TWU negotiations.........what?

[Chuck Schalk]

The agents at American Airlines are trying to get organized by CWA- Communication workers of America. I spoke with some of the agents to sign cards for a vote and thge response back i got was " you guys have a union and you keep giving back, why should we join a union just to give back and pay union dues for it". It was embarrassing to hear that as an observation from an outsider. The only thought that came to mind was the perpetual quotes I have been told;
"we live to fight another day"
"we will get them next time"
"we must stay engaged"
"lets just do this as an exercise"
"we got to get this done"
"they can do that".........etc

I just walked away and wished them luck

 

[The Dissident]

Listed below are my predictions as what is to come for the mechanics of AA concerning the contract.

1. Pension gets frozen, everyone else gets 401k

2. Retiree medical gone

3 fleet service gone and contracted out

4. Expansion of the OSM program by the now displaced fleet service workers.

5. The union will say dont balme us its the judges fault for imposing the contract but we will get em next time brother you just got to believe.

Again these are only predictions. But it seems they are heading this way. Tulsa is up in the air right now. With the shedding of narrow body aircraft with the modernizaton of the fleet due to "Fuel Effeciency" and Tulsa is primarily a narrow body base it would seem they may spin it off into something like AMR Maintenance and engineering services or some third party entity entirely. Although TWU will still remain the bargaining agent wink wink.

 

[strikeforce]

The agents at American Airlines are trying to get organized by CWA- Communication workers of America. I spoke with some of the agents to sign cards for a vote and thge response back i got was " you guys have a union and you keep giving back, why should we join a union just to give back and pay union dues for it". It was embarrassing to hear that as an observation from an outsider. The only thought that came to mind was the perpetual quotes I have been told;
"we live to fight another day"
"we will get them next time"
"we must stay engaged"
"lets just do this as an exercise"
"we got to get this done"
"they can do that".........etc

I just walked away and wished them luck

Can you really blame them. I'm sure they've witnessed the discontent and misery, and they hear the BS. Why waste money on an organization that really hasn't done much for agents at other airlines?? I believe I've wasted 12K over 20 years....how about you and the other 26,000 TWU members that work for AA??? Who do you suppose made out on that deal????? Certainly not the workers!

 

[Buck]

Listed below are my predictions as what is to come for the mechanics of AA concerning the contract.

1. Pension gets frozen, everyone else gets 401k

2. Retiree medical gone

3 fleet service gone and contracted out

4. Expansion of the OSM program by the now displaced fleet service workers.

5. The union will say dont balme us its the judges fault for imposing the contract but we will get em next time brother you just got to believe.

Again these are only predictions. But it seems they are heading this way. Tulsa is up in the air right now. With the shedding of narrow body aircraft with the modernizaton of the fleet due to "Fuel Effeciency" and Tulsa is primarily a narrow body base it would seem they may spin it off into something like AMR Maintenance and engineering services or some third party entity entirely. Although TWU will still remain the bargaining agent wink wink.

I was wondering when someone would actually state what they thought about fleet service. With this new proceadure to negotiations, the company is looking to expand the ASM (OSM) on the aircraft, it would be a excellent oppurtunity for the TWU to continue the dues machine for the upcoming electoral process. Actually having a pool of pre-qualified technicians is just a step ahead for the company that no other airline has.

As for Tulsa, I sat in on a Leadership meeting yesterday. Tulsa is going to be the largest 737 maintenance facility with first class service in the world. Our metrics say so. As for the Md-80 group, I ask of the manager, was the company going to go ahead witht the RETRO program, I.e. the AirCell and Wi-Fi and he said marketing said it was revenue producing so do not look for the demise of the MD-80 soon. Plus the judge has rejected those lease returns for the moment.

Rockwell Collins called their debt today somewhere around 1.45 million. They provide the Entertainment Systems. ( the drop down LCD monitors.)

At TUL today, it is business as usual.

 

[FWAAA]

I was wondering when someone would actually state what they thought about fleet service. With this new proceadure to negotiations, the company is looking to expand the ASM (OSM) on the aircraft, it would be a excellent oppurtunity for the TWU to continue the dues machine for the upcoming electoral process. Actually having a pool of pre-qualified technicians is just a step ahead for the company that no other airline has.

