TWU accomplishments.........

[Chuck Schalk]

TWU Accomplishments ...................................................................................................

TWU's Matty Guinen (center wearing TWU hat) and other members held a
meeting before the start of the 1965 Selma, AL. march.

TWU started a fight for equality in the northeast but was sure to continue the fight in cities across the country as locals formed in places like Miami, where we opened a school to train black mechanics who were barred from other vocational schools in the city, and Tulsa, where we rid the American Airlines base there of its separate white and black facilities.

In 1962 Texas Local 260 uncovered a pattern of racial discrimination in the Pioneer Bus Company. The employer and independent union had two separate units, one for white drivers and shop workers and the other for blacks, with separate seniority lists for each group. TWU demanded and won by a 3-to-1 margin a new representation election of the entire group. The “Jim Crow” hiring pattern died with the first TWU contract.

One of our most memorable and proudest moments came in 1961 when the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a moving keynote address to our convention. King praised the TWU for its dedication to the cause of equal rights and liberties for all people and we take great pride in having been a part of Dr. Kings dream. Thousands of TWU members participated in the March on Washington D.C. to hear King's “I have a dream” speech, and we eagerly joined other civil rights demonstrators in the famous 50-mile Selma to Montgomery, Alabama march in 1965. Three years later over 2,500 of our members joined the Poor People's March in Washington D.C.

In Solidarity,
CIO

C.I.O

That is all good stuff, but that was 47 years ago and what have you done for me lately? Where are the same great accomplishments from the TWU ATD?
We all await your long list of great accomplishments of the TWU ATD.............

 

[Bob Owens]

TWU Accomplishments....................................

Retirees

TWU Retirees continue to ensure the future for those that come after them by reminding us all, “Just because you retired from you job doesn’t mean you have to retire from your union!”

Hmm, guess the International guy who wrote this thinks differently than the ATD guy who wrote the Bylaws for Local 591.
According to the 591 bylaws written by the ATD if you are no longer employed by AA you are no longer in the Union and can not remain in office. In other words the Bylaws are written so if the company wants to get rid of a union official they dont like all they have to do is fire them.

The Bylaws contradict the propaganda. Therein lied the problem, on the one hand stuff is put out like "We are a Democratic union", but actions of the ATD, IEC etc contradict this, you say that even when you leave you can remain a union member, but then you craft bylaws that say that your membership is conditional upon employment by American Airlines. Get fired or retire from AA and you are no longer a full member.

The fact is that retirees are just a source of free labor for the Union. People that can be used to rally behind whatever cause the union feels like promoting, a means of producing a decent showing since members generally dont have time for this since many members have to work two jobs to get by. Promoting volunteerism isnt necissarily a bad thing, especially if the cause is keeping Social Security and medicare intact, but to say that they are still part of the union really isnt true if they cant vote or run for office and according to the Bylaws that your ATD has put in place they cant.

 

[1AA]

So if you are no longer employed or retired you can not be in office or a union member.
Lets add one more to the list.

If you are a retired union International officer or a unemployed International officer you no longer are eligible for any union benefits. Medical, pension, etc..

Whats fair is fair for all under the Democratic TWU, right?

 

[Bob Owens]

So if you are no longer employed or retired you can not be in office or a union member.
Lets add one more to the list.

If you are a retired union International officer or a unemployed International officer you no longer are eligible for any union benefits. Medical, pension, etc..

Whats fair is fair for all under the Democratic TWU, right?

The rules for the International are different than the rules for everyone else. And the rules for everyone else are inconsistant, its whatever the International feels like. Gillespie has been retired for years yet he is still in authority over all the Fleet Service clerks, collecting a six figure salary on top of his intact pension from AA. Howard Blaydes is retired and still serves as the President of BNA, but I really dont have a problem with that because he was chosen by his members in a democratic direct election vote to do so (unlike his Boss Gillespie) but when the ATD crafted the Bylaws they imposed on us with the Local they imposed on us they put in language that said if you are no longer employed by American Airlines then you are no longer a member. To me it looks like our ATD sat down with Jim Weel and crafted Bylaws written, like our contract,by the company for the benefit of the company.

