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TWU Strategic Action Coordinator Brian Parker talks with TWU Executive Negotiator Gary Peterson and IAM Executive Negotiator Tom Reagan about what American Airlines calls their “Full Company Proposal.”
American Airlines has made the determination to try changing the negotiations from the bargaining table to directly bargaining in the breakrooms, on the shop floor and on the ramp. Their direct appeal to TWU and IAM members represented by the Association is an end-around rarely seen by the most anti-union employers during contract negotiations. They want to test your solidarity.
The documents they posted on JetNet do show significant gains the Association achieved so far in negotiations. The Company gave nothing out of their generosity – the improvements you see are the result of the hard work of your negotiators. But, don’t be fooled – IT IS NOT ENOUGH!
Work is not protected. They think they can fool us by making a promise that everyone will have a job in their current location. What they will not tell you is that they will replace work performed by those who leave by using vendors or by sending the work out of the country altogether. Retirement is still inadequate, healthcare is unresolved and the industry worst profit sharing still outweighs any wage gains. If we caved in to American’s demands a year ago, the gains we did achieve would not be there. If we cave in now, the job security, healthcare and retirement you have earned and deserve are guaranteed not be there.
Our message is simple. Tell the Company IT IS NOT ENOUGH! Tell them to get back to the table and finish the job. The Association negotiators are ready and waiting.
Show your solidarity – your future and the best contract in the industry depends on it.
Fraternally,
Your Association Negotiating Committees
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We focus on drug addiction this month. Drug Addiction is defined and explored on page 1. Page 2 addresses whether drug addiction can be cured or prevented.
Much of the information is from the www.drugabuse.gov web site. This is a very good resource and I encourage you to browse the site so you are familiar with all of the information there is.
Thank you for taking good care of your fellow co-workers. It is important work.
Bryan,
Bryan Hutchinson, M.S.
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The Association leadership met with American Airlines’ negotiators and Federal Mediators this week in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The Mediator’s unorthodox approach to these negotiations failed to provide adequate space for the parties to face-off in the critical high stakes final issues to be resolved. The recent sessions were short three-day bursts that started late in the mornings and did not proceed into the evenings. The Mediators kept the negotiators in separate rooms instead of creating an environment that forced the negotiators to face each other to reach an agreement or stalemate. An arbitrary deadline was set (without agreement from the Association) that resulted in this session to be the last 3 days the NMB have scheduled for the parties to meet.
The company took advantage of this strategy (that undermines the process and favors the company) by continuing with their greed driven tactics and proposals. Company management is unwilling to acknowledge the workforce, whose sacrifices have created the world’s largest airline that makes Billions in profits.
Given the company’s unwillingness to move away from demanding massive concessions from our members, the Mediators have informed us that they will report to their superiors at the National Mediation Board (NMB) that they do not see a clear path to reaching an agreement. This process will take a number of weeks. It will be up to the NMB to determine the next step(s) in this process as outlined under the Railway Labor Act.
Since the beginning of these negotiations, company negotiators have continued to hold steadfast in their opening positions of massive concessions in SCOPE, failed to move off their substandard health and retirement positions and will not negotiate to secure best in the industry compensation. What they have focused on is continuing to spin their half-truths on Jetnet.
We are certain that the company will be lobbying the NMB to recommend a Presidential Emergency Board (PEB) since they cannot get the concessions they want from your negotiators. The recommendations from a PEB could favor the company. We must be prepared to reject those recommendations.
It is time for every Association represented member to clearly and unambiguously let the company know you will not accept another concessionary agreement. Your Association leadership has let the Company know that they are in for a fight. All of us must accept the fact this fight is truly on and it does personally affect each of us from this day forward.
Our collective success is up to you.
Fraternally,
Your Association Negotiating Committees
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PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE AMY KLOBUCHAR TALKS MEGA-MERGERS, PRAISES UNION ACTIVISM
Presidential Candidate Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Mn) spoke before hundreds of Machinists Union members at its conference of railroad and airline workers.
For Senator Klobuchar, the event was the highlight of her first campaign stop in Las Vegas, where she also visited the Blind Center of Nevada and the Harold Brinley Middle School. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), also addressed delegates at the Machinists Union Transportation Conference. The Machinists Union is the largest union of aerospace and rail workers in the world.
In her speech, Senator Klobuchar emphasized her close ties with unions, which Owen E. Herrnstadt, Chief of Staff for the IAM International President, praised in his introduction of the senior senator from Minnesota.
“Since taking office in 2007, Amy Klobuchar has been a fearless fighter on behalf of working Americans,” Herrnstadt told the assembled group of over 800 union members from the nation’s railroads and airlines. “Amy knows how to get things done.”
“She has supported efforts to protect our pensions, to protect voting rights, to make drug prices affordable, raise the minimum wage … and shine a bright light on corporations that want to merge.”
Mergers were a particular area of focus of Klobuchar’s speech to the Machinists, whose members have been rocked by two recent mega-mergers. Notably, the mergers between United Airlines and Continental, and US Airways and American.
But air transport is not the only industry that has endured huge and difficult mergers.
“We are now in a new Gilded Age,” said Klobuchar of the railroad industry. “We’re down to four Class One Carriers that are carrying 90% of the traffic.”
“This means that wages go down because there’s not enough competition,” she said. Unions are the leverage that we have. Unions can take on corporations and win better wages for workers.”
The first female senator from Minnesota spoke highly of the community spirit and activism of Machinists.
“The 600 thousand members of the Machinists Union… helped rebuild communities affected by the raging wildfires in the West and the floods in the Midwest.”
“You sent your Critical Incident Support Team to support survivors when a gunman opened fire in Aurora, Illinois, killing five people, two of whom were IAM Members.”
“And, after the devastation of Maria, you partnered with airlines to fly goods and disaster relief to Puerto Rico,” she said.
“That’s a community. That’s a shared story. That’s ordinary people doing extraordinary things.”
After her speech, Senator Klobuchar spent time speaking with delegates and posed for pictures.
The IAM Transportation Conference assembles the top union activists within the railroad and airline industries. The event is being held this week in Las Vegas, Nevada, and will run through April 11.
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Mergers were a particular area of focus of Klobuchar’s speech to the Machinists, whose members have been rocked by two recent mega-mergers. Notably, the mergers between United Airlines and Continental, and US Airways and American.