I have covered the struggle American has had with their mechanics and flight attendants for some time. American Airlines secured a new order from a judge this week that could make American Airlines flights less safe, however.
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Judge Orders Penalties Against Mechanics Personally
On Wednesday July 10th a judge overseeing the case American Airlines brought against their mechanics ordered mechanics to not turn down off-site work or overtime. It was an effort to bring compliance as the previous threat (up to millions of dollars in penalties) would be paid by the union who has made efforts to stem any slow down but can’t directly control the workforce. That would be management. I also called the previous suggestions for penalty unenforcable, and it appears that the judge agreed.
“A federal judge slapped the American Airlines mechanics unions with new, heavier restrictions that could include fines and other discipline for maintenance workers who turn down overtime and off-site assignments.” Dallas Morning News.
How Do You Force Workers to Accept Overtime?
Overtime, by definition of the term, is time outside of agreed and normal work hours. Mechanics who accepted overtime last month or last year may have done so to pay off a bill, offset a sick relative who has been unable to work – maybe they just wanted to buy a new Nintendo Switch; previous overtime work does not necessarily relate to a desire for more hours generally.
Further, the less mechanics like their work environment, the less likely they are to want to be there outside of what is absolutely required. With this new order, the judge now wants the union to pass fines down to individual members because they didn’t accept optional work?
Absurd.
American Airlines Management Needs New Approach
Both parties escalated the issue to some degree. However, this approach is unhelpful as American Airlines can sue labor, but labor can’t sue American Airlines for being unreasonable with their demands. It’s no secret that American Airlines was having performance issues prior to the scuffle with labor, it’s not that American was already great and the mechanics slow down caused a deterioration of their performance, it merely enhanced it, by 8%.
But American continuing to pursue this line will only unite the workers against management further. If I was a mechanic, I wouldn’t work one minute outside of my contract that should have been renewed years ago. That only hurts American more that they are right now and makes relations worse.
Is This Enforceable?
I wrote before about how the original judge order was unenforceable. I must have been right because they have enforced nothing from the first order but have now threatened to enforce the order against individual mechanics causing issues.
The only way to truly enforce this order would be to penalize any mechanic that failed to accept overtime and there are a million reasons why that’s a terrible idea. Maybe it’s an employee’s child’s birthday but now they have to decide if they will risk paying a fine by declining t0 work overtime that is by definition, optional.
If the union doesn’t pursue one and all who decline to work extra hours or off-site, they will have chosen some members over others, and they certainly can’t do that either.
Conclusion
I can understand American Airlines management’s need to stem the delays while their mechanics contract is further negotiated. I can also understand that mechanics who have not had a new contract in several years have exhausted the polite options. While the threat of pursuing mechanics personal finances may be enough of a scare to limit further action, I can’t see management and labor ever coming back from it if a mechanic is forced to pay a fine to not work overtime or off-site.
What do you think? Should mechanics be penalized for declining overtime? How should the union penalize? Is this a lawful order?
Excuse me, but that’s bullshit. Is that even legal?
Disgusting. As a former airline mechanic the only reason I EVER worked overtime or AOG missions was to support my family. When I finally got to a place that I did not need to work that mant hours I STOPPED. To have a government t agency interfere with the personal lives of any individual not working for the government is un American at its core and simply put it is disgusting to see it can happen in 2019.
This is what happens when you have a system where bad employees can’t be fired. Unions have long outlived their usefulness, They are now just tools for legalized extortion and cronyism.
I am retired from AA as a Crew Chief Mechanic. American is now the largest airline in the world . They are making money in bushels . Give the mechanics what they want and have labor piece for years.
The question is what exactly are the mechanics asking for that AA won’t budge once you find that out you will know exactly why AA’s not meeting the demands.
The union wants the healthcare that the legacy US Air/IAM mechanics now have that survived through 2 bankruptcies. The company wants everyone on a less attractive plan that shifts the cost heavily onto the employee.
The company wants to outsource as much maintenance as the can, eliminating union jobs in the process.
The company is making billions yet is determined to decimate the maintenance program and sacrifice American jobs.
