galaxy flyer

It worked, if you forget the 20% we gave Frank the First! That was the last time the unions called the company's bluff.

GF

gloopy

If the terms of the company's demands exceed the value of staying on a shattered seniority list with massive outsourcing, it doesn't matter if they are bluffing or not. Unacceptable is unacceptable.

Moose

But I thought management was committed to consensual agreements at the bargaining table?

American Airlines Inc. today responded to a request by three of its unions to the National Mediation Board to let them enter into binding arbitration to resolve their collective bargaining dispute by saying it's committed to reaching consensual agreements at the bargaining table.

eaglefly

Nope. APA is willing to have neutral third party decide upon the necessary "competitive" contractual provisions.

AMR doesn't want competitive. They want the CHEAPEST slave labor they can get an expect a judges gavel to give it to them.

This BK is only about one thing - union busting and effectively ending the concept of unionized airline employees. They've not bargained fairly with any of the three unions and intend to wipe them all out at once.

Tomahawk58

This revisionist position is quite interesting. There was no offer of binding arbitration by the APA leadership prior to entering BK! In fact, much of what the APA BOD deemed unworthy to to past on to the membership for a vote is now seen as pretty good. Additionally, many here were openly advocating a "let the judge decide" position.

Ultimately, the choice made by the leadership was no choice at all but a cop out. On the table were pay raises, pensions retained for those currently on the property, etc. Clearly, the APA had the choice to lead but chose rhetoric over substance, and we are now paying for that. Once again, we find ourselves at a choice point and decisions have been made!

The landscape of the industry has structurally changed and we as pilots can either adapt, leave the industry to those willing to adapt and move forward or stay and incessantly whine about what we're entitled to without any viable solutions to help our respective company's regain sustained profitablility. There's no race to the bottom or top, then race is what we collective choose to run!

Wingtips

I would like a list of what UAL/DAL/NWA/USAIR did?? What they got out of it. What was the final outcome.

What

Do you think AMR would have avoided CH11 if APA would have accepted the proposal the company put on the table the second week on November? Or that would have just been the new starting point for the company to make cuts. AMR has planned this bankruptcy for an extended period of time, and it didn't matter what labor did they were going to file. The debt that AMR had acquired had to be dealt with as well as the aircraft leases to line them up with the new aircraft arriving on property. APA has been arrogant, but even if they acted like ALPA has been at Eagle you would be standing in the same situation or worse today!

Bill Lumberg

People learn from the past. Back at DL, the CEO pre-BK had a banner up saying "do it once, do it right." ALPA agreed to a 30% pay cut. Then in BK, they got 17% more. Where did the "do it once, do it right" go? Oldest play in the playbook. No arrogance at the APA, just history buffs.

cencal83406

Typical of an ALPA shill to say this. Time for you to back to stealing Delta's west coast flying.

Good luck to APA and its members.

We wonder why ALPA is falling out of favor? Conflict of interest and spineless negotiating / upholding of contracts...

Tomahawk58

This also is an after-the-fact justification for the position taken by the APA BOD. AA was in fact willing to go all in with the APA taking the lead to help move the company forward. The road chosen by the APA BOD was not leadership but chest pounding and hollow bravado! Not a single accomplishment that moves the pilot group forward has been made by the BOD since the 2003 contract.

I think it's still posted it somewhere, so go back a look at the last comprehensive offer on the table by the company. See if you can find a similar proposal put forward by the APA; you won't.

Those awaiting the demise of AA will be sadly disappointed. AA is in a much stronger position than either DAL, NWA or UAL when those entities entered BK. Now, folks here can argue till the cows come home that we're doomed, but I view the global landscape, There are lot's of folks waiting for the opportunity to work for AA. Let's revisit this in about five years to see where things stand.