Under Dons rules if the company fires our Local President he is no longer President, he has to fight for both his jobs back. Dont say it wont happen because it already has. The company fired several sitting officers of Local 501 because they felt that literature that was put out against their opponents was offensive and violated Rule 32. This was in the middle of an election, they were out of work for months, could not campaign like their opponents could. For all that was known the opposition could have put up the stuff that was considered offensive but it didnt matter, they were terminated and the International did nothing. They eventually won their jobs back in arbitration and as far as I know are still involved in an ongoing lawsuit against bioth the company and the Union.

 

[AANOTOK]

Bob, wouldn't any person who retired before the pensions were frozen receive an "intact" pension from AA.
I see your point about Gillespie receiving his TWU international six figure salary on top of his pension. But to emphasize it's still intact as an AA retiree is a little less than candor don't you think.
By the way, Gillespie definitely forgot where he came from. I have taken issues to him (FSC) on several occasions only to receive a "they can do it" or he never get back with me.

 

[Bob Owens]

The pension was frozen, I dont know what his pension is but because it was frozen vs turned over to the PBGC his pension will remain intact. It may not matter for him, but for others such as Little, Gless, Videtich etc having the pensions frozen vs terminated means they will get the full vakue of their pensions earned up to the date it was frozen, even if its way over the PBGC cap. Keep in mind that as TWU employees they also earn a pension with a 2.5 multiplier times their best ever year, not 1.67 times a four year average. No doubt if we had asked for such a pension they would have said we were asking for too much from the company but that does not stop them from taking too much from us.

 

[DNTULSA]

TWU Accomplishments....................................

Retirees





TWU Retirees are some of the most dedicated and active people in our organization. Retirees’ unwavering dedication has helped to build TWU into the fortuitous and adept union we know today.

TWU works hard to help provide members with stable and secure jobs and happy lives for the present and for the future. Winning a secure contract today means a peaceful and comfortable retirement tomorrow and TWU is proud to have provided thousands of retirees with the benefits that all hard working people should have the opportunity to enjoy in their retirement.

Now that you're at the autumn of your years we encourage you to continue enriching your life by staying very active with your local as well as keeping in touch with the international. TWU retirees have done everything from lobbying at the state legislatures to working on national political campaigns.

TWU Retirees continue to ensure the future for those that come after them by reminding us all, “Just because you retired from you job doesn’t mean you have to retire from your union!”

Inquire with your local to find out how to get involved in retirement programs and activities, including becoming a volunteer member organizer (VMO).

In Solidarity,
CIO

I'm a retiree.

The twu retired from me!

cio, you are living proof of the statement; "You can't fix stupid!"

 

[Rogallo]

cio, you are living proof of the statement; "You can't fix stupid!"

Dee Dee Dee.....

 

[Realityck]

Another great accomplishment for the TWU ATD....way to go and help the company again!! We are the Leading concessionary union in aviation..........

Analysts expect merged AMR to earn close to $3 billion in 2014


By Terry Maxon

Airline analysts Jamie Baker and Mark Streeter of J.P. Morgan released a revised report on how they see AMR performing in coming years after the American Airlines-US Airways merger. Generally, they see good things.

Their model projects that AMR will have pro forma net income of $2.35 billion in 2013 and $2.90 billion in 2014.

They estimate that earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes, depreciation, amortization and rents (EBITDAR) will reach $6.0 billion in 2013 and $6.8 billion in 2014. EBITDAR margins would be 14.9 percent in 2013 and 16.1 percent in 2014, ahead of their estimates for Delta Air Lines and United Airlines in those years.

[background=rgb(255, 255, 51)]One thing that will help AMR’s bottom line is that the unions negotiated away profit sharing[/background], the elimination of which he estimated added $300 million to $450 million in EBITDAR for AMR. In addition, the new American’s pilot costs will be lower than Delta’s and United’s until 2016.

Looking at AMR’s estimates as a stand-alone company, the analysts found AMR’s revenue estimates “too aggressive,” but relied on AMR’s cost estimates. US Airways’ costs were adjusted higher to reflect their increase after the merger.

