Voting!

[Bob Owens]

In the 1989 contract did the mechs vote down the TA and then get a worse contract voted in? I wasn't at AA then.

That was a different era. Back then the Tulsa membership voted however they were told to vote. So they voted NO the first time when a No recommendation came from their President then they voted Yes when he came back with pretty much the same deal.

I think the "worse part "was the Pre-funding. Koziatek loved it, said it was "better than having a fully company paid plan because this is guaranteed, even if the company went bankrupt that money would still be in there, under the company plan if they go BK you lose it". He told me that back in 2000 shortly after I took office as Treasurer because I was critical of the plan.

Now here we are , the company plan is gone and we are losing the prefunding as well, only thing is the company never went bankrupt!

I suspect that the plan was falling short and AA would have had to cough up some more cash, instead they confiscate the match($27 million) and will use it to pay for those still covered.

This is like if the company had told is in 1989 that they want to get rid of the pension but they will put 10% of our earnings in a 401k as a match, then 20 years later said "we dont want to participate or sponsor a 401K anymore, so what we are going to do is give you back what you put in, plus half the interst, which you can either roll into an IRA or we will let you use it to buy stock in AA (sick leave credits) but we are keeping the match."

 

[Duke787]

That was a different era. Back then the Tulsa membership voted however they were told to vote. So they voted NO the first time when a No recommendation came from their President then they voted Yes when he came back with pretty much the same deal.

I think the "worse part "was the Pre-funding. Koziatek loved it, said it was "better than having a fully company paid plan because this is guaranteed, even if the company went bankrupt that money would still be in there, under the company plan if they go BK you lose it". He told me that back in 2000 shortly after I took office as Treasurer because I was critical of the plan.

Now here we are , the company plan is gone and we are losing the prefunding as well, only thing is the company never went bankrupt!

I suspect that the plan was falling short and AA would have had to cough up some more cash, instead they confiscate the match($27 million) and will use it to pay for those still covered.

This is like if the company had told is in 1989 that they want to get rid of the pension but they will put 10% of our earnings in a 401k as a match, then 20 years later said "we dont want to participate or sponsor a 401K anymore, so what we are going to do is give you back what you put in, plus half the interst, which you can either roll into an IRA or we will let you use it to buy stock in AA (sick leave credits) but we are keeping the match."

Thanks for info.............

 

[OgieJFK]

Thanks, Your President has one out as well.

My cost for Medical coverage has increased 500% since 2003 on a paycut. When you factor in the 1.5% increases the increased benifit costs took $1.20hr out of the $1.90hr we saw over a seven year period.

Thanks Bob. I've sent out a mass email with the youtube link. I've gotten a couple of phone calls recently about the FSC strike vote and what it all means. I have to call the local tomorrow to find out if i'm even able to vote.

 

[Deleted member 14439]

So Steve "shut your pie hole" Luis is at it again I see !!! Here is a heads up for you Luis...AFW is a solid NO !!! As to your deluded comments of what happened to MCI, well we all saw that coming 09/12/2001. Now go crawl to your international "job" and SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE !!!

 

[comatose]

So Steve "shut your pie hole" Luis is at it again I see !!! Here is a heads up for you Luis...AFW is a solid NO !!! As to your deluded comments of what happened to MCI, well we all saw that coming 09/12/2001. Now go crawl to your international "job" and SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE !!!

I love it. In line #2 it says we give up retiree medical for new hires. Well I've been here 25 yrs. and I'm being forced to give it up. I guess I'm
a new hire.

 

[Tex-Mech]

The last time I've seen a sales pitch like this resulted in that sellout going to management within 6 months.

 

[chris perry]

The last time I've seen a sales pitch like this resulted in that sellout going to management within 6 months.

Who's to say the company will honor the line maint premium? Does the hgr mechanic at a line station get the premium? After all they dont work the line....are they going to carve up everone and reclassify by job code?
I guess my question is DO YOU TRUST THEM....... ? None of these questions have been answered by the TWU Leaders.Oh yes they can do that brother......

 

[Tex-Mech]

Does the hgr mechanic at a line station get the premium?

An employee, while regularly assigned to the classification of Inspector, Crew Chief – Aviation Maintenance Technician, Technical Crew Chief – Aviation Maintenance Technician, Aviation Maintenance Technician at the field stations, including Kansas City (MCIE) and Tulsa (TULE) Line Maintenance operations, will receive a Line Premium of two dollar fifty-five cents ($2.55) per hour.

The language is the same as before, and it does say field stations.


VOTE No

 

[OgieJFK]

I love it. In line #2 it says we give up retiree medical for new hires. Well I've been here 25 yrs. and I'm being forced to give it up. I guess I'm
a new hire.

It is sad when a guy resorts to telling his membership half truths and misinformation. The guy spent more time trying to drag Bob and the AFW crew thru the mud then explaining his points in detail. It speaks wonders about his leadership skills and character. I guess Slug Steve is over 50 years old and could care less about the under 50 people losing retiree medical. Why not..after all...HE GOT HIS!

Steve should have started a Steve Miller cover band. This way he could have played " Take the money and run" to the 514 membership.

