidays, no doubletime etc.
The typical attitude I have seen: "I do the same work as the other guy" is what has gotten us into this dead end. Bring someone off the street and he is up to speed in two days may have work on Henry Ford's model T assembly line, however if you really believe it applies to aircraft maintenance then you also believe that experience means nothing. And management has only heard that "anyone off the street can do your job and should recieve equal pay from day one". After all that is the mantra of management, anyone can manage anything, without knowing the work or the product. As always you get what you wish for.
Are you saying that an experienced mechanic who leaves one airline for another will take 5 years to come up to speed? He only has 6 months to make the grade or the company will let him go. Not only that but starting everyone at top pay would protect older workers who lose their jobs elsewhere, the airlines would scoop them up first before hiring kids right out of school. Why hire someone who will take years to come up to speed if you can get someone who can produce right away? Clearly there are no negatives for A&Ps to getting rid of long pay progressions.
Long pay progressions are good for the company and for Internationasl officers because it builds in automatic pay raises for the International. Long pay progressions are bad for mechanics because it makes them more dependant on the company, punishes mechanics that move from airline to airline-thus promoting loyalty to the company instead of the profession/union, and lowers his lifetime earnings by thousands of dollars.
Why should union workers agree to a policy that impeads our ability to move from carrier to carrier? If mechanics could move easily with as little penalty as possible from carrier to carrier then we would have much more leverage at the bargaining table. While our seniority is important we should not allow it to be used as the greatest weapon the company has against us.
I don't mean to pick on wheel and brakes, but they do have a very wide range of skill requirements. If Bob Owens feels that he could only break down wheels as a higly paid A&P, then that answers the question as to why that entire line of work is being farmed out by some carriers.
Well we could break down a lot of the tasks that A&Ps accomplish and farm all of that out too but is that what you call protecting the profession? With your type of thinking, before you know it there will only be a handful of A&Ps in the whole company! Are you pushing for FAR66 too? The fact is even if the work is simple, monotonous or otherwise unpleasant we, as professionals and union men should fight to retain the work. At the very least never give up anything unless we get something of lasting value in return.
Where are you, Rusty and Bob coming up with the idea that I am trying to split the membership? I have never said it, I don't say that I should be paid as little as someone who is not an inspector, and does not have the final sign off responsibility. I firmly think that I deserve the extra pay, as do crew chiefs. If there is no differential why take the job?
What are you talking about?
Are you saying that we should have every simple job accomplished by a non-A&P and then signed off by an Inspector or Crew Chief? Dont you realize that the FAA still has FAR 66 waiting in the wings? Under FAR 66 the company can issue their own non-transferrable "certificates" that will allow unliscenced A&Ps to sign for their own work. Dont you realize that the TWU has been playing right into this program with the OSMs? First they transfer the simplest jobs to non-A&Ps and have an A&P sign off for it. Then they start with more complicated jobs, still having the A&P sign for it. Then they issue the OSM certificates and they no longer need the A&P to sign for it.
So jobs once accomplished by A&Ps are gone forever. No different from the A&Ps perspective than if it was shipped to Singapore EXCEPT for one thing, if it goes to Singapore, those workers do not have a part in determining what the A&P over here gets paid. Basically what the TWU has done is divide the workforce to the benifit of the company(low wage workers), the TWU (more dues payers) and the detriment of the A&P mechanic (divided class & craft and less jobs available).
The damage this does to the entire workforce with the resultant low wages is why none of the other unions in this industry agreed to the things that the TWU has consistantly agreed to. What amazes me is that none of these unions had the balls to make charges against the TWU in the AFL-CIO! This may be due to the fact that for most of those unions the ATD was only a small part of their overall membership. But the result of the TWUs "Walmart" style unionism" (we give employers the lowest rates -everyday!)is that just as the union retail stores are getting wiped out by non-union Walmart the carriers that they have members in are getting wiped out by the TWU-Company union, represented AMR.
So over a period of time we see thousands of A&P jobs eliminated, in the meantime the schools are still pumping them out. Less jobs available for A&Ps, plus a punitive system that ties the mechanics fate to the company means less leverage at the bargaining table, not to mention the fact that the new mechanics replacing the A&Ps-the osms, would have non-transferrable certificates. This is the companys dream, the A&Ps nightmare, and people like you and the TWU are working hard to make it a reality!