American and US Airways have estimated that the merger will add $1 billion in synergies, mostly from higher revenues. The analysts sniffed.

“We’re fans of consolidation. But we don’t really buy into synergies—You won’t find a synergy line item in our merger model,” they wrote.

“Yes, we believe consolidation leads to more prudent deployment of capital, and yes, we believe this transaction in particular may lead to firmer domestic pricing. But try identifying synergies from recent DAL, LUV or UAL results and reconciling them with management guidance given years ago. We don’t believe it can be done.”

(DAL = 2008 merger of Delta and Northwest Airlines.)
(LUV = 2011 merger of Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways)
(UAL = 2010 merger of United and Continental Airlines.)

Their report also said the merged AMR will benefit from the work done to get labor buy-in before the merger was announced, and the stated policy that the combined carrier will use AMR’s information technology rather than US Airways.

As a result, “Where we have chosen not to penalize New American is on the basis of integration. Time will tell whether that assumption proves optimistic,” they wrote.

I wouldn’t get too excited, Chuck. Projections based on models are nice, but reality is more important. The reality is that AA lost close to 2 billion last year and have lost 425 million in the first two months of this year. And even if they somehow manage to comeback and make 2 billion this year you would have been entitled to around $700 under the old profit sharing formula at this level of profit. This is because the projection is based on a merger scenario and, therefore, the money generated by the formula would have to be spread to the US Airways people too.

 

[Bob Owens]

I wouldn’t get too excited, Chuck. Projections based on models are nice, but reality is more important. The reality is that AA lost close to 2 billion last year and have lost 425 million in the first two months of this year. And even if they somehow manage to comeback and make 2 billion this year you would have been entitled to around $700 under the old profit sharing formula at this level of profit. This is because the projection is based on a merger scenario and, therefore, the money generated by the formula would have to be spread to the US Airways people too.

Those losses aren't reality, they are just numbers. AA didn't lose $2 billion, they claimed a $2 billion loss. There wasn't a $2 billion pile of money thats now gone, its all accounting gimmicks put in place so corporations can legally get away without paying their taxes.

I say go ahead with a flat tax for everyone, and let them pay tax on their revenue like we do instead of what they have left over and do away with all the gimmicks. If AA actually lost a fraction of what they have claimed over the years they would have liquidated a long time ago.

 

[Glenn Quagmire]

Those losses aren't reality, they are just numbers. AA didn't lose $2 billion, they claimed a $2 billion loss. There wasn't a $2 billion pile of money thats now gone, its all accounting gimmicks put in place so corporations can legally get away without paying their taxes.

I say go ahead with a flat tax for everyone, and let them pay tax on their revenue like we do instead of what they have left over and do away with all the gimmicks. If AA actually lost a fraction of what they have claimed over the years they would have liquidated a long time ago.

Did I see that you were just elected "Treasurer" of the new TWU local?

And you are claiming that the loss by AA was just "accounting gimmicks"?

Wow. I fear for your new local.

 

[Bob Owens]

Did I see that you were just elected "Treasurer" of the new TWU local?

And you are claiming that the loss by AA was just "accounting gimmicks"?

Wow. I fear for your new local.

We are non-profit, we don't pay taxes and don't have write offs such as "goodwill losses" , carryover, etc etc. Yes gimmicks put in place so corporations don't have to pay their fare share of taxes. Do you really believe that AA spent $10 billion more than they brought in? That $10billion of actual cash was simply lost? Corporations are permitted a lot of leeway as far as valuations, as long as they don't overstate their worth the government is pretty much hands off and despite what many people think the 10ks and 8ks really do not reveal all that much important info about a company. As I've said before the SEC is there to protect Investors from paying too much for a company based on info the company put out, they are not there to give labor an accurate assessment of their ability to pay their workers either presently or in the future.

 

[dfw gen]

One thing that will help AMR’s bottom line is that the unions negotiated away profit sharing, the elimination of which he estimated added $300 million to $450 million in EBITDAR for AMR. In addition, the new American’s pilot costs will be lower than Delta’s and United’s until 2016.

from terry maxon article in the dallas morning news

now here is accomplishment that the twu can be proud of!