 

[comatose]

It is sad when a guy resorts to telling his membership half truths and misinformation. The guy spent more time trying to drag Bob and the AFW crew thru the mud then explaining his points in detail. It speaks wonders about his leadership skills and character. I guess Slug Steve is over 50 years old and could care less about the under 50 people losing retiree medical. Why not..after all...HE GOT HIS!

Steve should have started a Steve Miller cover band. This way he could have played " Take the money and run" to the 514 membership.

I'm sorry it's not half truths it's bald face lies. It doesn't list the remaining concessions that we will have to swallow.

The only thing more crooked than the company I work for, is the union I pay dues to.

 

[Hopeful]

One has to wonder why Luis is pushing this TA so hard...Is it because his International Position hinges on this rag getting passed?

 

[1AA]

OK guys enough is enough. All the indicators are leading the way to a recovery of profits for the airline industry. AA was the exception and what happened? A BIG shake up at headquarters in leadership for AMR. The stock holders must be pissed that AMR is not with the program. It seems that Arpey might be on his way out. All the airlines showed profits but us. WHY? AMR increased their reserve cash flow. Where did that money come from? Yet they posted a loss while upgrading interiors. They say we have high labor rates yet they find money to invest and increase the reserve cash account. Our union leadership could give a rats backside about us. They are in for themselves and the company is catering to them not us. In return we get this awful concessionary T/A to actually vote on. If you just take a few minutes and start reading the industry news and STOP listening to the Company and union propaganda maybe you will see why you should vote NO! There will be no bankruptcy for AMR unless you listen to the select few union presidents and the International telling you doom and gloom if you vote this T/A down. Ask yourselves if we accept this T/A will we be better off than we are now? What I mean is the entire T/A not just the money. If by now you only think about the money then you really did not take the time to read the T/A in its entirety. The language is really BAD I mean BAD!
Read it and ask questions. Some questions the Union can not answer because they do not know what they agreed on. This alone is a good reason to vote NO!

VOTE NO
VOTE NO

 

[FWAAA]

OK guys enough is enough. All the indicators are leading the way to a recovery of profits for the airline industry. AA was the exception and what happened? A BIG shake up at headquarters in leadership for AMR. The stock holders must be pissed that AMR is not with the program. It seems that Arpey might be on his way out. All the airlines showed profits but us. WHY? AMR increased their reserve cash flow. Where did that money come from? Yet they posted a loss while upgrading interiors. They say we have high labor rates yet they find money to invest and increase the reserve cash account.

I'm happy for you to vote "NO" on the TA (I probably would if I were a member of the worthless union) but at least please try to learn the difference between the income statement and the balance sheet.

AA found cash to build the cash balance and to invest in new interiors (in hopes of higher revenues) and the presence of that money has nothing to do with profit or loss. AA's cash is $2 billion higher than a year ago because last fall AA borrowed it from Citi and others plus sold nearly a billion dollars worth of new stock to eternally optimistic suckers.

AA didn't earn a profit like Delta's profit for many reasons, and two of them are the higher labor costs at AA compared to DL plus the advantage DL has had for many years with antitrust immunity with its European partners, something the regulators just granted to AA this week after 14 years of trying in three separate attempts. There are no doubt many more reasons and many of them may reflect poor management.

From where I sit, becoming educated on basic finances is a very good thing for you guys and may help you negotiate pay raises. Your continued reliance on the TWU leadership (both international and local elected leaders) ain't getting the job done.

 

[Captain S.Gumbs @DFW]

F you morons i have six kids to feed and a mortgage to pay i will do what is best for my family not whats best for you. If you dont get that you wont get anything

iluvaa, A NO vote is the only vote and exactly how I'm voting. For all those including you thinking of voting yes, go ahead, but don't complain when you get laid off as a result. You obviously haven't a clue as to the gravity of marking yes on that ballot. Too bad for you, wish you would educate yourself before running blindly to the edge of that cliff, have fun because it's a really long way down.

 

[Bob Owens]

AA found cash to build the cash balance and to invest in new interiors (in hopes of higher revenues) and the presence of that money has nothing to do with profit or loss. AA's cash is $2 billion higher than a year ago because last fall AA borrowed it from Citi and others plus sold nearly a billion dollars worth of new stock to eternally optimistic suckers.

AA didn't earn a profit like Delta's profit for many reasons, and two of them are the higher labor costs at AA compared to DL plus the advantage DL has had for many years with antitrust immunity with its European partners, something the regulators just granted to AA this week after 14 years of trying in three separate attempts. There are no doubt many more reasons and many of them may reflect poor management.

Isnt the vast majority of stock in AA owned by instututional investors? The next biggest group being employees? Prior to 2003, when the company dished out stock to us wasnt Institutional ownership around 97%? They dont buy AMR to make money from AMR, they buy it to control AMR and they make their money off the things that feed off it.

The Higher labor costs disadvantage is a myth. We've gone over that dozens of times, If you pay your own employees to do something its a labor cost, if you pay someone else to pay their employees to do it you still have the expense but it get catagorized somewhere else. When UAL contracted out much of their OH their total maintenance costs went up, not down even though their labor costs went down.