American Airlines mechanics' work slowdown

Here is what happened when AA canceled a flight and stranded 41 fifth-graders in Oklahoma City:

https://www.koco.com/article/absolutely-amazing-airline-brings-in-empty-plane-to-fly-students-stranded-in-okc-airport/27820966#

Delta Airlines to the rescue!

Maybe if everyone who is inconvenienced called the president of the airline and told management to negotiate in good faith with the workers, it might hurry the matter along.

Maybe if everyone who is inconvenienced called the president of the union and told them to negotiate in good faith with the airline, it might hurry the matter along.

Maybe if everyone who is inconvenienced called the president of the
union and told them to negotiate in good faith with the airline, it
might hurry the matter along.

Good luck with that. The unions ignore customers. Fly an airline whose union presence is minimal or nonexistent like Southwest, jetBlue or Delta.

Delta Airlines to the rescue!

I read about that Delta agents' quick actions when AA dropped the ball on those students by abandoning them. Brilliant move by Delta.

Do I remember reading correctly that the mechanics are upset because American plans to move some of its significant mechanical functions to South America.....I think I read that. If so, perhaps, the AA mechanics have good reason to want to get attention. Yes, it affects us as passengers. But, if your employer moved your function to another continent, would you be upset?

IF I am remembering correctly, perhaps we should be sending a different message to the airline CEO? Or maybe the POTUS who single-handedly was going to fix so many things and bring more jobs to the USA?

Someone let me know if another issue is causing the frustration..........................I read a lot of news, and my memory is usually good, but not photographic
(as it was when I was younger).

But, always better if negotiations do not involve strikes/slowdowns, etc......that I agree.

Yes, it affects us as passengers. But, if your employer moved your
function to another continent, would you be upset?

Upset? Of course. Would I purposely slow down my work production intentionally to sabotage customers in response to fear of losing my job? Of course NOT. I don't understand whatsoever screwing over the customer as a response. If anything, such purposeful sabotage only makes relocating my job elsewhere look like a brilliant business decision.

Had a few spare minutes to double check my memory (two posts up-thread), and yes, it is due to offshoring some mechanical work to South America:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tedreed/2019/05/20/american-airlines-says-slowdown-by-mechanics-is-causing-delays-and-cancellations/#366346536d20

It is always a "whew" moment when I realize the memory is still working :) Whew!!.

But, if your employer moved your function to another continent, would
you be upset?

The premise of the above sentence is incorrect. AA's proposal guarantees a job to anyone on seniority lists at the time the contract is signed and guarantees that they will remain at their current station/location (see pages 3 and 4 of the company proposal that is available on the union's website at http://www.twu-iam.org/2019/05/30/american-airlines-is-more-focused-on-litigation-not-negotiating-the-contract-our-members-deserve/).

It's also worth noting that American gave mechanics and ground crews 15-36% pay increases in 2016 outside of the regular contract negotiation so that they did not have to wait on a final contract to share in American's more recent profits (https://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/aviation/sky-talk-blog/article93892477.html).

A correct question would therefore be, "But, if your employer wanted to move future job creation related to your function to another continent while guaranteeing your job at your current location after giving you a 15-36% pay bump 3 years ago instead of making you wait for a final contract to be ironed out, would you be upset?"

Dave, thank you. As the old saying goes, "there are always TWO sides to every story," so sincere thanks for sharing the OTHER side :)

More info is always better. Thank you!

I am just an avid news reader, and it is impossible to know EVERYTHING (as much as we would like to), so thank you.

(And as I said above, always better when negotiations can be worked out without strikes/slowdowns.) Those affect the customer, which impacts brand loyalty (or lack thereof)....not to mention just the madness and frustration of having a flight canceled or delayed....been there/experienced that.

The worst I think ever experienced was back in the old Eastern Airlines days when a pilot, after a really long, multiple hours delay on the runway with a fully loaded plane, announced he was going to be tendering his resignation after XX number of years flying, he stated he was disgusted (or some similar word) with Eastern, after many earlier announcements of problems/updates, etc.. I had asked several hours into the wait, if we could perhaps get some snacks (back in the day before the increased security on planes), and he said: "We paid for our food and you can pay for yours." I think I recall, the plane maybe an hour or so later returned to the gate and everyone deplaned. The pilot was so emotionally mad that I really did wonder if it would be safe to fly (and it has been sooo many years now, I really do not recall if it was him or another pilot that ultimately flew...I think it was an entirely different crew some 10 or 13 hours later). Seems my after-action complaint letter resulted in something like $100 off on my next Eastern Airlines flight....LOL!! And, we all know what happened with Eastern..........................

Maggie,

The AA mechanics/ramp worker contract is a quite complicated matter. I certainly don't see AA management as angels, and I totally understand the frustration of the workers. TWU (union) president John Samuelsen makes reasonable points in this exchange with AA President Robert Isom, but his demeanor and rhetoric are over the top. The video reveals that the customers who make AA exist are nowhere on Samuelsen's list of priorities (or even on his radar).

Elsewhere, Samuelsen has stated that he "absolutely, totally believes" that American management is "our enemy" (see reference below). I get the sense he would rather see AA destroyed (and himself jobless) than give an inch. All other labor groups at AA now have a unified contract (and have had one for some time). The mechanics and ramp workers are the sole holdouts; with their current leadership, it's going to be difficult to find resolution.

Want an analysis of the conflict with far more nuance than the Forbes article? Check out...

https://crankyflier.com/2019/06/10/a-brief-history-american-still-has-no-joint-contract-with-its-mechanics-and-rampers-after-five-years/

AND

https://crankyflier.com/2019/06/11/what-is-preventing-americans-mechanics-and-rampers-from-having-a-joint-contract/