Brothers and Sisters,
The Association Executive leadership met with American Airlines management this week to push through the tough Fleet Service Scope issues and proposals we have exchanged. Your committee was initially pleased when the Company’s Chief Negotiator offered to include protection for all of the fleet work currently performed at the 40 fleet service stations.
When the Association committee began to engage the offer, the Company negotiators abruptly reversed course, denied the offer they made and insisted that health care and wages be agreed to before they would agree to any further scope discussions.
This highly erratic behavior by senior level company negotiators is so unusual that it creates an aura of distrust over any of our ongoing negotiations. We are left to wonder what other issues the company may reverse course on.
While the company has publically dangled the carrot of more in wages and other vague benefits, in reality, none of what they say has been agreed to by them. It is the unequivocal position of the Association that the work we perform must be protected because the pay and benefit smoke and mirrors have no meaning without the job protection we need to guarantee our futures at American Airlines.
The truth of our current state of negotiations is that the Association is ready to discuss all of our outstanding Scope issues and proposals, but the Company negotiators refuse to proceed. They insist that work done TODAY, in every Association represented classification, should not be guaranteed in our contracts. Their position is that we should agree to concede work we do TODAY.
Our membership suffered the bankruptcies to pay for the survival of our airlines. We bring to the table the work we do today from those bankruptcy contracts. American Airlines, the largest airline in the world, is healthy and boasts that it will be profitable as far as anyone can see into the future. To demand that we concede work we do TODAY is nothing but an insult to every Association represented worker.
The time to fight for our jobs is now. Our futures depend on it.
Fraternally,
Your Association Executive Negotiating Committee