Please give American Airlines flight attendants the other $81 million

[Karee 4,191]

Association of Professional Flight Attendants president Laura Glading has sent a letter to American Airlines chairman and CEO Doug Parker asking for a meeting, with the intent to ask for the full $193 million turned down by flight attendants.

In specific, the letter simply asks for a meeting between Glading and Parker after arbitrators issue a decision on the flight attendant contract. But in a hotline, APFA said that “The purpose of the meeting will be for APFA to continue to push for the full value of the T/A.”

As it is, they’ll get $112 million in annual value when arbitrators issue their binding decision in the near future. That was set out in a prior agreement before flight attendants narrowly rejected a contract that would have given them $193 million a year more in value, $81 million more than the $112 million.

“I am sure that you agree that the Flight Attendants at the new American, both Legacy American Airlines and Legacy US Airways, have made tremendous sacrifices. Our workgroup has been struggling under substandard wages for far too long,” Glading said in her Monday letter.

“The industry has been in a state of turmoil and turbulence for decades – with the Flight Attendants being thrashed around at every jolt. The professionalism displayed and contributions made through it all have been both extraordinary and invaluable to this company’s bottom line,” she wrote.

“The APFA Board of Directors has made it clear that despite the arbitration award that will be issued, APFA is committed to achieving the restoration of the full $193 million a year in value of the T/A [tentative agreement] that the Company had been prepared to pay. To that end, I am writing on behalf of the Joint Negotiating Committee to ask for a meeting with the Company as soon as we have the arbitration award,” she concluded.

The negotiations were to put the American and US Airways flight attendants under a joint contract, and the $112 million was the amount needed to bring the flight attendants up to industry standards on average without reducing the total value of either the AA or US Airways contracts.

An agreement between APFA leadership and US Airways management prior to last year’s merger provided that American would put in a total of $193 million in added value in a tentative agreement. However, it would go back to the baseline, now set at $112 million, if flight attendants rejected the tentative agreement, and that disputed items in the contract would go to binding arbitration.

The arbitration hearings ended last week after only 1½ days and with only three items in dispute.

Forced to choose where the $81 million would be subtracted from the rejected tentative agreement, APFA negotiators took it out of pay raises. Flight attendants will still get higher pay in the joint contract, just not as much as in the rejected deal.

The arbitration panel is made up of seven members — three impartial arbitrators, two members picked by the union and two members picked by the airline.

“The three arbitrators have called for the two union and two company panel members to meet in an executive session on Saturday, Dec. 13, in Washington, D.C., to discuss a resolution of the issues raised at the hearing,” APFA said on its hotline. “If a decision is reached by the end of this session, the arbitration panel will provide it in writing shortly thereafter.”

Source: http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/glading-to-parker-please-give-american-airlines-flight-attendants-the-other-81-million.html/

[Operator 1,927]

Seems like the collective bargaining got a little screwy in the merger.

If this goes south I'm guessing the service is going to go from bad to worse.

[Karee 4,191]

Seems like the collective bargaining got a little screwy in the merger.

If this goes south I'm guessing the service is going to go from bad to worse.

I have mixed feeling on this deal. On one hand I think they should give the FAs the 81 million. They did give up a lot back when American almost went under after 9/11 etc.

OTOH I feel like their union screwed them for not explaining to them, if they didn't take this deal, there was a worse one waiting for them.

Another example of why unions should be gone.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes, because without unions these flight attendants would be so much better off. Airlines would be hurtin' to compensate them better if it wasn't for them unions.

[Póg mo 1,749]

I have mixed feeling on this deal. On one hand I think they should give the FAs the 81 million. They did give up a lot back when American almost went under after 9/11 etc.

OTOH I feel like their union screwed them for not explaining to them, if they didn't take this deal, there was a worse one waiting for them.

Another example of why unions should be gone.

How would that help workers? I don't necessarily agree with how Unions are run in this country, but given the complete absence of meaningful laws that protect workers from unscrupulous employers, I don't think getting rid of Unions helps matters.

[Póg mo 1,749]

Yes, because without unions these flight attendants would be so much better off. Airlines would be hurtin' to compensate them better if it wasn't for them unions.

