By JAMES C. LITTLE and JOHN M. CONLEY
Special to the Star-TelegramA few days ago, the Transport Workers Union of America filed for release from mediation for 28,000 members at American Airlines and American Eagle. In other words, we asked the federal government for permission to go on strike. Under the Railroad Labor Act, strikes for workers employed by airlines and railroads are not guaranteed as they are for most other private-sector workers, who fall under a different set of labor laws.
Some people must think we’re out of our minds. Why would anyone go on strike now? Why would anyone risk job security? The nation is suffering from a terrible economic downturn and high unemployment, and the aviation industry has been in a tailspin since even before the recession. What are union members thinking?
What are we thinking? Let’s start by saying that going on strike certainly wasn’t our first or second thought. Our first choice was to partner with the company, to improve it and make it more competitive.
We worked hard at being a full partner. Together, the union and AMR Corp., parent of American, developed hundreds of millions of dollars in productivity gains and brought in new revenue from outside maintenance work.
Furthermore, our union used its lobbying clout in Washington to push for antitrust immunity for the Oneworld alliance so that American could be more competitive on lucrative overseas routes. We also worked closely with the company to eliminate difficult problems with safety and maintenance.
The company and union were jointly recognized for these partnership efforts by the CBS Evening News, in features on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered and by a global business group, the International Air Transport Association, which gave our union and AMR a top award. Even Star-Telegram columnist Mitch Schnurman chimed in with his thoughts not long ago: “American needed a model for a new type of labor-management cooperation — something that would reverse a history of hostile relations with employees. The TWU became a great partner.”
The union has been a great partner. However, what kind of partner has AMR turned out to be?
In 2003, TWU and other union members kept the airline aloft by taking hundreds of millions of dollars in concessions. The company made promises that those wage losses would be restored and that workers and managers would “share the pain.” Management responded by pocketing $300 million in executive bonuses between 2005 and 2009.
Next month, managers will likely take millions more while trying to seek further concessions from front-line workers. This is not partnership. Partnerships are supposed to be two-way streets.
Union members are still living under the terms of the 2003 concessions. That means a worker like Gloria Rodriguez, 64, who cleans planes for American in Los Angeles, is taking home $9 an hour, about what she earned 20 years ago. It’s not easy to get by on that kind of wage in the Southern California housing market. Gloria rents a room in someone else’s home, but she’s worried that a few bad breaks could leave her without any place to live.
Workers like Gloria who helped save American Airlines deserve better. We’ve been at the bargaining table for more than four years, bargaining in good faith, working on an updated agreement. But while American executives can negotiate awfully fast when the company has urgent needs, it turns out that they’re experts at holding lots of meetings that don’t accomplish much when the needs of our members are front and center. Over the past four years we have used a facilitated approach, direct negotiations, mediation, supermeditation and recess sessions, all to no avail.
We’ve had enough talk. Our members need more tools to get a contract settled, and that is why we filed with the National Mediation Board last week for release and the right to engage in “Self-Help,” which includes the option of going on strike.
As aviation consultant Michael Boyd wrote recently on TheStreet.com, “the TWU is one of the most rational, forward-thinking unions out there, and yet they are at the end of their rope — American management has to address that.”
We’re not asking for huge increases in wage and benefits. But we do think it’s time that workers like Gloria Rodriguez, who sacrificed to keep the airline afloat in 2003, earn a fair return on their investment — and a fair measure of dignity at work and at home.
We would like to negotiate a fair agreement that our members can ratify, and we would like to continue to work with AMR to build a better, more productive and profitable airline. We don’t want to be on the picket line. The real question is: What does AMR want?
James C. Little of Hurst is the international president of the 200,000-member Transport Workers Union of America. John Conley of Colleyville is the director of the union’s Air Transport Division. atd@twu.org
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