The Nomadic Mechanic

[AOG-N-IT]

Tonight I had a chance conversation with one of the many U mechanics. He was looking a bit down , so being the person that I am , I had to ask what''s up? The mechanic said he had just purchased a used 1990 RV. I thought such a purchase was a bit odd with the current situation our company is in. Then this guy went on to say that he didn''t know if? , or where he would be working at next?...and an RV was the only way to facilitate things until his situation becomes stabalized This for those of you that have not dealt with an alike situation? This is called The Grand Tour The Grand Tour is a back alley term for being Bumped Out of station after station. This is a very sad aspect of the politics of Bidding a position I cannot for the life of me understand why a person should have to endure this kind of situation?. I think that most should know..and the company should know where a person is at regarding the Pecking Order (Senority) Why can''t they come to terms with where your senority will allow you to hold a job?..and then plan on staying there. I can see where people become bitter...I''m leaving my home and family for CLT,PIT, PHL or TPA etc......and I don''t know from week to week , or how long I will be there either? Surely there has to be a method to avoid the pain and drudgury of the Grand Tour.....and I don''t mean taking a furlough either. Situations like this only multiply the frustrations of the employee group. This does not lend to a happy and healthy situation. Problems like this need to be addressed by both the Unions and the company. A person is alot more productive when they have a greater degree of stability. Finances are a big concern for everyone...having a job is a tremendous concern , but once those areas are firmed up....shouldn''t geographic stability become an issue? I''m sure Mechanic X will be much more productive knowing that he and his family are together....instead of living like a Nomad.

 

[Lakeguy67]

AOG, what you ask for is the perfect world and there is no such thing. No one in life can take a job that promises stability and you will be where you want to be. The company had a real easy solution to solve that problem, they wanted you to bump the junior person in the system, that will solve it, so while you might have 300 people junior to you in your own station, you just got a one way ticket to phl. Nothing in life is gauranted excpet death and taxes. Everyone who has been in avaition for a day knows the life of an airline employee has no stabilty.

 

[REACC1]

My take is that it happens with U more often than others. More than likely, because of the mergers and UM ineptitude. It kind of delutes what seniority is commonly percieved as.

 

[Lakeguy67]

[P][BR]Can you not read 757 fixer?[BR]The company had a real easy solution to solve that problem, they wanted you to bump the junior person in the system I said that is what the company wanted.[BR][BR]And no you cannot bump into any station, apparantly you can't read and comprehend.[BR][BR]New contract language: Reductions in Force. Article 8 of the basic agreement and all related accretion letters of agreement will be amended to reflect that employees affected by a reduction in force or redeployment [STRONG][FONT color=#ff0000][EM]may only displace the junior employee in any other bid area in their location and if unable to remain in their location will be permitted to displace the junior employee in any other location on the system within their classification or elect furlough[/EM][/FONT][/STRONG]. Employees that have seniority in a lower classification will be permitted to bump into the lower classification, prior to leaving that location. [/P]
[P]Filling of Vacancies, Realignments and Re-deployments. Article 8 and 9 will be amended to provide that:[/P]
[OL]
[LI]Bids to different shifts within each bid area to be handled locally,
[LI]Realignment and/or redeployment to be permitted in all bid areas,
[LI]Re-bidding within each bid area approximately each 120 days through a local bid file,
[LI]Employees awarded a System vacancy will be assigned a shift until the next local re-bid. Employees will participate in any local realignment and/or redeployment.
[LI]The official Ten (10) workdays notice will begin when the employee signs for the initial abolishment or bump paperwork. [/LI][/OL]
[P]I suggest you actually read slower and try to understand what you read before you post.[BR][BR][BR]And I do not know who this boof person is.[BR][BR][/P]

 

[757fixer]

Your wrong boof!You can bump any station your seniority holds.But you will be bumping the jr.person in that station.And your stuck there untill the 120 day realingment.If you have 300 guys under you in your station the only way your going on tour is if they cut 301.

