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

[Buck]

I read somewhere in the press, to paraphrase, it's not fair to hold hail damaged aircraft in lieu wages.

 

[FWAAA]

I read somewhere in the press, to paraphrase, it's not fair to hold hail damaged aircraft in lieu wages.

An AA spokeswoman said something similar in a story about Tulsa employees helping fix the hail-damaged planes:

An American spokesperson says it's not a fair comparison to use a hail storm to justify why a workforce shouldn't be reduced in bankruptcy negotiations.

She also says it could take a few more days for schedules to return to normal at DFW.

http://www.news9.com/story/17342472/tulsa-american-mechanics-in-dallas-fixing-hail-damaged-aircraft

Mullings was shown saying (and I'm paraphrasing) "if AA cuts 4,000+ M&R, there's no way AA could recover quickly the next time a hailstorm hits."

"A few years ago, there was over 100 aircraft damaged in Texas and they got them back in the air in a few days," Mullings said.

Rick Mullings says this is one of the things the union has pointed out to American during negotiations to get the airline out of bankruptcy. American's parent company, AMR, wants to reduce the Tulsa workforce by 2100.

"It would really be hard to pull off this same job with a couple of thousand less people. In fact, I don't think they would be able to. They would have a lot more time on the ground," Mullings said.

 

[Hopeful]

Friday the talk, supposedly directly from the 567 high sherrif, is that due to the lack of MRO capacity AFW will stay open. I have had a feeling that as long as the company gets enough OSMs they would consider keeping AFW open.

Methinks you are correct.....I believe by the end of the next week, the TWU will be bringing back something to vote on and and I believe that JOBS are the primary concern of the TWU....NOT WAGES....

My gut feeling is that the offer of OSMs for jobs offer will be main factor....
Don't be surprised if this will include using OSMs to do B checks at Class I stations...not just the base..

Be prepared, the timing of having members vote on whatever it is will be fast and furious.....

 

[AA89]

An AA spokeswoman said something similar in a story about Tulsa employees helping fix the hail-damaged planes:



http://www.news9.com/story/17342472/tulsa-american-mechanics-in-dallas-fixing-hail-damaged-aircraft

Mullings was shown saying (and I'm paraphrasing) "if AA cuts 4,000+ M&R, there's no way AA could recover quickly the next time a hailstorm hits."

Are we now believing that the geniuses leading us into bankruptcy care about timeliness, quality, or even overall costs when they propose the maintenance cuts they are proposing? They clearly have no plan and no idea what they are doing.

 

[odie01]

Friday the talk, supposedly directly from the 567 high sherrif, is that due to the lack of MRO capacity AFW will stay open. I have had a feeling that as long as the company gets enough OSMs they would consider keeping AFW open.

Larry said this? Not hearing the same news at AFW. We are hearing 120 osm's in the TAESL building. We are 65 heads short, and they want to surplus 55 mechanics. I really think that AA doesn't know what the #### they want to do! Typical cluster fu@# by our genius management. It will bite them in their ass as usual.

 

[Buck]

Larry said this? Not hearing the same news at AFW. We are hearing 120 osm's in the TAESL building. We are 65 heads short, and they want to surplus 55 mechanics. I really think that AA doesn't know what the #### they want to do! Typical cluster fu@# by our genius management. It will bite them in their ass as usual.

I do not remember the numbers, but when the SRP's (OSM's)came into TUL, I believe in 1995, they also started in the engine shops. They were tear down mechanics and the A&P's were given a choice of moving to buildup or to the hangars.

 

[AA89]

Larry said this? Not hearing the same news at AFW. We are hearing 120 osm's in the TAESL building. We are 65 heads short, and they want to surplus 55 mechanics. I really think that AA doesn't know what the #### they want to do! Typical cluster fu@# by our genius management. It will bite them in their ass as usual.

I heard similar numbers as yours regarding TAESL early in the week supposedly from Larry and then on Friday supposedly from other union officers in the hangar about AFW staying open. As usual it was all second hand information as I dont hang in 567 circles.
I can see all of these rumors as possibilities if as Birdman says management is able to get the OSM numbers they want.

 

[Buck]

US industry voices concerns about aerospace workforce

By Christine Boynton | April 16, 2012


US aerospace chiefs are increasingly worried about sustaining a viable aerospace industry workforce, they told a Washington DC summit Thursday.

“We’re short 500 mechanics,” AAR Corp chairman and CEO David Storch said at the US Chamber of Commerce 11th Annual Aviation Summit D. The company does roughly 3.8 million hrs. of maintenance a year. “Each of us has the obligation and responsibility … to make sure that future workforce is out there for us,” he said.

Initiatives such as getting the younger generation excited about aviation, as well as investing in training and working with local institutions, are measures that may be critical to the industry going forward. “We don’t pay attention here, we won’t have an industry,” Storch said.

Airbus Americas chairman T. Allan McArtor added, “We do have an obligation to be actively involved. We have to generate first the interest … then we have to shape the curriculum and course content.”

Rockwell Collins chairman, president and CEO Clayton Jones said, “Most of the very large, iconic businesses … are not in a good position in terms of hiring and growing because of the defense side of it. That’s going to ultimately hurt all of aviation.”

He added, “We have to stop the bleeding—no matter what side you are—of significant reductions.”

 

[Buck]

The Spirit AeroSystems complex in Wichita that builds every Boeing 737 aircraft fuselage suffered a direct hit from a tornado on Saturday, damaging at least 10 buildings and knocking out power.