So contractually an employee may turn down overtime. Then as an “operational necessity “ they can force overtime by paper working the employee with the lowest overtime hours worked with the least seniority. There is a system in place for this need in overtime. AA/ USAIR/ America West management must not understand how to enforce their own bankruptcy agreement. This is nonsense!
American airlines profit margins are way below Delta, Southwest and I believe United.
It is why their stock has been one of the worst performing of any fortune 500 company in the last year
@WR2 must be a CEO. But for unions, employers could make employees work 14 hour days/7 days a week for minimum wage if supply and demand gave workers no better alternative. Unions are what made America great and gave workers a chance at fair compensation. No judge has the power to make workers slaves, something about the emancipation proclamation. Probably a Trump judge.
YOU ARE SO RIGHT!! THEY NE3D TO GET RID OF PARKER!! HE IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM!!
Obviously you didn’t read the article and/or have no clue as to what you’re talking about. There is no such clause or language in my contract that has mandatory overtime. Fine me, I dare you!!!!
Bad employees get fired all the time. The union is there to make sure that the company follows their own rules for discipline. As far as unions outliving usefulness. Unions help create 40 hour work weeks, helped create safe working environments, better wages health care. I can go on and on. Now that employees have given up the unions. Health care is going to shit. Wages are dropping and work weeks are now over 50 hours on average.
AA wasn’t this [redacted by admin] up until Parker and his losers took over
Note: Feel free to express yourself, but we have to remove profanity as and when we see it to avoid penalties in search results.
If your definition of a ” bad mechanic” is an individual who exercises an inalienable right to exercise over their mind, body and soul it is a sad commentary on humanity.
A corporation can sue a individual but an individual has no recourse in a dispute over control of resources. It us a fast race to the bottom.
WR2,
Your comment exposes your ignorance.
This is an example of judicial manipulation of an already onerous labor law governing air transport workers. The Railway Labor Act has been morphed and manipulated to unfairly benefit only one party. Eventually people have their breaking point.
Five years of unprecedented profits, and management pretends they are losing billions while they are making billions and spending $12B on its own stock that has lost 25% of its value!
This executive management team’s days are numbered!
So, slavery?
i agree with wr2. we need to go back to the early 1900’s, when workers could be controlled!
Why not put more money in the CEO’s and VP’s pockets? The millions they make must not be enough to maintain that yacht or third house! Really people? Any one who thinks that unions aren’t a benefit to the workers of this country is obviously the same wealthy white collar “it’s all about me” type who benefited the most from the tax break our juvenile minded current president gave to them! That thinking is exactly what is ruining this country! Why do you think the idea of having a Union worked in the first place? It’s greed that is tearing our unions down! Greed for more “toys”! Americans mechanics aren’t asking for anything different than Delta and United mechanics get. The stock is going down because management has made very poor business decisions in the past. They have 9 different fleet types! Do you think maintenance and parts are cheap to maintain for all those different kinds of aircraft? Educate yourself on this topic before making poor judgmental statements!
This is the same company (America West) back in the 80’s that tried to under pay their mechanics in Phoenix. They fired all their licensed A & P mechanics, and brought in unlicensed mechanics for less money. The FAA shut them down and ordered them to hire back all their A & P mechanics.
Watch ” Norma Rae” if you can’t understand how and why unions are necessary. W2 AND W3 would probably wish slavery was never abolished. Corporate greed and Trump-ettes are the downfall of America! I fly AA mostly and have family members that are or have been employees. Very sad to see this once great Airline let bigger profits dictate procedure over safety and customer service.
This is insane! Seems to me the anti mechanic types don’t necessarily value life as much as they should. Disgruntled employees don’t do good work, period! Pissing off the men and woman that keep those planes safe and in the air seems counterproductive to running a safe airline.
I’ll be riding on someone else till they sort this out.
You should just rode with someone else anyways
You should look at the details of what the unions are actually asking for. They were offered the same as southwest’s recent union deal, currently best in industry, and were denied. All because AAL wants to do SOME maintenance in South America, where their planes spend the entire day idle on layovers
We barely get OT ! What are they talking about?