As for Tulsa, I sat in on a Leadership meeting yesterday. Tulsa is going to be the largest 737 maintenance facility with first class service in the world. Our metrics say so. As for the Md-80 group, I ask of the manager, was the company going to go ahead witht the RETRO program, I.e. the AirCell and Wi-Fi and he said marketing said it was revenue producing so do not look for the demise of the MD-80 soon. Plus the judge has rejected those lease returns for the moment.

Rockwell Collins called their debt today somewhere around 1.45 million. They provide the Entertainment Systems. ( the drop down LCD monitors.)

At TUL today, it is business as usual.

Somebody's feeding you bad info. The judge hasn't rejected anything. AA filed a motion and that motion hasn't been ruled upon yet. The judge will approve the lease rejection on those grounded MD-80s. Unlike the first day motions, where AA needed approval for many day to day operating decisions, lease rejections don't have to be approved by the judge on the same day.

Rockwell will get in line for its unpaid bills unless AA has filed a motion for approval to treat them preferentially, which may be the case.

 

[Buck]

Somebody's feeding you bad info. The judge hasn't rejected anything. AA filed a motion and that motion hasn't been ruled upon yet. The judge will approve the lease rejection on those grounded MD-80s. Unlike the first day motions, where AA needed approval for many day to day operating decisions, lease rejections don't have to be approved by the judge on the same day.

Rockwell will get in line for its unpaid bills unless AA has filed a motion for approval to treat them preferentially, which may be the case.

I understand, could it be that the creditors are asking for these rejections? Either way according to management here in Tulsa, there are some legal questions that have stalled the lease returns of the MD-80 aircraft. One example would be to get the returned aircraft back to it's original confiuration. That in itself it almost impossible and must be accomplish on paper, correct?

 

[FWAAA]

I understand, could it be that the creditors are asking for these rejections? Either way according to management here in Tulsa, there are some legal questions that have stalled the lease returns of the MD-80 aircraft. One example would be to get the returned aircraft back to it's original confiuration. That in itself it almost impossible and must be accomplish on paper, correct?

It's possible that the lessors might object, but lease rejection is almost automatic. The courts are going to presume that management knows better than the lessor whether getting rid of that liability is necessary to a reorganization and it's very rare that decision will be reviewed.

Just heard that AMR is up to a buck a share. TIME TO SELL, Buck. It's definitely time to pull the handle and eject.

Of course, if you do, it will quickly rise to $1.25 or more.

About lease returns: I may be wrong, but if the lease is rejected, AA has no further obligations other than to safeguard the property until the lessor can come get it. If the lessor wants some scheduled check maintenance performed, AA and the lessor would negotiate just like any other 3rd party maintenance. The lease obligations to maintain prior to return evaporate when the lease is rejected, just like the rent payment and other obligations.

If TULE was performing lease return maintenance prior to Nov 29, I would expect that management would tell everyone to stop that work until it's clear whether AA will get paid for it. AA ain't gonna perform free C or heavy C checks for the lessors.

 

[Buck]

It's possible that the lessors might object, but lease rejection is almost automatic. The courts are going to presume that management knows better than the lessor whether getting rid of that liability is necessary to a reorganization and it's very rare that decision will be reviewed.

Just heard that AMR is up to a buck a share. TIME TO SELL, Buck. It's definitely time to pull the handle and eject.

Of course, if you do, it will quickly rise to $1.25 or more.

About lease returns: I may be wrong, but if the lease is rejected, AA has no further obligations other than to safeguard the property until the lessor can come get it. If the lessor wants some scheduled check maintenance performed, AA and the lessor would negotiate just like any other 3rd party maintenance. The lease obligations to maintain prior to return evaporate when the lease is rejected, just like the rent payment and other obligations.

If TULE was performing lease return maintenance prior to Nov 29, I would expect that management would tell everyone to stop that work until it's clear whether AA will get paid for it. AA ain't gonna perform free C or heavy C checks for the lessors.

As I said it is business as usual, so far, at least in airfcraft overhaul.

As for my little stock purchase, I think I can ride it a little while longer. Institutional investors have been blocked from dumping large chunks, so maybe just maybe I can get some of their droppings.