 

[Bob Owens]

One thing that will help AMR’s bottom line is that the unions negotiated away profit sharing, the elimination of which he estimated added $300 million to $450 million in EBITDAR for AMR. In addition, the new American’s pilot costs will be lower than Delta’s and United’s until 2016.

from terry maxon article in the dallas morning news

now here is accomplishment that the twu can be proud of!

So figure $450 million divided by 60,000 employees equals $7500 each, we gave up the chance of getting that for a $2496 increase in pay that still leaves us dead last by far in the industry.

The 3.5% increase for maint (vs 4.3% for other groups) was sorely needed but we should not have had to give up profit sharing to get it. The fact is the company went to far, those profits are simply money that they took from us, they should give some of it back, I guess the only way to get it back is to work OT. So why give any extra effort to boost their profits when we wont get any of it anyway, less effort means more OT and an opportunity to get some of what we lost back. It may not help their profits but like I said, its "their " profits, we wont get any of it any way.

 

[Bob Owens]

Unlike the agreements negotiated by AMFA or the IBT, the Bankruptcy Exit Agreement negotiated by the TWU has a snap back to industry standard half way through and a requirement that close to two thirds of aircraft maintenance remain in house. The TWU negotiated the first ASAP program for AMTs and maintains the best license protection program in the industry. The program maintained by the IBT is nothing more than a knock off of what the TWU developed. And the TWU has been far more active than any other union in responding to FAA rulemaking.

If you are looking for a group that successfully fought concessions, don’t look to AMFA, which has yielded major concessions and lost jobs at virtually every carrier where it has represented mechanic and related (Braniff, ATA, AS, Mesaba, UAL, Horizon, and NWA just to name a few). Don’t look to the IBT, which has given concessions at every property where it represents airline workers. Instead, look at, for example, TWU Local 100 which fought management and Bloomberg successfully through the years. It represents all categories of workers, including mechanics, maintenance, subway conductors, bus drivers, and ticket agents. It uses its combined political and bargaining power to stand up to a billionaire mayor and a wide array of corporate forces. That is a far better model for success and for solidarity than what is being recommended on this board, which somehow always comes down to destroying the TWU as a solution to bankruptcy and mismanagement and any other problem we deal with.

Unlike other deals negotiated in BK we came out not only with our pensions and retiree medical gone but also a week of vacation every year gone, our paid Holidays gone and seven sick days gone. All things we gave up to keep our pensions and retiree medical gone. So even with the so called mid term snap back clause , which could dissapear as easily as our Profit Sharing did with out any membership participation (or even any elected representative of the membership) involved in the decision, we would still not be up to the even the post BK standards set by other carriers that went through BK. Not even close to the average of the industry as a whole.


Unlike the deals negotiated at other carriers our concessions, both Pre and Post BK will run at least 15 years vs around 5 at most others.

Yes TWU Local 100 has done a good job, but that is not the Model we have at AA. Local 556 also does a good job, but we dont have that model either and the "restructining" plan of the ATD only moved us further away from that, it reduced the number of Line mechanics on the Committee by four and left our Title II line guys split between one line maint and several Fleet Service Locals. They have elected officials that they can vote out calling the shots. If the members of Local 100 or 556 and only 100 or 556 decide they dont like the job their President is doing they can vote him out. We have Jim Little calling the shots and even if every delegate from M&R voted against Jim Little they could not remove him. Another difference is that Local 100 is in New York with a Union culture where union people dont side with the company and make excuses to give away pay, vacation, Holidays and benifits and Jobs while claiming to save jobs, not in a Right To Work State where so called Union People stand with the Chamber Of Commerce and tell workers to give away things that even Non-union workers kept. When Local 100 was threatened with Layoffs vs Concessions they took the layoffs, kept what they fought for and everyone was back within a year, we gave away everything and are slated to lose 12000 jobs over the 15 years of BK reklated concessions on top of that. One is Unionism, the other isnt.