Please give American Airlines flight attendants the other $81 million

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

You brought up trade balances.

Yes I did. But I did that to highlight that advanced economies with strong unionization can be and are globally competitive - often more so than the less unionized US economy. I did not suggest, however, that trade surpluses indicate better working conditions for workers. You seem to have misunderstood the point I was making.

[Póg mo 1,749]

Oh I've heard it over and over again. Thing is, I don't buy it. Working hard is what employers expect, it's the norm, or should be. If a person wants to advance they need to stand out, hustle and make a name for themselves.

[\quote]

This kind of mentality is a big problem at the company that I work for. Getting middle management to understand that employees are assets that should be rewarded for their efforts rather than viewed as something that can be disposed of at a moments notice. Employee training costs money, poor moral hurts productivity, a practice of promoting people who are boot lickers only serves to encourage good employees that they would be better off working for one of the other companies in the area that are desperately seeking workers.

If an employee doesn't like the flavor of the "cool aid" they are being offered they should move on and find a different flavor.

This is often easier said than done. Where I work it's very easy, but the treat them mean mentality is all too common in this country.

[Karee 4,191]

###Update###

American Airlines may give flight attendants the pay raises they turned down

Flight attendants at American Airlines Inc. may wind up getting the bigger pay raises they turned down last month after all.

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants said Monday that American chairman and chief executive Doug Parker “has expressed a willingness to put wages back” into the union’s new joint collective bargaining agreement.

He’ll meet with the APFA board of directors Thursday to talk about it, the union said in a special hotline message Monday.

American spokesman Paul Flaningan declined to comment on whether the carrier was prepared to grant the higher value.

Union members turned down a tentative contract on Nov. 9 that would have added $193 million in value to the flight attendants’ contract, including increases in hourly pay. On Saturday, an arbitration board handed down a binding decision that put the value of the contract at $112 million, which reduced the pay increases.

On Dec. 8, APFA president Laura Glading sent a letter to Parker asking him to talk to the union about giving the flight attendants the full $193 million, despite the Nov. 9 vote.

On Sunday, Parker responded to Glading’s request for “a meeting to discuss the possibility of restoring wages beyond the arbitrated award,” the union said in its Monday message.

The union had agreed in 2012 to a process to establish a joint contract covering flight attendants of American and US Airways, which merged Dec. 9, 2013.

That process stated that the carrier and union would try to negotiate a tentative agreement. If they failed or if a tentative pact was rejected by members, they would send the contract to binding arbitration.

The two sides set $112 million as the amount needed to make the joint contract worth at least as much as the separate American and US Airways contracts.

But APFA and American negotiators in September agreed to a tentative contract that put the total value at $193 million annually, or $81 million more. When APFA members turned it down by 16 votes, that meant the contract’s added value would be limited to $112 million.

The APFA, forced to reduce the value of the joint contract, proposed shrinking the size of planned pay raises.

By the time of the arbitration hearings Dec. 3 and 4, American and the APFA had agreed to all the language of a new contract except a few items. The APFA asked for “me-too” clauses that would give members profit sharing or better health insurance plans if other unions secured the same gains. In addition, the union wanted any pay increases retroactive to Dec. 2, the day before the arbitration began.

The board ruled against the union on all points. The contract went into force on Saturday, and the new pay scales go into effect Jan. 1.

“We respect the arbitrators’ decision and will work with the APFA to implement the new joint contract that provides wage increases and other improvements to the existing contract,” Flaningan said.

Either way, most flight attendants were scheduled to get a pay raise. The only question was the size of the increase.

In general, the increase through arbitration would average around 2 percent the first year, about 1 percentage point below the raises in the tentative agreement.

Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/business/airline-industry/20141215-american-airlines-may-give-flight-attendants-the-pay-raises-they-turned-down.ece

[Karee 4,191]

American Airlines agrees to give $81 million in higher pay raises to flight attendants

The Association of Professional Flight Attendants said Thursday that American Airlines management had agreed to give its flight attendants an additional $81 million a year that members had rejected in a tentative agreement.

The new, higher pay increases will go into effect Jan. 1.

“With this action behind us, we can look forward to the year ahead and beyond as one team,” American said in a statement, “and with great momentum as we continue our integration plans.”

“Today’s announcement is the beginning of a new chapter,” the union said in a hotline message to members. “Bringing together two large workgroups with very different cultures and contracts is an enormous task but together we have done exactly that in just over one year. We now turn our attention to implementing our joint collective bargaining agreement and enforcing the hard-fought provisions it contains.”

The joint contract covers flight attendants of US Airways and American, which merged Dec. 9, 2013.

A “memorandum of understanding” signed before the merger stated that a joint contract would give AA and US flight attendants a contract that didn’t lessen the total value of their separate contracts and brought their contract up to industry standard. American and APFA agreed that that amount of $112 million more than the value of the separate US and AA contracts.

The MOU also stated that if a contract were rejected, it would be submitted to binding arbitration and that its maximum value would be the $112 million.

In negotiations, AA and APFA agreed to a contract that raised flight attendant costs by $193 million, $82 million more than the base amount. But APFA members, by 16 votes out of 16,376 cast, turned down the tentative agreement on Nov. 9.

Faced with deciding where to take the extra $82 million out of the contract, APFA leadership decided to reduce pay raises by that amount.

Last Saturday, the arbitration board on Saturday issued its decision on the final contract, with the $112 million figure.

But APFA president Laura Glading sent a letter to Parker asking him to consider giving the flight attendants the amount in the rejected contract, notwithstanding the vote. Last weekend, he told Glading that management would consider that request.

Parker, president Scott Kirby and executive vice president Steve Johnson met with APFA leadership Thursday morning to discuss the situation. Out of that came a union resolution clarifying and limiting what might happen when United Airlines and Continental Airlines flight attendants redo their contract in several years.

Source: http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/12/american-airlines-agrees-to-give-81-million-in-higher-pay-raises-to-flight-attendants.html/

Another "evil" corporation.

[Operator 1,927]

Maybe I'll get my Tito's and Tonic with a damn smile now.

[decocker 7,198]

titos is the best.

[Karee 4,191]

Maybe I'll get my Tito's and Tonic with a damn smile now.

Not likely.

[Operator 1,927]

A few weeks ago I was flying to Omaha and heard an old lady say 'Excuse me Stewardess', that went over like a fart in church.

[Karee 4,191]

A few weeks ago I was flying to Omaha and heard an old lady say 'Excuse me Stewardess', that went over like a fart in church.

Not sure why they're so offended by that term. I suppose everyone needs to be offended by something.