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

[Hopeful]

re.

Personally I don't want you to give back anything. I just don't understand why you can't take the bonus, small though it may be, and move on without making a huge political issue out of it.

Because there's a lot more to it than the $200 AIP. They still want more concessions from us.
The executives are exempt from any pain.

But the pro company backers here claim that our invaluable executives HAVE suffered..........

THEY JUST DON'T GET AS LARGE A PAYOUT AS THEY USED TO GET! BooHoo.

 

[SDFEagle]

It would be nice if the TWU negotiated the same terms non-airline workers have, like getting paid for hours worked over 40 in a week, and not getting straight time for CSing.

 

[super80fa]

Because there's a lot more to it than the $200 AIP. They still want more concessions from us.
The executives are exempt from any pain.

But the pro company backers here claim that our invaluable executives HAVE suffered..........

THEY JUST DON'T GET AS LARGE A PAYOUT AS THEY USED TO GET! BooHoo.

Excellent post. Sums up exactly how I feel. The executives salaries (and all the other crap they get) are so far out of wack with what they deserve that it makes you sick if you really think about it. I honestly would have no problem with them earning as much IF they were able to manage this company effectively, but they don't. Or I should say, they can't.

 

[Chuck Schalk]

It appears that we will get a contract when the company is ready to give us one. There is no sense of urgency from either side and we have no power to force fair negotiations let alone negoiate an industry leading contract. So sit back and wait while the company contemplates how to extend our contract and not pay us retro!

 

[aamechntx]

It would be nice if the TWU negotiated the same terms non-airline workers have, like getting paid for hours worked over 40 in a week, and not getting straight time for CSing.

SDF, a CSW/CSO is an agreement between two employees. The CS policy benefits the employees with greater flexibility and AMR with reduced lost time occurences. If you volunteer to work for someone why should you expect to make time and a half when the originally scheduled employee would've made straight time? The CS policy is not a contractual issue, its a priviledge.
If you are not getting OT pay for anything over 8 hours in a day and any hours over 40 a week then you need to contact payroll and your union reps to get compensated fairly. That is if you're not factoring CSW into the equation. Im not sure where the TWU is with Eagle in their negotiations. If its anything like AA, good luck with any terms.

 

[frontline]

Excellent post. Sums up exactly how I feel. The executives salaries (and all the other crap they get) are so far out of wack with what they deserve that it makes you sick if you really think about it. I honestly would have no problem with them earning as much IF they were able to manage this company effectively, but they don't. Or I should say, they can't.

With all respect, unless you are an HR professional I don't really think you're an expert on determining what the execs should be paid. I agree that they should not get bonuses while the company loses money, and they haven't. PUP is part of their pay package. I may not like it, but my brilliant union agreed to it so that's what we're stuck with. I'm not going to waste energy worrying about that.

The real question is could anyone do any better? I am all about facts and accuracy, and if you look at the competition they have all gone down the bankruptcy toilet, taking their pensions with them. I think the fact that AA is the only legacy not to have gone the bk route indicates some pretty shrewd management wizardry at work. I'll happily call them on their bs, but also believe in giving credit where it is due.

 

[SDFEagle]

CSing benefits the company as much as it does the employees. Also, for instance, we are not paid OT for training hours.

If I am outside the Railway Labor Act and I work more than forty hours, for whatever reason, I will be paid overtime.

As to flexibility, what do you call the frequent bid process, by which employees don’t know from month to month what their hours of work will be. And don’t get me going on cross-utilization. We have had people leave home scheduled for ticket counter, only to arrive and be told they are on the ramp, and THEN get written up for not having the correct clothing with them.

 

[Slopoke]

CSing benefits the company as much as it does the employees. Also, for instance, we are not paid OT for training hours.

If I am outside the Railway Labor Act and I work more than forty hours, for whatever reason, I will be paid overtime.

As to flexibility, what do you call the frequent bid process, by which employees don’t know from month to month what their hours of work will be. And don’t get me going on cross-utilization. We have had people leave home scheduled for ticket counter, only to arrive and be told they are on the ramp, and THEN get written up for not having the correct clothing with them.