Unreal. AA managers will let an aircraft sit all day instead of keeping 4 mechanics overtime to finish the job. The usual reason for not being able to complete such task ranges from late arriving aircrafts due to weather but mostly due to management not covering for mechanics on vacation, sick or training. More work, less mechanics, do the math. AA top management is living in a box.
I wouldn’t even want my car serviced by a mechanic being forced to work much less a plane I’m about to get on.
Jennifer, This is bull give the mechanics a little bit of credit. Top management at American airlines has pushed them to the wall. Doesn’t people realize they’re taking the mechanics jobs by the hundreds to another country to have work done. When the planes come back to the United States from another country mechanics have to go over the work ,Fix what their people didn’t do right.. It’s not just the money it’s the actual job plus outrageous co-pays on insurance… Come on Parker do the right thing
I agree Richie! I’m booked on an AA flight Friday with connections, therefore monitoring this curfufle. I’m seriously thinking of switching airlines. Don’t really want to b stuck somewhere. The other annoying thing about AA is they desperately need to work on their people skills. I also feel unions have outlived their usefulness. AA is a good case in point.
Obviously you don’t work for AA, the reason the union is there is because of the type of company AA is, if there was no union protection the mechanics would be threatened and pressured in signing off unairworthy aircraft making you unsafe in the air, this is not Walmart, this is life and death decisions made everyday by ethical mechanics caring what they do for you and not driven by greed. The pilots have duty time hours but the mechanics limits are only enforced at the companies convenance, I personally have been denied rest time in the field up to 40 hours and after that only 7 hours away from work to rest, so to answer your comment in our situation, I don’t want a union, You need me to have one
Lmao I work in California I would love for you to make me work overtime pls do me that favor after working my 8 regular and plus 7 1/2. Ot I automatically qualify for. AA day off paid no problem
100 percent spot on George. The average people out there have no freaking clue.
Totally agree. Too many people have no concept of how much unions do for the workforce and the consumer that uses their products.
I’ve now had planes cancelled due to the slowdown. Extremely uncomfortable!
I’ve advised my company owners not to schedule me on American. Period.
NO!, the mechanics should not be penalized for not working overtime! What a stupid rule! What if the mechanic happens to be a single parent? And there are hundreds of other ‘what ifs.’
Overtime should be an option. If it’s not an option, then call it by its real name, a longer shift.
But I would not want to fly on a plane where the mechanic is being forced to work overtime. Knowing that makes me feel a whole lot less safe.
As for the union, I thought they were supposed to be the employees friend, their advocate.
Why not just hire part-time employees instead of finding workers who don’t want to/ or for reason are unable to work overtime?
Something has to give. All of my 4 flights last week, every single one was delayed. One had to be pushed back for maintenance, Another plane had to be swapped. Others, no reason. Unfortunately AA is pretty much the only game in town.
Corporate greed
I am an AA mechanic called in for OT right now. I checked in as required and I am now sitting here with nothing to do. I have no job assignment. This is common. I’m sitting here on company OT about to bash the hand that feeds me. Why? Hell, why not? It’s that bad. AA doesn’t live up to the obligations promised. Why should I live up to an honest work ethic by going and looking for something to do. In my opinion there is no coordinated slowdown effort of any kind. Quite frankly, we’re not that organized. It’s just human nature. You dont take care of your employees, they won’t take care of you. It’s all just that simple. The current course of this lawsuit will only lend itself to ruining the brand. They might get some money out of it but that won’t make the employees care or things better. It’ll just further the dismal outlook we have. NOBODY CARES!!!! Nobody cares if planes leave or arrive on time. Nobody cares if bags make it on time. The gate agents are beat to a pulp. Why would they care? The pilots and FA’S feel the same by an overwhelming majority I’m sure. Everyone feels abused. The lying, the hyperbole, disingenuousness of these executives is finally catching up to them. This lawsuit is about pinning their failures on another. That is it. They want to recover some cash. The results of the corporation are completely and fully the responsibilities of management. Nobody else. Through good times and bad. This place is in an extremely bad way right now and ITS ALL MANAGEMENTS FAULT!!! This is a fact that cannot be run from. All the lawsuits they could file will not fix this company. In fact it will be to the companies detriment. Their actions thus far will prove the point the rest of the summer and beyond until the truth is faced. This poor result summer is all their fault. They need to treat the employees how they want to be treated. Give us an industry leading contract like they promised years ago and then again over and over and over. Investors run…. There’s not enough lipstick to put on this pig. At this point things will only get worse.