 

[Buck]

AA & AE Negotiations Teams
Published 12/08/2011
Today the AA & AE negotiations teams are meeting with the International Administrative Committee and ATD Staff assigned, along with the hired Professionals to discuss the next steps in the process.



December 8, 2011
To: All TWU Local AA/AE Presidents and Executive Boards
Re: AA/AE Bankruptcy
Some questions apparently have arisen regarding your representations by TWU in American Airlines/American Eagle bankruptcy proceedings. I wish to respond and make our Union's position very clear: as your collective bargaining representative under the Railway Labor Act, TWU is the sole representative in Bankruptcy Court for representing the interests of TWU members and protecting, as best as possible, their collectively bargained rights and rates of pay benefits and working conditions. TWU wants the TWU locals at American and American Eagle to have a role in this process, to assist TWU as assigned by the International in accord with the TWU Constitution; however, we will lend no comfort or assistance to any effort to undermine the need for TWU to speak with a single, united voice in court. To effectively deal with the extraordinary demands of the AA/AE bankruptcy situation, TWU has assembled an expert professional team, including experienced bankruptcy counsel who has represented unions in major airline bankruptcies. In order to best represent TWU members' interests in the process, TWU will view each issue from a variety of different perspectives including those provided by our locals, and by the professionals who have different areas of experience and expertise. Once we take a position on a given issue, though, it is vital that TWU speak with one voice to the Bankruptcy Court. To proceed differently would be to significantly diminish effectiveness of our union voice. TWU has and will expend considerable resources protecting the interests of our members. TWU will not, however, provide assistance to locals who wish to spend more money to hire their own additional bankruptcy counsel. TWU is already providing such counsel for all of its members. Though TWU will not stand in the way of a local hiring its own counsel for advice and commentary on the process--so long as it does so in compliance with its local by-laws, and so long as the financial expense does not raise questions of fiduciary responsibility--we believe it wasteful and confusing and urge locals not to be involved in such extravagant efforts. The bankruptcy process that we are all about to undergo is too critical to each and every TWU member who works for American Airlines or American Eagle to allow it to become the play-thing of politics as usual. We must not allow internal union politics to undermine our ability to address the issues that we will be facing in Bankruptcy Court over the next months. Let us tackle the difficult months that now face us in unity and solidarity and, when the ordeal is over, perhaps this experience of working together will have opened the way to a newly vitalized and strengthened union.

In solidarity,

James C. Little Harry Lombardo Joseph C. Gordon
International President Int’l Exec. Vice President Int’l Secretary-Treasurer
Gary E. Maslanka Jeffrey L. Brooks, Sr.
Int’l Administrative VP Int’l Administrative VP
Harry Lombardo
Joseph C. Gordon
Gary E. Maslanka
Jeffrey L. Brooks, Sr.

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

REMOVED

 

[TWU informer]

AA & AE Negotiations Teams
Published 12/08/2011
Today the AA & AE negotiations teams are meeting with the International Administrative Committee and ATD Staff assigned, along with the hired Professionals to discuss the next steps in the process.



December 8, 2011
To: All TWU Local AA/AE Presidents and Executive Boards
Re: AA/AE Bankruptcy
Some questions apparently have arisen regarding your representations by TWU in American Airlines/American Eagle bankruptcy proceedings. I wish to respond and make our Union's position very clear: as your collective bargaining representative under the Railway Labor Act, TWU is the sole representative in Bankruptcy Court for representing the interests of TWU members and protecting, as best as possible, their collectively bargained rights and rates of pay benefits and working conditions. TWU wants the TWU locals at American and American Eagle to have a role in this process, to assist TWU as assigned by the International in accord with the TWU Constitution; however, we will lend no comfort or assistance to any effort to undermine the need for TWU to speak with a single, united voice in court. To effectively deal with the extraordinary demands of the AA/AE bankruptcy situation, TWU has assembled an expert professional team, including experienced bankruptcy counsel who has represented unions in major airline bankruptcies. In order to best represent TWU members' interests in the process, TWU will view each issue from a variety of different perspectives including those provided by our locals, and by the professionals who have different areas of experience and expertise. Once we take a position on a given issue, though, it is vital that TWU speak with one voice to the Bankruptcy Court. To proceed differently would be to significantly diminish effectiveness of our union voice. TWU has and will expend considerable resources protecting the interests of our members. TWU will not, however, provide assistance to locals who wish to spend more money to hire their own additional bankruptcy counsel. TWU is already providing such counsel for all of its members. Though TWU will not stand in the way of a local hiring its own counsel for advice and commentary on the process--so long as it does so in compliance with its local by-laws, and so long as the financial expense does not raise questions of fiduciary responsibility--we believe it wasteful and confusing and urge locals not to be involved in such extravagant efforts. The bankruptcy process that we are all about to undergo is too critical to each and every TWU member who works for American Airlines or American Eagle to allow it to become the play-thing of politics as usual. We must not allow internal union politics to undermine our ability to address the issues that we will be facing in Bankruptcy Court over the next months. Let us tackle the difficult months that now face us in unity and solidarity and, when the ordeal is over, perhaps this experience of working together will have opened the way to a newly vitalized and strengthened union.

