Association Video Update: Ongoing Contract Negotiations
District 142 General Chair Sean Ryan and District 141 Assistant General Chair Mark Baskett discuss the ongoing contract negotiations to American Airlines membership.
American Reneges
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
American Blows Another Chance for Agreement
Brothers and Sisters,
The Association Executive Negotiating Committee met with American Airlines this week in Washington, D.C. to continue the discussion about Scope proposals. Your Executive Committee presented the company with comprehensive proposals. The Association proposals are reasonable and recognize the sacrifices our members have collectively made through our company’s bankruptcies by securing our work into the future.
Our members deserve nothing less!
All of our responses to the company continue to fall on deaf ears!
Management continues to disrespect our members hard earned stake in this company by blatantly disregarding our attempts to come to fair and equitable Scope agreements for all classifications. With each passing negotiating session, the company’s negotiating committee’s disregard for our membership has become more apparent. They continue to ignore the contributions our members have made to help them become the most profitable airline in the world.
The company’s negotiating committee continues to make proposals that contradict what their Chairman and CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom have publicly promised our members from the beginning of negotiations. In stark contrast, American’s proposal will eliminate 2,500 AMT jobs, not include facilities maintenance work protections and allows the outsourcing of almost any fleet service work.
The company must know that our members will remain strong and united; that you will not waver in the protection of your scope and the jobs of all of our members!
Fraternally,
Your Association Executive Negotiating Committee
IAM and Flagship Facility Services Reach Tentative Agreement
Negotiations yield wage increases, enhanced benefits, pension contributions
Forty-one members of Local 1781 of the IAM representing employees of Flagship Facility Services, Inc. at SFO will vote on a tentative agreement reached by negotiators and the company and announced today by IAM District 141.
The agreement calls for a 14.1% increase in base wages, with hourly pay for Leads and Forklift Operators rising to $18.25 on the day of signing, an increase of over $3.00 per hour from current rates. Flagship will begin making contributions to the IAM National Pension Fund for every employee at the rate of .25 per hour worked up to 40 hours per week, with annual increases through the life of the contract, which expires on December 31, 2020.
The agreement requires the company to conduct a minimum of one annual shift bid and makes the awarding of overtime a more transparent process. In addition, any employee held out of service for any reason will have full pay restored after the 30th day. Employees will have an additional paid holiday for their birthday and increased sick bank and funeral leave.
District 141 President and Directing General Chair Mike Klemm applauded the accomplishment: “I’d like to thank Assistant General Chair Troy Rivera and the entire negotiating committee for vigorously representing our members’ interests. The negotiating committee unanimously recommends ratification of the agreements.”
District 141 AGC Troy Rivera, who led the negotiations for the IAM had high praise for his team: “These hard-working IAM members understand that their professionalism is an essential part of their employer’s success in securing important janitorial contracts and maintaining a 96% customer retention rate. I am proud to have worked alongside Kurt Rothenbuescher, Sandra Gonzales, and Joel De La Cruz to get the pay and benefits they deserve.”
Voting will take place on July 11, 2018, from 12 noon until 5:00 PM at 1511 Rollins Road, Burlingame, CA 94010. Please direct any questions to Troy Rivera at 925-570-3190.
Association, American to Meet
Brothers and Sisters,
American Airlines recently changed course by contacting the TWU-IAM Association leadership seeking dates to discuss minor issues that remain open in our negotiations. The Association views all discussions between us and the company as important to achieving our goal of a tentative agreement. For this reason, the TWU-IAM Association Negotiating Committees have agreed to send a small group of committee members to meet with American Airlines on June 11th and 12th to discuss these outstanding issues.
Regretfully, however, we are still in dispute. American Airlines management continues to disrespect Association members by refusing to negotiate the components of our contracts that will impact our lives and our families most of all.
The Association’s priority is to reach a fair agreement with the industry’s most profitable carrier that brings true work protections, leads the industry in compensation, provides the retirement security Association members deserve, more fairly shares the profits we help generate, and preserves the healthcare choices brought to American Airlines through its merger with US Airways.
Fraternally,
Your Association Negotiating Committee
Human Rights
Wage earner rights are human rights. The problem is protecting them. Knowing your rights and belonging to a union helps.