I’ve been with AA for 34 years and I’ve seen it from “the airline” to fly, to an Greyhound Airlines where their employees from every dept. are so unhappy and sick of this USair management, Parker and his team have run this airline to the ground, they have ruined the Airline that I was once proud to say I work for American Airlines and don’t forget mechanics that the president of AA, Isoom or whatever his name is, is the one who fired all the mechanics at Norhwest Airlines when they went on strike. Be careful, this guy is a dirty Rat, just like Parker is. [Redacted by admin] Parker and his piece o [redacted by admin] USair management.
Note: I edited some profanity out simply because the website is penalized in search results even if it appears in the comments. I do not think it takes away from the commenter’s sentiment, which I understand. Feel free to write any feelings toward management at length, but note that I have to remove profanity for the benefit of the blog.
I’m a mechanic for AA, there’s no provision in our contract which allows the company to levy fines. They can discipline us of force us to work overtime, both of which they haven’t done which is odd given their claims of operational emergency.
It’s utterly unenforceable.
Remember when the Spirit Pilots had a coordinated no overtime campaign that ended up before a judge?
Among other things that judge ordered the pilot not to write up Mx issues.
Really I’m not kidding. So if your a Spirit pilot what do you do when something crops up? You simply refuse to fly. Because the FAA says that the aircraft is not airworthy unless all know discrepancies have been logged and addressed. And now the judge has said your not allowed to do that. So the net result is even worse.
Judges getting involved in labor disputes like this only works when there is clear evidence of the union coordinating an illegal work action. Outside of that you have a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing.
Since when is overtime “by deffinition” voluntary? It most certainly is not. You are hired to do a job. Either hourly or salary. 40 hours isn’t the max your employer can make you work. It’s simply the number of hours after witch they must pay you over the base rate. If you decline to take hours your employer needs you to work you should consider your continued employment to be optional for your employer…
Which*
I am a pilot here in the USA and THANK GOODNESS for Unions.. does anyone have any idea what these airlines would make us do if there were no Union?! Whoever says Unions are passed their time is speaking with ZERO knowledge .
If the airline had it their way:
– We would be on reserve when not working
– We would work fatigued
– we would have LONG duty days. Already at 14 hours, they would love it to be more. Unions (not the airlines) fight for shorter duty days… you want a tired pilot flying you around in a 500mph metal tube?
Airline management in general (not all) sees $$ and only $$. nothing else.
This story speaks of the mechanics while the contract negotiations covers other workgroups. While researching for this article you should have realized that the Fleet Service group appears to be the major target of potential job loss. The company has stated that everyone working today, will work to retirement. Go and ask the company for the details about SCOPE, basically the rules of work and the workplace. Also the over time rules are different from the Mine to the Maintenance Base.
the “judge” who came up w/this moronic opinion is 87 years old and back in 2002 the appeals court judges reviewing his conduct found McBryde guilty of “intemperate, abusive and intimidating” courtroom conduct and whacked him. he needs to be whacked again
Gonna grab my popcorn and watch the mechanics come here to extoll virtues. Not that they are wrong…but someone needs to help them at least learn that the Internet is not a place to argue their case in language that appears less than 4th grade.
Gonna? Seems like you’re the only one who topped out at 4th grade. It’s spelled going to.
I fly twice a week on American and although the delays are inconvenient, I stand with them!!
American needs to settle this contract now.
Seems like a bad idea to force overtime and then fine you if you don’t take it. If the company is perennially understaffed, why should the mechanics abet this? This is legal skirmishing without solving the issues; where is the mediator or arbitrator on this?