In solidarity,

James C. Little Harry Lombardo Joseph C. Gordon
International President Int’l Exec. Vice President Int’l Secretary-Treasurer
Gary E. Maslanka Jeffrey L. Brooks, Sr.
Int’l Administrative VP Int’l Administrative VP
Harry Lombardo
Joseph C. Gordon
Gary E. Maslanka
Jeffrey L. Brooks, Sr.

WOW, that reads just like an organizing letter from an opposition union that is trying to prove the problem within the TWU.

Had this come from an organizer of AMP, it would have been called fake.

"WE are the UNION," their t-shirt says, but this clearly takes the cake on making it clear "WHO the UNION really is".

How many times in this short announcment does the term "TWU" get seperated from the Local or the Membership.
This makes it clear, there are three seperate institutions on the property. The "TWU", the "TWU Locals" and the "TWU Members"
And most amazing...written as a call for unity...LOL

Un freakin Real!!!

I agree that we need to speak with one voice and at least show unity even if there relly is none.

But this ranks as the most poorly written communication to strive for unity that I have ever read...bar none.
Save this one back as the ultimate blunder in communications.
This is an emotional rant and a perfect example of how not to execute leadership communication.

 

[High Speed Steel]

WOW, that reads just like an organizing letter from an opposition union that is trying to prove the problem within the TWU.

Had this come from an organizer of AMP, it would have been called fake.

"WE are the UNION," their t-shirt says, but this clearly takes the cake on making it clear "WHO the UNION really is".

How many times in this short announcment does the term "TWU" get seperated from the Local or the Membership.
This makes it clear, there are three seperate institutions on the property. The "TWU", the "TWU Locals" and the "TWU Members"
And most amazing...written as a call for unity...LOL

Un freakin Real!!!

I agree that we need to speak with one voice and at least show unity even if there relly is none.

But this ranks as the most poorly written communication to strive for unity that I have ever read...bar none.
Save this one back as the ultimate blunder in communications.
This is an emotional rant and a perfect example of how not to execute leadership communication.

The "stand up critic" has spoken....lol

I am the TWU and don't need a shirt to prove it, just as any member who has taken the membership pledge, they too are the TWU and I actually agree with the entire topic. Perhaps this is the politically correct version of the TWU (again that would be me) telling the rogue stand up critics to "sit in the truck"

 

[Buck]

The "stand up critic" has spoken....lol

I am the TWU and don't need a shirt to prove it, just as any member who has taken the membership pledge, they too are the TWU and I actually agree with the entire topic. Perhaps this is the politically correct version of the TWU (again that would be me) telling the rogue stand up critics to "sit in the truck"

I pray to God and Pledge my Allegiance to the United States of America too.

 

[High Speed Steel]

I pray to God and Pledge my Allegiance to the United States of America too.

I do the same Buck. We also do this at each membership and shop stewards meeting monthly...come on down and join us at TWU514.

 

[Buck]

I do the same Buck. We also do this at each membership and shop stewards meeting monthly...come on down and join us at TWU514.

Thank you for the very kind invitation, however I have worn out my welcome there and have no reason to attend. I wait in anticipation for the local communication via the internet. They are quite informative, thanks Mr. Ball. Besides our politics kinda clash. The TWU uses my dues for purposes I deem unfit, but that is another story.