Local 514 members:
The arduous process to which the New American Airlines’ management team has subjected the TWU members has reached its lowest point. US Airways’ takeover of American Airlines was initially welcomed by the TWU as a lesser of two evils, yet we must admit, at long last, that it has been the worst thing that has happened to American Airlines since the tragic events of September 11, 2001!
Since December 3rd, 2015 our negotiating team has been wrangling with AA management to make AA’s contractual agreements match their public proclamations. AA says it wants to be the best airline to work for, with its workers receiving the best treatment and compensation in the industry.
“We have to be out working to find ways to positively surprise our employees,” Parker said.
“They still don’t trust us. It’s not their fault they don’t trust us. They don’t trust us because of what they’ve experienced. They haven’t experienced trustworthy things. Not because the people they worked for are necessarily not trustworthy, simply because the people they worked for couldn’t live up to the promises they made. …They’re still gun shy from it.”aahles@star-telegram.com
Proceeding to negotiate following this premise, we have been able to reach tentative agreements on nearly all issues which would, if retained and ratified, lead to overall improvements in conditions throughout. Judging from AA management’s public statements our negotiating team felt justified in expecting to join with management in closing the shameful chapter of concessions forced on us through the bankruptcy processes. We cannot forget the concessions with which we still contend daily, from frozen pensions to inequitable vacation and holiday accrual, to mention just a few. Our negotiators had been anticipating increased contractual protections for in-house work. In recent months, from American Airlines’ highest officers on down through the other bargaining units,all workers EXCEPT TWUmembers have received thebest in the industry, at times through contractual enrichments prior to contractual obligations! (As in the cases of the pilots and the fight attendants.)
“It’s one thing to build trust with a group, but it’s completely different to regain trust when you’ve lost it,” says Parker. “We just have to do trustworthy things over and over and over again every day.”
Fortune: SOURCE
Yet, at this late segment in the negotiating process, what we have witnessed from AA at the negotiations has to be described as an ABOUT-FACE! Instead of progress toward a ‘best-in-industry’ contract AA is again expecting a bankruptcy-era concessionary capitulation! Doug Parker and his team have returned to expecting us to continue to ‘sacrifice to save AA’ (as we have been doing since 9/11), yet this time he and his leadership team are compensating themselves with record millions!
American Airlines CEO Doug Parker reportedly exercised an option in his contract on Wednesday that earned the 56-year-old airline executive a $19.2 million windfall. The amount dwarfs the $11.3 million he earned in 2017. According to Fortune, Parker now
stands to make in excess of $31 million this year.
So, what are we to do? Do we come to work and abide by the rules? Do we work in a safe manner, complying with OSHA standards? Do we work in compliance with AA’s “in accordance with” policies? Of course, the answer to all three questions is an emphatic YES! We want to leave work as healthy and sound as we arrived! We execute our tasks with the utmost professionalism in accord with all federal regulations! The flying public expects the highest quality and that is the standard of TWU members!
Obviously,there is no law preventingCORPORATE GREED and DISHONESTY, however the question remains, why doesn’t Doug Parker treat the ground and maintenance workers with the same respect as other work groups at American Airlines?
At this junction, we are left with no faith or trust in the senior leadership of the New American Airlines. Doug Parker still doesn’t get it!
In Solidarity,
Dale Danker, TWU Local 514 President & Local Executive Board