***TO ALL TWU MEMBERS****

[Bob Owens]

I dont know if waiting for another union to come through with a good contract will help us either. The Company will always find an excuse as to why "they dont count".

I'm not really concerned about what the company says, I'm concerned with how much merit the other negotiators and and the International give to what they say. When I first went to negotiations they would include SWA in comparasions as far as CASMs and RASMS but not wages and benifits. The reason; "They dont have overhaul". Well nobody has as much in house OH as AA does, so if thats the criteria who can we compare ourselves to? Now where did they get that we cant compare ourselves to SWA, and UPS and FedEx for that matter? From the company, the company said you cant compare us to them because of Blah, blah blah and they accepted it, then most of our members accepted it because the union said so. We get way too concerned with what the company says instead of focusing more on what we need. I say we should not allow the company to determine who we consider our peers to be, we should make that decision. To me I sell A&P labor on heavy turbine aircraft, so UPS, FedEx and SWA are my peers just like Delta, UAL and USAIR. I would say that to a neutral bystander thats a more valid arguement than what the company puts forward-Thats a different industry-well the cargo executives claim just the opposite, they claim we are in the same industry, thats why they compare what they pay their guys to what AA, SWA and UAL etc pay their mechanics. If I were to quit AA and get a job with UPS there is no special certification need to work on Cargo Aircraft vs Passenger aircraft and if there was I would guess that the standards would be higher if anything. So we know that the executives disagree disagree on who our peers should be but do you really think that mechanics working on Cargo planes have any more responsibilty than we do? I used to work on Airbourne Express DC-9 cargo planes, you know except for the seats and the JATOs (which were deactivated anyway) they were pretty much exactly the same as the DC-9s at New York Air. You know I got paid the same at both jobs.

As you have stated we have an aging workforce, and eventually they have to be replaced, but that is too far down the road to have an impact on current negotiations. It appears that we are at a stalemate in regards to negotiations, and it will take a lot of thought and UNITY on how best to proceed.

Well the first thing we must do is breakoff from any and all "Work Together" programs. We should no longer participate in any of the Standards Meetings and start telling the company "NO". Just like they've been telling us. Just in the last few months we signed an LOA making a fourth OH base (as they were getting ready to close the third one), then we signed off on letting the company selectively compensate some workers who are affected by a RIF but not others. The reason given was they figured it was better than having nobody get anything-I disagree, a union is supposed to make sure that we are all treated the same and my belief is that the company made a deal Missouri politicians to give these guys some sort of a package, I dont think they could have gotten out of it. I remember that when we met in KCI for negotiations that company met with government officials. Either way, its just not right that we allow the company to pick and choose who gets what.

I think that we both recognize what is a stake. And we both want the same things in the end. I do not think that any AMT or any other union brother/sister could feel good about the current situation.

I want an ILC, , if you feel the same then I agree that we both want the same thing in the end, where we may differ is how determined we are to get there and what means we are willing to use. Wanting is one thing, being willing to do what we have to in order to get it is another. Are we willing to throw our carreers with AA on the table in order to get an ILC? If not then we will not get what we want. Unity is important and essential but there is no way I can support anything like what was presented to the company last June.

 

[MTheory]

Well the first thing we must do is breakoff from any and all "Work Together" programs. We should no longer participate in any of the Standards Meetings and start telling the company "NO". Just like they've been telling us. Just in the last few months we signed an LOA making a fourth OH base (as they were getting ready to close the third one), then we signed off on letting the company selectively compensate some workers who are affected by a RIF but not others. The reason given was they figured it was better than having nobody get anything-I disagree, a union is supposed to make sure that we are all treated the same and my belief is that the company made a deal Missouri politicians to give these guys some sort of a package, I dont think they could have gotten out of it. I remember that when we met in KCI for negotiations that company met with government officials. Either way, its just not right that we allow the company to pick and choose who gets what.

I agree. The "working together" programs are outside the scope of the contract and there is no"quid pro quo".
Unfortunatly I have not seen any employee benefit from these programs. When they started, I thought we could get something from it, but not now. In hindsight it was a mistake.

I want an ILC, , if you feel the same then I agree that we both want the same thing in the end, where we may differ is how determined we are to get there and what means we are willing to use. Wanting is one thing, being willing to do what we have to in order to get it is another. Are we willing to throw our carreers with AA on the table in order to get an ILC? If not then we will not get what we want. Unity is important and essential but there is no way I can support anything like what was presented to the company last June.

Of course I want an ILC, I dont think we need to be martyrs for a cause to get it though. What was presented to the Company in June was a step back, but right now it is miles ahead of what anything the Company has proposed to us. What we need is leverage to get the Company to seriously consider our positions, but I think that as a Union we are divided on what our position should even be. The Company knows this, and will continue to play their hand until we get our house in order.