So…u like flying on aircraft that are worked on in El Salvador by non licensed no drug test and no background check mechanics? Why would an AA mechanic be pissed off if he took a pay cut to help save the airline and the next day management took millions in bonuses and then filed bankruptcy anyway? We had a pension that is now frozen. We had money we put in a trust fund for our supplemental medical program for retirement. They shut that down and gave it back to us. The damage has been done. SO NOW AA HAS GONE TO A BONE HEAD JUDGE AND LIED CLAIMING WE HAVE SOME KIND OF SECRET CODE FOR A SLOW DOWN. WE DON’T EVEN HAVE PARTS TO FIX THESE AIRCRAFT.
30-year veteran legacy AA flight attendant here. I’ve never seen morale as low in my tenure at the company. The America West management has turned AA into a low cost carrier with an inferior product to match. When there was a “slowdown” three years ago, there was very little sympathy from the flight attendants. But after seeing how long this has dragged on, and the concessions that the company is asking for, we support the mechanics. From what I understand, the company is willing to give them a little more, provided that they can do more outsourcing. The maintenance facility in São Paulo is up and running, so that’s not the issue. I think it’s the additional outsourcing. And who would accept such an offer, if you end up voting yes and losing your job?
Anyone remember Eastern??
You mean that airline that was losing lots of money in a much more competitive environment than this one? That was purchased by corporate raider Frank Lorenzo, who was so horrible that Congress actually changed bankruptcy law because of him? I remember Eastern.
The problems at AA go beyond the mechanics. It’s just easier for Parker and Isom to blame them instead of looking at the bigger issues.
Robert Isom is no Jeff McClelland that’s for sure. America West people will remember him. Yes, he was management but he did a decent job of balancing company needs with union demands. Isom is a problem and Parker needs to take a hard look at how HIS executives are running things and fix it, but he won’t until the stockholders demand it. It’s all about money and nothing is else matters, most especially employee morale. All the ElevAAte videos and leadership conferences can’t change morale if the employees aren’t getting the tools they need to do their job.
Other workgroups that have to deal directly with the passengers are being forced into mandatory overtime. 10-12 hour days and some days off. And the entire shift customers yelling about the delays and cancellations. I am pro-union but think about who else you are effecting. Both sides need to go back to the bargaining table.
The union is now damned if they do, damned if they don’t. If after this newest TRO, the Association does improve maintenance performance, it will provide evidence that they were complicit in organized activity to reduce AA’s operations performance and thus provide grounds to calculate the financial damages that AA could sue the Association for. If they don’t, the judge will then continued to tighten the TRO until it does produce an intended affect of forcing the contract to be resolved or assess financial penalties for each individual mechanic.
Take a look at what happens when the air carriers and aircraft manufacturers shop for low paid labor. The most recent example is the 737 Max. Boeing “and its subcontractors have relied on temporary workers making as little as $9 an hour to develop and test software, often from countries lacking a deep background in aerospace — notably India.”
This is the same “evil” management that recently gave EVERYBODY — including the mechanics — a pay raise to keep their wages equivalent to Delta’s. That generous move, btw, is now widely considered a big mistake in the industry because the mechanics union said “thank you very much — but we now want more.”
So perhaps a little “perspective” would be a good thing here?
Define recently, that raise will be 3 years old in a few months. We haven’t had a raise since. Our benefits have not been restored since 2003. AA Aircraft Mechanics still only receive 5 holidays per year at 1.5 x pay, while our peers receive 10 holidays at 2.5 x pay. Vacation time is still reduced, sick time accrual, and pay still reduced. These are shortcomings that still exist when comparing within our own workgroup.
So, before anyone starts defending AA management – as some sort of benevolent entity for the pity raise 3 years ago, please explain why it’s fair to have 10 holidays for one employee, and only 5 for another at lower pay?
What happened to American , We use to be the great Airlines where people hoping to get jobs. American use to be leading airlines and now were the followers.
American Airlines All I can say, all those who are unions at American “Take a good look at Delta” Other than their pilots they have NO union work group. Look how well their running their business!.
Making American the laughing stock! It’s a shame!