What part of overhaul faces global competition do you not understand?
Sure the line pay for other airlines is higher.
What this negotiations comes down to is this,
Are you on the line regardless of your seniority willing to risk everything to protect overhaul?
Even the guys in overhaul are questionable at best, but what about you guys on the line?
Are you ready to risk it all to have higher overhaul payrates?
Give me one example of an AMT Strike being successful.
And then give me your plan to emulate that action with the division within the TWU.
Pipe Dream at best!
As I've said before most of the growth in Aviation will be overseas, and most of the competition for OH work is within the US. Most of the work on US planes is still done in the US. So its not like there are hoards of technicians overseas sitting around waiting for our work, they have their own growing fleets to maintain. As fuel gets more expensive overseas OH gets less attractive, ideally you want to be able to fly the plane in on a revenue trip and if possible fly it out the same way. In other words DWH is ideal, what makes Tulsa so attractive is the fact that its pretty much free. From what I hear they get the facilities for a song, most of the high dollar equipment was bought by the City and has plates stating that its owned by the city attached to them and the low cost of living allows the company to attract talent at a lower wage than their competotors in places like Atlanta or San Francisco.
By the way UALs maintenance costs went up when they outsourced and their rejected TA had language to bring more work back in house. AA has never even proposed outright eliminating in house OH, they havent even claimed its not cost effective.
The fact is when it comes to the contract OH can determine the fate of the line, not the other way around. In the past OH has not been compassionate to the line or workers in high cost areas. This has led to tensions and fustrations over the years. One former President from Tulsa even proposed eliminating .55 line pay to get the bases another Holiday. We would have lost around $1100/yr so the base guys could have another day off. The concessions of 2003 hit the line much harder than the bases, this only increased tensions. The Holidays alone took thousands of dollars out of our pockets, money that we earned by working the Holidays to try and make ends meet living in high cost areas on a Midwest based wage, as far as the Holiday concession you guys simply had to work five more days than you used to.
We are working past that history but certain things must be addressed, such as the cost of living. We will fight for OH, but we have to get a livable wage for where we live so the old mentality in Tulsa of "move here if you dont like it" has to change. There must be a meaningful variance in pay that takes into consideration locations, shifts and days off. No matter what happens AA will have operations in places like MIA, LAX, and NYC because those are the sources of revenue that sustain the company so there will always be workers in those locations. We are willing to support whatever positions OH takes, such as 7 day coverage, labor loans etc, even though on the line its understood that we work 7 days a week, holidays and go wherever the work is as long as our long neglected needs are addressed. So if the question is would the guys on the line be willing to agree to less than the table position on compensation to retain the 1/7th rule and eliminate labor loans on the bases I'd say No, but as long as the package also includes substantial pay raises and a restoration of what was taken away in 2003 and recognizes the aformentioned considerations, in other words our current table position, I'd say they would be willing to do whatever it takes up to and including a Strike. The fact is as far as accepting or rejecting the contract, the bases control that, there's no way the line can insert things that could hurt the bases because the base can simply reject the deal, where the line has power is "self help" and the bases determine whether or not we go there as well but the likelyhood of line participation in self help to support the base issues without also addressing the line issues is pretty much nill.
The current table position has wide pay variances, the guys who work the worst hours in the highest cost areas would get the most and those who work the most desirable hours with weekends off in low cost areas would get the least. Guys in Tulsa working days would top out at around $39 while guys on mids in places like NY would top out at around $44. If the company wanted to save on labor costs they could move the work to cheaper locations or desirable shifts.This proposal would protect the interests of the bases and provide much needed financial relief to everyone and its something I believe the line would do whatever is needed to get.
The last time AA mechanics struck they were successful. That was 1969 when the compensation in real terms was double what it is today.