 

[Bob Owens]

I agree. The "working together" programs are outside the scope of the contract and there is no"quid pro quo".
Unfortunatly I have not seen any employee benefit from these programs. When they started, I thought we could get something from it, but not now. In hindsight it was a mistake.



Of course I want an ILC, I dont think we need to be martyrs for a cause to get it though. What was presented to the Company in June was a step back, but right now it is miles ahead of what anything the Company has proposed to us. What we need is leverage to get the Company to seriously consider our positions, but I think that as a Union we are divided on what our position should even be. The Company knows this, and will continue to play their hand until we get our house in order.

Well the reason why we are split is because some feel that not only does Working Together work but that we should incorporate it into the contract. I can not accept that. Some dont have a problem with the status quo and would be content to just "Get a little cash in our members pockets" instead of structural raises, I can not accept that. Some feel that we should agree to a below industry leading contract, if you notice the releases from the committee dont say "secure an Industry Leading contract" , it just says "Secure a contract". Some are still worried about bankruptcy, my opinion on BK is that BK has always been a part of this industry. Even under the CAB airlines went BK, but workers didnt accept that as an excuse for inferior wages, we shouldnt either. If all the carriers are paying pretty much the same then the only way to get a competative edge is through superior management of that labor, we dont pick who runs this company. If the only way that AA can compete is by paying the lowest wage then we have a management problem, not a labor problem. By accepting a lower wage in order to allow AA to compete it subsidizes inferior management and inferior management will inevitably lead us into BK anyway.

We always hear that the reason why we should accept less is because we do most of our OH in house. Well I'll admit that in order for us to maintain that our OH has to outperform the MROs, and I not only think they can but I think they do. We should also take note of the fact that many of our competitors who switched from in house to outsourceing didnt realize savings, in some cases the overall costs went up. OH does not present AA with a cost disadvantage, sure it makes AAs labor costs look much higher but the company admits that the overall CASM is competitive. When I asked Arpey at the stockholders meeting about in house overhaul costs he would only say 'Well the jury is still out on that". Now come on, seven years to compare, this would be one of the longest deliberations in history.

The fact is that its the high cost stations that are hurting the most, so its the high cost stations that have to push back the most. So everytime you have a gate call, before you even leave the office tell your self this "AA wants to make me the lowest paid in the industry", then with great caution go out the door, keeping in mind that the ramp is an extremely hazardous area and that if you get hurt AA will only provide you 80 hours of IOD time and the five days of sick time you accrue annually is the lowest in the industry, one illness or serious injury would pretty much wipe out any chance of maxing out your sick bank If you are seriously hurt someone may even tell the doctors to put a DNR on you. When you get to your vehicle, which was reversed in per AA rules do a walk around on the vehicle to insure that there hasnt been any damage and all your lights are working correctly. Then make sure you check your brakes. When you get to the aircraft make sure you follow maintenance practices before you power anything up, don rely on the fact that the pilot already had these things on, we recently saw a long time mechanic terminated in AFW because he made an assumption. I'm not saying that you should go out there and go beyond the scope of your assignment to find things, I'm saying that we should take every precaution available to us, even if it results in delays. You should approach a job on the gate at departure time the same way you do an airplane in the hangar on an overnight. The only time you should allow yourself to have an adrenaline rush is when you punch out and are making a dash to your car to go home to the people who do actually care about you. Remember the 15 to 20 minute delays this may cause will not inconvience the passengers to any great extent, all the captain has to do is push the throttles fwd a little more and he can arrive on time, but those few extra minutes here and there will do to AAs standings what they are doing to you as far as pay, and it will show the company that we do have a problem. But as long as we have people who are not only willing to stay here but also give 110% the companys position will be "Great job fellas, lets see if we can make it to number one, but I still aint gonna give you any more money because we need it for Executive bonuses, new aircraft, refurbishing the Flagship Lounges, building new terminals, new ground equipement and maybe even bailing out foreign carriers, we need you to be the lowest paid so we can do all this and still have a competitive (winning) cost structure".

 

[TWU informer]

Well the reason why we are split is because some feel that not only does Working Together work but that we should incorporate it into the contract. I can not accept that. Some feel that we should agree to a below industry standards contract, if you notice the releases from the committee dont say "secure an Industry Leading contract" , it just says "Secure a contract". Some are still worried about bankruptcy, my opinion on BK is that BK has always been a part of this industry. Even under the CAB airlines went BK, but workers didnt accept that as an excuse for inferior wages, we shouldnt either.

I would like to see some transparency in this union an identifiy who these "some feel" are.

WHO feels that "working together" is working?
WHO feels that we should agree to below industry standards?
WHO is still worried about Bankruptcy?

We are preparing for Officer Elections here in Tulsa. Members need to know.

Rumor coming within the Election Committee is that the E-Board is attempting to hire an outside firm from New York to handle the ballots this time around. Truth is the Department of Labor investigated the last election and while no violations were proven, enough information was exposed to help us stop the corruption that has been taking place within the Local 514 Election Process. Just becuase the DOL couldn't PROVE a violation doesn't mean the corruption was not prevelant.