You just don't get it. It is an agreement in your collective bargaining agreement, better known as a "contract". I know the no overtime for a CS is in our AA Maintenance contract. The text below is a paragraph that spells it out. If you want to be paid ot on a CS, get the contract language changed. I doubt that the changes you wish will ever happen.

(i) If overtime on any workday or any workweek is due to an authorized exchange of
days off or shifts by employees, which must be approved in advance by the appropriate
supervisor, that time will be compensated for at straight time rates, provided, however,
any continuous work, exclusive of meal periods, in excess of eight (8) [ten (10), if on a
4/10’s schedule] hours on any shift or tour of duty, will be paid for at the overtime rates
provided in Article 6(a).

 

[JimJimmyJim]

CSing benefits the company as much as it does the employees. Also, for instance, we are not paid OT for training hours.

If I am outside the Railway Labor Act and I work more than forty hours, for whatever reason, I will be paid overtime.

As to flexibility, what do you call the frequent bid process, by which employees don’t know from month to month what their hours of work will be. And don’t get me going on cross-utilization. We have had people leave home scheduled for ticket counter, only to arrive and be told they are on the ramp, and THEN get written up for not having the correct clothing with them.

Out of all the things you could pick to argue. this is the best you could do. Give me a break.

 

[WeAAsles]

http://aa.twu.org/default.asp?Display=16

Hey look great news. They agreed that they're going to meet again. I'm getting goosebumps now. New slogan, "No Retro, No Way". AA wanted a 2 year extension and they're going to play this out just to get it.

 

[eolesen]

If I am outside the Railway Labor Act and I work more than forty hours, for whatever reason, I will be paid overtime.

I agree with the poster above -- is this really the best you can come up with to complain about?... Outside the RLA, you don't usually find companies offering full time employees to trade shifts.

I run a 24 hour operation with a half dozen hourly employees. The only way full timers can CS is on a one for one basis, and it can't put either employee in a position where they work more than 40 hours in the Saturday-Friday work week, or more than 8 hours on a given day. Unfortunately, the full timers also all have Saturday-Sunday off, so the best they can do is arrange to cover someone else's shift and swap start times. I've got a couple part timers who can pick up a shift from a full-timer, but the full timer usually winds up getting docked.

In short, it rarely happens. If I could run on the airline's exception for overtime calculations, we'd allow it, but we don't.

 

[TWU informer]

http://aa.twu.org/default.asp?Display=16

Hey look great news. They agreed that they're going to meet again. I'm getting goosebumps now. New slogan, "No Retro, No Way". AA wanted a 2 year extension and they're going to play this out just to get it.

"A new slogan"? That is almost as exciting as our negotiators meeting 2 days every 2 months.

Why not have a two week long negotiation session and try to get something done?

The TWU is for stalling as much as AA is.

My guess is there is a deal already done between the two, and we are just waiting for their chosen date to get it out to us.

 

[Hopeful]

The bottom line is this......We will not have a contract for at least 2 years starting from the may 2008 expiration date.. If and when the company decides to give us a few crumbs, there will be NO retro pay. The company will have gotten their contract extension and whatever we get will have cost them ZERO because of the no retro.

 

[TIME FOR CHANGE]

I agree with the poster above -- is this really the best you can come up with to complain about?... Outside the RLA, you don't usually find companies offering full time employees to trade shifts.

I run a 24 hour operation with a half dozen hourly employees. The only way full timers can CS is on a one for one basis, and it can't put either employee in a position where they work more than 40 hours in the Saturday-Friday work week, or more than 8 hours on a given day. Unfortunately, the full timers also all have Saturday-Sunday off, so the best they can do is arrange to cover someone else's shift and swap start times. I've got a couple part timers who can pick up a shift from a full-timer, but the full timer usually winds up getting docked.

In short, it rarely happens. If I could run on the airline's exception for overtime calculations, we'd allow it, but we don't.

Why should your employees CS when they can just BANG IN SICK
Sounds like the easier way to get the day off with pay

 

[eolesen]

Perhaps they just aren't as prone to lying as you appear to be.

Or maybe they just realize that if they use up sick time for days off, they're screwed when they're really sick...

I've actually got a guy who manages to use up every sick day as soon as he's accrued one.

And when he's really sick (or his kid is sick, which we allow sick time to be used for), it's unpaid time off. Sucks to be him come payday, but we all make our choices....