The adjacent Boeing Defense, Space and Security facility also suffered extensive damage, a nearby Hawker-Beechcraft building lost part of its roof, and the Kansas Aviation Museum also suffered damage, according to reports.

There were no reports of injuries and all workers were accounted for, but additional searches of damaged buildings were to be conducted Sunday.

The Wichita Eagle reported that at Spirit, “six buildings were significantly damaged and four others had major damage.”

Spirit’s VP of Corporate Communications, Debbie Gann, told Wichita’s NBC affiliate KSN that the facility “had substantial damage,” “roofs and siding have been torn off” and that electricity has been cut off. She added, “It looks like most of our operational capability is intact.”

Spirit announced on Twitter that it was shut down until further notice.

In addition to 737 fuselages, Spirit’s Wichita plant builds the cockpits for most Boeing commercial aircraft.

Boeing was still assessing the impact of the damage on their production operations.

Part of a Boeing 737 fuselage found blown against a fence next to the Spirit factory. (Photo by Jeff Herndon, via Twitter)

Boeing’s Wichita facility performs maintenance and modifications to military aircraft. A company spokesman said it suffered a “direct hit.”

A recently-restored Boeing B-47 Stratojet on display at the Kansas Aviation Museum, across the road from Spirit, was also damaged, according to the Eagle.

Part of a massive severe weather outbreak in the nation’s midsection, the Wichita tornado also damaged about 100 trailer homes and knocked out power to thousands, miraculously without any serious injuries reported.

 

[TWU informer]

How to post something and yet say NOTHING - Lesson 101

Letter to Local 514 Members: 4-16-2012


April 16, 2012



Soon after American Airlines filed Chapter 11, Local 514 set the wheels in motion to ensure the Tulsa Maintenance Base did not become a casualty. We reached out to our community, we set up a website (isupportamericanjobs.com) and we contacted our community leaders and elected officials. Many of our coworkers and family members stepped up to participate.

When February 1st rolled around, there was a small sigh of relief when we found out the Maintenance Base would remain open, but at a cost. When we reviewed the company’s February 1st term sheet, we saw they were planning major outsourcing resulting in the closing of AFW and massive job cuts in Tulsa, terminating our pension plan, retiree medical and so on.

The bankruptcy process is not a worker friendly process. Bankruptcy laws serve one purpose and that is to remove obstacles that would prevent a bankrupt company from reorganizing, whether those obstacles are debt, contracts, workers, etc. Your negotiating team has been working toward finding ways to allow the company to reorganize without devastating so many families.

This company is paying a sizable amount to a lot of experts to get them through Chapter 11. Once AMR emerges from bankruptcy it’s the people that are left on payroll who will make or break this company. Now that we are in Chapter 11, we are convinced that reorganization can be successful only if we have a management team who is willing to see the workers as an asset and treat them accordingly.

We have heard the revived speculation of other airlines’ interest in this company. Because of this, we realize this process has many possible outcomes and we are leaving all options open. Our course will not be set until it is determined what is in the best interest of our members and their families. The Transport Workers Union is prepared to negotiate no matter what the scenario may be.

John Hewitt,

Chairman of Maintenance
Member of the Negotiating Team

 

[TWU informer]

Watch out everybody, the TWU is about show 'em now.

Justice for AAmerican Workers

April 16, 2012
Stand in solidarity with the Transport Workers Union for the 1st day of American Airlines bankruptcy trial against labor.

Monday, April 23 9am-11am

Gather in Battery Park (NE corner at Broadway & State St)
March to Bowling Green Park (Across from US Bankruptcy Court)

Can You See How Much Difference This Will Make?...

Brother

 

[Hopeful]

Watch out everybody, the TWU is about show 'em now.

Justice for AAmerican Workers

April 16, 2012
Stand in solidarity with the Transport Workers Union for the 1st day of American Airlines bankruptcy trial against labor.

Monday, April 23 9am-11am

Gather in Battery Park (NE corner at Broadway & State St)
March to Bowling Green Park (Across from US Bankruptcy Court)

Can You See How Much Difference This Will Make?...

Brother

Yea...As if the public give's a rat's ass about airline workers.

 

[Flying low]

Yea...As if the public give's a rat's ass about airline workers.

That's what I've been saying. According to 99% of the comments at the end of any "online" news article, it's the unions fault AA had to file C-11. We make to much money and do nothing for it.

 

[odie01]

When can we submit our resume's, this waiting game sucks! Hate to take a job now only to get juked by AA and their scare campain. Bob, what's going on with these double secrect probation negotiations?

 

[Deleted member 14439]

Several carriers have described what they perceive as widespread problems in the maintenance, repair, and overhaul indus-try at a panel at the MRO Americas conference. The four participants, employees of Federal Express, Atlas Air, Spirit Airlines, and TAP Portugal, represent a broad spec-trum of business models, aircraft, and maintenance prac-tices. Though the individual gripes differed from operator to operator, there was broad agreement on such topics as late turnaround, insufficient data, and an inexperienced workforce. George Silverman, the vice president of materi-el at FedEx, used the example of control surface damage sustained to the company's Airbus aircraft at Dallas-Fort Worth in a severe weather episode on 3 April, which also disrupted the MRO conference. "I'm just giving a specific example that has been replicated many times, we will be sending those elevators to a place called Spain," says Sil-verman. "And it will take probably upwards of three-quarters of a year to a year to get those back. We will end up probably having to go on the open market and buy those elevators in the near-term." … (Flightglobal)...Just sayin`