 

[Bob Owens]

I would like to see some transparency in this union an identifiy who these "some feel" are.

WHO feels that "working together" is working?
WHO feels that we should agree to below industry standards?
WHO is still worried about Bankruptcy?

We are preparing for Officer Elections here in Tulsa. Members need to know.

Rumor coming within the Election Committee is that the E-Board is attempting to hire an outside firm from New York to handle the ballots this time around. Truth is the Department of Labor investigated the last election and while no violations were proven, enough information was exposed to help us stop the corruption that has been taking place within the Local 514 Election Process. Just becuase the DOL couldn't PROVE a violation doesn't mean the corruption was not prevelant.

I'm not allowed to say who they are but I can say its not, Local 501, Local 510, Local 562 Local 564,or Local 567. So if your not in any of those Local then maybe you should ask the people you elected where they stand on all those issues.

As far as the NY firm if its AAA you had better worry, They screwed up our vote, they screwed up the contract vote back in 2003 (Sonny Hall even said he wouldnt use that again)and Anne McNamara (former AA Exec) sits on the board. At our vote I was told they hired people who couldnt speak english, count or read. I believe Local 501 also had a problem with them. They are very unreliable. We will no longer use them.

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

I see you did not mention local 561

That is why I turn to you and your local for information. I recently posted your update letter here in MIA and was asked why I was posting material from another local. I said because no one in our local lets us know whats going on. His reply was to check the 561 website. It seems the 561 website info is the same info the company puts out go figure...

 

[Bob Owens]

I see you did not mention local 561

That is why I turn to you and your local for information. I recently posted your update letter here in MIA and was asked why I was posting material from another local. I said because no one in our local lets us know whats going on. His reply was to check the 561 website. It seems the 561 website info is the same info the company puts out go figure...

I regularly FWD info I get over the internet from Local 565 and 567 as they have the resources to have people monitor the media and send out articles of interest to workers. I dont see why anyone would have a problem with what you are doing. In the end we all work under the same contract so we should make an effort to get the word out to everyone. With the Internet there's no longer any reason, that benifits us, why we should remain isolated from each other.

 

[TWU informer]

I'm not allowed to say who they are

Why not? What would happen? They already removed you from negotiations.

I am not allowed to say who they are

That is as about as Anti-American and Anti-Union as it gets right there.

Let's make motions at all Locals to have the members vote to do away with secrets in negotiations.

If someone is doing something or taking positions that the need be secret from the members, then the negotiations are company favored from the get go.

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

Wy not set up a laptop with a web cam and video conference the negotiations. Make it a link on the ATD website so we all know what kind of shenanigins are going on

 

[TWU informer]

Question for Bob Owens

Are there any professional Lawyers, Economist, Negotiators, Advisors ect hired to be with our negotiating team? Or is it our Toolboxes against their professionals?

 

[Hopeful]

Question for Bob Owens

Are there any professional Lawyers, Economist, Negotiators, Advisors ect hired to be with our negotiating team? Or is it our Toolboxes against their professionals?

I was told by the twu during the 1991-1993 two year agreement that they we did not need any professional in negotiations. The current president at the time said the TWU had done a good job and there was no need to bring in a pro to advise and assist.

 

[TWU informer]

I was told by the twu during the 1991-1993 two year agreement that they we did not need any professional in negotiations. The current president at the time said the TWU had done a good job and there was no need to bring in a pro to advise and assist.

Thanks for input but I was interested in current negptiations not 1991-1993.

 

[Hopeful]

Thanks for input but I was interested in current negptiations not 1991-1993.

You asked "Are there any professional Lawyers, Economist, Negotiators, Advisors ect hired to be with our negotiating team? Or is it our Toolboxes against their professionals?"

That's the answer I got then. Do you think you will get a different answer NOW?

Basically, the TWU doesn't realize they negotiate with professionals...
Quite embarassing if you ask me.

 

[Bob Owens]

Question for Bob Owens

Are there any professional Lawyers, Economist, Negotiators, Advisors ect hired to be with our negotiating team? Or is it our Toolboxes against their professionals?

No we dont have any lawyers, economist etc at the table but from what I saw before we were taken out of negotiations neither did the company. Basically HR and managers.

 

[TWU informer]

No we dont have any lawyers, economist etc at the table but from what I saw before we were taken out of negotiations neither did the company. Basically HR and managers.

Sure that is what the company has sitting at the table, but behind the scenes you know as well as I do they have a specific agenda given them by the real negotiators, lawyers, and professional advisors.

You surely dont think those in front of you were the extent of their team?

For those stooges that claim the "working together" process works, well the books were suppose to be opened and having an economist review that data for accuracy would sure be nice. You know they have a complete legal department backing them up. And the number of consultants they hire would be advisors. And the TWU shows up with AMT's from the toolbox with no backing? WOW I can see how we will prevail again here.