 

[Black Wind]

[P]
[BLOCKQUOTE]
[P][BR]----------------[BR]On 10/5/2002 1:24:29 PM Lakeguy67 wrote:[BR][BR]And I do not know who this boof person is.[BR][BR]----------------[/P]
[P] [/P]
[P][STRONG]Wrong answer Boof.[/STRONG][/P]
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[P]Lakeguy67 wrote:[/P]
[P][FONT color=#0033cc][STRONG] You even had scab pilots come in and volunteer to clean planes and run parts. [/STRONG][/FONT][/P]
[P][STRONG][FONT color=#0033cc]--------------------[/FONT][/STRONG][/P]
[P][STRONG][FONT color=#0033cc][/FONT][/STRONG] [/P]
[P][STRONG][FONT color=#0033cc]The pilot cleaning planes argument is vintage Boof. [/FONT][/STRONG][/P][/BLOCKQUOTE]
[BLOCKQUOTE]
[P] [/P]
[P][STRONG][FONT color=#330033][/FONT][/STRONG] [/P]
[P][BR][/P][/BLOCKQUOTE]
[P][/P]

 

[AOG-N-IT]

Lakeguy, Maybe I am looking for a Perfect World , but I'm willing to settle for a More Intelligent World. The very contract diatribe you posted , is part of the problem. The very fact that Re-alignment has taken place in station/dept. X,Y or Z...prior to people even knowing where they can hold? is a major part of the problem. This lends to even lower morale...and subsequintly lower performance levels. How can a person be focused on the job itself , when they are in a constant quandry over the symantics of dated rules? This again is a cultural failure , that needs to be addressed. The old cliche's of That's Aviation , That's the Nature of the beast or even That's the way we have always done it , frankly do not get it anymore. Our companies situation needs Sweeping Reform Anything that further lowers morale ..or hampers productivity? Needs to be changed!![img The Status Quo attitude is a formula for failure!!src='http://www.usaviation.com/idealbb/images/smilies/16.gif'] Remember this saying for clarification. When you always do , what you have always done..What you will get.Is what you have always got. This in itself is counter-productive to this airline advancing.

 

[Lakeguy67]

Everyone in mechanic and related knows where the can hold, it is right in the computer system called CICSP, PF10, search for juniors. So everyone will know where they can hold. It is a more fair system then telling you go to phl when you have several hundred people junior to you in CLT, I like the old system in where I could go where I want, but it is gone and we have to deal with.

 

[757fixer]

Geez boof your post says exactly what mine says.I just cut to the chase and left out all the crap.Bottom line is,if I can't hold my station I can bump to any station that has jr employees in my classification.I would then displace the jr employee in said classification.Do you not agree with my interpatation?Also,if your not aka boof why did you respond?

 

[Bob Owens]

Nothing in life is gauranted excpet death and taxes. Everyone who has been in avaition for a day knows the life of an airline employee has no stabilty.

Whats next Lakeguy? You guys voted for this contract, dont blame the union.

While I agree with the statement about security and guarantees I feel that such a statement reinforces the arguement why the IAM should have recommended a No vote. Instead of IAM officials posting under aliases advocating a yes vote and leading the workforce to beleive that 6 years of lower earnings was the only path to security you should have made it clear that the yes vote provided no guarantees either.(By the way I read your article on Bankruptcy in the IAM paper- How come you didnt use an alias there?)The best strategy for security is money in the bank.The best way to get that is to make as much as possible in the least amount of time and to treat those earnings as if they will not be consistant. In other words dont increase your living standards up to your earnings. After having just agreed to major concessions for the next six years its unlikely that your members will be in any better position to get increases six years from now than they were a month ago. How likely is it that are they going to be able to put anything away? Without any savings how confident will they be to strike for better wages? Oh well it doesnt matter any way because if USAIR can find a way to give more dues paying members to the IAM and offers to cover the costs for the ratification vote then we can expect to see you telling the guys what a good deal the next concessionary contract is, under an alias of course so the IAM can continue to claim that they were neutral. Dont blame the IAM, after all You guys voted for it.