+1

Also, I would like someone to explain why Unions in Germany haven't wrecked that countries' auto industry.

[Karee 4,191]

Yes, because without unions these flight attendants would be so much better off. Airlines would be hurtin' to compensate them better if it wasn't for them unions.

Yeah the union did a great job here. Now they're not getting 81 million they would've gotten. I'm not sure why flight attendants need a union. Most other waitresses don't belong to unions.

+1

Also, I would like someone to explain why Unions in Germany haven't wrecked that countries' auto industry.

Probably because Germany doesn't have a culture like the U.S. Do as little as possible while trying to get as much as you can for yourself, and then ask the union to protect you from getting fired because of your laziness. Yay Unons!!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yeah the union did a great job here. Now they're not getting 81 million they would've gotten. I'm not sure why flight attendants need a union. Most other waitresses don't belong to unions.

Probably because Germany doesn't have a culture like the U.S. Do as little as possible while trying to get as much as you can for yourself, and then ask the union to protect you from getting fired because of your laziness. Yay Unons!!

So Americans are lazy people. Is that the exceptionalism we keep hearing about?

[Karee 4,191]

So Americans are lazy people. Is that the exceptionalism we keep hearing about?

Just American union members.

[Operator 1,927]

I have mixed feeling on this deal. On one hand I think they should give the FAs the 81 million. They did give up a lot back when American almost went under after 9/11 etc.

OTOH I feel like their union screwed them for not explaining to them, if they didn't take this deal, there was a worse one waiting for them.

Another example of why unions should be gone.

My old man retired from AA July 2001 (talk about great timing). The good thing for AA pilots; at least it was, not sure if it still is, they had their own union (APA) while all the other carriers were represented by the ALPA. His retirement was/is incredible. The FA's were VERY bitter about things at that point. I remember talking to an AA flight attendant around 2004 who knew my dad, she was bltching about her ####### benefits and having to bring her lunch to work and guys like my dad had 7 figure retirements. I looked her in the eye and said "should have gone to flight school I guess". My dad hated the union but loved the pay, their strength was they had lower numbers than the ALPA and only had one company to bargain with it always seemed like a good relationship.

I had a bargaining unit form at one of my service locations in Canada years back. The USW did jack for them and now the plant has closed and moved to Huntsville. It's gonna be a cold winter for those folks but I'm sure the Union office has heat.

I say "F" a union.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Just American union members.

I see. So perfectly exceptional Americans turn into lazy slobs once they join a union. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Karee 4,191]

I see. So perfectly exceptional Americans turn into lazy slobs once they join a union. Yeah, that makes sense.

The pay is structured that way. You don't get paid increases based on how well you do your job. You get pay increases based on how long you do your job. That alone is a recipe for mediocrity.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Karee

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Without unions, I wouldn't enjoy the benefits that I enjoy. They fought for them and brought them about. The decline in union representation and the decline in pay and benefits for the American workers - all of them - going hand in hand is not a coincidence.

[Karee 4,191]

Without unions, I wouldn't enjoy the benefits that I enjoy. They fought for them and brought them about. The decline in union representation and the decline in pay and benefits for the American workers - all of them - going hand in hand is not a coincidence.

Yeah unions did a lot of good in their day. No argument from me about that. But so did things like buggy whips and walkmen. Time to move on.

Globalization has made it cheaper for things to be manufactured overseas. It doesn't make sense to pay someone in the U.S. $40 an hour to screw on the same bolt over and over. That is part of what killed unions. It can be done cheaper overseas or by a robot here in the U.S.

[Operator 1,927]

The pay is structured that way. You don't get paid increases based on how well you do your job. You get pay increases based on how long you do your job. That alone is a recipe for mediocrity.

This is what totally blows my mind. There is no motivating factor to do anything other than come to work. There is no reason to try to stand out because there is no benefit in it.

I remember going to grievance meetings and outside the conference room the union folks telling me what a worthless person the griever was and how they all hated him and he makes them all look bad etc. etc. I'd ask them "why put up with it? Say something in the meeting". No, they would say we can't, he's a union brother.

Like I said the plant closed.