 

[Lakeguy67]

[BR]A NO vote would have had the courts abrogate our contract and then give the company the right to do what ever they see is fit, get rid of utility, only keep a few stock clerks, farm out all heavy maintenance and cut 3,000 mechanics. Lose pension, sick time, severance, seniority, medical, life and dental, work rules, and everything that was fought for over the past 53 years. Now you tell me how that would have been better? Being an employee at will sucks, if you dont believe me go ask any customer service or fleet service worker who suffered at the hands of management. In 1992 they took 40% of the full time agents and made them part time, therefore cutting their hours to 25 a week maximum, making them pay $300 a month for insurance, froze and eliminated their pension, no more sick time, vacation time and OI time. Now you tell me how that would benefit one person employed? The only thing a no vote would have accomplished is either a chapter 7 liquidation or the gutting of the mechanic and related at US Airways. The judge so far has granted every single motion the company has requested, the very first day of chapter 11 he abrogated 67 leases to a tune of $600,000,000, the other day he abrogated 150 more airplanes and engines. With 7 of 9 groups all ready accepting concessions, the ATSB loan, the DIP financing, and the post bankruptcy investment contingent on concessions, the judge would have done anything the company asked, because his responsibllity is to ensure the company emerges bankruptcy and the creditors get as much money back as they can. So you tell me how that would have been better?[BR][BR][BR]Just like you protected the TWA folks and stapled them to the bottom of the seniority list? That is really looking out for your brothers and sisters. No career in this world offers job security or stability. If you read and observe what is going on around you, this is what is transpiring in the industry, cuts, cuts and more cuts. Like you have posted before, you would rather have seen US Airways and United go out of business, oh, you also said you would welcome them to AA with open arms. Does that mean stapled to the bottom of the seniority list? And how would you welcome them if AA is grounding 80 + airplanes and laying off 7,000 employees? Bob you have proved it time and time again with your posts, you are nothing but self-centered and in it to protect your own hide. Get real and wake up and see what is happening around you. It is easier to live to fight another day then to kill yourself. The economy is in shambles, the airline industry sucks, the market is down. So if you are so smart and wise you tell us how we can get more money out of a company that is in bankruptcy and has none?[BR][BR][BR][BR]Look around since deregulation, Eastern, Pan Am, TWA, all gone. Since Sept 11th, in bankruptcy, US, Vangaurd and Midway. With UA teetering on the brink, DL, NW, AA, US all laying off workers. You do not have to be an economist to figure out this industry is in turmoil and it is not the workers fault, but we as workers are going to be and have been the ones to suffer.

 

[flaptrack]

A 1990 RV? I dreamed of an RV! Back in the nineties I used a ’79 full size GM four door as my traveling machine. If you took out the spare tire and put it in the back seat you could get a decent size tool box in the trunk, along with a cooler and a 5 gallon empty plastic bucket. The car was big enough to sleep in at rest stops or in the parking lot at where ever until you got your first check. The cooler performed its obvious functions: food , water and the occasional Lone Star, Dixie or Rainier beer (depending on location, of course!). The cooler also formed a comfortable seat on which to sit on at the end of a long day on the road; and ponder your career choice. The 5 gallon bucket served as a shower and the clothes washer. And if you happen to be traveling during the summer, you can lay your newly washed wet clothes across the seat in the car. A full size GM parked in the sun for 4 hours with the windows closed makes an excellent clothes dryer !

Ah, those were the days!

P.S. Good luck to all of you!

 

[Lakeguy67]

[BR][BR]First of all if you are a the financial officer of your local you would know that it is against the landrum-griffith act for any union including IAM to accept money in lieu of getting a contract passed. The company included the same provisions that ALPA, AFA, TWU(your union, so does that mean your union accepted a kickback?) and the IAM for reasonable and customary expenses of having to use lawyers, financial advisors and the cost of the road show meetings. And the IAM is in the process of reducing the memberships dues rates because of the concessions.[BR][BR]Second it is not speculation, the judge would have abrogated the contract because if he did not all the financing would have gone away, therefore causing a liquidation, it is plain and simple, I cannot fathom how you can't understand it. The company had all ready filed their post petition brief with the court on what they were going to do to maintenance, so it is not speculation.[BR][BR]1992 was not the end of the world, we went on strike to protect our scope language, we came back to work under concessions.[BR][BR]If us airways makes record profits it will be returned to the employees in one of two methods; either profit sharing or stock, depending on which is the greater value granted at the time. [BR][BR]And we are only giving up one week vacation and it all snaps back in 2008. There are gauranted wage increases of 2% every year of the contract and 3% in the last year. If the contract goes past six months of the amendable date it will go to mediation and every july there are raises given until a new contract is ratified. So there are some protections in there. This is not a perfect world, look around you. UA and US giving concessions, you will be next, mark my words.[BR][BR]We lost 423 jobs in mechanic and related, how many are you losing at AA? Look at our scope language compared to yours and ours is superior.[BR][BR]Yes the membership knew there were going to be layoffs if we agreed or not agreed to concessions. Our formula of maintenance stations changed in the 99 agreement in october of 2002 the company had the right to reduce from 33 down to 22 maintenance stations, if they closed one station all the remaining stations would become three shifts and the top seven are protected. So that was going to cause layoffs no matter what.[BR][BR]And you are wrong about contract changes, there are raises every year and a process for us to regain what we lost thru renegotiations and if we are sold or any major portions of US are sold are 99 agreement reverts back to what was agreed upon in that contract.[BR][BR]Plus Bob, AA, NW, UA and DL are all laying off yet none of those employes have agreed to concessions, so what is the cause of that?[BR][BR]So I suggest before you post half-truths you inform yourself.

 

[Bob Owens]

Lakeguy;
A NO vote would have cost the IAM their kickback and the USAIR feeder workers dues. The rest is speculation. How do you know how the judge would have ruled? Were any of the agreements that he abrogated labor agreements? Did the company demand 6 year concessionary agreements from any of their vendors? The rules for abrogating labor agreements are different than other contracts. The union could have argued that they recognoze that concessions may be necissary but that 6 years is unreasonable. Historically the industry has gone from record losses to record profits in less than three years. Come on, you've been around awile. Remember 1982?, How about 1992? It was the end of the world right? What happened in 1984 and 1994? Record profits. Dont beleive me? Go to the ATA's website and look at the Financial metrics page. What will you do if USAIR is making record profits next year? You members will have to live with these concessions for five more years. They will be angry. What will you say? You guys bought it. Hasnt the last twenty years taught you anything?

The TWA guys got 100% company and classification seniority. That means credit for their pensions, sick time, vacations accumultaion and selection and a $9 per hour raise. They got 100% occupational seniority in STL and KC. 25% in NY and LAX, and 4/10/01 elsewhere in the system. They will make around $20,000 a year more than your guys. They will have more vacation than any of you. I wonder how many of your guys would jump ship at USAIR to get that?

Live to fight another day? If you didnt fight then, when will you? They layoffs continue even with the concessions. Now all the laid off workers have to look forward to is the chance that they will return to work making less than before. Did you tell those guys that even with a YES vote they would still be getting laid off? Thats not fighting, its an unconditional surrender. No, I'm not an economist but I've been around long enough to know that things can change a lot in 6 years, one thing that wont change though is your 6 year concessionary contract.

 

[willnotworkforfree]

Hey Boof...you going to keep the Editor job down at the LL?